Egg fried Rice

In the West, we normally tuck into a bowl of egg fried rice as part of a pile of food placed in front of us on the table in our local Chinese restaurant. In a Chinese banquet, the host will normally serve the rice at the end of the meal as the last course. After a host of other delicious dishes, it is hardly ever eaten. At home, we often tuck into a bowl with a few extras thrown in often whatever we have in the bottom of the fridge, peas, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn, peanuts and maybe some cooked chicken or prawns, so I’m going to include two recipes.

The only downside to this recipe is it is best made using pre-cooked rice which can be prepared before your banquet but unless you are like me and a hopeless judge of how much rice to cook not good for a quick supper, but ideal if you have a tub of plain boiled rice left over from the day before. You don’t need to use anything fancy for egg fried rice like Jasmine rice as the delicate flavours will not hold up, I use a Basmati or quality long-grain rice from the supermarket.

Egg fried Rice ( 1 )                                                          Serves 2 rather generous portions

500 gr cooked Long-grain Rice, at fridge temperature

2 fresh free-range Eggs, beaten

2 Spring Onions, finely chopped

3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 tablespoons Light Soy sauce

2 tablespoons Sesame Oil

Freshly ground Salt and Pepper

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan on high heat until smoking, then add the rice, toss until coated well with the oil. Stir fry until the rice is heated through. Whisk the Soy sauce into the eggs and add to the wok, stir quickly so some of the egg is absorbed into the rice and it has just begun to brown a little in places. There should still be some generous flecks of cooked egg throughout the mixture. Season and stir in the sesame oil then serve topped with Spring onions.

Egg fried Rice ( 2 )                                                                      Serves 3 – 4 as a side

650 gr cooked Long-grain Rice, at fridge temperature

750 gr cooked Long-grain Rice, at fridge temperature

200 gr cooked Chicken Breast, diced ( or prawns )

75 gr cooked Garden Peas

1 small Red Pepper, deseeded and finely diced

4 fresh free-range Eggs, beaten

1 bunch Spring Onions, chopped in 1 cm long pieces

4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

4 tablespoons Light Soy sauce

3 tablespoons Sesame Oil

Freshly ground Salt and Pepper

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan on high heat until smoking, then add the rice, spring onions, peas, pepper, and chicken, toss until coated well with the oil. Stir fry until the heated through. Whisk the Soy sauce into the eggs and add to the wok, stir quickly so some of the egg is absorbed into the rice and it has just begun to brown a little in places. There should still be some generous flecks of cooked egg throughout the mixture. Season and stir in the sesame oil then serve.