Vegetable egg fried rice
Written by Estelle & Alice for The Wok House
The rice for this dish is cooked the day before. Cooled uncovered, it dries on the surface, and in the hot wok the grains separate and turn golden instead of clumping into a paste. So whenever I put a pan of jasmine rice on, I make a bit extra for the next day's fried rice. With leftover rice, it's ready in half an hour, about the time it takes to cut the vegetables into small dice.
In China, fried rice (chao fan) is first of all a way to use up yesterday's rice. This is the Chinese restaurant version, with dark soy sauce for colour and, if you like, a touch of turmeric that turns the grains golden without you tasting it. The order of cooking matters: the eggs first, set aside on a plate, then the firm vegetables and the rice, and last the mangetout and beansprouts, which should stay crunchy.
Vegetable egg fried rice
Jasmine rice cooked the day before, stir-fried over a high heat with scrambled eggs, small diced vegetables and beansprouts, and turned golden with dark soy sauce.
For 3 or 4 people, use a 32cm wok and cook everything in one go: with up to 700g cooked rice, a domestic hob keeps the wok hot enough.
Ingredients
For the rice
For the seasoning
For the eggs
The vegetables
To cook and serve
Equipment
- 32cm iron or carbon steel wok
- Mixing bowl and saucepan with a lid for the rice
- Baking tray or large dish to cool the rice
- Wok spatula
- Two small bowls and a plate
Method
Cook the rice, the day before if you can
If you have leftover cooked rice, skip to step 3. Otherwise, rinse 250g jasmine rice in a bowl of cold water, rubbing it between your fingers, three or four times, until the water stays almost clear. Drain it, put it in a saucepan with 350ml water and bring to the boil. Cover, turn the heat right down and cook for 12 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave it to rest for 10 minutes without lifting the lid.
Cool the rice
Fluff the rice with a fork and spread it in a thin layer on a baking tray or large dish. Put it in the fridge within an hour of cooking, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes: the surface of the grains dries out, and that's what stops them sticking in the wok. If it's staying in overnight, cover it once it's cold.
Mix the seasoning
In a small bowl, mix ½ tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp dark soy sauce, 2 tsp light soy sauce and ½ tsp salt, with the turmeric and MSG if you're using them. Stir until the turmeric is well blended in.
Chop the vegetables and break up the rice
Cut the tough stalks off the shiitake. Cut the onion, carrot, shiitake and pepper into small 5mm dice, all about the same size, and the mangetout into 1cm pieces. Chop the garlic, slice the spring onions, then rinse the beansprouts and drain them well. Take the rice out of the fridge, wet your hands and break up the clumps between your fingers until the grains separate.
Cook the eggs
Beat 3 eggs for 30 seconds with ¼ tsp salt, the white pepper and ½ tsp Shaoxing wine. Heat the wok over a high heat until it's lightly smoking, add 1 tbsp oil and swirl it round the sides. Pour in the eggs and stir. When they're half set, turn off the heat and break them into small pieces with the spatula: the heat of the wok finishes cooking them. Set them aside on a plate.
Stir-fry the firm vegetables
Turn the heat back on to medium and add 2 tbsp oil to the wok. Add the onion, garlic and carrot and stir-fry for 1 minute, until the onion turns translucent at the edges. Add the shiitake and pepper and keep going for 30 seconds to 1 minute: the mushrooms soften and turn glossy.
Stir-fry the rice
Turn the heat up to high and add the rice. Stir-fry it straight away, scraping the bottom of the wok with the spatula and turning the grains over from the bottom up so they don't stick. After 1 minute, drizzle the seasoning over all the rice, add a pinch of white pepper and mix for 1 minute more. The rice is ready when all the grains are the same colour and a little steam rises from it. Taste and adjust with a little salt or light soy sauce.
The mangetout, eggs and wine
Add the mangetout and stir for 15 to 30 seconds. Return the eggs and mix to spread them through the rice. Pour 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine in a thin stream onto the hot sides of the wok, all round the rice, and mix: it sizzles and evaporates at once.
The beansprouts and spring onions
Add the beansprouts and spring onions and stir-fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the beansprouts are just starting to wilt. They should stay crunchy.
Serve
Serve straight away, with the chilli oil on the side for anyone who likes it. Fried rice doesn't wait well: within a few minutes, the beansprouts release their water and the grains go soft.
Wok tips
- The rice should sizzle as soon as it touches the metal. Keep scraping the bottom of the wok, turning the grains over from the bottom up: rice left sitting on the hot base sticks, then burns.
- In an iron or carbon steel wok that's well seasoned, the eggs and rice slide around. If they stick, the patina is still young or the oil went into a wok that was too cold: wait until it's lightly smoking, add the oil, swirl it round the sides, then add the eggs.
- On induction, keep the wok flat on the hob and toss the rice with the spatula instead of shaking the wok: as soon as it leaves the hob, the heating stops. A flat-bottomed wok keeps its whole base in contact with the hob.
- Fried rice mostly goes wrong because of liquid: warm, damp rice, or seasoning added too early. Pour in the bowl of seasoning after the first minute, once the grains are hot, and pour the Shaoxing wine onto the hot sides of the wok rather than onto the rice, so it evaporates at once. You can also stir the seasoning into the rice cooking water in step 1: the grains come out of the pan already golden and there's nothing left to evaporate in the wok.
Variations
- Without Shaoxing wine: the same amount of dry sherry, or nothing at all. Without dark soy sauce: 1 teaspoon extra light soy sauce and a pinch of sugar for 4 people; the rice will be paler.
- Without fresh shiitake: 4 dried shiitake, soaked for 30 minutes in hot water then squeezed, or 100g button mushrooms. Without mangetout: 80g frozen peas, added at the same point.
- Vegan: replace the eggs with 200g firm tofu crumbled by hand, browned for 3 to 4 minutes in 1 tablespoon of oil with a pinch of salt, then set aside and returned to the wok like the eggs.
- With prawns: after the eggs, stir-fry 200g raw peeled prawns for 1 to 2 minutes, until they turn pink, and set them aside with the eggs. With Chinese sausage (lap cheong): cut 2 into thin rounds and fry them with the onion.
Storage
Put any leftovers in the fridge within an hour, in a sealed container, and eat them by the next day at the latest. Reheat them only once, for 2 to 3 minutes in the wok over a high heat with 1 tablespoon of water, until piping hot all the way through. Beansprouts don't take well to reheating: they go soft and release water.
The Miguri Induction Wok
Iron, Ø 32cm, free lid
Frequently asked questions
Can you make fried rice with rice cooked the same day?
Yes, as long as you dry it: spread it in a thin layer on a tray and leave it in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes. Still warm and damp, it sticks to the wok and turns into a paste. Rice cooked the day before is still the easiest to fry.
How is this different from Cantonese fried rice?
Cantonese fried rice usually combines diced ham or char siu pork, peas and egg, and it stays fairly pale. This fried rice is vegetarian and has more vegetables. Its golden colour comes from the dark soy sauce and the turmeric.
Why put turmeric in fried rice?
Only for the colour. At half a teaspoon for 4, you can barely taste it, and it gives the grains the golden colour of restaurant fried rice. Without turmeric, the rice will be browner, coloured by the dark soy sauce alone.
Can you make fried rice in a frying pan?
Yes, in a large non-stick or cast iron frying pan, but in two batches for 4 people: with its low sides, it leaves less room to toss the rice, and the grains spill over. A wok, with its high, flared sides, lets you stir fast and hard without losing any.
