Fried Rice Recipes!

[Doc4]

(that looks a lot like cast iron w/ medium heat ?)

Yes.

Lower medium.

 

[Clay S]

No egg? For breakfast? C'mon lol

K.I.S.S. I get it.

Oils, now that you mention them. Not for fried rice in particular, but for basic cooking needs. All I've ever used is Extra Virgin Olive. As we all know, it can burn and smoke. On high heat, what is a good oil that doesnt smoke or burn so easily? Rapeseed has been recommended but I havent seen it anywhere.

I use Avocado oil for lots of things. At 570° F the highest smoke point I know. I generally use Peanut oil with a 450° F smoke point for stir-frying.

 

[Avi]

I use Avocado oil for lots of things. At 570° F the highest smoke point I know. I generally use Peanut oil with a 450° F smoke point for stir-frying.

Ya refined safflower and avocado are almost on top each other

Template:Smoke point of cooking oils - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

but the saturated fat concentration is a lot lower so it’s somewhat healthier. That said we do eat butter so .. it’s all good.

regards
avi

 

[Ravenonrock]

Probably the best material for a wok is thin carbon steel. It is seasoned a lot like cast iron. It is best to have a round bottom. Woks don't have to be very expensive. The better ones have a slightly rough finish, like a hammered finish, that lets you move food from the bottom of the pan to the sides where it will stay put and not slide back down to the bottom. Resist the urge for an extra large wok. They take up a lot of space. 13-14" is a good size for home.

It's difficult to do proper stir-frying on a electric stove. For one, the wok has a round bottom, so does not fit well on a burner that is flat. Second, you need to be able to add a lot of heat fast, so the pan does not cool down when new ingredients are added. The early woks were made to fit directly in the top of a wood or charcoal stove, so the heat was concentrated at the bottom. Modern Chinese restaurants use gigantic gas burners.

I was given Le Creuset cast iron flat bottomed wok as a wedding gift over 20 years ago. This wok is a champion work horse, well seasoned and once at optimal (nuclear) cooking temp holds heat amazingly well. Room temp water will boil instantly, veg, meat, seafood, gets cooked very fast. I agree a dedicated wok stove or gas is great, but my electric coil burner stove does the job as long as I allow the wok to be nearly glowing. Once on the burner, it isn’t going anywhere, very heavy, no extending handle, to agitate ingredient, but utensils do the job fine. This wok and this stove work well together. I feel like some “Dirty Rice” tonight.

 

[Avi]

I was given Le Creuset cast iron flat bottomed wok as a wedding gift over 20 years ago.

Yes exactly, my wife is Taiwanese and we have the same le creuset wok and love it for all the reasons you say. With a bit of patience (red hot) it works on cheap stoves to high end stoves. Its a nuclear heat source that hard to achieve in other ways. To be honest its easy to mock - "okay French doing asian cookware and you end up with something that could anchor boats" but for typical American/european BTU output (gas or electric) ranges it unintuitively works better than classic woks [an adapter for round to flat isn't the issue ] . The only thing it obviously doesn't do is cool down but its easy to wing that w/ another pan.

 

[Esox]

I use Avocado oil for lots of things. At 570° F the highest smoke point I know. I generally use Peanut oil with a 450° F smoke point for stir-frying.

Thanks Clay. I'll have to have a good look at whats easily available. The chain grocery stores here dont have much of a selection of nicer ingredients but I just found out yesterday a good friend of mine cooks Asian food all the time and is making his own Sushi so I'm sure he knows where the good stuff is.

I was given Le Creuset cast iron flat bottomed wok as a wedding gift over 20 years ago. This wok is a champion work horse, well seasoned and once at optimal (nuclear) cooking temp holds heat amazingly well. Room temp water will boil instantly, veg, meat, seafood, gets cooked very fast. I agree a dedicated wok stove or gas is great, but my electric coil burner stove does the job as long as I allow the wok to be nearly glowing. Once on the burner, it isn’t going anywhere, very heavy, no extending handle, to agitate ingredient, but utensils do the job fine. This wok and this stove work well together. I feel like some “Dirty Rice” tonight.
View attachment 1137440View attachment 1137441

Thats what I initially had in mind but was unaware of the Le Creuset. Thanks for posting it. It looks heavy and wouldnt lend it self to tossing but I can work with that.

 

[chillybase]

For an easy Fried Rice, I like Fit Men Cook's 5 Ingredient Rotisserie Chicken version.

You searched for Fried Rice - Fit Men Cook

fitmencook.com

He has other variations on his site that are pretty healthy.

 

[Esox]

For an easy Fried Rice, I like Fit Men Cook's 5 Ingredient Rotisserie Chicken version.

You searched for Fried Rice - Fit Men Cook

fitmencook.com

He has other variations on his site that are pretty healthy.

That, made me hungry lol.

 

[Esox]

I just cooked more rice. While it was steaming and then cooling on a baking sheet, since someone made me hungry.

About one cup home fries.
2 Hot Italian sausages, sliced.
2 green onions, chopped.
1 Sweet Bell pepper diced.
2 eggs scrambled in.

Pan hot, sausages in. While they were cooking I prepped the rest.

Sausages seared and out of the pan and into a bowl with the oils. Onion and peppers in, 2tbs butter and garlic. Rice out of the pot and onto the baking sheet. Eggs added to onions and peppers, stirred until cooked and into the bowl with the sausages. Home fries in, heat up, 4tbl spoons Olive oil. Seared well and the contents of the bowl added and tossed on high heat with maybe a 1/2 tea spoon of Sesame oil.

I also checked the label on the Sesame oil. It doesnt say anywhere on the label thats its toasted or roasted but it has the same deep colour as the picture shows. Its like dark maple syrup and filled the house with the smell when added to the pan.

 

[Atlantic59]

Regular on left, Toasted on right. Regular = cooking oil; Toasted = seasoning, you only need a tiny amount.

 

[Avi]

I also checked the label on the Sesame oil. It doesnt say anywhere on the label thats its toasted or roasted but it has the same deep colour as the picture shows. Its like dark maple syrup and filled the house with the smell when added to the pan.

That is toasted - the brown is coming from it being made from toasted sesame seeds (we use the same one). You've bought a really good quality Japanese brand, so you are set. They have a hot version of the same thing that is also really great - The hot version you don't use alone but as a seasoning on top of the oil.

 

[Alacrity59]

It doesn't take too much to go overboard with the sesame oil. Another condiment that is best kept in the fridge. I never make it through a bottle within a year by which time . . . it's stale.

 

[Esox]

Regular on left, Toasted on right. Regular = cooking oil; Toasted = seasoning, you only need a tiny amount.

View attachment 1137758View attachment 1137760

Thats a big difference in colour.

That is toasted - the brown is coming from it being made from toasted sesame seeds (we use the same one). You've bought a really good quality Japanese brand, so you are set. They have a hot version of the same thing that is also really great - The hot version you don't use alone but as a seasoning on top of the oil.

The grocery store I shop at has a 3 foot section on three shelves of Asian sauces and oils but that was the only Sesame oil I saw. When I was looking at them I only had three things in mind. Sesame oil, Soy sauce and Oyster sauce. All are imported and were mid range in price so I figured I couldnt go far wrong. Soy and Oyster sauces they have a few of but I think I'm pretty well set for the moment with what I have.

These are the sauces I have. The Oyster sauce is very thick, Molasses thick. I thought I might as well stay with the same family of sauces.

I guess I still need a nice light cooking oil so thats next on the list. I'll take a ride over in a couple hours when they open. Seeing as they apparently carry quality products I'll take a bit more time and look around more closely. This store has both sides of an entire long aisle dedicated to imported food products. I know they have the full line of VH sauces but those are in a different section. Apparently, they also carry these but the stock can vary by store.

I'm pretty sure they have Thai and Vietnamese sections as well and Cantonese and Mandarin. Maybe I wont even need a specialty store. The stocks of rice are always pretty thin these days though with not much selection. I'm starting to understand why haha.

It doesn't take too much to go overboard with the sesame oil. Another condiment that is best kept in the fridge. I never make it through a bottle within a year by which time . . . it's stale.

Being an oil I wasnt sure if I should keep it in the fridge or not and there was nothing on the label so I didnt but I will. Thanks.

 

[Esox]

More about sauces if we can so I can get a better grasp of them.

I'm assuming all chili sauces are hot. Some may be sweeter, some milder. I dont like a lot of heat but I do like depth of flavour.

When it comes to comparing types of sauces from the same family, say, Vietnamese, Thai, Cantonese and Mandarin, which would be the hottest? Does anyone have a particular main choice and if so, why?

What I'm trying to understand and grasp are the flavour profiles of the different varieties and the number one choices of those that cook with them often.

 

[Atlantic59]

Soy sauce can be a complicated topic. Chinese cooks commonly use two different ones: a light soy sauce and a dark soy sauce. Japanese cooks have Shoyu and Tamari. Sweet soy sauce is something different, commonly used in parts of Southeast Asia such as Indonesia.

You want a soy sauce that is naturally brewed. Not a hydrolyzed protein sauce like La Choy; that stuff is not good. I do not trust Chinese food products as a rule. I've been using San-J and pretty happy with it.



If you want sweet, you can add sugar. I avoid sweetened sauces as a general rule.

 

[Esox]

Soy sauce can be a complicated topic. Chinese cooks commonly use two different ones: a light soy sauce and a dark soy sauce. Japanese cooks have Shoyu and Tamari. Sweet soy sauce is something different, commonly used in parts of Southeast Asia such as Indonesia.

You want a soy sauce that is naturally brewed. Not a hydrolyzed protein sauce like La Choy; that stuff is not good. I do not trust Chinese food products as a rule. I've been using San-J and pretty happy with it.

View attachment 1138111

If you want sweet, you can add sugar. I avoid sweetened sauces as a general rule.

"Naturally Brewed" okay. They had a bunch of different Soy sauces but I didnt know which to buy. It was beside the Oyster sauce and in the same family so thats what I went with but I'll look for another.

 

[Atlantic59]

More about sauces if we can so I can get a better grasp of them.

I'm assuming all chili sauces are hot. Some may be sweeter, some milder. I dont like a lot of heat but I do like depth of flavour.

When it comes to comparing types of sauces from the same family, say, Vietnamese, Thai, Cantonese and Mandarin, which would be the hottest? Does anyone have a particular main choice and if so, why?

What I'm trying to understand and grasp are the flavour profiles of the different varieties and the number one choices of those that cook with them often.

Authentic Thai is usually quite hot, as in little blue flames come off the food. They use a lot of what's called bird's eye peppers.

You cannot go wrong with Huy Fong Chili Garlic (or Sambal Oelek if you don't want garlic). Just use less if you want less heat.

 

[Esox]

Authentic Thai is usually quite hot, as in little blue flames come off the food. They use a lot of what's called bird's eye peppers.

You cannot go wrong with Huy Fong Chili Garlic (or Sambal Oelek if you don't want garlic). Just use less if you want less heat.

For an idea, I use about 1oz of this per 6qts of Chili with various peppers both hot and sweet.

I like garlic, so if I see that sauce I'll buy it.

 

[Atlantic59]

For an idea, I use about 1oz of this per 6qts of Chili with various peppers both hot and sweet....

I like garlic, so if I see that sauce I'll buy it.

You can use the Chili Garlic sauce much like a hot sauce, let's say on eggs or home fries.

My favorite use for it is stir-fry dishes. For example, spicy string beans. Very good in soups and stews.

Also, excellent in peanut sauce, like for sesame noodles.

 

[Esox]

You can use the Chili Garlic sauce much like a hot sauce, let's say on eggs or home fries.

My favorite use for it is stir-fry dishes. For example, spicy string beans. Very good in soups and stews.

Also, excellent in peanut sauce, like for sesame noodles.

Saauces of that type woldnt be used in cooking but only as a seasoning and tossed in right before they come off the heat, right?