Conference turris::cooks

I'm not crazy about fried rice, mind you, though I do a great deal of wok
cooking (mostly Hunan style), but I think I may know what is missing,
because it is what I usually don't like about fried rice.  The reason
fried rice is often golden brown (or darker) is because molasses soy
(aka black soy, thick soy, etc.) is added when it is fried.  I don't
like molasses soy in most food because it is both sweet-ish and very
salty (even as soy sauce goes), but that may be what is missing from
your recipe.  Most restaurants use it (unless you order "special fried
rise" or something), and most cookbooks don't.

On the other hand, there's nothign wrong with plain boiled rice as a
foil for fine oriental food....

Enjoy!

/Charlotte

WE MAKE "DHINESE"RICE AT HOME BY COOKING RICE FOR 20 MINUTES IN CHICKEN
BROTH(ON SIMMER WITH COVER) THEN ADD TO FRYING PAN ALONG WITH PARTIALLY
COOKED ONIONS, SCRAMBLED MEE  EGG, CHUNKS OF BEEF FRIED IN SMALL AMOUNT
OF MARGERINE WITH TABLESPOON OF GRAVY MASTER.  THEN ADD DASH OF RROUND
GINGER, SMALL AMOUNT OF SOY SAUCE, BUT AS MUCH GRAVY MASTER AS IT TAKES
TO GIVE THE :RIGHT:COLOR.  COOK OVER MED HEAT, STIRRING, UNTIL SOMEWHAT
DRY AND YOU WIND UP WITH AN EXCELLENTY RICK  RICK

 We usually just make a batch of white rice, then fry it in a wok with soy
sauce, chicken or beef strips, an egg, some sprouts, and some carrots,
peas, slivers of water chestnuts and whatnot. It always comes out good, but not
quite as dark as what you normally get in a Chinese Restaurant.

 The Doctah

This is the recipe that I always used, originally from the Joyce Chen cookbook:


			Plain Fried Rice

	4 cups	cooked white rice (approximately; I use cooked rice from 1 cup
		    raw rice)
	1 cup	fresh bean sprouts
	2-3	eggs
	1 tsp	salt
	1 scallion diced
	1/2 tsp	chinese rice wine or pale dry sherry
	5 TBS	vegetable oil (peanut oil is best)
	1 tsp	thick soy sauce

1) You can cook the rice in any fashion.  It should be on the fluffy rather
than the sticky side.  The rice can be cooked ahead of time and the temperature
does not matter (i.e., you don't have to cook the rice just before doing this
dish and keep it warm).

2) Break the eggs in a mixing bowl, add the salt and wine, and beat with a wire
whisk until mixed thoroughly.

3) Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok (I prefer a large flat skillet) over
medium to high heat.  Add the scallion and stir-fry for about 15 seconds.

4) Add the egg mixture and scramble, breaking up the large pieces of egg.
Keep frying beyond the usual scrambled egg stage until the concoction is quite
dry, but try not to let the eggs start browning (a few brown spots are OK).

5) Add the rice, bean sprouts, and thick soy sauce.  Stir-fry continuously
for 8-10 minutes.

NOTES:

- Thick soy sauce is a molasses-like concoction.  The Koon Chun brand is
  labelled "thick soy sauce".  I've seen it called "Chinese brown gravy" as
  well.  You can substitute Bisto or Gravy Master, if you can't find the
  real thing.  Dark soy sauce will work, but take care that the added moisture
  doesn't make the mixture too messy.

- This is a wonderful way to recycle leftovers.  You can add cooked peas,
  cooked diced pork, beef, chicken, or shrimp, etc., at the same time as the
  bean sprouts to give Pork Fried Rice, Chicken Fried Rice, etc.  Be creative.

--PSW

    
    
                      Pork fried rice
    
     I cook up the pork chops first in whole not in pieces. Then thin slice
    them, that way you can decide how big of portions of meat you want in
    the rice. Then slice up four stalks of green onions (clean thorough),
    then cut up a piece of garlic the size of your fingernail(dice up fine).
    Use about two cups of bean sprout.I prefer calrose white rice long or
    short grain it doesnt matter (precooked) and cold.
    
     1) Use the same pan you cooked the chops in preferably a big one and
    the same grease it produced while cooking. Put your chopped pork chop
    pieces in the pan and on the side cook up 2-3 eggs scrambled up. Now
    put your white rice in the pan add a little sesame seed oil one
    teaspoon (depending on your taste some people like more). mix the rice
    around then add your bean sprouts and green onions. at the end add your
    soy sauce (chun king) is just fine.Keep the ingredients low budget.  
    Try it with shrimp!!!!!
     

    	No one has yet mentioned that I have found that the rice should be
    cold before frying. So I make the rice up ahead of time and stick it in
    the fridge. That way I have cold, cooked, fluffy white rice to fry.
    Otherwise, I get a sticky pile of goo when I make fried rice.

    
    
     I did mention that the rice should be cold at the end of my first
    paragraph, But not cold that you have to put it in the fridge. Just
    cook it a night before, and leave it out. If you put it in the fridge
    to long it willget to hard and very brittle, and very dry. 
     I cook my rice in a rice cooker and leave it in there. If you cook
    it in a regular pot it take a lot of heat adjustments, and a big diff-
    erence between a gas range and a electric range on heat adjustments.
    
                        White rice..
    
      I prefer calrose long or short it doest matter, except the short
    grain is more stickier. Long grain rice separates easier and is more
    fluffier. Fill the pot with 2-3 cups of rice, that will feed 3-4
    people just fine. I normally clean the rice pretty thorough, real
    good. Fill with water clean drain process 3-4 times, the packages 
    says you dont have to. It recommends not to clean to keep the vitamins
    in but I still clean it.
    
                   .........................
                   .                       .
                   .                       .
                   .-----------------------.{the water line
                   .                       .
                   .........................{level the rice when adding water
                   .........................
                   .........................
    
                   add about 1/2 inch of water first turn the heat up
                  till the water disapates. then lower the heat make
                  sure the lid of the pot stays on. the steam will cook
                  the rice the rest of the way. if you never cooked rice
                  before it'll take a couple times to get the process down
                  pretty good.  
    
    
    
                                               Good Luck

    I have prepared my fried rice as described in .1    It come out like
    the fried rice you get in the "real" chinese restaurants....light in
    color, mild flavor.
    
    Does anyone have a recipe for the fried rice we get in the chinese
    (polynesian) restaurants here in the Boston area.  This rice is dark in
    color, strong in flavor.
    
    Thanks

RE: .6

>    Does anyone have a recipe for the fried rice we get in the chinese
>    (polynesian) restaurants here in the Boston area.  This rice is dark in
>    color, strong in flavor.

.2 should give that result.  The key is to use thick soy sauce (Chinese
molasses) instead of light or dark soy sauce.  You can vary the color with
the amount that you use.  The other thing is that
Chinese/Polynesian restaurants usually lace their fried rice pretty heavily
with MSG.  My personal preference is to leave it out, but if you're really
after the "just like in the restaurants" flavor, it might end up being a key
ingredient.

--PSW

    Try notes 1243.3 and 1243.4     But take heed as others had mentioned;
    go easy on the thick soy; it goes a long way. And if you are adverse to
    salt/MSG because of bad press you might want to leave it out and add to
    flavor at the table when people say " . . . it's great, but something's
    missing."
    
    

reminder to those with food allergies:

MSG is a product of soy.  for those of us with an allergy to soy, MSG is not
a good idea.

	D-who-is-allergic-to-all-soy-products

RE: .9

If you have a general allergy to soy products, the MSG is going to be the least
of your worries with Chinese fried rice.  There's also soy sauce in it, whether
you add purified MSG or not.  If you have soy allergy, the whole recipe is out.

--PSW

You can substitute fish sauce for soy if you are soy-sensitive... (however some
commercial fish sauces contain a little msg).

/. Ian .\

    
    I made a BIG batch of fried rice last night.  Its great...
    
    I combined all the recipes into one.
    
    Thanks for all your replies.
    
    Mike
    

Does anyone have Martin Yan's Everybody's Woking cookbook? My mother saw him
make Vegetarian Fried Rice on his tv show and the recipe is suppose to be 
available in that cookbook. If someone would type in the recipe here, I'd really
appreciate it ( and so would my mother!).

Thanks,

Linda

    re .9 
    I lived for a time in a city of multi-culture when I (Caucasian) was
    the minority.  Chinese food was very, very much in evidence in all
    local restraurants.  We ate boiled white rice with every meal, they
    served it with eggs in the morning.  
    
    I never saw Fried Rice anywhere, so I asked one day if they ever served
    Fried Rice and the two Chinese people I was eating with asked me Why in
    the world anyone would want to eat Fried Rice, all it was was leftover
    food thrown together and reheated.
    
    One day they did have it in the hotel cafeteria and I tried some, sure
    enough it tasted like old food just mishmashed today (horrible). 
    It's interesting how foods change from one place to another.
    
    Phyllis
    

>>                                     Fried Rice, all it was was leftover
>>  food thrown together and reheated.
    
>>  One day they did have it in the hotel cafeteria and I tried some, sure
>>  enough it tasted like old food just mishmashed today (horrible). 
>>  It's interesting how foods change from one place to another.

However, it is possible to make really great tasting food from leftovers.  Even
leftovers that are just thrown together and reheated!

    Add 1/4 tps of 5-spice per scrambled egg used in fried rice. The aroma
    and taste are wonderful, without over powering the fried rice.
    
    Adding too much 5-spice causes the scrambled egg to come out grey.
    Don't ask me why: Yellow eggs + brown 5-spice = grey scrambled egg.
    They still tasted wonderful, but it was a bit disconcerting, when
    you're not expecting it, to find little grey flecks of a soft substance 
    throughout fried rice.
    
    Angus

Probably should start a five spice note...

I have also found a wonderful way to use this spice.  Marinate chicken breasts
in Teriyaki (I use Kikkoman(SP?)), then sprinkle lightly with 5 spice powder
and grind gourmet peppercorns (mixture of white, pink, green and black) on top.
Bake as usual...delicious!

I also like to add a bit to fresh fruit salad occasionally!

Laura

HI,

Having read all the way through this note I still can't work out why 
the fried rice I made last night did not turn out the way I hoped it 
would.

I had leftover boiled rice from a couple of nights ago. I heated the 
frypan as high as I could on a smaller-size hotplate (large one is 
broken on my stove, must get the landlords to fix it) and used not too 
much oil, I thought.

The rice sort of stuck to the frypan a LOT and didn't brown really at 
all; except for the bits that stuck, which became rice-sludge anyway.

I removed the rice after a while and fried up some veggies in a little 
more oil, and added some soy as they were getting cooked. Then removed 
them too and fried a beaten egg up (added a pinch of garlic salt to 
that - my latest passion - made it WNODERFUL); then returned all the 
ingredients to the pan and mixed them while warming them through.

It tasted fine, but was more like Boiled Rice with Stirfried Veggies 
than Fried Rice.

Am I using the wrong cooking oil? Wrong heat? Wrong texture of rice??

Please help!
~Sheridan~
:^)

    Offhand, I'd say your rice was still too wet. Rice, cooked wet, will
    still be wet and mushy days after it was cooked. I assume that your frying
    pan is either well seasoned and/or you heated until really hot before
    adding oil.
    
    What did the rice look like when you dug it out of the pan you initially 
    cooked it in? If the grains (especially near the bottom) were extremely
    fat, to the point of disintegrating as you merely look at them, and
    there were traces of moisture on them, then the rice was definitely too
    wet. Is it possible to get fried rice out of this consistency of rice,
    but you need an aweful lot of oil.  Another clue is when you mash a
    lump of rice to separate the grains, the rice doesn't so much separate
    as attempt to turn into mushy rice sheet.
    
    I would take any rice out of the pan I cooked it in, flake it as much
    as possible to separate the grains, then let it sit around for a couple
    of days. When cooking I try and break up any lumps, before frying the
    rice. Alternatively, I cook rice dry i.e. add sufficient water to just
    cook the rice so it has no hard bits. I find that the cooking instructions
    contained packets of rice leads to wet rice.
    
    Angus

    Sounds like the rice was overcooked in the first place before you added
    it to the oil.Also if the rice has a sticky texture there is still
    starch on it and this will spoil your efforts to get good evenly cooked
    fried rice. The chinese seem to cook their rice more al-dente than us
    and this certainly helps.What I do is cook my rice(10 mins-ish),blanch 
    with cold water and rinse thoroughly to wash off all the starch. I then 
    drain the rice removing as much water as posible and add to a very hot
    wok with the egg or whatever thrown in and cooked just before.
    Works for me!
    Geoff.
    ps.Sesame oil adds a different flavour for a change.
    

    
    
    Rep .21  Sheridan
    
    >>> sticky fried rice
    
    
    The best method I've found is to saute the rice in a small amount 
    of oil before adding the water to the rice. You want to saute the
    rice just until it turns opaque but not brown. Also I cut the water
    down by 1/4 Cup or so. <ie; 1 cup rice, 1 3/4 cups water> By first 
    sauting and then cutting the water back you'll end up with a firmer
    rice with all of the kernels separated. After the rice has completely 
    cooled use a fork to separate all of the kernels and make your fried
    rice. 
    
    -mike
     
    
    

We skip the saute, but use even less water: 2-1/2 cups water for 2 cups
rice (in a rice cooker).

b

    I thought washing the rice before cooking was the preferred method for
    removing starch.  I always wash the rice if it is anything but standard
    boxed long-grain American rice.  (I often make brown rice or basmati or
    whatever - always washed.)
    
    D!

    Before and after is best I've found to get it really clean.

Washing the rice removes much of the nutritional component.

			Steve

Not if what you're washing is brown (unpolished) rice, that is, rice that 
still has the bran on.  Washing rice only removes the nutritional component 
from "enriched" rice, that is, rice that has had B vitamin complex added to 
it to replace what was lost when the bran was polished off.

--PSW

re -1  I take it you weren't attempting to make chinese fried rice??

Firstly, this is made from COOKED rice, preferably cooked the day before.

Secondly, fried rice must be fried from COLD.  ie. stick it in the fridge till
you're ready to fry.

Thirdly, if you're adding veges, meat, egg etc, cook/fry these first, adding the
rice last.

and finally, the oil MUST be smokey hot, and wok well seasoned!  

If you're going to "fry" your rice from raw, that sounds more like a risotto
to me.

regards,
Joyce

    RE -1
    
    >>If you're going to "fry" your rice from raw, that sounds more like a
    >>risotto to me
    
    That's interesting - all the chinese cookery books I have indicate you 
    must cook the rice in such a way.  
    
    Which is the correct way - has anyone tried both ways and which gives 
    the best result?
    
    

 I agree with Joyce. 

    	I've always done it as Joyce suggests. Precooked cold rice doesn't
    turn into mush when you fry it...assuming the wok is hot enough.

I've always used Joyce's technique--making fried rice from previously 
cooked rice, preferably made the day before.  This is the first time I've 
ever heard of doing a risotto job on the raw rice to make fried rice.  All 
my Chinese cookbooks say to start with plain leftover cooked rice.

--PSW

 
re .32  I kid you not, that *is* the way you're supposed to make Chinese
fried rice.  I'm Chinese; not that that's supposed to make me any sort of
expert, but I do know how to fry rice.  Try it.

Good luck.
Joyce

    I think there's alot of confusion in this notes string.
    
    Sheridan, the author of .30, was having trouble making fried rice as
    it was coming out too sticky and mushy; see earlier note. The diagnosis 
    was that the rice was too wet. Solutions were then proffered as to how
    to get the rice cooked but dry enough to make a good fried rice. The main
    advise was use less water.
    
    The solution that is causing the most confusion is the 'saute the rice
    in oil before boiling method'. This method of sauting the rice is one
    I've often seen in Indian cooking, and no doubt many other cultures use
    it as well. From what I can see, sauting the rice does the following a)
    imparts (as Sheridan points out in .30) a flavour to the rice (this
    would be of the oil used, a 'fried' aroma, and of any herbs/spices
    added during sauting) and b) I would suspect the rice absorbs some of
    the oil and so helps separate the rice grains when it is cooked.
    
    However, after sauting the rice, Sheridan went ahead and cooked it in
    the conventional manner, but (correct me if I'm wrong) adding far less
    water than usual so that the rice didn't come out mushy.
    
    The Chinese tend not to bother sauteing their rice; though correct me
    if I'm wrong. As Joyce points out, the best fried rice is made from
    rice a day or more old. This gives the rice a chance to dry out: though
    if you've cooked your rice wet you'll need a few days for it to dry out
    and its best to attempt to separate the grains as early on a possible.
    
    It is possible to make perfectly good fried rice from freshly boiled
    rice, but as I said earlier the rice has to be cooked 'dry' i.e. a
    small amount of water added rather than the excessive amounts suggested
    by the instructions contained on the sides of rice boxes/bags.
    
    So you pays your money and takes your choice, or: it depends how lazy
    you are and what affect (taste) you are trying to achieve. 
    
    Personally, I'm going to have a word with an Indian friend of mine. She
    once cooked this extraordinary rice: a saute in oil with some spices
    followed by a boil in chicken stock to produce a dry rice. What ever
    she did, she produced a highly aromatic rice full of chicken flavours.
    I figure using this rice as a basis for a fried rice would produce an
    awesome and mind blowing result.
    
    Angus

    Angus
    
    Good point - I think your note has hit the nail on the head.
    
    Will try it with the leftover rice sometime.
    
    Cheers
    julia

    I understood the saute in oil prior to cooking was to coat the rice
    with oil to prevent it from sticking.  It's usually done when making
    pilaf, which is what I believe Angus is describing in the end of his
    note.  When I make fried rice, I used 2-day old steamed white rice.  I
    let it sit in the refrigerator uncovered, so it gets good and dry.
    When I make pilaf, I saute the raw rice in oil first before adding the
    stock (beef, chicken, or vegetable, depending on who is eating it!).
    Sarah

    
    
    Rep. <the last four or five>
    
     Since I'm the one who started the "saute the rice first" string
    I'll explain why I sugguested it. First I had all of the problems
    with mushy fried rice as the reported earlier. Then I tried just
    cutting back on the amount of water when I cooked the rice. This
    helped but even with storing the rice in the refrigerator for a
    day or two the final fried rice was slightly mushy and sticky.
    Which wasn't the final product I was looking for. After making
    fried rice from leftover pilaf one day I stumbled on the saute
    first process which gave me the fried rice I was looking for.
    
    I even have used just cooked rice and made very good fried rice from
    this method. Having cold rice does make the best final product though.
    I believe the saute process changes the starch on the outside of the 
    rice so it doesn't stick. I'm sure somebody in the conference can
    explain the exact starch process. 
    
    -mike
    

    One of the recipes I got from a friend of mine calls for leftover rice,
    cold, which you rub between your wet hands to separate the grains. 
    Works great.
    
    Dana