Many people have asked me the secret of making great fried rice, and to be honest I'm not sure there's a secret as such, except it is essential to use rice that has been previously cooked and left to go cold. Preferably, the rice is cooked the day before.
Of course, one can add many different ingredients into a dish such as this, but this I believe is fairly authentic!
Ingredients:
3-4 dried chinese mushrooms (shiitake)
sugar
light soy sauce
sesame oil
90 g peeled shrimp
1 egg white
2 teaspoon cornflour
vegetable oil for frying (groundnut ideally)
125 g chicken breast meat, cut into small bite sized pieces
125 g cold roast pork, cut into small bite sized pieces
60 g fresh peas
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
450 g cooked white rice
a pinch of pepper
a good splash of rice wine (shaoshing if available)
Let's start by soaking the dried mushrooms in warm water for a minimum of 20 minute. When soft and pliable, rinse and remove the stem. Now chop into small cubes. Place in a small bowl and mix with a little sugar, light soy sauce and sesame oil. Set aside.
Take the prawns, shell, wash and de-vein. Now mix with half an egg white (beaten lightly) and a little cornstarch. Fry immediately in the wok. Ideally the oil temperature should be around 160 C. Remove when cooked (no more than 2 or 3 minutes) and drain on a kitchen towel and set aside once more.
Dice the chicken into small mouth sized pieces, and as above mix with half an egg white and the cornstarch. Stir fry in the wok, taking care that the chicken pieces do not stick to one and other. Drain, and set aside.
Dice the pork similarly, and cook the peas briefly in some salted boiling water for no more than 90 seconds. Drain and set aside again.
The last preparation is the eggs. Take the 2 large beaten eggs and cook in the wok over a medium high heat. When cooked (similar to omelette consistency) remove from the wok and chop into small bite sized pieces and set aside.
Now clean the wok with a kitchen towel and add 2 tablespoons of oil, and bring up to frying temperature (not smoking!). Immediately add the mushrooms, pork, shrimp and chicken. Stir fry over a moderate heat for a minute seasoning with a little salt.
When the ingredients have absorbed the oil and salt add the cooked rice. You have to act quickly here, constantly stirring and mixing, ensuring that the rice grains separate but do not stick. Sprinkle a little rice wine and light soy sauce over the rice, increase the heat and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add the peas and the cooked eggs, stirring and turning continuously before finally adding a little more salt and black pepper ( but not much).
Remove from the wok, and serve either in small individual bowls or one large serving dish.
This will produce a deliciously fresh, fried rice dish enabling the individual flavours of the ingredients to be detected and enjoyed!
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