Fried rice, how can I get it to taste like the chinese do it?!
Fried rice, how can I get it to taste like the chinese do it?
Fried rice from any takeaway across the land always have that certain taste that I simply cannot replicate, is there some magical ingredient that is kept a closely guarded secret?
Answers:
No magic, no msg, just you need to practise a bit more and use peanut oil (more oil) and you need a stove that can generate high heat.
Here are the steps and hints to prepare Yang Chow Fried Rice.
<<<<< Yang Chow Fried Rice >>>>>>> Serves 4
4 bowls of rice (600g cooked rice)
4 eggs, beaten
500 g shrimps, shelled, devain
200g char siu, Chinese roast pork, cut into small cubes
200g ham, cut into small cubes
2 stalks of spring onions or chives, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons of peanut oil
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Marinade for shrimps
1 tablespoon cooking wine, sherry
1/4 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
some white pepper
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
Hints
1) No matter what ingredients you are going to add into your egg fried rice (char siu Chinese roast pork, ham, chicken, beef or shrimps) you have to stir fry these ingredients till cooked and seasoned them first in a separate wok.
2) It doesn't matter to use left over rice or just steamed rice, it should be long grain rice and I personally like Jasmine rice and if you steam it before you fry the rice, reduce a tiny bit of water when you cook the rice with your electrical rice cooker so that the rice wouldn't be mushy and still fluffy.
3) When the rice is cook, spoon it out and let cool (you can spread it on a flat baking tray), meanwhile, beat 4 to 5 eggs with 1/4 teaspoon of salt (depends on the size of your eggs and how many portions you are going to cook), set aside. Put rice in a big bowl and get ready to start frying.
4) Use peanut oil instead of sesame oil, because sesame oil is easy to burn and loose its flavour in high temp. right away!
Directions:
1) You need a real hot stove and a big wok, heat the wok on high heat till you can see smoke coming up (the steam of the air) and that's hot enough to add 3 or 4 tablespoon of cold oil - remember - hot wok + cold oil, season the wok with your spatula.
2) Within a few seconds, you can tell the oil is hot enough, reduce heat to medium or slightly lower (depends on how hot the heat be generated by your stove) pour egg mixture into wok, stir quickly for a few seconds, add rice into wok while the egg are still 30% cooked.
Below is a photo showing you that the egg mixture is cooked too fast in the hot oil and it can't coat the rice anymore (about 85% cooked, I would say)
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...
3) Toss rice and egg mixture to combine quickly to "coat" the rice, keep the wok as hot and if you find the ingredients are too much that the wok isn't hot enough, turn heat to high again, if you think the heat is too hot and part of your rice starts burning, remove the wok to a cold stove and continue to stir fry quickly. Then put the wok back to the hot stove. The action should be quick but organized.
4) Now it is time to add your other cooked ingredients (shrimps / roast pork or ham) to the egg fried rice, add salt to taste, toss to combine, sprinkle green onions. Turn off heat.
5) Sprinkle sesame oil to your rice, toss again till rice is shiny. If you do not want the sesame flavour. You can sprinkle a teaspoon of cooked peanut oil to your fried rice to make it shiny.
Restaurant Style cooking usually use a lot of oil in fried rice, the trick is they add a teaspoon or a tablespoon of cooked oil as the final touch.
Note: You can stir fry the ham and roast pork (cubes) together because they are cooked meat but still you also have to put them on paper towel to drain the oil after you stir fried them, they contain food colouring, I would suggest you to mix them with your fried rice at the very last moment, so that they are hot enough and you can avoid the red food colouring spoiling your beautiful yellow coated rice.
I only season my fried rice with salt and I like it simple and the yellow colour so I never add soy sauce. I sometimes season my seafood fried rice with salt and a lot of freshly ground black pepper to spice it up. If you do not mind your fried rice look a bit light brown in colour, you may add 1 or 2 teaspoon of oyster sauce in the wok when you mix the shrimps, char siu and ham to the egg fried rice, would that be the "secret" of the take away which you refered?
P.S. If you have a strong arm that you can hold the wok and throw the food up in air a few times while you are stir frying, then, you can make really good fried rice, because the heat would get through the ingredients more evenly and shorten the cooking time. My dad can do that but I can't!
Good luck!!!
Try frying it with sesame oil added.
Best way to do it is to boil the rice till it is nearly done. Take it out and run cold water over it. Then get a wok and heat it up with a little sesame oil then (making sure the wok is very hot) add the rice. Put a little light soy in to colour the rice. Then the magical ingredient, nam pla, fish sauce. Available at most supermarkets. About a table spoon is fine.
After about 4 minutes take it out and wipe the wok. Get it hot again and in a DRY wok drop the rice in again and keep stirring. The rice should dry out a bit and look like little maggots. When it falls in individual grains from the spoon then it is ready. MMMMMMmmmhhhhhhhh!!!
xxR
You want to use cold rice, meaning rice that's already been cooked and at room temperature, not from the refrigerator. I don't cook the rice in oil, I use the sesame oil for flavoring. I spray my wok with Pam, then add my rice, scrambled eggs, diced ham pieces, scallions, bean sprouts, then soy sauce, sesame oil, and a generous amount of pepper. I just season the soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. You want to add enough soy sauce to make the rice brown, but make sure you taste it so you don't add too much and it ends up tasting like salt. The sesame oil really adds flavor, so don't be afraid to use more than what you'd usually use in a Chinese dish. My husband used to live in Okinawa during his deployments with the Marines, and he thinks my fried rice is just as good as what he got over there. He likes to add yellow mustard to his rice when eating it because he said that's what they do over there.
NEVER NEVER use sesame oil to cook Chinese food. The Chinese use it to flavor NEVER as a cooking oil. Peanut oil is the preferred oil.
The recipes for fried rice on this site IS true and accurate; it's very important to pay special attention to the tips on cooking the rice. Follow to the T and you'll not be disappointed.
www.chinesefood.about.com
Chinese Takeaway Fried Rice
Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
2 large eggs
1 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 large red pepper, diced
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen sweet peas
3 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce (can be found at asian grocer)
4 green onions, sliced
Steps:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet or wok at medium-high heat for 2 minutes.
2. Add eggs, cook 1 minute on each side.
3. Remove from skillet, chop and set aside.
4. Heat remaining 3 tbsp oil in skillet or wok, add ham and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until golden.
5. Add bell pepper and onion, stir-fry 5 minutes.
6. Add peas and next 3 ingredients, stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
7. Stir in reserved egg, and sprinkle with green onions.
Good luck!
There are good fried rice and western take away fried rice which differs in flavour. Actually fried rice in our Asian countries has so many styles and flavors.
I hope this helps to the one you are looking for...
Ingredients:
pre-cooked rice
mixed frozen vegetable
spring onion
egg pre-beaten
seasoning:
salt
sugar - little bit
pepper
chicken granules
msg - mono sodium glutamate
a dash superior soy sauce
this seasoning u can put on top of your rice before throwing it into the wok/pan.
before dishing out... just one dash of sesame oil.
too much will kill the egg aroma.
There is no closely kept secret... its actually base more on the amount of chicken powder you put in.
The more the tastier... but not too much until the tongue spat for water.
How you fry your egg with the amount of oil also adds a difference... not enough oil, egg too big lumps and couldn't spread around the rice and also couldn't extract the egg aroma out.
To the moisture of your rice... rice too wet, too soggy will dilute taste.
Do not fry too long as it would effect overall aroma.
Its a quick yet delicate dish to perfect it.
Flame also act as a factor to it all.
Use Hi flames but don't burn it.... too hot then remove away from the flame then bring the wok back in for more heat.
Happy experimenting.
The way I was taught to make egg fried rice in a Chinese takeaway was pre-cook the rice either day before or in the morning. Then when you are ready to use it break it up using your hands til its separate (no lumps) then add salt and MSG. Taste it as your going a long to get it the way you like. Mix in again using your hands. Heat some oil (they always use vegetable oil) add the beaten egg then add the rice.Mix thoroughly. The way to tell if it is hot enough is to try it. You can add any ingredients you want.
Use leftover rice from yesterday to best results. Fry an egg in some vegetable oil, add some fishcake, char siew and some salted fish. Then stir fry the rice in. I've never heard of adding sesame oil to fried rice. My mum says its just used to make the rice more fragrant.
Vanessa B got in first - and with the right answer!
It's sesame oil that gives chinese fried rice it's distinctive flavour - but be careful - it can be overpowering if you use three drops too much!
Add VERY little at the end of cooking to add flavour and fragrance.
make sure when you cook it the grains are separated and not mushy,leave to cool.mix a couple of eggs and fry in a pan with a little oil,while the eggs are cooking make sure you break it up into small pieces,add a little more oil then add rice and fry for a few minutes, add soy sauce to colour it a light brown make sure you don't add too much as you don't want to make it mushy.You can add cooked chicken to it or anything else you want, it always tastes good to me.
use fragrant rice cooked the day before. works everytime.
magical ingredient = MSG and peanut oil.
Try adding a little patis or ham ha (Fermented shrimp sauce). check your oriental stores. There's so many diff ways to make fried rice but I'll bet that taste your looking for is form ham ha. Good Luck and enjoy!