Real Cooking Fried Rice Recipe by Anis Nabilah

Fried rice is one of the most easiest meals to prepare. It’s especially useful to learn a simple fried rice recipe especially if you love eating rice and cook it on a regular basis as it allows you to use up any leftover rice made the day before. As rice tends to dry up overnight, reheating it again for a meal may not be the most appealing option, so the most practical thing to do is to turn it into a fried rice.

This recipe is for a Chinese style fried rice with a bit of spice. You can use any type of vegetables, but I personally love cabbage, so I’ve used it in my recipe below. I also use butter in my Chinese style fried rice as I love the rich flavour it brings to the dish. It’s super easy and only takes about 10 minutes to cook. Perfect for a quick and tasty meal!

Ingredients

• 1 cup cabbage, roughly 1/6 head
• 1 carrot, diced
• 4 shallots, peeled
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled
• 3 green birds eye chilies
• 1/3 cup shimeji mushrooms
• 1 spring onion
• 1 tbsp garlic, blended fine
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• ½ cup water
• 5 cups pre-cooked rice, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups chicken breast or thigh, cut into roughly 3cm x 3cm pieces
• 1 ½ cups prawns, peeled and deveined
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp cooking oil + extra if required
• 2 tbsp sesame oil + extra if required

Method

1. Slice cabbage into thin strips.
2. Thinly slice shallots. Shallots are sweeter compared to regular onions. Its concentrated flavour makes it an excellent ingredient when preparing an aromatic base.
3. Halve then slice yellow onion into thin strips. I like the mild sweetness of yellow onions. They can be used as garnishing, on salads or added towards the end of the cooking process.
4. I like a little bit of kick in my fried rice. If you do too, cut up birds eye chilies into small pieces, discarding the stems.
5. Roughly cut shimeji mushrooms into smaller pieces.
6. Cut off the very bottom of the spring onion (where the root is). The rest of the root has a lovely concentrated flavour compared to the leaves, so don’t discard it. Slice spring onions finely.
7. Add softened butter to room temperature pre-cooked rice and stir until the rice is evenly coated. Butter has quite a low frying point and can easily get burnt or overcooked, so I prefer to add it to the rice instead of using it to fry the aromatics.
8. Heat a wok on high heat and add cooking and sesame oil until the oil is hot enough to stir-fry. Don’t let the oil get too hot though.
9. Once the oil is hot enough, turn the heat down to medium and add blended garlic. Stir to cook for a few seconds.
10. Next, add shallots and stir until the shallots are cooked through and the garlic has started to caramelize.
11. Chicken takes a longer time to cook compared to prawns, so we’ll add that to the wok next. Stir to distribute the ingredients evenly.
12. To prevent garlic from browning further, add ¼ cup water to bring the temperature down. Don’t put too much water as you don’t want the rice to get soft. Stir to mix through.
13. Add carrots in next. Carrots take a while to cook as well. Give it a quick stir and add in another ¼ cup of water to ensure there is enough liquid to cook the carrots. Feel free to add a little more or less water accordingly.
14. While we wait for the carrots to cook, use a pestle and mortar to grind your white peppercorns. I normally don’t like using premade ground white pepper as it may contain additives. Once ground, add it to the wok. Stir to mix through, then push ingredients to one side of the wok.
15. Crack eggs one at a time into a bowl. Turn the heat back up to high and add the egg to the clear side of the wok. I prefer to add the eggs now instead of after the rice as the eggs will act as a binding agent and stick to rice instead. Scramble the eggs until it gets a little bit crispy before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients in the wok.
16. Add birds eye chilies and prawns. Stir to mix and cook through. If you feel like you don’t have enough oil, feel free to add a little bit more cooking oil. Don’t forget to add a bit more sesame oil too for flavour.
17. Once the prawns are half cooked, turn the heat down to low and add salt and sugar. Stir and cook until the prawns and chicken are cooked through.
18. Add rice and then give everything a really good mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined and evenly spread throughout.
19. Finally, add your mushrooms, cabbage, white onions and spring onions. Once again, stir until the ingredients are spread nicely throughout the fried rice. Give it a taste. Add a little more salt if necessary.
20. Turn off the heat and serve!

Extra tips

1. Always use a sharp knife when cutting shallots, onions and other round ingredients as it allows you to easily cut the ingredient and reduces the chance of your knife slipping.
2. Avoid cracking eggs directly into a wok or whatever dish you’re cooking. I prefer to crack them into a bowl and adding it to my cooking one at a time so I can be sure the eggs are not spoiled. This way you won’t accidentally spoil the rest of your ingredients and your meal.

Bon appetit! For more details on how to prepare my Chinese style fried rice, check out this link for the YouTube video or watch it below. I’ve also shared a few more recipes that I hope you will enjoy.

Creamy Butter Crabs by Anis Nabilah

Grilled Salmon with Saffron Sauce by Anis Nabilah

Chicken Curry by Anis Nabilah

Video courtesy of Anis Nabilah and Official Kartel TV.