Tips for cooking Chinese-style fried rice

I was reading a health blog a few days ago that warned people against Chinese-style fried rice. The writer asserts that there is nothing healthy about it because it is a lot of carbs loaded with grease. In the following paragraph, however, she highly recommends stir fried dishes. I had to read the blog entry twice because the writer was contradicting herself and was not even aware of it. Chinese-style fried rice is a stir-fried dish. And because it often contains a little meat and a variety of vegetables, depending on the proportion of ingredients, it can be a complete meal by itself.

One of the challenges that faced me in the past was how to widen my choice of vegetables for fried rice. I used to think that leafy vegetables are a no-no because with the amount of stirring and tossing, and the time required to heat the cold rice through, they would get soggy before the cooking is done. Another challenge was how to substitute seafood for the usual pork but that was something I was able to solve early on — cook the seafood separately and add them to the wok during the last minute of cooking. That way, the small pieces of seafood (fish, primarily) need not be subjected to too much handling. It was the technique I used in one of the earliest entries posted in this blog — fish fillet fried rice which was published in April 19, 2003. Recently, I have been using a similar technique so that I could include strips of leafy vegetables in my fried rice.

But let’s go back to the seafood angle first. The technique is to fry the fish separately, right? Okay. There are other seafood, however, that cannot be subjected to the same treatment. Shrimps, for instance, or mussel meat. They will shrink terribly before they fry to a crisp. Worse, they will lose their flavor. How should they be handled then? Toss them in a little flour then drop them in very, VERY hot oil. The flour creates a crisp crust without overcooking the seafood. Color retention is better too.

Now, the vegetables. The usual procedure in cooking fried rice is to cook the meat first, followed by the vegetables, and finally, the rice is added. This is the simplest and the best procedure when you’re cooking a small amount of fried rice, say, for two to three people. See, the amount of rice is such that it will only take a very short while to heat through.

But when you’re cooking for six to eight people, the amount of time it takes to heat the rice multiplies. More rice, more time needed to get it hot. If you have shrimp and vegetables at the bottom of the wok, imagine how soggy they will get by the time the rice is heated through. The water in the rice and the slow build-up of steam will ruin them.

The solution? Cook the vegetables separately. Look at the photo. I dredged the shrimps in a little flour then stir fried them in very, very hot oil. I removed them with a slotted spoon and placed them on a plate. Then, I cooked the vegetables — the ones that cooked longest went in first and the pechay baguio strips went in last. Then, I removed them with a slotted spoon and placed them on a plate too.

Next, the rice went into the wok. I seasoned the rice, taking care not to over season it because the shrimps and vegetables had been seasoned too. When the rice was heated through, I returned the shrimps and vegetables to the wok. A few seconds of stirring and tossing and my fried rice was done without ruining the shrimps and vegetables.

If you want to add eggs, cook them separately too. Add the beaten eggs to the hot oil, cook just until set but with the top still soft, transfer to a chopping board and cut. Add them to the fried rice during the last 15 seconds or so of cooking.

And, to minimize the amount of oil, use only enough oil at every stage. Use two to three tablespoonfuls to start with. As you finish with each ingredient, add more oil only if it is necessary. And add only enough to ensure even cooking. You don’t need a cup of oil for every cooking stage.

And that is how to cook fried rice, the smart way.

Want some fried rice recipes? Okay, here are a few from the archive. Just remember that older techniques may have been used to cook them. Just refer back to this entry for a smarter way of cooking fried rice.

1. Chicken and asparagus fried rice
2. Pork teriyaki fried rice
3. Tinapang bangus (smoked milkfish) fried rice
4. Baby prawns and broccoli fried rice with oyster sauce
5. Nasi Goreng

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Pinoy food

• Pancit bihon (rice sticks with chicken and vegetables)
• Guinataang paco
• Biko (sticky rice cake)
• Fish and malunggay soup
• Spicy, herb-y adobong sitaw
• A soup called bachoy
• Adobong kangkong
• Chicken tinola and liver sauce
• Chicken soup a la picadillo
• Molo soup for a hot summer night

Experimental

• Lechon kawali stew
• Fish fillets in kalamansi sauce
• Ox tongue with gravy
• Pasta pronto
• Bulalo stew
• Chicken soup a la picadillo
• Pasta with tinapang bangus (smoked milkfish)
• Fish and fish eggs soup
• Yellow fin tuna and kamote (sweet potato) cakes
• Creamy Chicken & Vegetable Soup

Side Notes