Fried rice

I can cook fried rice OK. But I kind of want to own it. Maybe you can help!

To begin, my own starting point is Jet Tila's 101 Asian Dishes....

...It's deceptively simple, one of the toughest dishes to make well. Also known as Yangzhou fried rice, from the province of the same name, there are two classic versions. "Silver-covered Gold" technique is cooking the egg first until cooked then tossing in the rice and ingredients after. This is how my grandmother made it when I was a kid. As my career blossomed and I cooked with some masters while in Vegas, I learned the "Gold-covered Silver" technique, where you surround the rice in wet egg and cook it together. I realized this makes the rice light, fluffy and amazing..."

What I do is the simpler first one. I put fire under the wok and wait. I put oil in the hot wok and wait. Then I put beaten eggs into the hot oil and let it harden around the bottom and puff up around the edges like a fancy white wreath. Then I flip that, immediately dump in refrigerated leftover brown rice on top of the egg and start mashing it together with a wooden spatula or spoon or whatever. (If there's a trick to doing this with cooking chopsticks, I haven't figured it out.) Then pretty soon, I dump in the preheated goodies and mix that up. Then I dump in the sauce and mix that up. Once the egg is flipped, it's done in five minutes or less.

Goodies can be leftovers or freshly diced veggies or whatever.

Sauce, for me, is usually shoyu, gochujang and whatever else seems good, but I've also used leftover coconut curry.

maybe half the time I get it too wet and have to either serve it goopy or overcook it -- I'm not sure yet which I prefer, but getting it right is better.

It's always a hit with the family even when I'm not particularly satisfied.

So, what do you do and what should I do better? You can post a recipe but I'm really looking to reach the heuristic level of doing this.

I think it really matters what kind you like most!!
I like egg, but not a lot of egg, so the coat-the-rice-with-egg kind of rice is not my style. I do like more thai-style (using fish sauce), and failing that I prefer a sprinkle of whatever saltiness you use (chinese chicken boullion powder is classic, but it could be vegeta, or just salt...) and large quantities of sesame seeds and scallions instead. My go-to recipe came out of a Japanese ladies' cooking magazine, super simple.
If I have some leftover pork (which never happens) I like to replicate the chinese restaurant version I grew up on, which involves a good amount of lard and dark soy sauce for the color and caramelly taste.
For all of them, I find the pot has to be screaming hot, with more oil than common sense suggests, the rice should be as hard as possible (throw it in the freezer if you can) and the less liquid ingredients you add, the better to avoid the mushies.

My goal with fried rice is usually to get it to taste like the stuff I buy at a takeout place, so it isn't particularly healthy. But I hear their secret is having a super hot wok. I don't think most home kitchens can match their heat, but I try to get my stove and wok as hot as possible.

I also add a glob of butter when I add my rice. If you've ever been to one of those hibachi restaurants where they cook in front of you, you see they do that as well.

The final thing I do before pulling it off the heat, which some folks may disagree with, is add MSG. If you want your cooking to taste like restaurant quality, I find that is the secret ingredient (along with lots of salt and fat). Like I said... healthy is not my goal (although the health affects of MSG are disputable - but I won't get into that argument here).

We do sometimes sprinkle the top with mixes of granulated MSG and nori and sesame seeds, but I also am pretty likely to mix less-industrial sources of glutamates in through gochujang, doenjang, or miso/misozuke into the body of the rice when cooking.

I guess burning the butter isn't an issue if you're mixing the food in right away?

Yeah I think since the rice is cold it keeps the butter from burning. I don’t cook it for very long after adding the rice. Just enough to fry it well.

I’d like to get into some of those less industrial products. Where do you source them from? I feel like if I got a bottle I’d never use it all before it went bad.

(fly on the wall here-- those products might outlast you! they're all long-term ferments. I once cleaned out a kitchen with miso that was 20+ years old. Gochujang, if you like spicy, you'll find yourself making peanut butter and gochujang sandwiches and you'll have more problems keeping up with demand than using it up.... I'm lucky to have good Asian stores and access to online purchases where I am. Look at Asian markets in towns with universities, or else mail-order)

There's a new gochujang sauce in my grocery coop at least once a year and I try all of those at least once, but the one I buy repeatedly is...uh, I'm not sure now. I went to Amazon for a link but it looks like I keep buying different ones and I often get them at an Asian grocer so don't have records. But anyway, in the little red tubs: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gochujang

I have made three gallons of my own miso, but so far, this is the only fermented food where I think a commercial supplier does an obviously better job than I have figured out how to do. I order a big box of tubs from South River every 2-3 autumns when they resume shipping after the summer hiatus: https://www.southrivermiso.com/

And yeah, what Tereza said about keeping. I have garlic misozuke that are ten+ years old and still delicious -- both the miso and the garlic goo blobs are fine.

ETA: And also, about never using it up, use more! A wok full of fried rice can easily absorb two rounded tablespoons of either gochujang or miso, or both!

I learned most of my Chinese style cooking from my mother, who was taught in the late 60's by her bff's husband. He was out of Singapore and had grown up in a family restaurant. So what we do is old style and pretty bastardized since it was simplified for home use and what was available at the time.
I lived for years in Toronto and could get lots of authentic stuff as well as supplies and have kept reading up more on proper methods but have also gotten into a few other things like Thai and now a bit of Korean flavours so it gets a bit mixed up.
Generally, the eggs are pre cooked, before the rice and are just one of the rounds of cooking or heating of the add-ins. Usually the last one, and they are cooked to just enough to be folded and then chopped to chunks. I hold back a bit of green onion to add into them as well.
The way we handle the flavouring is that I will pre-mix a sauce. Soy, soy aminos, Chinese cooking wine, rice wine vinegar, miso, and Memmie soup base ( an amazing sub for soy and we use it in lots of ways) hosin and homemade plum sauce are all possibilities and I wing it for amounts. Then whisk in a bit of cornstarch.
The final combo will have garlic, ginger and 5spice added to the oil and most of the goodies added, except the eggs. Then the sauce is added and cooked to thick quickly and the rice tossed in. Eggs get added right before it comes it comes off the heat.
I tend to make a big batch so it's leftovers for a day or two. Good reheated or cold.

I briefly worked at an American-style Chinese restaurant (it was owned by a Vietnamese family and employed folks from all parts of Asia, but they served mostly what you see at any “Chinese” takeout joint in any U.S. town).

From what I observed, the secrets to standard restaurant-style fired rice are:

-old, cold, leftover jasmine rice
-sesame oil, and more of it than you would ever dream of using.
-other ingredients like veg, egg, meat are separately precooked (in a restaurant they have lots of these on hand ready to throw in the wok)
-rice is fried first in hot oil with some seasonings, then the other ingredients and soy sauce tossed in just briefly to mix it all together.

Slightly off topic, I was given a heavy steep sided wok by  Hmong family. I have no idea how to use it. (They moved away) Any tips? Trusted you tube channels?

For Chinese-style fried rice, definitely cook and cool rice before needed - allows the steam to escape and the rice to dry somewhat.  I cook the egg first, and chop, if it didn't end up scrambled!  Then start the rice frying,  then add the pre-cooked additions, whatever is to hand, add the egg last and FOLD through - spatula handy for this step.  Add a good sprinkling of 5-spice powder; serve and add other seasonings as desired.
I usually make Indonesian fried rice - Nasi goreng - Pre-cook and cool the rice as before. To start, onion/tomato sauce/chili to taste and dried shrimp paste all whizzed together & fried until most of the moisture evaporated.  Add the pre-cooked other ingredients - halved shrimp or your choice of protein, veggies, then rice and FOLD through.  Meanwhile cook 1 fried egg per serve. (Runny yolk is best as it soaks through the rice when broken)
Divide rice into portions, top with the fried egg on each and add cucumber and tomato slices on the side.  Again extra condiments as desired.
I'm sure there are recipes out there that tell the story better than me  ENJOY.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Slightly off topic, I was given a heavy steep sided wok by  Hmong family. I have no idea how to use it. (They moved away) Any tips? Trusted you tube channels?

Pic, please?

Wait what? You want me to get back up? Ha! Not tonight kiddo!

Somehow fried rice is one thing I've tried in various places and have never been able to like.  Maybe someday.

My friend makes wonderful stir fries weekly with her leftovers. She taught me the secret to her rice was to fry it in oil till golden brown, before she cooked it in water. Never have sticky rice & has a lovely flavor.

I don't make it but I eat it. My wife is Filipino.

I worked at a residential home for sex-trafficked women. I focused a lot on economical, "intuitive" cooking, using what was on hand and not running to the store for things that weren't necessary.

We used rice and spice, and it was always good.

Spice was soy sauce or salt and whatever else, like black pepper, red pepper flakes, granulated garlic or onion, whatever.

"Meat" was whatever protein we had on hand, or egg. Sometimes both. I've done shrimp.

Veggies would be garlic, onions, peas, carrots or whatever we had. You could also used canned veggies that are often found in Asian cuisine, such as baby corn, water chestnut, sprouts, etc.

I see there are so many good ideas for you already. We keep gochujang on hand, but I never thought of using it in fried rice. I'm going to try, though!

I made rice yesterday, to me cooking rice is a technique that is hard to acquire.

To make fried rice folks need cooked rice as the first ingredient.

So whether you pick up this book hoping to find the dish your grandmother prepared for you as a kid, looking for the fluffiest bowl of herby brown rice, or wanting some tips for how to expertly reheat leftover grains (or turn them into your best fried rice yet), you’ll no doubt end up using an entire stack of sticky notes flagging recipes to make ASAP.

https://www.epicurious.com/shopping/jj-johnson-simple-art-of-rice-cookbook-preview

Once a person learns to cook rice then they need a really good recipe for fried rice, this is the one I use:

Ingredients

4 cups cooked rice or 1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons carrots, finely diced
2 eggs, beaten 1⁄2 cup onion, diced
1 1⁄2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt
pepper

Directions

   Cook rice following instructions on package (Bring 2 cups water to a boil, add rice and a dash of salt, reduce heat and simmer in covered saucepan for 20 minutes).
   Pour rice into a large bowl to let it cool in the refrigerator.
   Scramble the eggs in a small pan over medium heat.
   Separate the scrambled chunks of egg into small pea-size bits while cooking.
   When rice has cooled to near room temperature, add peas, grated carrot, scrambled egg and diced onion to the bowl.
   Carefully toss all of the ingredients together.
   Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium/high heat.
   When butter has completely melted, dump the bowl of rice and other ingredients into the pan and add soy sauce plus a dash of salt and pepper.
   Cook rice for 6-8 minutes over heat, stirring often.

https://www.food.com/recipe/benihana-japanese-fried-rice-71472

Funny...we decided we were going to make fried rice for supper tonight (we have some leftover roast beef that needs to be consumed) and then here it pops up in the Dailyish...things that make you go hmmm....  At least there's some extra ideas here to implement.

I'm not convinced we've ever gotten the hang of it.  That said, I don't think we make it often enough to be consistent.  Like many of our dishes, it's never the same way twice.

We typically have sriracha in the house, but since I'm the only one here right now who likes a bit more heat, it gets used sparingly, but ideally makes it to the table for individual addition.

Now, off to make some rice....

Like Kahara's friend I fry my rice with butter and onion before adding the water. The onion can be scallion or a regular onion, I fry it in the pan I am going to cook the rice in. The rice will turn translucent just before it turns golden and then I add the water. I fry the egg first and scramble setting it aside with the veggies and meat, if any, adding it to the rice.
I always cook more rice than what I plan on using with an idea of what I will do with the excess. If it is not going to be a savory dish I won't add the onions to the pre fry.

Robert Ray wrote: I always cook more rice than what I plan on using with an idea of what I will do with the excess. If it is not going to be a savory dish I won't add the onions to the pre fry.

Excess rice in our household likes to become rice pudding...but that's just us.

Derek Thille wrote:Excess rice in our household likes to become rice pudding...but that's just us.

Savory congee here.

Also, I mentioned up at the top that I use brown rice, but didn’t call it out. If anyone has suggestions that specifically pertain to whole rice, I’m pretty sure all the normal recipes are written expecting white.

Thanks for this wonderful thread everyone.
Here is an easy option that has yet to be mentioned: Golden Fried Rice. There are many recipes but this one is my simplified version. The golden effect shines through using cooked brown or white rice. When using pale winter yokes, add a pinch of turmeric when whisking the yokes to achieve the beautiful golden color.

Golden Fried Rice

Dry cooked cold brown or white rice on cookie sheet. Spread out, fan out. Refrigerate.
Goal is crumbly rice.

Separate yokes from white: one egg yoke per 1/2 cup serving of cooked rice. Whisk egg yokes in a medium bowl. Add crumbly rice to yokes and mix with fingers. Coat every grain with yoke.

Heat a little vegetable oil (I use peanut oil) in flat bottomed wok or frying pan. Stir fry chopped aromatics - fresh garlic, ginger, and scallions - until fragrant. Add yoke-covered rice and keep the rice moving. Salt the rice to taste at the end of cooking: do not use soy sauce. Salt will make the rice shine.

For the most beautiful rice, make the rice separately from the optional veggies, shellfish, meat, cooked egg whites. Top the rice with the desired extras (or fold other ingredients into rice) when golden rice is perfect.

In keeping with Christopher's hands-on and evolving approach to learning (heuristic?), here are the guidelines that I use in exploring stir-frying using the wok and other carbon steel pans:
 Heat the dry, empty pan for 2 minutes over medium-high heat
 Add the vegetable oil and heat it until it shimmers but not smokes (< 30 seconds)
 Add the aromatics, if using, until they begin to smell fragrant (< 30 seconds)
 Immediately add the rice or stir fry ingredients then raise the heat if needed
Any other techniques or guidelines that would help us non-experts?

M K's method is the closest to how I cook fried.

Any left over rice in our household is usually frozen so when fully defrosted, I mix it in a bowl with peanut oil, sesame oil, white pepper, dark & light soya sauce and a scant teaspoon of sugar. Taste the coated rice and add more seasoning if required.

If using fresh rice, it is cooked in the morning or the night before so that it is thoroughly cooled. We use the absorption method to cook our rice.

All the additions are precooked - bean sprouts are dry fried in the wok as are garlic chives and or spring onion tops shredded finely.

Add oil, cook the beaten eggs and set aside. We like the egg slightly scrambled but in large chunks.

Any combination of left over char sui pork; prawns, sliced chicken etc are tossed in a hot wok with a little oil and finely shredded ginger and set aside.

Finally, more oil in the wok and stir fry the rice until hot and add the eggs, meat and sprouts.

I can't find any photos of the steps for making fried rice but I use the same technique for cooking noodles

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Slightly off topic, I was given a heavy steep sided wok by  Hmong family. I have no idea how to use it. (They moved away) Any tips? Trusted you tube channels?

My indian wok (kadai) sounds similar, would love to see photos of your Hmong wok.

I tried searching online but only came up with images of a Hmong celebrity chef!

The kadai is super thick and well suited to the longer cooking times needed for cooking curries.

I like Asian foods. My go to is a website Wok of life. Great recipes and great explanation to every recipe recommended by my Chinese and Vietnamese friends and never looked back. This site explore many foods. My favorite.

https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-cook-jasmine-rice/

And a How-to  menus of different way  to cook anything Asian/Japanese

https://thewoksoflife.com/classic-beef-fried-rice/#search/q=how%20to%20make%20perfect%20fried%20rice&c=eyJ2IjoiNC4wIiwiZ3JvdXBUeXBlIjoiY2F0ZWdvcnktZ3JvdXAiLCJ0aXRsZSI6IkNvb2tpbmcgTWV0aG9kcyIsImNhdGVnb3J5SWQiOiJjb29raW5nLW1ldGhvZHMiLCJhcnJhbmdlbWVudCI6ImNvbnRleHQtd2l0aC1zZWFyY2gifQ%3D%3D

We do day old rice, in fat, with onions, if we're in the mood, then push it to the cooler side of the wok, then the eggs go in the bottom, then the precooked proteins (this morning it was chopped bacon), then any leftover veggies get stirred in when we pull the rice back down into it. A bit of aminos (I'm not a fan of soy sauce), another stir. Serve it up & top with a generous spring onion garnish. Thursday, we need to be out the door early, so we're adding some hot breakfast sausage, to stretch & refresh the flavors of the leftovers from today, before we run out the door. Fried rice is a non-keto-time staple, here.