Cooking Chinese Fried Rice at Home

Fried rice is perhaps one of the most recognizable Chinese dishes known to Westerners. It's also one of the rare takeout dishes that is also authentically Chinese, meaning that you will find it being served in Chinese households all around the world. Rice is the staple grain of the Asian diet and feeds more people across the world than any other food. Fried rice was born out of frugality, with cooks looking to do something with leftovers. Adding a few pieces of extra meat and vegetables to the leftover grains creates a complete different dish that is both tasty and economical. In some respects, you could make the argument that this dish is the original casserole. Making fried rice is easier than you think. Below are some tips to make Chinese fried rice at home.

First of all, you need to prepare the rice. Many recipes will call for day-old or cold rice, but that's not really necessary. The logic behind this is that when the grains are cold, they don't stick together, making a clumpy mess in your wok or skillet. While having cold grains is a bonus, it's not essential. After all, having cold rice on hand requires planning and many people are not going to have the forethought to prepare it for the next day. Indeed, freshly cooked can be used, but it needs to be cooled down slightly. In order to keep the grains from sticking to one another, you can add one or two beaten eggs to the grains and mix it around. The raw eggs will coat each grain, preventing them from sticking together during cooking. You should also add a pinch of salt at this time to season the dish.

Next, you need to prepare all of your secondary ingredients. These are the ingredients that will flavor your dish. As to what to put in, let your imagination run wild. The combinations are limitless. This is a great time to get rid of leftover or foods that are about to expire. For example, if you have some left over chicken from the night before, cut it up into little pieces for this dish. Perhaps you have some bean sprouts that are a little past their prime. Add them in as well. You can add almost anything to the dish and it will taste good. Cooks even add ingredients like pineapple when they are making it. The only thing that you need to do is to make sure that you have cut all of your ingredients up into small, bite sized pieces in order to have even cooking time and to make eating easier.

Once you have prepped all of your ingredients, it's time to get cooking. This is the one instance when having a non-stick skillet in your Chinese kitchen works well. First, you need to heat the skillet over high heat and add some oil or vegetable cooking spray. Once the pan is hot, you should add the rice. Let the rice sit on the bottom of the pan for one to two minutes undisturbed. After that, mix the rice around and continue to let it fry. You want the rice to have a nice, golden color and to look slightly crispy. Once the rice is done, remove it to a platter and keep it warm. Next, add in all of your meats and vegetables to the pan and stir fry until heated through. Return the rice to the pan and then stir to combine.

After everything is combined, you need to season your dish. There are two schools of thought when it comes to seasoning this dish. Purist will insist that you should not add soy sauce to the dish and that you should only season with salt. Others will say that you should add soy sauce or oyster sauce to the dish to boost up the flavor. The decision is up to you, but Chinese traditionally do not add soy sauce, although your favorite takeout restaurant probably does. Anyhow, whichever way you choose to go, you will still have a tasty dish.

Making Chinese fried rice at home is easy and a great way to get rid of leftovers. Once you learn the basic technique, you can adapt the recipe to suit your tastes and choice of ingredients.