Chinese Egg Fried Rice

Asian Fried Rice 101

Fried rice is a Chinese dish, it call chow men in Chinese, it is a comfort food and often served as a complete dish. Rice is steamed and stir-fried in a hot wok and usually mixed with colourful vegetable and sauces. We all love fried rice because it is easy to make, take not more than 20 minutes to prepare, and the best part of all it is serve while it's still hot, it's very satisfying.

How to make your own fried-rice? Things you should know:

1. Rice - Use left over rice. Jasmine rice is the best to stir-fry. Rice is cook or steam by making sure rice is not to soft and it must separated. Measurement to cook rice is 1:1 water and rice.

2. Sauce - The main ingredients are soy sauce and light soy sauce. You can add fish sauce and oyster sauce. Make sure you do not add more fish sauce as you fried-rice could be taste pungent and smelly... opps.

3. Vegetables and spices - Often chopped carrot and green bean. You can add any types of vegetable you like. Cabbage and purple cabbage or corn will go along with the rice. Stir-fried mushroom is the best.

4. Seasoning - Restaurant bought fried-rice have MSG in it. You can make your own seasoning. Ground black pepper, salt, sugar, garlic powder.

5. Egg - Only use fresh egg. Stir-fry and take it off the wok before it start forming or half-cooked. Or leave it on the work and add other ingredients. It is you preference.

6. Garnishing - Scallion is the best. You can add lemon, cucumber or chili slices on top.

Types of fried-rice

In Asia practically fried-rice made of same ingredients and use the method. The only different is the availability the spices, vegetable and sauce in some country in Asia. For an example in: 

• India they have a version of fried rice, the famous one is call is polau, it is vegetarian and very rich in spices. India is spices heaven.
• In Malaysia and Indonesia they call it nasi goreng, use the same ingredients but we add more variety of vegetable in it. Vegetable quite cheap here and available in all supermarket.
• Thai's call it Kao(rice) Pad (fry) and exact copy of chinese fried-rice.
• While in Philipines calls as Sinangang it the exact version of chinese fried rice, and some like to add pork or chicken in it. 
• While in Japan the call it Yakimeshi it made of egg, meat and vegetables. Using the same ingredients as it in the Philipines.

Recipe type : Main dish, dinner or lunch
Cuisine : Chinese
Yield / Serves : 2
Prep time : 40 mins

Ingredients :
Item A 
Garlic - 3 nos, chopped
Mix vegetable, green beans and carrot (I add corn too, optional),  all will make 1 cup

Item B
Cooked rice, left over rice - 4 cups

Item C 
Eggs - 1 no

Item D - Sauce
Fish sauce - 1/2 tsp
Soy sauce/kecap manis - 1 tsp
Light soy sauce - 1tsp
Oyster sauce - 3/4 tsp

Item E - Seasoning
Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
Sugar (to substitute MSG) - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Item F
Cooking oil, peanut or sesame - 2 tbsp


Method:
1. Heat a wok and add 1 tbsp cooking oil until the oil become fragrant.
2. Add Item A, saute for 5 minutes in a low flame. Set aside.
3. On the same wok add 1 tsp cooking oil and add egg, swirl egg until egg sets against wok, when egg puffs, leave it half-cooked and remove from wok.  
3. On the same wok, add 1 tbsp cooking oil and add rice, saute for 5 minutes. Add Item D and stir constantly. Add Item E, stir-fry quickly, so that the rice get coated with the oil and sauce.
4. Add vegetable mix and egg. Keep on stirring until the rice,and vegetables are separated. Turn of the stove.
5. Serve fried rice with some side salad or chopped scallions

Notes: Be careful with light soy sauce and fish sauce as they are salty that you want to taste your fried-rice first before adding salt.