Let's Cook Chinese Fried Rice

Yesterday, I bought a box of sausage fried rice from a take-away shop in my village. Its taste is very good, not too sweet and salty. I really like it because it is not added Monosodium glutamate and garlic.

This fried rice makes me think of Chinese fried rice cooked by my Taiwanese friend, Hsiu Mei, pronounced as “Sho Mei”.

Once she came to my house, I asked her to cook Chinese fried rice. She wondered why I wanted to try such common food. I said to her that it was not common food for me, but it was so special dish!

Next, I asked her if she wanted any special ingredients. She said “just some salt, cooking oil, day-old rice, chopped onion and carrot and one egg.”

I kept asking her again “Why do you want only some salt? Why is it not soya sauce?”

She said “Just some salt is enough. If you want to make the rice dark colour, it is o.k. to add a little bit of soya sauce.”

Then, Hsiu Mei started cooking Chinese fried rice.

-          She boiled some chopped carrot until it was cooked, but not too soft. Then, she drained it, and set it aside.

-          For some chopped onion, she boiled it in the other pot and did the same process as the chopped carrot.

-          Next, she put some cooking oil into a pan and heated the oil for 2 minutes, then scrambled the egg and separated it into the pan.

-          Later, she added some day-old rice and  a teaspoon of salt.

-          The rice was stirred thoroughly and rubbed to get rid of the clumps.

-          Some chopped onion and carrot was topped onto the rice.

-          She stirred the all thing together.

-          Finished!

She told some tips to me that the onion and carrot needed to be boiled in order to maintain its flavour, and both would have nicer smell than cooking them in the oil. She said it was o.k. to add some meat.

Furthermore,  the other of my Chinese friend, Xiang, told me that peanut oil (groundnut oil) was good for cooking fried rice. She recommended me to use a wok instead of a frying pan.

Also, May, my friend from Hong Kong, said Chinese fried rice should not be added some Spring green leaves (Pak Ka Na or ผักคะน้า) and tomato because these would make the rice wet.

Try cooking Chinese fried rice on your own and enjoy.

Have a good week!