Fried Rice 101/ 炒飯基本功

My husband used to call me and ask “what’s for dinner tonight” before he off the work. If he knew there were nothing he liked for dinner, he would ask me to make some fried rice for him. Then, he would also ask me. Am I in the good mood or not? He said, when I get upset or stressed out. He could taste it in my cooking. He didn’t mind he just order some pizzas instead.

Every Taiwanese Moms make fried rice. It’s the simplest dish, but the hardest to make it right! The good fried rice should be aromatic, not greasy at all, all the rice should be dried and fluffy. Of course it took me almost 15 years to figure it out all these tricks. You might not believe this is a dish that a Chinese chef will be tested when they apply to get a job. I personally love the fried rice from the restaurant if the chef does it right. We might not have intense heat to make the restaurant quality fried rice, but if we know the ingredients well, and know how to control the heat right. Homemade fried rice could be very joyful!

Tips:

1. We need to know about the words of “ Stir fried “. In Chinese cooking techniques. “ Stir fried “ means to cook food with intense high heat in the a short period of time. Therefore, all the ingredients are better to be prepared and in the united sizes. This way, it could be easier to cook it at the same time.

2. We also need to understand the ingredients well. Which one needs to cook longer, which one takes less time to be cooked. So we could decide what ingredient will be going to the pan first, then second, third ..... .

3. The basic fried rice will usually include any kind of aromatic ingredients, such as the scallions, onion, celery. Then come with the any kind of proteins. It could be simple as eggs, shrimps, chicken or beef. If you are vegetarian, you could use mushrooms dried soy curd or all kinds of nuts. You could always add in the vegetables, such as the carrots, cabbage, or even fruits whatever goes well with the protein ingredients. It’s very important, all these ingredients it’s better be less water content. Or, you could just simply add it in the end, or have some early preparation done in the beginning. This way, all the ingredients could stir fried well, but not created too much steaming to make the rice sticky. The ingredients such as the beef, chicken breast, lean pork. It better cooked it half way than add in the fried rice in the end. This way the texture of meat will remain tender and juicy.

4. The most tricky part to make the fried rice is taking too much time to separate the rice and make other ingredients over cooked. My solution is to keep the leftover rice in the zip bag, separate the rice by hand before add it to the pan. I guess that’s explain why grandmas and moms always make the fried rice with leftover.

5. What type of pan is better for stir fried?

*If you have well seasoning wok, go ahead and use it. Wok transfer heat well, it has deep shallow bottom it’s perfect to keep all the tiny ingredients inside of pot while you are stirring. Because wok is cooling down fast too, so you don’t need to worry about the rice will get burned.

*Non-sticks pan will save you lots of oil during the cooking process. As long as you take time to bring out all the ingredients flavors out. Fried rice could be tasty too!

*Cast iron pan content heat very well, but its better when you cook with the large size of ingredients, so you could get that nice crispy brown color. I don’t really suggest to use cast iron pan to make the fried rice for the beginner. Those tiny rice will get burned in the winks of eyes, unless you are already a professional chef.

*Of course you could use stainless pan to make fried rice, but it will take few more oil to make the rice separate and fluffy, and you need to pay attention on the bottom of pan more to have enough oil content to avoid the rice will stick on it too.

Let’s get fried rice 101 started!!!

1. 3 cups of cooked rice, place in the zip bag then stored in the refrigerator. Take it out, separate the rice before you ready to cook.

2. 3 eggs beat well. I usually count 1 cup of rice with 1 egg.

3. 3 scallions diced it. Separated the white and green parts.

4. Salt and white pepper.

*It is important to prepare all the ingredients and be ready on the side.

If you use the nonstick pan, you could use cold pan, cold oil, add in the white parts of scallions first with medium high heat. Sauté the scallions till the fragrance comes out.

Then, add in the eggs mixture right away, keep stirring the eggs. When you see the eggs mixture is coming together, kill the heat.

Turn the heat back to high again after the rice mix well. Now, you want to fold the rice from outside of pan to inside by the edge of pan, then spared it apart. Give every rice has chance to spend time touch the heat from the pan, but stir evenly. Repeat this way to cook the rice, and make sure rice will be coated with oil. If the rice looks dry, you could always add in a little bit more, but never add in too much. When you could see the rice is getting lighter and fluffy. You will also hear the pan is sizzling. Turn off the heat, add the salt and generously white pepper, and add in the rest of green parts of scallions then mix it well again. Let the rest heat from the pan heat up the green scallion parts, and remain nice green color. Your perfect fried rice has been done just like that!

*If you use wok, you need to use medium high heat to heat up the pan first. Then add in the cold oil and scallions. You also need to used the scallions to carry the oil to rinse all over the wok. So the rest of ingredients won’t stick on the pan. If it is still sticky on the bottom of pan, it could add few more oil. The rest of steps are the same as above.

*Chinese loves to add the soy sauce in the fried rice, especially when the ingredients involve with meat. The aromatic from the fermented soy sauce give the fried rice other depths. If you are gonna adding in the soy sauce, separate few times to add in the rice. Keep the medium high heat on, and stir well. This way the rice won’t get too much liquid all at once, and turn rice to be soft and sticky.

*Now you know the concept how to make a great fried rice. What kind of ingredients that you want to use in the fried rice. It’s all your personal choice. I love shrimp fried rice with a touch of sesame oil, sausage and pineapple, ham with diced apples or corns. Beef and green peppers. I even marinated the chicken with fermented tofu sauce to give that beautiful red color and decent flavors.

You probably are gonna ask me. “Can I use the hot rice or room temperature rice? “ Well, you could add 1-2 tablespoon of oil in the hot rice to separate the rice before you make the fried rice, and keep the heat high while you are stir fried it. I also found out the room temperature rice are not easy to separate. It will take longer to mix well with eggs and the rest ingredients. Just try my leftover rice from the refrigerator tips when you plan to do fried rice next time. You will love my tricks, I promised !

The end!!!

我老公以前常在下班前打電話回家問我今天晚上吃什麼. 如果他知道有他不喜歡的晚餐. 他就會請我幫他做一份炒飯. 然後他還會問我今天心情好嗎？他説, 當我心情不好或是累壞的時候. 他可以在我的菜色裡嚐到滋味. 他不介意我點匹蕯就好.

每個台灣媽媽都會做炒飯. 它是最簡單的一道菜, 卻是最難把它做到最好! 好的炒飯必須香氣十足, 一點也不油腻, 米飯必須乾鬆爽口. 當然啦! 我花了十五年的時間領悟了這些技巧. 你也許不相信, 應徵中國廚師考的就是這一道菜. 我個人很喜歡餐廳做的炒飯如果廚師做的好的話. 我們在家也許沒有大火可以做出像餐廳那樣具鍋邊香的炒飯. 但如果我們充分了解食材, 懂得掌握火候. 家裡做的炒飯一樣可以很迷人的.

小撇步:

1. 我們必須要先知道” 炒 ” 這個字在烹飪技術上的意思. “ 快炒 “ 它的意思就是在短時間內又高溫低水量,將所有的食材煮熟. 所以呢, 所有的食材最好統一尺寸的大小. 這樣一來就可以在相同的時間烹煮完畢.

2. 我們得對食材有充分的了解. 什麼食材需要煮久一點, 什麼食材很快就可以煮熟了. 然後我們就可以決定哪一樣食材先下鍋, 哪樣食材其次, 或第三 .... .

3. 炒飯通常要有可以帶香氣的植物,像是蔥, 洋蔥, 或是芹菜等. 然後是蛋白質的部分, 可以很簡單像蛋, 蝦子雞肉或牛肉. 如果你是素食者, 你也可以用豆乾, 香菇, 或是任何一種堅果類. 你也可以加入蔬菜, 像是紅蘿蔔, 高麗菜, 甚至是水果都可以. 只要是跟你蛋白質部分的材料是搭配的都行. 很重要的一點是這些材料的水分含量都不能太高. 你可以在最後加入, 或是提前處理好. 如此一來才不會產生太多的水蒸氣讓米飯米飯變得黏稠. 特別是牛肉和雞胸肉及瘦豬肉都得先炒至半熟先起鍋後, 然後再最後拌入. 這樣能保持肉的軟嫩口感!

4. 做炒飯最擾人的就是花很多的時間把飯炒散, 然後把其他的食材烹煮的過熟. 我的解決方案就是, 把剩下的白飯放在封口袋裡入冰箱冷藏. 在做炒飯之前, 取出, 先用手將米粒分離. 我想這就是為什麼奶奶和媽媽, 老是用隔夜飯來做炒飯的原因吧!

5. 用什麼鍋子來炒飯比較好呢？

如果你有個中華炒鍋也養得很好, 那麼就用它吧. 中華炒鍋底部深, 傳熱很好, 當你在翻炒時, 可以將這些小食材留住鍋裡. 中華炒鍋降溫也快, 所以你不用擔心米粒會燒焦.

不沾鍋可以讓你在烹煮的過程中減少油量的加入. 只要你願意多花一點時間, 讓材料的味道釋放出來. 炒飯也是可以很好吃的.

鑄鐵鍋的聚熱性佳, 但是它比較適合拿來烹煮大塊的食材. 這樣就可以達到漂亮的香酥金黃色. 我不是很建議初學炒飯的人用鑄鐵鍋. 因為米粒再轉眼間有可能就燒焦了, 除非你是專業的烹飪高手!

當然你也可以使用不鏽鋼的鍋子來做炒飯. 只是你可能要多放一點油來讓米粒分開, 而且你必須注意鍋底是否有足夠的油, 才能避免飯粒的黏鍋.

開始來做最基本的炒飯吧!!!

1. 3杯煮熟的米飯, 放入封口袋中後冷藏. 使用前取出分散米粒.

2. 3顆蛋打散. 我通常用1杯的米飯配上1顆蛋.

3. 3根䓤切珠, 葱白和葱綠分開.

4. 塩和白楜椒.

*將所有的食材準備好放置一旁是很重要的.

如果你用的是不沾鍋, 你可以使用冷鍋冷油, 加入蔥白, 用中大火先將蔥白炒至香氣釋放出來.

然後加入蛋液繼續炒蛋. 當你看到蛋液開始凝結時就把火關掉. 加入米飯充份拌勻.

米飯和蛋液拌勻之後開大火. 此時, 你要把飯從鍋子的外邊翻炒至中間. 然後再把中間的米飯炒散. 讓米飯有機會在鍋中停留接觸熱氣, 但要炒勻. 重複這個動作將米飯炒熟, 讓每顆米粒能裹上油. 如果你覺得米粒很乾燥, 可以再放入少許油. 但是絕對不能多放. 當你見到米飯越來越輕和乾爽時, 你同時也會聽到鍋子滋滋作響. 熄火, 加入塩, 慷慨的灑入白胡椒粉, 再加入葱綠拌勻. 讓餘溫熟成葱綠才能保有翠綠的色澤. 你的完美炒飯就這樣做好了!!!

*如果您使用的是中華炒鍋, 請你先用中大火熱鍋. 然後再加入蔥白和冷油, 順便用葱白帶動油潤一下鍋. 那麼一來, 所有的材料才不會黏鍋了. 在拌炒的過程當中, 如果還有沾鍋的現象, 可以加入少許的油. 剩下的步驟和使用不沾鍋的是一樣的.

中國人喜歡加醬油入炒飯裡, 特別是炒飯中含有肉的. 它會令炒飯多了一股醬香的深度. 如果你要加醬油的話, 也要少量分次加入. 維持中大火, 炒勻. 這樣米粒就不會一次接受太多水分而導致溼軟.

現在你知道如何做好一份炒飯了. 至於炒飯的材料要用些什麼則是你個人的喜好了. 我喜歡蝦仁蛋炒飯放入少許麻油, 香腸和鳳梨. 火腿和蘋果或是玉米. 牛肉和青椒, 我甚至還把雞肉用南乳汁和少許醬油醃過. 所以顏色紅潤好看, 味道也深厚.

你可能還想問我, 我可以用熱飯或是室溫冷飯來做炒飯嗎？是這樣的, 你可以在炒飯前先加入1-2大匙的油入熱飯先拌勻將米粒分散, 而且在拌炒的過程中保持高溫. 但我發現室溫下的冷飯最難分離. 它會花更多的時間和蛋及所有的材料拌勻. 下次你計劃要做炒飯時, 試試我的隔夜冷藏飯小撇步吧！我保證你會喜歡的!!!

報告完畢!!!