Fried Rice
Cooking Skills: Rice 1
Chapter 6 · Fried Rice
Skill goal
Turn cold, cooked rice into a fast, tasty meal, using high heat and a few ingredients.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
The secret of good fried rice is not the sauce but the rice. Freshly cooked rice is soft and wet, and in a pan it clumps and turns to paste. Cold, day-old rice has dried and firmed up, so it fries into separate, slightly crisp grains. That makes fried rice the perfect use for the cooled rice you prepared in chapter 2.
The other ingredient is heat. A high heat evaporates moisture quickly and gives the grains their toasty taste. Work in small batches (one or two portions), because a crowded pan steams instead of fries.
- Prepare everything first. Once you start, it is done in under 10 minutes.
- Cook the egg first and set it aside, then add it back at the end so it doesn't turn rubbery.
- Hard vegetables before soft. Protein before everything.
- Season at the end. Soy sauce is salty, and it burns if it sits on a hot pan.
Food safety: rice for frying
Only use rice that was cooled quickly (within 1 hour), kept in the fridge and is less than 24 hours old. Never fry rice that has been left out overnight, however good it looks. Heat the fried rice until it is steaming hot all through, and don't keep and reheat it a second time.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Egg fried rice
Cold rice is dry on the outside and stays in separate grains when fried, so the sauce coats them instead of making them mushy. Have everything chopped and measured before the pan gets hot, because it goes fast.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 175 g cold cooked rice (half of the fried-rice-ready batch from chapter 2)
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tsp vegetable or rapeseed oil
- 2 spring onions, sliced (keep the green tops apart)
- 3 tbsp frozen peas
- 1 tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
- 1 pinch white or black pepper
- Break up any lumps in the cold rice with your fingers. Beat the egg in a small bowl.
- Heat 1 tsp of the oil in a large frying pan or wok over a high heat. Add the egg, swirl, and stir for 20 seconds until just set. Tip it onto a plate.
- Add the remaining oil and the white parts of the spring onions. Stir for 15 seconds, then add the rice and peas.
- Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, pressing and tossing, until the rice is steaming hot all the way through.
- Return the egg, add the soy sauce, pepper and the green onion tops, and toss for 30 seconds. Serve at once.
Steaming hot all the way through
Rice that was cooled and stored must be heated until it is steaming hot right through. Break open a lump to check. The high heat does this for you, but don't rush it.
Level 2 · Healthy
Vegetable fried rice
Cut the vegetables small and evenly, so they cook in the same time as the rice takes to heat. Hard vegetables go in first.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 175 g cold cooked rice
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- ½ small carrot, finely diced
- ½ red pepper, finely diced
- 50 g mushrooms or beansprouts
- 1 tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
- ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
- Scramble the egg in 1 tsp oil as in the egg fried rice, and set aside.
- Heat the other tsp of oil over a high heat. Stir-fry the carrot for 1 minute, then add the pepper and mushrooms for 1 minute more.
- Add the garlic and ginger for 15 seconds, then the rice. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes until steaming hot throughout.
- Return the egg, add the soy sauce and sesame oil, and toss. (If using beansprouts, add them in the last minute so they stay crisp.)
Level 3 · A meal in a pan
Chicken and vegetable fried rice
Chicken must be cooked through before the rice goes in. Cut it small and thin so it cooks quickly.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 175 g cold cooked rice
- 80 g chicken breast, cut into small thin pieces
- 1 tsp reduced-salt soy sauce, plus 1 tsp for the end
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 100 g mixed vegetables (peppers, sweetcorn, peas, spring onion)
- Toss the chicken with 1 tsp soy sauce. Scramble the egg in 1 tsp oil and set it aside.
- Heat the remaining oil over a high heat and stir-fry the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes, until golden and no pink remains.
- Add the garlic and vegetables and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the rice and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until steaming hot.
- Return the egg, add 1 tsp soy sauce and toss. Check a piece of the thickest chicken: it should be white all through.
Level 3 · Improvise
Clear-the-fridge fried rice
Once you know the pattern you never need a recipe. Pick one item from each row of the table, and follow the order.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 175 g cold cooked rice
- 2 tsp oil
- 100 g whatever protein is in the fridge, cooked and diced (ham, leftover chicken, prawns, tofu)
- 100 g any vegetables, finely chopped (or frozen)
- 1 tsp reduced-salt soy sauce or other sauce
- Chop everything small. Heat the oil in a large pan over a high heat.
- Fry any raw protein first until cooked through. Add hard vegetables, then soft ones.
- Add the cold rice and fry until steaming hot throughout. Add any already-cooked protein for the last minute.
- Season with the soy sauce, taste, and write down what you used for your house recipes in chapter 9.
The fried rice formula
| Choose | Ideas | Goes in |
|---|---|---|
| Fat | 1 to 2 tsp rapeseed, vegetable or sesame oil | First, in a hot pan |
| Protein | Egg, chicken, prawns, tofu, ham, leftover roast chicken | Early, if raw; late, if already cooked |
| Hard vegetables | Carrot, pepper, onion, broccoli florets (small) | After the protein |
| Soft vegetables | Peas, sweetcorn, spinach, spring onion, beansprouts | With or just after the rice |
| Flavour | Garlic, ginger, chilli, soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil | Garlic early, sauces at the end |
| Cold rice | 175 g per portion, lumps broken up | After the vegetables |
Experiments
Experiment
Fresh or day-old rice
Prove the secret for yourself.
- Cook a small batch of rice. Fry 175 g of it straight away, still warm, in the egg fried rice recipe.
- Fry 175 g of the properly cooled, day-old rice in the same way.
- Compare the textures.
Look for: The fresh rice sticks and clumps, the day-old rice stays in separate grains. This is the one experiment worth doing.
Experiment
Wok or frying pan
Does the equipment matter?
- Make egg fried rice twice, once in a wok (or deep pan) and once in a flat frying pan.
- Try to use the same heat and the same time.
Look for: A wide, shallow pan can work just as well if it is big enough not to crowd the rice. Heat is more important than shape.
Experiment
How much oil
How little oil can you get away with?
- Fry 175 g of cold rice three times, using 1 tsp, 2 tsp and 1 tablespoon of oil.
- Compare how much sticks, how the grains look and how greasy each feels.
Look for: Too little oil sticks, too much is greasy. Find the lowest amount that works in your pan.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egg fried rice | ||||
| Vegetable fried rice | ||||
| Chicken and vegetable fried rice | ||||
| Clear-the-fridge fried rice | ||||
| Fresh vs day-old rice | ||||
| Wok vs frying pan | ||||
| 1 tsp, 2 tsp, 1 tbsp oil |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Mushy, clumped rice | Warm or fresh rice, or an overloaded pan | Use cold, day-old rice and cook smaller batches |
| Rice sticks to the pan | Too little oil, or the pan wasn't hot | Heat the pan first; add a little more oil |
| Pale, flavourless | Heat too low, or no seasoning | Turn up the heat; season at the end |
| Rubbery egg | Egg cooked with the rice | Scramble first, set aside, and fold in at the end |
| Soggy vegetables | Cut too big or added too early | Cut small; add soft vegetables near the end |
| Burnt garlic | Added too early to a very hot pan | Add the garlic only seconds before the rice |
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can cool, store and use cooked rice safely for frying.
- I know why cold rice and high heat work.
- I can cook egg fried rice in under 15 minutes.
- I can make fried rice from whatever is in the fridge.
- I know how to tell fried rice is hot enough all the way through.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Rice 1, chapter 7 is Risotto: creamy rice made by adding hot stock gradually, with parmesan, mushroom, spring vegetable and oven-baked versions.