Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice

The secret to this dish is it's simplicity; although most associated with Chinese cuisine, fried rice is now a favourite of many cuisines around the world, and is a great way of using leftover ingredients. The essential aspect of good fried rice is that the rice should be cold when it is added to the wok/frying pan. If you use freshly boiled rice, this will end up steaming instead of frying and you will be left with a soggy, lumpy fried rice. The rice should be cooked several hours in advance and then refrigerated, or ideally the night before. As I mentioned before, this is a perfect opportunity to use up any rice that you have over from the previous day.

As for the type of rice, I would recommend long grain rice. You want your rice to be easy to separate into individual grains. Starchy shorter grain rices have a tendency to clump together, and are more difficult to separate.


The rest of the ingredients are of less importance. You can add pretty much whatever you have to hand, whether it be chicken breast, egg, onions, mushrooms, peas, ham blocks, bean sprouts etc In this version I am using shrimp, purely because that is what I had in the freezer, but you can go for a totally vegetarian rice, or added a variety of meats for a "special fried rice". As always, the choice is up to you!

 Ingredients

400g cold, cooked long grain rice

300g peeled, cooked shrimps

4 chestnut mushrooms

1 white onion

1 red chili pepper

100g cooked ham blocks

3 eggs

3 Tb sunflower oil

2 Tb dark soy sauce

1 Tb oyster sauce

1 tsp adjinomoto (MSG)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp corn flour

2 Tb light soy sauce

2 spring onions/scallions

Method

Marinade the shrimp in 1 tablespoon of dark soy mixed with 1 tablespoon oyster sauce and 1 teaspoon of cornflour. Leave for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Remove your cooked rice from the fridge and use a couple of forks to gently separate the grains of rice from each other. 

Peel and chop the white onion finely. De-seed the chili pepper and cut into small pieces. Chop the mushrooms into small blocks.

Heat your wok/frying pan to a medium heat. Beat the 3 eggs well in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok and then add the beaten eggs. The eggs should be cooked for no longer than 45 seconds; they do not need to be completely set on both sides. Fold the 2 sides into the middle and then transfer to a plate. The residual heat from the eggs will cook them further.

Turn up the heat on the wok to a high heat. The wok should be "smoking" hot. Add 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil and distribute evenly around the wok.

Add the chopped onion to the wok and stir fry for 1 minute. Now add the marinated shrimps and fry these for 2 minutes. Next add the ham blocks, mushrooms and chili pepper and continue stir frying for another minute. 

Now it is time to add the rice. Carefully add the rice to the wok, stirring as you go to ensure that all the rice gets to touch the sides of the wok. Continue tossing and stirring the rice so that all grains are fried and so that the ingredients are well mixed in together.

Slice the cooled omelette into thin strips and then return these to the wok. Mix thoroughly. Add 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce to the rice, and sprinkle lightly with the adjinomoto. Season with black pepper.

Mix the rice thoroughly making sure that all grains have been coated with some of the soy sauce, and the rice has a uniform golden brown colour.

Chop the spring onions into small pieces and throw these over the rice as a final garnish.

Serve immediately.

Fried rice can be served on its own with prawn crackers, or for a more subsantial meal, with roasted Chinese style chicken.

Enjoy!

 

DID YOU KNOW?

Fried rice is often served towards the end of the meal in a typical Chinese banquet, especially around the Chinese New Year.