Leftover Rice, Egg, and Not Much Else
Fried rice works because the rice is old. Fresh rice steams instead of frying, and no amount of heat fixes it.
Every rule about fried rice comes back to moisture. Yesterday's rice has dried out and the grains have separated, which is exactly the condition in which rice will fry rather than clump.
The second rule is heat, and the third is not crowding the pan. Everything else is negotiable.
Ingredients
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 2 cups | cooked rice, cold, at least a day old |
| 2 | eggs, beaten |
| 2 | spring onions, whites and greens separated |
| 1 tbsp | neutral oil |
| 1 tbsp | soy sauce |
| 1 tsp | sesame oil, at the end |
| — | white pepper |
Method
- Break the cold rice up with your fingers before it goes anywhere near the pan. Clumps stay clumps.
- Get the pan properly hot with the oil. Hotter than feels sensible.
- Scramble the eggs fast, take them out while still slightly soft, set aside.
- Whites of the spring onions in, ten seconds, then the rice. Spread it out and leave it alone for a minute before stirring — that is where the toasted bits come from.
- Soy sauce down the side of the pan, not over the rice. Toss.
- Eggs back in, greens, sesame oil, pepper. Off the heat.
Notes
- If all you have is fresh rice, spread it on a tray in the fridge uncovered for an hour. Not as good, but workable.
- Anything already cooked can go in with the whites: peas, leftover chicken, chopped ham.
- Resist adding more soy. It goes salty long before it goes brown.
Questions
Non-stick or steel?
Either. Steel gets hotter and browns better; non-stick forgives more.
Why white pepper and not black?
Habit and flavour — it is warmer and less sharp here. Black pepper is not wrong.