Fried Rice

Yesterday I prepared fried rice …

This is a traditional Chinese dish that can be found everywhere in Hong Kong and in Asia. There are several different recipes and each region of China will have its own variety. It is such a popular dish that you can find recipes in the Chinese, Japanese, Singaporean, Thai and Peruvian cuisines just to mention a few.

Despite being a simple dish it is not very easy to prepare it at home and achieve the same taste as when you eat out.  I read in several places that Chinese restaurants add MSG when preparing it to improve the taste. I’m not sure about this but I can assure you the one I prepare is super fresh with the exception of the rice that has to be cooked the day before.

I learned to cook fried rice watching a Chinese friend cooking in his home. That was really a treat for us because apparently he doesn’t cook very often. He told us that in his home fried rice is easily prepared any time (by his wife) and it can be served as breakfast, lunch, dinner or just a quick snack.

He prepared fried rice with cooked ham, green onions and eggs. My recipe is a bit different and includes some other ingredients. Here is goes:

Fried rice

2cups of cooked rice (cooked the day before by boiling the rice without any seasoning.)

2 gloves of garlic

3 thin slices of ginger

1/2 cup of cooked ham cooked

1/2 cup of cooked chicken breast cooked

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/2 cup of green peas

2 stalks o green onion chopped

3 tablespoons of cooking oil

1/2 teaspoon of salt *

1/2 teaspoon of sugar *

1  teaspoon of soy sauce *

(Mix the three above ingredients before you start the fried rice).

Add the oil to a wok or a large frying pan (I don’t have a wok and my frying pan works fantastic for this dish).  Add the garlic and ginger and fry them up for 1 minute. Add the ham and the chicken and cook for 3 minutes or until brown. Remove the ham and the chicken from the pan leaving the oil in it.

Beat the two eggs quickly and add them to the pan. Scramble the eggs for one minute and add the rice. Mix the eggs and the rice very well breaking the pieces of scrambled eggs with a wooden spoon to separate in smaller pieces.

Add the ham and the chicken back to the pan with the spring onions and mix well with the rice. Add the soy sauce, salt and sugar sauce and continue mixing for more 5 min.

I like to serve my fried rice hot just out of the pan.

Hope you enjoy it.