Fried Rice Recipes!

[Esox]

Funny thing about this thread...Everyone’s right.
Fried rice is like meatloaf or an omelet. There are a lot of ways to get to the finished product and some folks prefer a French omelet and some a country omelet. Turkey meatloaf, ketchup on top, all-beef, etc, etc...

At the end of the day, its leftover rice swirled around in a hot pan with some other stuff until the whole thing is heated up and dumped on a plate.

Thats assuming one knows how to crack an egg haha. My first attempt was all wrong and I much better understand why now.

 

[Buster]

Esox , start by cutting bacon into small pieces . I use kitchen shears to make it easy. Put it in a pan and cook to render out the fat and get the bacon slightly crispy. Pile the rice on top and proceed to the next steps in fried rice. give it a try and let me know what you think. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

 

[sentrydriver]

I was quite surprised the first time my wife cooked 'nasi goreng' which is Indonesian for fried rice, as she used cooked rice. I'd only ever made a pilau-style version, but given she's Indonesian I assumed she knew what she was doing.

So fully agree with all the comments, you must start with cooked rice, ideally left over from yesterday's dinner. In fact, nasi goreng rarely has anything that is not left overs, the whole point is using it all up the next day(!)

Meat, seafood, veg, whatever you have to hand. Seasoning, usually light and dark soy sauces, you want some sweet to balance, maybe a dash of fish sauce, chilli, garlic, and a beaten egg.

Then, for the true Indonesian breakfast of champions, top it with a fried egg. My wife likes the bottom crispy so I have the oil slightly hotter than if doing it Western style - the bottom comes out almost but not quite burned.View attachment 1138501

I think we ate this every day we were in Bali. And yes, the name evoked a war criminal in my mind, too.

 

[Rushman2112]

Funny thing about this thread...Everyone’s right.
Fried rice is like meatloaf or an omelet. There are a lot of ways to get to the finished product and some folks prefer a French omelet and some a country omelet. Turkey meatloaf, ketchup on top, all-beef, etc, etc...

At the end of the day, its leftover rice swirled around in a hot pan with some other stuff until the whole thing is heated up and dumped on a plate.

Yep, no-recipe cooking at its finest!

 

[Esox]

Esox , start by cutting bacon into small pieces . I use kitchen shears to make it easy. Put it in a pan and cook to render out the fat and get the bacon slightly crispy. Pile the rice on top and proceed to the next steps in fried rice. give it a try and let me know what you think. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

I make bacon bits for salads all the time so thats easy. How can one ever be disappointed with bacon? lol

 

[ruckin]

I agree that fried rice is one of those no recipe dishes. My wife and mother in law helped me add this to my list of I need to make something for dinner now... kind of dishes. If I have rice, green onion (growing outside the kitchen door), and an egg plus some other things that need to be used up I can make fried rice. Here is the wok I use...

I have a problem with portion control so the larger size works perfect . Other "use up leftovers" meals tend to be chosen depending on what I need/want to use up. If I have extra eggs (12+) I make something like a frittata in a my big cast iron skillet. I turn various left over meat into soups, curies etc. Sometimes I make a roast, then put leftover on the slicer and have a ready supply of sandwich meat.

I am slowly learning that I need to either make something that will be finished in one meal or have a vague plan on how to roll the leftovers into the next meal.

Ruckin (I like big woks and I can not lie...)

 

[Esox]

Portion control. Yep, thats a thing for me too. Especially with rice.

 

[ShaverAZ]

Reading the first few pages, I noticed that nobody's even mentioned washing your rice before cooking. Washing is a basic and essential part of properly cooking rice.

 

[Rushman2112]

Reading the first few pages, I noticed that nobody's even mentioned washing your rice before cooking. Washing is a basic and essential part of properly cooking rice.

To be fair, that's a given. Like wash your hands after cutting chillies before having a pee...

 

[Doc4]

Reading the first few pages, I noticed that nobody's even mentioned washing your rice before cooking. Washing is a basic and essential part of properly cooking rice.

To be fair, that's a given. Like wash your hands after cutting chillies before having a pee...

Well, yes and no.

A lot of people not overly familiar with cooking rice don’t know about that. So best to at least mention it.

 

[Atlantic59]

Reading the first few pages, I noticed that nobody's even mentioned washing your rice before cooking. Washing is a basic and essential part of properly cooking rice.

Yes, somebody did.

...A rice cooker is a convenience, but you can make great rice with a covered saucepan. Once you learn, you will find it is easy. The key ideas are use enough water, rinse the rice until the water runs clear, boil the water, add the rice, add a small amount of salt, stir, wait until the water boils again, put the lid on and turn the heat way down until all the water is absorbed, turn the heat off and let the rice sit and steam with the lid on, stir...

 

[Esox]

Reading the first few pages, I noticed that nobody's even mentioned washing your rice before cooking. Washing is a basic and essential part of properly cooking rice.

Yeah that was gone over somewhere in these pages.

A lot of people not overly familiar with cooking rice don’t know about that. So best to at least mention it.

Even yesterday when I was getting ready to cook some for today I forgot and had to dump the pot into a strainer and rinse the rice and the pot. The basics, the bare essential basics, are unfamiliar to me so what may seem like a typical task to many can still be a chore for me.

Chicken fried rice tonight. I need to remember to use more chili garlic sauce and less Sesame oil haha.

The key ideas are use enough water, rinse the rice until the water runs clear, boil the water, add the rice, add a small amount of salt, stir, wait until the water boils again, put the lid on and turn the heat way down until all the water is absorbed, turn the heat off and let the rice sit and steam with the lid on, stir.

That is exactly what I do. I turn the gas burner all the way down and let it basically steam, not boil. I check it two or three times to see how much water is on the bottom of the pot and when theres nearly none and just enough to still give steam, I put the lid back on, turn the burner off, cover it with a towel and let it sit 15-20 minutes.

Then onto a baking sheet to cool to room temp, turn it and break it up in my hands into a bowl and cover it and into the fridge.

I'm doing pretty good with that. Now I'm slowly sorting the sauces. I used very little sesame oil last time and I'll use less again today with maybe just a dash of Soy sauce but a generous helping of chili garlic sauce. That stuffs good.

One thing I can say is, what I've been making far surpasses any premade packaged mixes like below.

 

[Esox]

Spicy chicken.

3 tbl spoons Soy
3 tbl spoons chili garlic sauce
1/8 tea spoon Sesame oil.
1 chicken breast sliced, marinated in olive oil, red chili, oregano, garlic and parsley. Pan seared with 3 green onions 1 carrot, out of the pan.

Rice in, heavy sear. Add chicken and veg's, peas, sauces, stir and turn and there it is.

Time to dine.

 

[Atlantic59]

Spicy chicken.
3 tbl spoons Soy
3 tbl spoons chili garlic sauce

Not to spoil the party, but that is over 4 grams of sodium in one meal, roughly an entire day's worth for an average North American man. Recommended sodium intake is 1,500 to 2,400 mg daily! Something to think about, at least.

 

[Esox]

Not to spoil the party, but that is over 4 grams of sodium in one meal, roughly an entire day's worth for an average North American man. Recommended sodium intake is 1,500 to 2,400 mg daily! Something to think about, at least.

I hadnt even thought about the sodium levels. I havent been adding salt to anything for years, well, other than meat before cooking.

My Soy sauce is the 'low sodium' but yeah, I'll check the content levels. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[Esox]

Whew, way too hot. It needed 1/2 the chili garlic sauce.

I could only eat half of it so, thats okay lol.

 

[Atlantic59]

I know what you mean.

 

[Esox]

I'm gettin into the swing of it!

I cooked the rice in Thai chicken stock today. The flavour of the plain cooked rice is okay but not where I want it yet... Adding the "Low Sodium" soy, Oyster sauce, chili garlic sauce and Sesame oil sure kicks up a few notches though.

I must be doing a pretty good job. Friends are coming to get their share haha. My problem now is, my pan isnt big enough lol. I cooked two cups dry rice today. Thats a lot more than 2 cups when cooked and I can barely fit everything in my pan and make a mess trying to work the sauces through it all. The picture above is, maybe, half of what I cooked. That bowl is 8 1/2"s wide and 3"s deep, enough for me for two days.

Seeing as I'm now cooking for more mouths a lot sooner than I thought I might be, a larger wok has moved to the top of my list.

Not to spoil the party, but that is over 4 grams of sodium in one meal, roughly an entire day's worth for an average North American man. Recommended sodium intake is 1,500 to 2,400 mg daily! Something to think about, at least.

I did check the labels. The Sesame oil has no sodium listed. The so called "Low Sodium" Soy sauce on the other hand, lists 560mg per tbl spoon! The Chili garlic sauce is even worse at 760mg per tbl spoon! I forgot to check the Oyster sauce when I used it today but this is only the second time I've used it. I'm quite sure however, that it will also be very high in sodium. No wonder the best before dates are years away.

 

[Doc4]

I like spicy. I like some heat.

I cooked the rice in Thai chicken stock today. The flavour of the plain cooked rice is okay but not where I want it yet...

I'm going back to my bachelor days ...

... one way I would make rice more interesting was to add some chili pepper flakes to the rice when cooking the rice. Just toss in "enough" (depends on how hot you want it) when you put the raw rice and water together ... by the time the rice is cooked, you have the spice infused throughout.

 

[Clay S]

I'm gettin into the swing of it!

I cooked the rice in Thai chicken stock today. The flavour of the plain cooked rice is okay but not where I want it yet... Adding the "Low Sodium" soy, Oyster sauce, chili garlic sauce and Sesame oil sure kicks up a few notches though.

View attachment 1144689

I must be doing a pretty good job. Friends are coming to get their share haha. My problem now is, my pan isnt big enough lol. I cooked two cups dry rice today. Thats a lot more than 2 cups when cooked and I can barely fit everything in my pan and make a mess trying to work the sauces through it all. The picture above is, maybe, half of what I cooked. That bowl is 8 1/2"s wide and 3"s deep, enough for me for two days.

Seeing as I'm now cooking for more mouths a lot sooner than I thought I might be, a larger wok has moved to the top of my list.




I did check the labels. The Sesame oil has no sodium listed. The so called "Low Sodium" Soy sauce on the other hand, lists 560mg per tbl spoon! The Chili garlic sauce is even worse at 760mg per tbl spoon! I forgot to check the Oyster sauce when I used it today but this is only the second time I've used it. I'm quite sure however, that it will also be very high in sodium. No wonder the best before dates are years away.

Just did a quick check on some oyster sauces. From 750-980mg per Tbl.