Andrew's Blog

A while back, I posted an article called Cooking Perfect Fried Rice, & if that title is true, then why are we here? Well, looking over that fried rice recipe, I realized that there are things that could have been done better. Moreover, over Christmas break, I spent several weeks not making fried rice. Getting home, I couldn't remember how to make the dish. As such, I needed a better method.

Specifically, I began to wonder if I could make a perfect rice recipe for frying (as eyeballing it was clearly producing wildly varying results). I began experimenting on a rice to water ratio that would produce perfect rice for frying. Unlike rice for eating, fried rice needs to be less watery (b/c if it's fully cooked in the cooker, it will turn to mush when you try to fry it). The trick is to produce a fried rice that is dryer than rice for eating with Chinese food (for instance) but isn't too dry, as overly dry rice will turn crunchy when you sear the rice. The ratio I use (350g of water to 300g of rice) produces rice that's dry but dry like dried fruit and not at all crispy.

In any case, I think this more thorough recipe (I'm tempted to call it Thomas-Kelleresque) represents the master statement on fried rice (as far as I'm concerned). That said, I'll probably keep tinkering with the marinade, as this is just my current thinking. I used to put things like vinegar or mirin in the marinade, but I find that marinating in dark soy & sesame oil really opens up the flavor of the chicken without overpowering it.

Also, a final note: use the highest quality eggs you can. With this fried rice, the chicken is just an additional flavoring component for the real star: the eggs. I've made this when we've had to buy cheap eggs for one reason or another and the dish lacks color and flavor. We regularly buy Eggland's Best Cage Free Eggs & have been very happy with the quality and price.

A More Perfect Restaurant Grade Fried Rice

For Rice:

• 350g water
• 150g jasmine rice
• 75g long grain rice
• 75g Korean sweet rice

For Chicken:

• 1/4 of a boneless chicken breast, diced finely (1/8")
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (table salt actually works best)
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp mung bean starch (use corn starch if mung bean starch is unavailable)

Other:

• 1/4 onion
• 1 scallion
• 1/2 tsp oyster sauce or 1/8t MSG
• 1 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/8c frozen peas, defrosted under hot tap water
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp dry sherry
• 3 Tbsp + 2 tsp peanut oil, divided

Method:

1. Do this at least 3 hours before eating (can also be done overnight). Combine the rice and water in a rice cooker. Cook until the rice is done (according to cooker). Remove rice to a glass bowl and place, uncovered, in a refrigerator until ready to cook the fried rice. Turn the rice over (it will be pretty sticky) halfway through the cooling process. You can fudge the cooling time, because the rice just needs to be cool, which should take about an hour, but to get it truly right, it should be in the fridge for about two hours.
2. Half an hour before cooking, combine the diced chicken, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and stir to combine (the baking soda will be completely dissolved). Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes. Place the chicken in a mesh strainer and run water over it to remove the baking soda. Also, wash out and dry the bowl the chicken was in. Let the chicken drip dry, but do not dry with a paper towel; chicken that has been processed with baking soda is mind-blowingly sticky. Return the chicken to the cleaned and dried bowl. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and starch. Stir until the starch is dissolved and the chicken has uniformly turned a nice, mahogany color. Let sit for 15 minutes.
3. While the chicken marinates, finely dice the onion and thinly slice the scallion. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the sherry, and scramble.
4. When the chicken is finished marinating, remove the cooled rice from the refrigerator. Using your hands, break up the large puck of rice (it will probably be really sticky) into some smaller pieces (you don't have to completely break it up, but you are looking to reduce a large puck to around 10, half-dollar sized pucks). Add the salt, oyster sauce/MSG, and the peas to the rice.
5. Cooking the chicken. Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds. Add the 2 tsp of peanut oil and let the oil heat up (this shouldn't take long). Add the chicken to the wok and stir fry until the pieces are cooked through, about 30 seconds-1 minute. Remove the chicken and add to the bowl with the rice, trying not to get too much of the left over oil on the rice. Carefully, wipe out the wok with a paper towel.
6. Finishing up, pt. 1. Heat the wok over high heat again, for 30 seconds. Add 3 Tbsp peanut oil to the wok and let the oil heat up. Add the onion and scallion to the oil and cook (you don't have to stir too much) until the onion starts to blister and crinkle and the sides of the onion pieces turn brown, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
   
7. Finishing up, pt. 2. Add the egg. The key to stir-frying the egg is, until the egg is set, to keep it constantly moving and keep it out of the middle of the wok. If the egg sits in the middle of the pan, it will burn to the bottom and you'll have to scrap it off, which is a pain. To do this, I pour the egg out of the bowl I scrambled them in with one hand while moving a spatula from the center of the wok to the edge in a rapid motion to keep as much of the unset egg from sticking to the bottom. Once all the egg is added, just keep the egg moving around in the wok until the egg curds have dried out (it'll happen quick).
8. Finishing up, pt. 3. Add the contents of the bowl to the wok and, working quickly, begin to get the rice down towards the bottom, because the eggs will start to burn if they sit on the bottom for long. Continue stirring and mixing until the rice takes on a golden color (and there are no white chunks left) and you can start to smell the rice browning (it will smell like rice but smokey). At this point, spread the rice out as flat as you can get across the whole space of the wok and let the rice sear for 15 seconds. Remove from heat and get the rice out of the wok immediately (even if not serving immediately). It will burn if you don't get it out.

Recipe Notes

• If you wanted to make some other kind of fried rice (ham, barbecued pork, tofu, etc.), you could just cook it (or cut it up if it's cooked already, like ham) and add it to the rice in place of adding the chicken.
• If you don't feel comfortable using MSG, you could always add oyster sauce (which is a natural MSG source). That said, you could always just add neither, but the dish benefits from the kick of some MSG.
• I've tested the rice method in both an expensive Zojirushi cooker & a cheap Aroma cooker. In both cases, the rice came out the same, so it seems to work.

Enjoy!