Special fried rice in Chinese style is what I said in the title. But let me confess, I don’t use MSG in my fried rice recipe like the real restaurant style fried rice. And why should I?. I couldn’t find a big difference between my fried rice recipe and the restaurant version. There will be difference, but not that much to add the unhealthy MSG into a healthy meal.
When I started cooking myself, I wanted to make all those yummy and delicious dishes my amma used to make. I used to call her every day (even now I call her every day) for some recipe and made it until it came out perfect. Then when I gained confidence in my cooking, I started looking for recipes of those dishes that I used to enjoy only in the restaurants.
Chinese style fried rice had been in the first place on my list. But something kept me away from making it. Then I entirely forgot about that item. Then during one of our vacation trip, we stopped in a Chinese restaurant to have the lunch. The restaurant fried rice then evoked my homemade fried rice craving again. As soon as I reached home, the first thing I did was the research on making perfect fried rice. Not just fried rice, the perfect one but healthy. And that’s how I came up with the special fried rice recipe in Chinese style, the restaurant style.
Here are the things I noticed while making the fried rice perfect every time.
- Rice : Every recipe I looked into called for a day old rice in the refrigerator. Have you ever wondered what could be the reason? I did….and I researched. Truly speaking, it’s not a day old rice that we need, we need dry rice. The fresh rice will contain more moisture and will be hot. So if you are going to use freshly cooked, hot or warm rice, you are going to get a mushy, awkward fried rice. You don’t want your fried rice to look awkward, right?. So use the dry, cold rice. Keeping the rice in the refrigerator will dry out the rice. If you are planning to make fried rice in the evening, cook your rice in the morning, cool and refrigerate it.
- Oil : Use enough oil to get a proper frying work. I used a neutral oil. But you can definitely use sesame oil. The only thing is. I said just enough oil, do not pour it like water.
- Soy Sauce : Soy sauce gives a nice flavor and taste to your fried rice. I don’t know whether they use it in restaurants. But I got it perfect in my special fried rice almost similar to the shop ones. Use a little more sauce.
- The Wok : I don’t have a wok. Still my fried rice came out perfect. You can use a large pan that can be superheated (if needed). Even I had made it in ceramic pans also. Just keep the heat on medium-high and keep stirring so that the veggies and rice won’t stick to the bottom.
So, that’s it. Now we can make our special fried rice
How to make Perfect and Special Fried Rice
Chinese Fried Rice
Chinese Fried rice
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked basmati rice refrigerated for 8 hours
- 4 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tsp sesame seed
- 1 tbsp garlic finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger finely chopped
- 1/4 cup onion chopped
- 1/4 cup green onion chopped
- 1/4 cup green beans chopped
- 1/4 cup celery chopped
- 1/4 cup carrot chopped
- 1/8 cup capsicum bell pepper, chopped
- 2 green chilli sliced lengthwise
- 1/4 cup peas frozen
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix together egg, 1/4 tsp ground pepper and salt in a bowl. Keep aside.
- Heat a wok or a pan that can be super-heated on high flame.
- Add the cooking oil. Crackle the sesame seed.
- Add garlic and ginger and stir-cook until it starts to change color.
- Saute onion until soft and translucent. Add chilli and cook for 1 minute.
- Now add the carrot, beans, celery, capsicum and green onion. Add salt and stir cook on high heat for 3 minutes.
- Then add the green peas and cook for 2 minutes.
- Move the cooked vegetables to one side of the pan. Add the egg and scramble it. Stir and mix with the vegetables.
- Add the cooked rice into the pan and mix well without any lumps.
- Add soy sauce and remaining ground pepper and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes on medium-high heat with occasional stirring.
- Remove from heat.
- Serve hot. Enjoy.
The special fried rice is ready. You can also use any left over rice to prepare fried rice. Everything will come out perfectly in minutes. Now grab a plate and try our special fried rice with your favorite non-veg as the side. Enjoy.
Happy Cooking
