Chahan (fried rice) recipe

[Hiroyuki]

My recipe for making egg chahan:

Ingredients (1 serving):

200g plain cooked rice

2 eggs

1 tbsp oil (or lard)

Pepper

Salt

Soy sauce

Sesame seed oil

How to make:

1) Heat rice in a microwave oven (if cool).

2) Beat eggs.

3) Heat the nonstick frying pan at high heat for about 1 min.

(If an iron pan or wok, heat until smoking hot.)

4) Add oil and distribute it evenly.

5) Add beaten eggs first and then rice immediately. Stir constantly.

6) Add pepper and salt.

7) Add soy sauce.

8) Add sesame seed oil.

Done!

Perform steps 3) to 8) within 3 to 5 minutes.

Notes:

1. You can mix eggs and rice together in a bowl before adding. This way, you can make what is called ougon chahan (golden chahan), like this one:

http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~china/newpage52.htm

2. If you want to add additional ingredients, finely chop them beforehand and add them between steps 6) and 7).

Tips:

1. Heat the pan hot enough (to 230 degrees Centigrade) before adding eggs.

2. Heat rice before adding.

3. Finely chop all ingredients, and precook them if necessary.

In short, mise en place (preparatory work) is the key.

References (all Japanese only):

Aru Aru Daijiten:

http://www.ktv.co.jp/ARUARU/search/arutyarhan/tyarhan1.html

Me Ga Ten:

http://www.ntv.co.jp/megaten/library/date/01/05/0520.html

Tameshite Gatten:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gatten/archive/2000q2/20000531.html

Today, I made egg chahan for lunch, with the recipe I have just described. I like simple food, and I like the combination of eggs and sesame seed oil.

And what's your recipe?

[Yuki]

I know there are Japanese restaurant that serve fried rice, but I am not how they taste compare to the Chinese one. Wouldn't Japanese rice be sticky to stir fry?

I usually make fried rice with eggs, chinese sausage or preserved fatty pork, green onion, soya sauce, salt, and sugar.

[naguere]

I think cold cooked rice is the starter. After that is is just a poem waiting to be composed.

[torakris]

My fried rice is quite similar to Hiroyuki's.

I normally start if off with a combination of sesame oil and regular oil, but I am going to try adding the sesame oil at the end next time.

Sometimes I make the eggs first like scrambled eggs (with large curds) then remove them and continue with the rice, adding them back in at the very end. I particularly like this with kimchi chahan, and in this case I slightly sweeten the eggs and it provides a great contrast to the spicy kimchi.

Kimchi chahan is probaly my favorite kind of fried rice and in addition to the soy I add a little mirin as well and normally make it with just kimchi and eggs and scallions if I have them.

I also like a simple chahan with eggs, onions, any other vegetables that are in the house and maybe some cashew nuts and then I drizzle it (heavily ) with sriracha.

I like my food spicy!

[torakris]

Here is a picture of a chahan I made it a little while back, it had eggs, onions, carrots and was topped with scallions and sriracha

[Hiroyuki]

Wouldn't Japanese rice be sticky to stir fry?

Japanese rice is sticky as you point out, and that's exactly why eggs and rice must be added to the pan almost simultaneously. The keyword is emulsification. I don't want to go into details of this, but if you just follow the step, you can prevent rice grains from sticking together.

[Hiroyuki]

I think cold cooked rice is the starter. After that is is just a poem waiting to be composed.

Let me point out that the firepower of most home-use stoves is about 4,000 kcal, whereas that of professional stoves is 10,000 to 30,000 kcal. Many websites recommend that you heat cold rice in a microwave oven before adding it to the pan.

[Pompollo]

On NHK there is a program called Tameshite Gatten. (If any of you know it, you may agree that it is fun and very informative. Every week [Wed. 20:00 JST] it highlights a subject like Karage, Tofu, Diabetes, Tea, Cholesterol, laundry, you name it. ) Not to digress, but one night they had a show on how to make the best tasting chahan. The main point boiled down (no pun intended) to what Hiroyuki mentioned--emulsion.

The scientific studies, as well as people studies, proved that the combination of eggs first emulsifying togeher with the oil in the pan, and then adding the rice later into the semi-cooked eggs, created the best taste sensation. But cooking was down to a science.

The directions were the same as Hiroyuki's, but timing was of the essence.

1. Heat the oil one minute.

2. Add the eggs and count 6 seconds.

3. While the eggs are still very raw/runny, add warm/hot rice (NEVER cold according to the TV experts). If you use leftover rice cold from the fridge, you can heat in microwave first.

4. And then stir like crazy until each grain of rice becomes coated in raw egg. (It's hard and I am still trying, but that is the entire key to good-tasting chahan, according to the show and now my own palette.)

5. Once the egg has cooked enough, then you can add whatever you want after and mix in.

I have been doing this now and it really works. I used to cook all the ingredients separately, one by one and then throw them all together in the pan with cold rice and heat. I don't do this any more after watching the show.

Finally, one of my favorites is what I call "bacon n eggs" chahan.

Ingredients are eggs, bacon (obvious) and yellow onions (tamanegi) not naganegi.

I slowly cook together the bacon and onions (chopped roughly so you can see and bite into them them). Slowly cooked, the onions release their sweatness and this is really what adds to the whole taste combination. Once these are cooked enough, I remove from heat.

I cook the basic chahan as above, counting my 6 seconds. After my grains are all coated and golden, I add the cooked bacon/onions and stir together. I only season with salt and pepper, as I think it tastes so much better simple and plain.

[Hiroyuki]

He-he. I watched the chahan edition of Tameshite Gatten, and I provided the link to that edition in my first post in this thread, along with other chahan-related links. Here is a copy of them:

References (all Japanese only):

Aru Aru Daijiten:

http://www.ktv.co.jp/ARUARU/search/arutyarhan/tyarhan1.html

Me Ga Ten:

http://www.ntv.co.jp/megaten/library/date/01/05/0520.html

Tameshite Gatten:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gatten/archive/2000q2/20000531.html

In fact, my recipe is a combination of all these three recipes.

[redfox]

Your point about the heat is well taken. But on the other hand, cold rice has a very different texture from warm rice, which I think is good for ordinary fried rice, at least, if not chahan. I like the sound of the emulsification technique -- I'll have to try it.

A related thing I like very much is rice and eggs, where you add plenty of (definitely warm this time!) rice to scrambled eggs as they are just beginning to set. I like quite a high proportion of rice to eggs, which makes it more like chahan again, though of course there is still more egg to rice in this dish than in chahan. In the end it is sort of like chahan inverted. A good seasoning addition is a little cumin, which I wouldn't have guessed just for myself, but it is delicious.

[torakris]

I missed the show...

Hiroyuki or Pompollo, when you add the eggs to the hot oil in the pan, do you mix them or just let them sit for those couple seconds?

I think the hot rice vs cold rice has to with the the type of rice you are using. In my experience the non-sticky rice has a tendency to clump up when hot but sticky rice (Japanese style) can be very difficult to break apart when it is cold, thus you end up with clumps.

[Hiroyuki]

I missed the show...

Hiroyuki or Pompollo, when you add the eggs to the hot oil in the pan, do you mix them or just let them sit for those couple seconds?

I think the hot rice vs cold rice has to with the the type of rice you are using. In my experience the non-sticky rice has a tendency to clump up when hot but sticky rice (Japanese style) can be very difficult to break apart when it is cold, thus you end up with clumps.

You read Japanese, so why don't you just visit the site? You can find all the necessary information there.

In my case, when I add eggs and rice, I really have to work against time!! I mix them together like hell, because I have to finish in three minutes.

Thank you for your insight into the hot rice vs cold rice issue. I vaguely thought the same way as you do, but I have never had a chance to confirm that because I have never eaten long-grain rice in my entire life!

[giantbee]

I have made fried rice only a few times (including once with pickled takana, sesame oil, sesame seeds, eggs and scallions--thanks for the suggestion, Torakris!). I have never heard of the "emulsion" method mentioned by Hiroyuki but will try that next.

A friend told me that the rice should be added to the oil and other previously sauteed ingredients *before* adding the eggs, and that the eggs should be cooked separately or in a little space in the pan where the rice has been pushed aside. Does anyone make fried rice this way? Also, a friend told me that for better flavor, you should let the soy sauce sizzle in the hot oil in the pan and not add it directly onto the rice. The cookbook Shunju also suggests this technique.

Anne (in Berkeley, CA)

P.S. I have really enjoyed reading the posts in the eGullet Japan section and have learned a lot since discovering it a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to all the contributors!

[torakris]

I must have read that about the soy sauce somewhere too.

I also make a space in the middle, pour in the soy let it sizzle and then mix it together, I am not sure why I do this though....

[Yuki]

A friend told me that the rice should be added to the oil and other previously sauteed ingredients *before* adding the eggs, and that the eggs should be cooked separately or in a little space in the pan where the rice has been pushed aside. Does anyone make fried rice this way?

I usually cook my eggs first and take them out while they are still runny. This is because there is no space in the pan to fry the eggs when it is filled up with rice and other ingredients.

[jo-mel]

A friend told me that the rice should be added to the oil and other previously sauteed ingredients *before* adding the eggs, and that the eggs should be cooked separately or in a little space in the pan where the rice has been pushed aside. Does anyone make fried rice this way?

I do. But mine is Chinese -- not Japanese. Using a wok, I make a space right in the middle, and add a little oil. When the oil is hot, in goes the fork beaten egg. It immediately bubbles up around the edges and I stir it gently. When it is curdled, I mix it in with the rest of the rice and whatever. I use very little soy sauce. I like fried rice very simple -- YangChow style.

Probably, that center cooking of the egg, might be difficult in a flat pan. I don't know.

[Yuki]

A friend told me that the rice should be added to the oil and other previously sauteed ingredients *before* adding the eggs, and that the eggs should be cooked separately or in a little space in the pan where the rice has been pushed aside.  Does anyone make fried rice this way? 

I do. But mine is Chinese -- not Japanese. Using a wok, I make a space right in the middle, and add a little oil. When the oil is hot, in goes the fork beaten egg. It immediately bubbles up around the edges and I stir it gently. When it is curdled, I mix it in with the rest of the rice and whatever. I use very little soy sauce. I like fried rice very simple -- YangChow style.

Probably, that center cooking of the egg, might be difficult in a flat pan. I don't know.

I know this is not the best place to ask..... but what really is YangChow style?

I have been eating yang chow fried rice since I was a little kid, and it always contain small shrimp, bbq pork, eggs, and the rice is light colored.

[Pompollo]

About the emulsion idea. Torakris asked about what to do with the eggs while counting 6 seconds. I had to think about it all last night, since I couldn't immediately come up with a written technique. I usually do it all by sight and feeling.

It dawned on me: What matters is how hot the pan is. If the pan is really hot and the eggs start to congeal right away, they will not be runny enough when you put in the rice. And you will loose the emulsion effect.

I guess the technique is (1) to use medium heat so that the eggs don't congeal before you put in the rice. and (2) during the 6 seconds use your chopsticks/spatula to slightly stir and even out the eggs on the bottom so you can mix in the rice right away.

There are so many techniques to making chahan. I've done the "make a space trick" to fry the egg among the rice, etc. etc. It's really intersting reading these.

I will try the soy sauce in the oil trick. Never knew about that.

Also, a friend of mine sprinkles hondashi/dashinomoto (soup flavoring) and mixes it up. This gives the chahan a definite "Japanese" flavor.

[Hiroyuki]

Besides soy sauce, you can also add Japanese sake to add flavor.

***

I forgot to mention:

donjou described his recipe for making sake chahan in the Japanese style Chinese food thread. A copy of part of his post:

Then, push the rice to the side of the wok, add in one or two scrambled eggs ( pre salted) to the empty side of the hot wok ( you might need to tilt the wok to prevent to much of the egg from going into the chahan) and gently stir the eggs until it is set, but still soft ( not runny); now quickly mix the egg with the rice and toss at high heat until the egg is well distributed.

For a full description, go to:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...30entry631177

Edited June 18, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[danjou]

Hello all,

what a wonderful thread ! Well, here's my 2 bits.....

Torakris wrote:

"I think the hot rice vs cold rice has to with the the type of rice you are using. In my experience the non-sticky rice has a tendency to clump up when hot but sticky rice (Japanese style) can be very difficult to break apart when it is cold, thus you end up with clumps."

Kristin has an important point here.

My mother, who teaches Chinese cooking on occasion, and was a student of the eminent Hong Kong chef Chan Wing ages ago, says it has to do with the type of rice.

I will attempt to explain....with my run on sentences.......

In Hong Kong, one of the most popular dishes during the winter time is stir fried glutenous rice, " Chow loh mai fan" in Cantonese, and in Japanese, this translates as stir fried okuwa ( cooked mochi gome).

This is one of the most difficult Chinese dishes to do well, as there are myriad ingredients, and if done poorly, it becomes too oily and the rice might become mush.

A digression.....

There are many ways of cooking Mochi gome or glutenous rice in this Cantonese style, many Chinese chefs use California grown pure mochi gome ( called "sweet rice") or the long grain mochi gome from Thailand.

Some chefs use the rice cooker, or a pot with "superior stock"( a stock made with pork, chicken, Chinese ham etc) to flavour the rice, and then the other ingredients like preserved pork ( a fragrant pork belly cured with wine and soy), shiitake mushrooms, sliced, Chinese sausage ( the type that is like chorizo de Bilbao), chicken thigh cubes, dried scallops etc. are added.

Or a simple way is to place the washed and strained mochi gome on a muslin, and place it in a large steamer and steam it until it is shiny and al dente. No stock involved, just all the above ingredients, each one prepared separately and then gently mixed with the hot rice with high quality soy sauce and other seasonings.

This hot "loh mai fan" or okuwa can now be served as is, or.... stir fried.

This sticky Cantonese style Okuwa has to be stir fried while hot and it is next to impossible to do it when it is cold.

The other varieties of rice common in Southern Chinese cooking, are long grain varieties like Thai Jasmine; these varieties are best stir fried when cold.**

The point is, if the variety of rice is sticky, it is better to stir fry while the rice is hot as it is easier to separate and toss the grains in the wok , which is why Japanese style chahan and Cantonese style stir fried okuwa is made while the rice is hot.

The hot sticky grains are easier to separate in a hot wok when it comes in contact with the hot oil.

Jasmine rice used for chahan in many restaurants in Hong Kong are cooked first with less water than usual, to produce a more al dente rice.

This Jasmine rice is further cooled in the fridge.

The reason is that the best Chinese chefs try to make a chahan where each INDIVIDUAL grain is seared and flavored.

Each grain must literally stands on its own. To achieve this, and there are many ways, many Chinese chefs (one can just use the back of a large spatula or spoon so the grains are not cut or fractured ) gently press on the cooled and clumped Jasmine rice so it separates easily into individual grains before it is thrown into the hot wok (in which oil has been swirled and aromatics added).

When this cooled Jasmine/long grain rice is tossed in the hot, aromatics infused oil, all the grains separate further, and becomes individually coated with the aromatic oil being used, and each individual grain is seared by the tossing (which is very hard to do) at high heat ( then the other items are added, Cantonese Charsiu, shrimp ( precooked) vegetables, egg, etc.

The stickier nature of the Japonica rice( and mochi gome, Chinese" loh mai"), thus requires different approach and techniques compared to long grain / Jasmine rice when it comes to chahan.

For example, emulsifying cooled al dente long grain rice with the beaten egg will not work, and only works deliciously with hot Japanese rice.

I am becoming too verbose....

cheers

**:

A brief note:In Northern China ( where wheat products are more commonly eaten than rice ) Japonica rice( similar to Hinohikari) is the main rice variety grown and eaten, and this is true in the large areas in the Shanghai region( trivia:Japonica rice grown in China is called "Shanghai mai").

[torakris]

danjou, thank you for all that information!

That sticky rice chahan sounds incredible, but if it took me 10 years to figure regular chahan, I doubt I will be able to do it well....

I made this chahan technique for my husband's bento lunch the yesterday (it is my "I want to go back to sleep bento" ) and he loved it, he even asked for it for lunch again today!

I made a very simple version with just eggs and scallions.

[melonpan]

ive never made chahan before. i always fried cold rice and i always fried all ingredients separately and mixed only at the end. so i decided to give this a try.

chopped some scallions, diced some spam. reheated cold rice from the refrigerator in the microwave for 1 minute and beat 4 eggs (this is for two servings).

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan1.jpg"> <img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan2.jpg"></center>

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan3.jpg"> <img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan4.jpg"></center>

my oil was hot before i added the eggs (which i do anyways), but i counted a fast six seconds before adding the warm rice. it felt refreshing to do this, since ive been making fried rice my way for so long. warmed rice! directly to eggs! it felt good.

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan5.jpg"></center>

although i really wanted to follow the recipe closely because this technique was new to me, i got carried away and added the scallions and ham almost right after adding the rice. i added them maybe half a minute after i added the rice.

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan6.jpg"></center>

still, both bowls of fried rice turned out well. husband said hed eaten this kind of fried rice before in korea. it was new to me. mom always made it with separately cooked ingredients.

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/040930chahan7.jpg"></center>

some things i will try for next time:<ul><li>mix beaten eggs with warmed rice before cooking (that sounds like fun)

<li>wait a little longer before adding other ingredients

<li>try with only eggs and maybe just a little bit of scallions

<li>if i make with spam again, i will fry spam before hand</ul>thank you, hiroyuki for sharing technique.

[torakris]

ever since Hiroyuki posted this technique I have been making it a lot!

When cooking ingredients that need a little longer cooking like meats or onions/other harder vegetables, I add them first and sautee until soft and then add the eggs on top of them. Things like bean sprouts I add with the rice and then scallions I add right before taking off the heat.

I think in the original recipe that one the rice was added it should cook for just a minute of two longer.