Cook’s notes
There is no strict formula in cooking yang chow fried rice. You can add more meat, seafood and vegetables than what you usually get in restaurants. Be careful though that you don’t use so much non-rice ingredients that the rice grains practically become invisible (what my daughters jokingly call “where is the rice fried rice”).
But what non-rice ingredients should be added for a proper yang chow fried rice?
Meat
There has to be meat which can be Chinese roast pork (char siu) or lap cheong sausage, or both. If you prefer something other than pork, you may use chopped cooked chicken or duck.Seafood
Shrimps or crabmeat, or both — is also traditional. Some versions include sea cucumber but since it’s not easy to find and preparation can be complicated, it is excluded in this recipe.Vegetables
The vegetables most commonly added are sweet peas and carrot. Scallions and corn are options too.Cooking tips
- It is a bad idea to use newly cooked rice to make fried rice. Day-old rice which has dried out (in the fridge or on the kitchen counter) is best.
- Whatever non-rice ingredients you choose to add, always start cooking yang chow fried rice by creating a flavor base. The most basic is a combination of onion and garlic which are sauteed until aromatic and the onion bits are starting to turn translucent.
- In what order the non-rice ingredients should be added to the flavor base depends on which ingredient needs to cook longest.
- In this recipe, the eggs are cooked through before the rice is added. Instead of the usual soy sauce, the seasonings consist of oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and salt.
- This is a stir fried dish so remember to use oil with a high smoking point and to keep the heat high except during the sauteeing part.
Yangzhou (yang chow) fried rice
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil divided
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup chopped carrot
- ¼ cup chopped lap cheong sausage
- ¼ cup sweet peas
- ¼ cup chopped shrimps
- ¼ cup chopped mushrooms (shiitake is used here)
- salt
- pepper
- 2 eggs beaten
- 4 cups cooked day-old rice
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil
Instructions
- Heat two tablespoons of oil in a wok and saute the onion and garlic for about half a minute.
- Turn up the heat and add the carrot. Stir fry for half a minute.
- Next, add the chopped sausage and toss around for a minute.
- Add the peas and toss.
- Add the shrimps and mushrooms, sprinkle in half a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper, and stir fry for a minute or until the shrimps are cooked through.
- Scoop out the contents of the wok, transfer to a bowl and keep hot.
- Heat the remaining oil in the wok.
- Pour in the beaten eggs, sprinkle with generous pinches of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring and tossing to break into small pieces, until no longer wet.
- Add the rice to the eggs.
- Drizzle in the oyster sauce and hoisin sauce.
- Stir fry the rice and eggs until the seasonings are evenly distributed and the rice is heated through.
- Add the sausage-shrimp-vegetable mixture to the rice and eggs.
- Stir fry for another minute until everything is hot.
- Off the heat, drizzle in the sesame seed oil and toss the fried rice thoroughly.
- Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if needed, and toss to blend before serving.
Salmon ceviche
