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Author: Subject: Making Good Tasting Chinese Fried Rice
DavidE
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[*] posted on 9-2-2012 at 06:20 PM
Making Good Tasting Chinese Fried Rice


All the stuff you need is available in Mexico...

White Rice
Eggs
Celery
Chicken Bullion
Soy Sauce
Canned peas & something to open the can
Cooking Oil

Gear

Pot with lid
Frying pan and spatula

Prepping

Put too much rice in the pot. You'll end up eating it
Add water to a thumbnail's height above the rice
Come to a boil then reduce to a low simmer, add 3 bullion cubes then cover the pot
Cook 12 minutes with the lid on, simmering then kill the flame. Remove the lid but otherwise don't disturb.

Dice up what you think will be way too much celery and it'll be just right. Toss into frying pan. Drain enough liquid from the peas, add half a can to the celery in the pan. Drizzle enough oil to saturate contents of frying pan.

I use a lot of eggs; around four for a cup and a half of rice. Scramble the eggs and set aside.

Put a fire under the frying pan and sauté until the celery turns translucent and soft. Add the egg mixture and cook the eggs.

Stir in the contents of the pot to the frying pan and raise flame to around a third. Stir fry constantly until everything is mixed well. The frying pan will be giving off a lot of steam. That's the clue to cook everything just to the point where it's perfect. Not too wet. Not too dry.

Add soy sauce to taste and go for it. You may never need to go back to José Wong's Red Dragon again.




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comitan
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[*] posted on 9-2-2012 at 06:37 PM


No Oyster sauce? Makes it better for me and available on Mexico.



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[*] posted on 9-2-2012 at 06:43 PM


I love Chinese Fried Rice. While working in Singapore years ago I found that the mix of cultures put many different spins on the basic friend rice recipe and inspired me to come up with my own, Baja version:

Baja Fried Rice
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Gypsy Jan
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[*] posted on 9-2-2012 at 07:31 PM
No Garlic?


Also, I was watching "Essential Pepin", the PBS cooking show by Jacques Pepin and he said that you should whisk the eggs thoroughly in the bowl and keep on whisking them in the pan on medium high heat to get small curds.



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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 01:36 AM


It sounds yummy David. I recently went to Fried Rice Emmersion School, so naturally I have make a major suggestion.

Almost no culture commonly fries freshly cooked rice. It takes too much oil to keep it from being mushy. Almost invariably the best fried rice is made from short grained white rice which has been refrigerated over night. All that steam coming off your skillet is the rice drying not frying. Put only stone cold rice in your very hot wok for authentic results. The rice wants to pick up only the slight patina of oiliness on every fried grain.

Try it, I'll bet you like the difference.

The technique for the eggs offers three common choices. Japanese fried rice often includes egg which fried into a thin sheet separately are then cut into strips to be added with the veggies during frying. In Chinese fried rice either the egg is fully scrambled in oil in the bottom of the wok when the rest of the rice is almost done and resting around the edges, or the egg is brought to a thickened but runny consistency then stirred into the rice coating it. I like the egg any of those ways, and two eggs per serving isn't too much unless you are selling it.

I recommend frying the rice in a little dark soy sauce for the color that is expected in this popular comfort food. I add a splash of Sesame Oil for the aroma we expect. The diner can then adjust the soy/salt to their own taste. Traditional western Asian fried rice also includes the aromatic overtone of chopped green onions or scallions added in the last minute of frying.

I made 350 servings of shrimp and vegetarian fried rice for service at a Taiko Drumming concert recently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kygiDL3edE&feature=playe...

It took practice and a lot of careful research. Refrigerating 500 cups of rice is no small trick! This is an inexpensive way to feed a lot of people. I think I can still put my fingers on the quantities for a 33 serving batch if anyone wanted to try it. Using smaller frozen pre-cooked shrimp and frozen mixed vegetables (peas, corn, green beans) really simplifies the cooking unless you have other pre-cooked protein on hand ready to add.

I look forward to offering Potluck Night at Perry's to the Bahia Asuncion, Taco Saturday, Wine Wednesday social routine, cooking is fun. That makes work fun.




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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 07:14 AM


those recipes sound so delicous ... I will certainly try a couple versions to see which one we prefer. thanks David for starting this thread !




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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 10:03 AM


We roast chickens a lot. The next day we always have some leftover, that usually means fried rice. Left over pulled pork also works great. We usually cook more rice than we can eat at a sitting just for leftovers.

Here is my basic recipe.

Shred leftover chicken. Soak 6 frozen raw shrimp (we use the shrimp from Costco) in water for a few minutes, take off tails and cut ea shrimp into 3 pieces. Place in bowl and season with salt, pepper and hot sauce, set aside. ( I like to season the proteins and vegetables before you add the rice.)

Heat wok and add some peanut or other high heat oil. Take two eggs and wisk, then place in wok and cook like a omelete. It will cook in a sheet without any effort, when set remove and set aside.

Cut up celery, onions, green onions. Saute celery and onions a few minutes and season with soy sauce and your favorite asian sauce, I'll add some hot sauce to this too. Then add the chicken and cook a few minutes, then add cold leftover rice and cook until the rice is hot. Add eggs that have been cut up and toss. At the last minute throw in the green onions and stir.
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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 10:12 AM


I don't see carrots in any of the recipes.

Good thing. I always shove those little devils to the side of the plate. Don't like them.
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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 10:21 AM


This is a GREAT thread. Thanks for all the ideas for fried rice! LOVE fried rice!!!!!



The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 10:41 AM


Thanks for the recipe, I will give it a try.

I had a tenant from Hong Kong once who owned a local Chinese Restaurant. I asked him why my home made fried rice never tasted as good as his restaurant. He said HE couldn't make fried rice in his home kitchen as good as the restaurant. He said (with his exaggeration on the pronunciation) "to make goo' f'ie' lice you need BIGASS commercial quality wok. And then you need a VELLY HOT gas fi'e splead ova enti'e bigass......... wok. Then you have to cook velly fas' and keep tossing ingledients high in the ai' and on flo' Hee, hee, hee, hee." That's why he said you can't make good fried rice in home kitchen! His name was Kenny Wong, and yes, HE told me the joke, Two wongs don't make a white. He said that intially he wanted to call his chinese restaurant, "The Wong Place" but he decided against it. He was a good, hardworking guy with a great sense of humor.
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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 12:17 PM


"Seoul Food" a Korean BBQ in an African American part of Denver if I remember correctly.:lol:

It has been correctly noted that a 50k btu blast furnace and a big carbon steel wok is best, but a big grill works well enough. I also forgot to note that the meal is naked without a bottle of Sriracha style sauce nearby.:lol:




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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 12:20 PM


Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
...I also forgot to note that the meal is naked without a bottle of Sriracha style sauce nearby.:lol:


That's my heat of choice too! (the garlic flavor is an added bonus)
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vgabndo
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[*] posted on 9-3-2012 at 12:25 PM


It really is a wonderful all round flavor enhancer. I use it in everything from curry to beef stew. When, on tasting, it still needs "a little something", in my kitchen it is Red Rooster to the rescue.



Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris

"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
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Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."

PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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