Do you know that Malaysian love rice? A good plate of fried rice is when each individual grain of rice is separated, there is no clump of rice and very aromatic. I think we take this dish for granted, though fried rice is a very simple dish but to cook a bowl of good fried rice, it takes some practice and some basic science. No worries, there is no rocket science behind them.
Here is how you cook fried rice at home that does not stick to your pan!
Hot Rice vs Cold Rice
Yes, they do help to ease the cooking process, where they tend to stick lesser onto the pan or wok.
It is because of the temperature that affects the starch content of the rice.
When the rice is hot, the starch is activated and tend to get sticky. So technically by using fresh hot rice, they tend to stick more onto the pan/wok because the starch is active.
So in order to minimize the stickiness of the rice, chilled rice is used. Not necessarily cold rice or overnight rice, as long as they are at room temperature, then this would reduce the starch activity.
I bet you would be thinking that, when we cook them, they become hot, well, that is a different story. When we cook with chilled rice, we allow the outer layer of the rice to be coated in oil, and then when stir-frying them, each individual grain of rice is sort of seared on the exterior layer and the starch are sealed within. Hence the starch is not able to conjoin with any other grain of rice. Therefore, eliminating a bowl of clumpy fried rice.
Ingredients in Brief
The main ingredients for a plate of fried rice would be the rice itself, followed by fats, eggs, and some other optional ingredients.
Rice
In general, rice is categorized into 3 types of rice, they are short-grain, medium-grain, and long-grain. Bear in mind that not all types of rice are suitable to make fried rice, and to my years of experience in cooking, I find short-grain rice to be best suited for fried rice, as when it is cooked, their texture is chewy, and firm. As they will come fully intact as an individual grain of rice with the right shine, a lot more enticing to our eyes.
Fats
My favorite type of fats for fried rice would be lard with a little mixture of shallot or garlic oil. The other suitable fats that would also give your fried rice good aroma is butter, vegetable, or peanut oil.
Eggs
Free-range egg is the best. Also, try using duck egg if you have access to it.
Aromatic Vegetables
You can use a variety of aromatic vegetables like shallot, chives, onion, parsley, garlic or anything suitable.
I would suggest only to use garlic if u intend to make garlic fried rice, otherwise, garlic tends to overpower a lot of the flavor from other ingredients.
Author have a say…
Often we only know the existence of the regular fried rice, where very few realize there is another version of fried rice known as golden fried rice. The regular fried rice is where the rice and eggs are two separate entities whereas the golden fried rice, rice, and egg (yolk) as one single entity. Check it out below to learn how to cook the basic fried rice 2 ways and also how to prevent the rice from lumping together!
Source : My Recipes
How to Cook Basic Fried Rice - 2 Method
Ingredients
Regular Fried Rice
- 1.5 Bowl Plain Rice (chilled)
- 1 nos Egg
- 1 tbsp Cooking Oil
- to taste Salt
- to taste Pepper
Golden Fried Rice
- 1.5 bowl Plain Rice (chilled)
- 2 nos Egg Yolk
- 1 tbsp Cooking Oil
- to taste Salt
- to taste Pepper
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Instructions
Regular Fried Rice - Preparation
- Wash 1 cup of rice with water and cook with a rice cooker.
- Once done, lightly whisk the rice with fork or chopstick to loosen it and let it chill to room temperature.
- Prepare the egg in a container prior to cooking.
Regular Fried Rice - Cooking
- Lightly grease the top of your pan/wok with cooking oil.
- Preheat the oil until smoking point.
- Once the oil reaches the smoking point, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil and then add the egg in.
- Scramble the egg to pieces.
- Add in chilled rice and thoroughly stir-fry.
- Season with salt and pepper and continue stir-frying as you use your spatula to press and break off any lumpy rice.
- Stir-fry until rice begins to jump. Remove from heat into a plate and serve.
Golden Fried Rice - Preparation
- Wash 1 cup of rice with water and cook with a rice cooker.
- Once done, lightly whisk the rice with fork or chopstick to loosen it and let it chill to room temperature.
- Separate the egg white and yolk in two different containers prior to cooking. Keep egg white for other uses.
Golden Fried Rice - Cooking
- Lightly grease the top of your pan/wok with cooking oil.
- Preheat the oil until smoking point.
- Once the oil reaches the smoking point, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil and then add the chilled rice in.
- Thoroughly stir-fry the rice and then add the egg yolk to the rice.
- Stir-fry the rice and egg yolk as you mix them together evenly.
- Season with salt and pepper and continue stir-frying as you use your spatula to press and break off any lumpy rice.
- Stir-fry until rice begins to jump. Remove from heat into a plate and serve.
Video
Notes
Tips
- The first step of oiling your cooking pan is to season the cooking pan, which lubricates the surface and bringing the oil to the smoking point to ensure there is no water on it.
- Then cool oil is added to bring down the temperature of the cooking pan which also helps in prevent the rice from sticking to the pan.
- Chilled rice is used instead of hot rice because rice contains starch, starch when cooked at high heat will stick together very easily or immediately.
- By start cooking with cool oil, chilled rice, and a completely dry pan, the outer layer of rice is sort of like slowly sealed before the starch could stick and lumping the rice together.
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