Yangzhou Fried Rice

When I was living in Shanghai, it was always great to see new expats try the local food there and see what their comments are. One of the things that was and still continues to be the most interesting to me is the fact that people always comment how different ACTUAL Chinese food is vs. what we are accustomed to back in our home countries.

For me, eating the local cuisine in Shanghai really wasn’t that different than what I had on the dinner table growing up. My mom is a fantastic cook, so I actually never tried Panda Express-style “Chinese Food” until I was much older and living away from home. Funnily enough, in my youthful ignorance I actually thought Panda Express fried rice was the standard version, while my mom had been the one cooking some sort of modified version that she made up. Obviously, I couldn’t have been more wrong!

While there are so many different recipes for fried rice dishes, this is the most popular and common one you’ll be able to find in any authentic Chinese restaurant – Yangzhou Fried Rice. It’s trademark ingredients are shrimp, char sieu (Chinese BBQ pork), peas, and scrambled eggs and of course, day old cooked rice.

Yep, you read that right. Day old cooked rice. It’s actually the secret to cooking successful fried rice. Because it’s already cooked, the sticky starches that are in the rice grains have already been cooked out of the rice so you’ll easily be able to achieve that trademark deliciously loose fried rice without much effort.

Tip: before cooking any of your ingredients, go through and break up any clumps of rice. This will help with getting the oil evenly distributed on the rice when you first put it in your pan.

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Yangzhou Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups day-old cold cooked white rice
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 lb peeled raw shrimp, deveined
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1/2 lb char sieu (Chinese BBQ pork), diced
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• salt & pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Season the eggs with salt and pepper.
2. Heat approx. 1 tbsp. oil in a wok or a large non-stick frying pan and add the eggs and cook as if you’re scrambling them, breaking up any large pieces. Once the eggs are done, place them on a plate or a bowl and set aside.
3. Using the same pan, add approx. 1 tbsp. oil. and add the shrimp and and char siu and sautee until the shrimp are just cooked through. Add to the cooked eggs and set aside.
4. In your pan, add in the remaining tbsp. oil, then add the rice, breaking up any large clumps.
5. Add the peas stir-fry for another 2 minutes or until the peas are cooked through, then add in the scallions and the cooked eggs, shrimp and char siu.
6. Add in soy sauce, then salt and pepper to taste, then toss in pan until the mixture evenly seasoned. If you want to get fancy, garnish with a little additional scallion and serve.

Having problems finding char siu? A common and delicious substitute for Chinese BBQ Pork is Virginia ham or any similar pork product.

What’s your favorite way to make fried rice? Let me know in the comments below!