Fried Rice

[torakris]

I think most cultures that are rice based have some way of using up leftover over rice.

Fried rice seems to be one of the most popular ones.

What are some of your favorite fried rice combinations?

[suzilightning]

chunked ham or finely chopped chinese sausages, green onion, bamboo shoots,water chestnuts, fresh mango, sesame oil

or

andouille sausage, chicken, red and green peppers, onions

or

onions, asparagus tips, shallots, garlic, water chestnuts, a little hoisin mixed with chicken stock

actually fried rice has become my husband's favoirte breakfast and he's soooooo happy as long as there is sesame oil

[SobaAddict70]

As simple as possible...

ALWAYS Minced garlic and scallions, maybe some mushroom or light soy, occasionally sesame oil or chopped Chinese sausage. Usually use leftover rice from the previous dinner, or sometimes will use fresh cooked rice. This is pretty much the way my mom does it. Sometimes simple is best.

What I like to do is cook a piece of Chinese sausage along with the rice, this way the pork fat and sausage goodness permeates the rice and flavors it.

Soba

[Jinmyo]

Kimchi and pork.

[Jaymes]

In our house, fried rice was a lunchtime staple.

Cold rice, of course, and then...

It usually contained leftovers from dinner the night before - whatever vegetable we had - peas or carrots or whatever, and some chopped onion of some kind, garlic. Best was when we'd had some kind of pork product for the meat - pork chops or ham or sausage or something - even weiners in a pinch.

Little sesame oil, always either a beaten egg, or scrambled egg strips or both, and dash of soy sauce.

Sometimes water chestnuts, celery, peppers - green or red.

It totally varied, really - whatever we were in the mood for - plain or fancy - or whatever we were trying to "use up."

And loved to serve it with fresh fruit alongside.

I had a Thai friend at the time who always added a dab of catsup. She told me, "That's what makes it Thai."

She was serious.

Edited June 26, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[carswell]

More often than not, wok-fried scrambled eggs, chopped scallions and sea salt. Less is more.

Edited June 25, 2003 by carswell (log)

[Stone]

I had a Thai friend at the time who always added a dab of catsup.  She told me, "That's what makes it Thai."

All the cow-pat I had in Thailand had little cherry tomatoes in them. I didn't like it. Too much sweet/tang/tart. And they retained more heat than the rest of the stuff and burned whenst bit into.

But I do like a gentle dash of fish sauce.

[Eric_Malson]

More often than not, wok-fried scrambled eggs, chopped scallions and sea salt. Less is more.

I agree with carswell almost 100%. My only addition is bacon (I would do Chinese sausage in a heartbeat, but Chinatown is just too far for me to shop for food there more often than about twice a year)--not much, just a slice or two, shredded. The first time I ever had homemade fried rice, a friend from Hong Kong made it with bacon, and I thought it was heavenly. The next week a Japanese friend told me she did it the same way.

VERY occasionally I'll add some chopped, previously stir-fried green pepper.

[guajolote]

Fried rice with leftover smoked pork butt is dreamy . Leftover smoked ribs or brosket is also good.

[sparrowgrass]

little onion, little garlic, shredded carrot, finely chopped water chestnuts, and a couple of my good eggs.

[tissue]

egg white, shreded dried scallop, scallion, shrimp, peas, I always use cold rice.

[Adam Balic]

Cold rice. Shredded omellete, Chinese sausage, yellow beans, dried shrimp, spring onion, peas.

[hotle]

no meat, or leftover meat/fish/shrimp/etc from the night before. cold, day-old rice, ginger, garlic, scallion, shredded omelet, maybe celery or jalepeno (if i feel like it). veggies/aromatics into the pan first, cooked for about a minute (i like 'em crunchy, and they're chopped down to rice-size), add the rice, dump on the soy, add some hot sauce (the one with the chicken on the squeeze bottle....can't remember the name), add scallion and sesame oil off-heat. my favorite after-workout meal!

10 minutes tops, including prep time.

matt

[MatthewB]

Fried rice just about any way as long as I have access to some good Nuoc Cham.

Edited June 26, 2003 by MatthewB (log)

[torakris]

add some hot sauce (the one with the chicken on the squeeze bottle....can't remember the name),

sriracha?

This is actually my current fried rice addiction. I use anything in the refrigerator, but always try to have eggs and scallions as well as salt, pepper, soy and some spicy sauce. current favorite is sriracha, but I also love kimchi fried rice especially with some type of pork product and lightly sweetened eggs, I occasionally also use kojuchang.

[mamster]

Eggs, scallions, pork if available, fish sauce, squeeze of lime. I enjoy fried rice more at breakfast than at any other meal.

[snowangel]

Eggs, scallions, pork if available, fish sauce, squeeze of lime.  I enjoy fried rice more at breakfast than at any other meal.

The squeeze of lime is absolutely essential.

[fifi]

I do about what everyone here has said.

Squeeze of lime is new though. BRILLIANT! Can't wait to do that.

[reddevil]

some chopped tomatoes, some chopped spring onion, crushed garlic, jalapeno peppers and the juice of two limes. mix it all together with the rice and YUM. I must confess I have this dish with freshly made rice.

[Jaymes]

some chopped tomatoes, some chopped spring onion, crushed garlic, jalapeno peppers and the juice of two limes. mix it all together with the rice and YUM. I must confess I have this dish with freshly made rice.

Sounds very good, but sounds more like a rice salad than fried rice. Do you cook it? The few times I've tried to fry freshly-made, warm rice, it just turned into mush.

[reddevil]

Sounds very good, but sounds more like a rice salad than fried rice. Do you cook it? The few times I've tried to fry freshly-made, warm rice, it just turned into mush.

Yeah, I make the rice (fried) and then add the above concoction. Do you make the rice boiled or fried? I think that makes a difference.

Edited June 27, 2003 by reddevil (log)

[snowangel]

I will confess. We are a house divided. My first fried rice was probably circa 1967, in Hua Hin (Thailand). We had to wait while they went to the ocean to get the crabs. It was a "white" fried rice, using (I assume) leftover Jasmine rice, a couple of eggs, some cut and smashed scallions, and probably no more seasoning than fish sauce. Oh, plus that crab.

My husband's first memories of fried rice are in accordance with what is locally available at the local "Chinese" joints in our neighborhood. Rice (of unknown origin, and looking like a lot of broken kernels)) with little cubes of this and that -- pork, carrots , onions, the whole mess sort of a medium dark brown.

Then there's my eldest daughter, who wants her's stirf ried with those little cubes of whatever, and a plop of (egads) jarred Char Sui sauce.

Heidi and Peter are happiest with MY fried rice.

Oh, and should there not be vinegar with birds and lime wedges on the side, I'm sorry, but it's just not fried rice.

Your traditions with fried rice? How do you do it?

Edited January 27, 2009 by snowangel (log)

[Chris Amirault]

I hate to break the news, Susan, but in Hua Hin they serve their fried rice with bird chili vinegar -- and, yes, with limes:

Carry on...

[Peter the eater]

I love fried rice partly because it's never the same thing twice when I make it.

I know both of you, Susan and Chris, have spent some quality time in SE Asia which would seriously affect your concept of what fried rice should be or could be, and rightly so. Until I visit that part of the world first hand, fried rice is for me the Asian version of bubble & squeak.

[Lilija]

When I lived on Guam, we ate the "white" kind of fried rice, about 99% of the time. It's still my favorite, but the other members of this house also like the bootleg brown stuff, we get at our local hot wok. I compromise, the white stuff at breakfast, the beige stuff at dinner.

When I make breakfast fried rice, I use a lot of butter, a LOT of garlic, eggs, minced onions (or scallions or shallots), loads of black pepper, some sort of cured meat (chorizo, spam, kielbasa, ham, hell..even hot dogs) and sometimes, if the rice is dry, a splash of chicken broth. If I'm feeling REALLY fancy, a handful of frozen peas. Otherwise, this is super simple, and you won't get attacked by vampires for half the day, at least.

The dinner one is usually a little more involved. Roasted pork or chicken or some kind of leftover meat, more involved vegetables, like carrots, broccoli, or whatever's laying around, soy sauce, and ginger, along with the stuff in the above fried rice. It's truly a meal in itself. Often, I don't put eggs in this version, because after all the other junk in it, eggs feel like overkill.