Confidence In The Kitchen: How To Make Fried Rice
Everyone should know how to make fried rice. Not because everyone should like Chinese food, but because it is a great foundation to a ton of tasty meals (none of which have to be flavored in an Asian style, but could be). Sure, steamed white or brown rice is also a fine foundation for many meals, but by making fried rice we have the opportunity build lots of flavor into our rice with out that much effort, especially if we have some left over rice from last nights take-out. Fried rice is a great user of leftovers and not just leftover rice. Any leftover meat or tofu is a welcome guest on top of a bowl of just made fried rice.
The most basic recipe for fried rice is obvious. Rice + Oil. A classic Chinese fried rice would use sesame oil and use soy sauce to flavor the rice plus some egg and vegetables. This is certainly a tasty way to go. Regardless of the oil and flavouring the steps to create fried rice are the same.
How To Make Fried Rice – A Few Considerations
The Pan: Any sauté pan will do the job for fried rice. A wok is certainly a nice-to-have, but it is not compulsory. Just make sure that the pan is big enough to hold all the ingredients!
The Rice: The best rice for fried rice is long grain or medium grain not sushi rice. White rice or brown rice is fine. Of course, you can expand and use the same technique for just about any grain. Imagine fried quinoa or faro! For fried rice, the rice should start out cold. If you have rice from last night’s leftovers, this is excellent. Cold rice is important because it is slightly dried out and the grains are more separate. The dryness makes the grains ready to take on flavor and the separateness helps ensure that the fried rice won’t end up in a big lump. If you are
preparing the rice fresh, cook it the night before and refrigerate it over night. Refrigerating the rice at least 3-5 hours is best if there is time. A sneaky way to do it is to go to your local Chinese food joint and buy some cooked rice the night before! When it is cold, make sure there are no lumps and the grains are nicely separated before frying.If there is just not time to refrigerate the rice, no worries. It may just be a bit sticker. Who cares? It will still taste good!
The Oil: Any oil will do for frying rice. A garlic-chilli oil, a rosemary oil, a lemon olive oil… all flavored oils will represent a great opportunity to make your fried rice very tasty. The key to the oil is to make sure it is very hot before adding the rice. The oil should be hot enough that it shimmers on the bottom of the pan.
The Goodies: After the oil and rice, all that is left to do is to choose the extra goodies to flavor the rice. Any leftover meat/protein (chicken, pork, beef, buffalo chicken wings, shrimp tofu, etc) should be cubed small so it heats through quickly. Any meats that are not cooked before hand, should be stir fried in the oil first and cooked through before the rice is added. You can cook some things, like egg, during the process. Simply fry the rice, push it aside to make a space in the pan, add the egg and cook it through, then mix well. Pre-cooked vegetables can be cut small and add directly to the rice. Onion and garlic can be quickly cooked in the oil before the rice is added. Any addition of sauces (sriracha, tomato, oyster, soy, hoisin, fish, buffalo, etc) can be added at the end or added to any ingredients that needed to be cooked before the rice is added. Fresh herbs or spices can be added just before the dish is finished.
Here is a very simple recipe for fried rice.
Very Simple Fried Rice
2015-05-06 03:57:52
Delicious Fried Rice.
2684 calories
487 g
0 g
56 g
54 g
5 g
1237 g
739 g
23 g
0 g
47 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 2684
Calories from Fat 485
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 12g
Monounsaturated Fat 35g
Total Carbohydrates 487g
162%
Sugars 23g
Protein 54g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
- 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp of sesame seeds
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 1/2 lb of mushrooms
- 3 cups of leftover, cold, long grain rice
- soy sauce
- 2 green onions
- A small bunch of cilantro
- salt and pepper
- In a small dry pan, gently toast the sesame seeds over medium heat being careful not to burn them.
- Stir/fluff the rice to make sure the grains are separated and there are no lumps.
- Peel and chop the garlic clove finely.
- Slice the green onion.
- Peel and dice the sweet onion into small pieces.
- Clean and trim the mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms into thin slices.
- In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat until it is very hot and shimmers.
- Add the garlic and onions. Toss well and cook about 30 second until the onion and garlic begin to soften.
- Add the mushrooms and cook another 30 seconds continually tossing the pan.
- Add the rice and cook until it is heated through.
- Drizzle in the soy sauce to taste and toss well.
- Add the sesame seeds.
- Remove the rice to a serving bowl.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle on the green onion and whole leaves of cilantro.
- Serve hot.
By Matthew Robinson
The Culinary Exchange http://www.theculinaryexchange.com/
Remember, practically any combination of flavors can be used to make great fried rice and the technique is always the same. I hope you enjoy!
Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!
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