Fried Rice

Fried Rice was one of the first dishes I learnt to cook as a kid. Its an easy, comforting dish that I default to making when I don’t know what to make and always hits the spot. 

Whilst it’s traditionally a Chinese dish where cooked rice is stir fried in a wok with meat, egg and vegetables, you’ll notice most Asian countries have their own version of it and even within China, each region has their own variation and style of making it.

The beauty in this dish is that you can adapt it to what you have in your fridge and what you prefer. You can use any protein and vegetables you wish, you can make it as simple or as boujee as you want but if there’s one rule you must follow when it comes to making fried rice, it is that you must always use cooked, cold and generally day old rice. Freshly cooked rice has too much moisture and tends to stick and become too gluggy. So make sure you plan ahead and cook the rice a day before or at the very least, in the morning of the day you want to have it for dinner. Alternatively, whip this up when you have leftover cooked rice and not sure what to do with it.

Ingredients

• 3 stalks of spring onions, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 300g of your choice of protein, finely diced. You can use: chicken, bacon, pancetta, Chinese sausage (lap cheong), prawns, beef, pork, even duck.
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Vietnamese fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons of my homemade chilli oil, optional
• 2 cups of your choice of vegetables, finely diced
• 1 cup of frozen peas, thawed
• ½ cup of frozen corn, thawed
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups of your choice of cooked day old rice. Jasmine is preferred but you can use any rice you wish: brown, long grain, or even cauliflower rice. 

Method

1. Prepare all of your ingredients beforehand and make sure they are all finely diced. As it only takes 5 minutes to cook in the pan, everything needs to be small enough so they can cook quickly.
2. Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil together into a bowl.
3. Heat a large pan with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and once hot, add half of your spring onions to the oil and cook for 10 seconds. Then add in the garlic and cook for another 20 seconds before adding in your choice of protein. Cook for about 1 minute until the meat is cooked. If you are cooking with a cured meat like pancetta, bacon, or Chinese sausage, you’ll want the fat to render out from the meat and start to turn golden and crisp. If you are adding prawns, add them in in the last 30 seconds of the meat cooking, as they only need to cook for about 30 seconds.
4. Then begin stir frying your vegetables from longest to shortest to cook. Add in the carrots first cooking for 1 minute and then add your thawed peas and corn and stir fry for another 30 seconds.
5. Then add in your rice and your sauce and begin stir frying to combine everything together. Use your spatula to break up any clumps in the rice and make sure the rice is all coated in the sauce and separated. If you like chilli, spoon over some chilli oil and continue to stir fry for 1 minute.
6. Then push your rice to one half of the pan and place the empty half of your pan over the heat. Pour in your eggs and allow to cook for about 15 seconds before scrambling into small pieces. Once they are cooked, stir fry them with the rice to combine.
7. Finally, add in the rest of your spring onions and give it one final stir before turning off the heat, serving into bowls and eating immediately. Serve it as a side dish with others dishes or eat it on it’s own.