I am not a fan of bland and boring fried rice. What do I mean by bland and boring? I’m talking about fried rice that only tastes like soy sauce and just has a bit of scrambled eggs and green onion in it. Overall, just not that exciting. A perfect fried rice has to be bursting with flavour with lots of additions.
This recipe is incredibly simple to make and turns yesterday's leftover protein into magic. Chicken, pork or tofu all work really well as a leftover protein. Just use whatever you have on hand in the fridge from yesterday’s supper. Next, all you need is a wok.
A wok is my go-to pan for frying up some rice. If you don't have one yet I highly suggest getting yourself one of these bad boys. They are the master of stir-fries. I use mine on average, once a week since a meal made on it cooks so quickly and cooks most veggies tender crisp. Tender-crisp veggies are where it's at. Soft veggies just don't seem to agree with me texture-wise unless they are super roasted and caramelized.
I try to make this fried rice as colourful as possible by using an assortment of different coloured additions. Between the red onion, carrots, corn, peas, mushrooms, scrambled egg, green onions and parsley almost the entire rainbow was used.
The secret to making this fried rice so tasty is a combination of the sauce and the rice. The sauce is spicy from the sriracha with a sesame oil and soy sauce two hit KO to the taste buds. Mix the soy sauce, sriracha and sesame oil together in a bowl and set aside for later.
The basmati rice requires a special ingredient. My suggestion for rice in most situations is to cook it in broth. Vegetable or chicken broth will do depending on dietary restrictions. Most rice comes with its own cooking instructions, just follow these to make the rice. Or, alternatively use a rice cooker.
My final suggestion depends entirely on your preferences. Do you prefer a crispier or softer fried rice? To make a softer fried rice, use recently/freshly cooked rice mixed with butter for the rice addition step in the directions. I grew up eating a softer fried rice that tastes like it came straight from a take-out container. The nostalgia is too strong so to this day I still prefer a softer fried rice to a crispier version.
Using old rice from the refrigerator is still possible. I find that cold rice in the fridge has dried out a bit and likes to clump together, making it more difficult to mix with the additions and sauce. However, using cold rice will make for a crispier fried rice.
While the rice is cooking, heat up some oil in the wok over medium heat. When the oil starts to bubble - indicating that it has heated up sufficiently - add scrambled eggs to the wok. The round omelette that forms cooks very quickly; flip it once half-way through cooking it. The omelette should be cooked within 3 minutes, remove it from the wok and cut it up into pieces.
Add the rest of the oil to the wok, it should heat up within seconds at this point. Cook the onions and mushrooms over medium to medium-high for three minutes; stirring every 30 seconds. Push the onion and mushroom up the sides of the wok to make room in the center for some more vegetables. Add the carrots and celery to the center of the wok. Cook them for another three minutes or until tender-crisp. I also add some salt and pepper (to taste) as well as ginger and garlic to the vegetables in the last 30 seconds of cooking.
Add the hot or cold rice, eggs, leftover protein, corn and peas to the wok. Mix it all together and let it cook for another minute before adding the reserved sauce. Cook the rice for a final 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ta da! The fried rice is done; finished cooking within 15 minutes.
For a quick, simple and tasty meal, try this leftover fried rice. It’s still one of my best back-pocket recipes for using up leftover protein.
Leftover Fried Rice
- Yield: 4-5 servings |
- Prep time: 5 min |
- Cook Time: 13 min |
- Total: 18 min
Ingredients:
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1 cup basmati rice, uncooked
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2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
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1 tbsp unsalted butter
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2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
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1 tbsp sesame oil
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1/2 tbsp sriracha
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1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
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2 eggs, whisked
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1 container (200 g) mushrooms, sliced
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3/4 cup or 1 medium red onion, diced
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2 stalks celery, diced
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1 large carrot, diced
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2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
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2 tsp fresh, grated ginger
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1 cup leftover protein (chicken, pork, tofu etc.)
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1/3 cup corn
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1/3 cup green peas
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salt and pepper to taste
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1 green onion, diced
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fresh parsley for garnish
Directions:
1. Set up and cook the rice according to its directions, using broth in place of water. After the rice has finished cooking, fold in 1 tbsp of butter and set aside.2. In a small bowl combine the sriracha, soy sauce and sesame oil together; set aside.
3. While the rice is cooking, heat up 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a wok on the stove top on medium heat. Let the oil heat up for a minute or until bubbles start to form.
4. Add scrambled eggs to the wok and cook for 3 minutes. Flip the omelette that forms half-way through cooking it. Remove from the wok, cut into pieces and set aside.
5. Add the last of the olive oil to the wok, it will heat up within seconds. Stir-fry the red onion and mushrooms for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Push the mushrooms and onions up the side of the wok to make room in the center.
6. Add the carrots and celery to the center of the wok and cook them for 3 minutes (tender-crisp); stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, ginger,salt and pepper to the rest of the vegetables in the last 30 seconds.
7. Add the leftover pork*, cooked rice, egg, corn and peas to the wok. Cook for 1 minute before adding the reserved sauce. Stir the sauce into the fried rice and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Remove wok from heat, garnish with green onion and parsley. Serve and enjoy!