Rice – What’s the secret for Chinese fried rice

chinese-cuisinefryingrice

I see a lot of recipes for fried rice, but never seem to be able to give the gorgeous lightly browned color (and therefore flavor) to my rice.

This is before adding soy sauce or anything else. Is this a question of heat, or quantity of oil? How do they do it in the restaurant (e.g. young chow fried rice)?

Best Answer

There are really only a few secrets to good fried rice:

  1. Day Old White Rice (Make it the day before, let it cool, place it in the fridge)
    • This I'd say is absolutely, the main thing.
    • The texture will NOT be right if you use freshly cooked rice. There will be too much moisture.
  2. HEAT!
    • Your Wok needs to be hot. You want everything to cook quickly.
  3. Cook stuff separately.
    • This is a follow-up from 2. You want it all to cook very quickly, a crowded pan will hinder that.
    • Cook Meat to 80%, take it out, cook the other stuff, add the meat back in.
  4. Don't touch it.
    • Unless you have a blazing professional burner, your food needs time against the wok. Put it in, leave it for a bit, mix it some more.
  5. Fish Sauce & Chinese Sausage
    • They add great flavour.

If it all seems complicated, it really isn't. Use day old rice & give it lots of heat.

Here are a couple of recipes that give further detail and have great explanations:

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