China · Jiangsu

Yangzhou Fried Rice

Name: Yangzhou Fried Rice
Prep time: 16 min
Cook time: 22 min
Total time: 38 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Jiangsu
Ingredients: day-old cooked rice 500 g; eggs 3 pieces; frozen headless peeled shrimp 5 pieces; canned luncheon meat 150 g; green peas 30 g; carrot 30 g; corn kernels 30 g; scallion 1 pieces; oil Exact; salt 5 g

Day-old rice stir-fried with egg, shrimp, luncheon meat and vegetables, every grain separate and golden.

38 minutes · 4 servings · Moderate

Yangzhou fried rice carries a name that its origin story does not entirely deserve; what it does own is a method. The technique is about temperature and sequence, breaking the egg into parts, cooking the rice in oil before anything else joins it, and using rice that sat overnight so it is dry enough to separate. Restaurants in Yangzhou turned that method into an art, and versions with daylily, snow pea or river shrimp are still ordered for their texture rather than their ingredients.

Ingredients

day-old cooked rice500 g
eggs3 pieces
frozen headless peeled shrimp5 pieces
canned luncheon meat150 g
green peas30 g
carrot30 g
corn kernels30 g
scallion1 pieces
oilExact
salt5 g

Directions

1
Dice the carrot into two millimeter cubes and set aside.
2
Dice the luncheon meat into two millimeter cubes and set aside.
3
Separate the white and green parts of the scallion, cut each into short segments of two and a half to five millimeters and keep them apart.
4
Beat the eggs in a bowl until even and set aside.
5
Boil the carrot, peas and corn until cooked, lift out and set aside, keeping the water.
6
Boil the shrimp until cooked, lift out and set aside; the water can now be discarded.
7
Heat the pan and the oil together, following the hot pan and double oil method.
8
As soon as the egg sets, lift it out and set aside.
9
Add the luncheon meat, peas, carrot, corn and shrimp to the pan and stir-fry for one to two minutes, then plate and set aside.
10
Rinse the pan to wash away the debris, leaving it clean; oil is fine but bits are not.
11
Heat the pan and oil again with ten milliliters of oil and fry the scallion whites until fragrant.
12
Turn down the heat, or turn it off for a minute or two if the oil is too hot, add the rice and pound it quickly with the spatula so that every grain is coated and separate.
13
Add the egg and keep pounding so it breaks into pieces and mixes through the rice.
14
Turn to high heat, add all the other prepared ingredients and stir-fry for one to two minutes.
15
Scatter in the salt and stir-fry until evenly mixed.
16
Scatter in the scallion greens and stir-fry for one minute.
17
Turn off the heat and serve.

Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.