Monday, April 7, 2014

酱油炒饭 Authentic Restaurant Style Soy Sauce Fried Rice

It took me many years to figure out how to make fried just like I used to order from restaurants in Taiwan. It was so so worth it. In this post I will teach you several techniques straight from the mouths of  Chefs that will help you get authentic restaurant style results. Whenever I serve this to my family it always brings big smiles to their faces. I hope you and your family will enjoy it as well.

This is specifically soy sauce fried rice. There are many types of fried rice with their own special techniques that I will teach you in the future. This is the most common type of fried rice served in restaurants outside China and the most common style of fried rice in Taiwan. Of course, the variety's of soy sauce fried rice are many. Fried rice restaurants in Taiwan have a large variety in their menus. Some of my favorites included BBQ pork Fried Rice, Hawaiian Fried Rice and Shrimp Fried rice. Feel free to add meat, sea food and even fruit. 

Let me tell you three tips that will totally transform your fried rice: 
1) First tip is to pour the soy sauce or liquid seasoning of your choice over day old rice (or older, my favorite is two day old rice). Mix it well and allow the rice time to soak it up. If you add soy sauce or other liquid seasonings while cooking, the rice will not be able to crisp up and take on that fried flavor.
2) Fry the vegetables separate from the rice. The rice needs to fry on it's own (except for garlic and ginger as these season the rice). Vegetables release water and will stop the rice from crisping up.
3) After frying the rice til it is dry and starts to crisp up crack a whole egg over the rice. Then quickly stir the egg into the rice and continue to stir until the rice is dry and the egg is no longer visible. This does not replace any scrambled eggs you may decide to add to your fried rice. The egg coats and then fries onto the grains of rice making the texture very light, chewy and crispy.

If you would like a white fried rice, instead soak the rice in a mixture of 1 egg beaten, salt and chicken bouillon (overnight for best results).
I encourage you to look at my post on gas stoves vs. electric stoves here before attempting this dish. Even if you have an electric stove and don't own a wok you can still try out the recipe but the result may not be as I promise here in this post. Unfortunately fried rice is one of those dishes that is really difficult to achieve great results in without the help of the high temperatures that a gas stove can reach and instant temperature change.

Ingredients
2 cups day old, chilled rice (two day old rice is actually my favorite)
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
6 cloves garlic
1/2 Tbsp. ginger, minced
1 cup carrot, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups cabbage, chopped fine
1 cup snow peas or sugar snap pea cut into small pieces
3 green onions, chopped

Mix the soy sauce into the rice evenly and make sure any clumps of rice are broken up.
Chopped all the vegetables and set aside.
Heat 2 Tbsp. of oil over high heat and stir fry carrots and peas 1-2 minutes or until tender crisp. Remove and set aside.
Heat another 2 Tbsp. of oil over high heat. Add in garlic and ginger and stir-fry a few second (don't brown the garlic, it should still be white but just starting to release it's fragrance). Add in rice and stir-fry constantly until it separates and starts to look dry. If the rice is sticking to the bottom you may add more oil. Crack the egg over the rice then stir-fry constantly until the rice appears dry again.
Add in cabbage and green onion and toss with the rice.
Add carrot and peas back into the pan and toss with the rice. Taste and season to taste with salt and pepper if needed.
Remove to a serving plate.
So so delicious. I can just have a plate of vegetable fried rice for supper and be totally satisfied.

3 comments :

  1. Yummy!! Tried today, and it turned out wonderful. I have been making my fried rice all backward :-) Just curious, what "other liquid" would you suggest beside or in addition to soy sauce?

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    1. Yay! I'm so glad that it turned out well for you! One of the great things about fried rice is that there is a lot of room for your own creativity. It is the casserole of the East. My suggestions for other liquids would include chili sauce, pineapple juice, ketchup, and curry paste. For thick sauces such as ketchup or curry paste, you add it after the rice is fried. Push the rice to the side a bit, and briefly fry the sauce for about 30 seconds. Then mix it in with rice. Don't be afraid to experiment with other sauces and ingredients

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  2. This is SO delicious! Exactly how it tastes from Beijing. Thank you for sharing!

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