~ Fried Rice ~

Wow...been a while since I posted a recipe! My dad made my yummy fried rice today, so I thought I'll share with you all the secrets to making fried rice.


To me, fried rice is something I make when I mistakenly made too much rice the night before and have other leftovers. That doesn't sound that appealing, but it's a great way to turn left overs into an awesome lunch or simple dinner. The most basic fried rice contains 3 things:

• Left over rice
• Eggs
• Some seasoning like soy sauce or salt

You can put anything in fried rice, even pineapple. One of my favorite is pineapple chicken fried rice. I think my fiance fell in love with me over some of that yumminess. In this post, I am going to go over basic way to make fried rice and then some of my personal favorite ingredients.

Step 1: Heat up the rice
That's right! First of all, you have to use leftover rice from the night before. It's dryer. How do I know this? Well, at my parents' Chinese restaurant, the chefs take the rice out of the rice cooker and put it in the fridge for making fried rice the next day. So, yes, the rice would be cold when you are ready to fry it. It's probably all hard and clumpy, which doesn't mix very well in the wok. So, heat it up! It doesn't have to be steaming, just not clumpy and hard.

Step 2: Cut up the ingredients
Everything should be small, but not mushy

Step 3: Pan-fry eggs
How many eggs should you use?? Well, it's really up to you. There's not standard. I would say, about 1 egg per bowl or rice. More of less is up to you. Batter the eggs well. Heat up the wok, put some oil in and put the battered eggs in. You want to make it kind of like an omelette, so it looks like a big piece of flat egg. But, before its shaped is really set, break it apart and stir it around. You want to end up with little pieces, but not really fluffy. Put that in a bowl when it's done.

This is an action shot! See how the egg is not really fluffy like scrambled eggs?


Step 3: Stir fry the ingredients
If your ingredients are leftover stuff that's cut up, then you just have to stir it around a little to make sure it's warm. When I am lazy, I just skip this step. If you have fresh ingredients like cubed chicken or yummy sausage, then you should cook it a little longer. Put that in a bowl when it's done.

My dad just dumped everything in the same bowl.


Step 4: Integration
Sorry, a little bit of my work vocabulary slipped out. It's time to integrate all the ingredients together! First, you put oil in. Fried rice actually takes a fair amount of oil because the rice absorbs the oil really well. But, for health reasons, of course you only have to use as much as you like. Put about a teaspoon per bowl of rice. Don't worry about having too little. You can always add more.

When the wok is heated, put the oil in. Then, put the rice in. Mix around a bit. Ok, My dad put in some of the seasoning first. I don't know why.


Then, throw the ingredients in.


Then, seasoning.


Then, stir, stir, stir. Taste. Add more seasoning if necessary. Stir, Stir, Stir. Done.

See, that isn't that hard! Now, ingredient lists.... For the fried rice in these awesome pictures, my dad put:

• Squid (left over from stir fry for dinner)
• Smoked sausage (we just happen to have some in the fridge)
• Frozen peas, carrots and corn (easiest way to put veggies in and mashes well with the sausage and ketchup)
• Yes, that says Ketchup! I love ketchup!!!!! When you put ketchup in, it's often referred to as the Western fried rice. It's more like East meets West, which happens a lot in Hong Kong where I am from.
• Hot sauce. Just wanted a little kick.

Pineapple Chicken :

• Pineapple chunks
• Chicken breast cubed
• Lettuce
• Carrots (for color)
• Soysauce
  

Curry Seafood:

• Curry sauce or powder
• Shrimp
• Squid
• Lettuce (I like lettuce ok??)
• Scallops

Chinese American Restaurant style:

• Beansprounts
• Meat of your choice
• Soysauce
• MSG (haha I am just kidding, you don't have to put that in)

Don't be afraid to experiment! I have put asparagus, hot dog, crab, green peppers, red peppers, fish, white pepper, black pepper, and a whole lot of stuff in fried rice before. One time, I got really greedy and put way too much ingredients and didnt have enough rice. It was like eating stir fry with some eggs and rice in it. It was good though :) Have fun!!