One of the most popular takeout foods is undoubtedly Chinese fried rice. Most cities or towns have a Chinese-style restaurant that has it as the main dish on their menu.
The easy way of eating it and its exquisite flavor are reasons people order it more than twice a week. Although ordering takeout dishes would be a dream that keeps you away from the kitchen stress, you or your family cannot live only on takeaways.
Fried rice’s complex and exquisite taste makes you think it is a complicated preparation. This is further from the truth. Preparing restaurant-style fried rice at home is indeed easy and fast.
Content Summary
Fried rice’s basic ingredients
Fried rice is a simple dish made of rice and vegetables. Some versions include meat. The seasoning and cooking process gives the preparation its unique flavor and texture.
There are several variations to the regular ingredients of traditional fried rice. Some versions are vegan, while others contain a mix of meat such as chicken and pork; or meat and seafood. There are also dishes with only one protein as the core component like this version with shrimp https://successrice.com/recipes/easy-shrimp-fried-rice/. Check it and see how easy it is to prepare it at home.
To learn how to make the traditional version, let’s first take a closer look at its ingredients.
Classic fried rice contains:
- Rice: The best fried rice is made of long-grain rice, preferably chilled or one-day old. Jasmine rice is a good option, but any long-grain rice will equally work.
- Eggs: Beaten and cooked in the same pan and time when sautéing the rest of the ingredients. Most fried rice has eggs on it, but for a vegan version, they can be omitted, and use tofu instead.
- Vegetables: This recipe calls for scallions, garlic, onions, leeks, peas, and carrots.
- Seasoning: Its flavor is a combination of soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Salt is not necessary for the salty taste of the different sauces.
- Sesame oil: It is used for stir-frying all ingredients. It enhances the fried rice taste. Other cooking oils work as well.
Traditional method
Fried rice’s name derives from the cooking process of preparing it. It is rice stir-fried in a pan with enough oil. So, the classic way of doing this is using a wok or a big skillet.
Stir-frying is a quick method of cooking in hot oil while stirring constantly. The success of this dish is the rapid cooking of all the ingredients in hot oil. Therefore, all the components have to be chopped and ready to incorporate into the wok.
This process is as follows:
- Add sesame oil to the wok and heat at high temperature.
- Pour beaten eggs, cook them, and break them into pieces. Set aside in the wok.
- Add onion, garlic, and other vegetables. Sauté very quickly.
- Pour more sesame oil and add chilled rice. Stir very well.
- Pour soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce.
- Serve with scallions and soy sauce.
Rice cooker method
Cooking in a rice cooker reduces the cooking time and the quick process of adding ingredients. However, this method results in a soft rice texture instead of a crispy one. It calls for raw rice cooked in broth.
- Pour oil into the rice cooker.
- Incorporate rice, onion, garlic, scallions, leeks, carrots, and peas. Cover them with the oil.
- Set the time for 2 minutes.
- Add broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Mix very well.
- Set the rice cooker to cook for 20 minutes.
- Let it stand for 10 minutes. Separate the grains and serve with additional soy sauce.
Baking method
This is a healthy method of preparing a version of fried rice. It is also prepared with uncooked white rice and broth. The texture is a bit crispy.
- Preheat the oven.
- In a baking tray, add cooking oil.
- Add rice and coat with enough oil.
- Incorporate onions, garlic, leeks, and scallion. Combine.
- In a pot, pour broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Cook until the liquid boils.
- Incorporate the boiling broth into the baking tray. Stir with the rest of the ingredients.
- Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Take it out of the oven, and let it stand for 10 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork and serve with scallions at the top.
