You can find a printable version of the “recipe” below. (It’s more of a formula this week.)
Two years ago, I was deep in recipe development for a book that ultimately became Rice is Life by Caryl Levine and Ken Lee of Lotus Foods.
The recipes showcase rice in its diverse glory, but when I asked Caryl and Ken how they ate rice most of the time, they said, "We eat a lot of fried rice."
Ken's father and his father's four brothers owned a Chinese restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island. While Ken grew up in the restaurant, he realized just before moving to Houston for a job that he didn't know how to cook any of the dishes his father made.
So he asked his dad to teach him how to cook fried rice.
His father showed him how to prepare each ingredient with respect for its individuality so it would cook properly and contribute to a harmonious whole.
"I realized later that he was teaching me about life, about the importance of respecting each other's individuality and accommodating different kinds of conversations that are inclusive," says Ken.
To write up a recipe for fried rice in the book, Ken sent me a series of videos Caryl shot on her iPhone as he cooked in his beloved carbon steel wok. That day, he added asparagus and peas, but he said his fried rice looked different every day, depending on what he had on hand.
Even though fried rice is often a way to upcycle leftovers and bits and bobs of ingredients in the fridge, Ken follows his father's advice, treating each element he includes with respect.
He's also always seeking the elusive wok hay, a kind of alchemy that happens when the wok is extra hot and imparts an ineffable, fleeting, and delicious flavor to the food.
The thing is, I don't have a wok (it's on the list!), nor can I get the kind of heat from my stove you need to create wok hay, but Ken re-assured me, as he's re-assured many others, that you can still make good and tasty fried rice.
Recently, Ken, Caryl, and I taught a class about rice cooking for Milk Street.
For the class, Ken tweaked the recipe from the book a bit.
For example, he realized he preferred to cook the eggs first and not with the rice. His sister also reminded him that their father always included a little bit of molasses and white pepper in his fried rice — two ingredients that didn't make it into the book recipe.
Helping him tweak the recipe for the class made me appreciate the idea of fried rice as a practice — one where you can chase an ideal and constantly evolve your perspective. Either way, you end up with something a little different and hopefully delicious each time, at least if you follow a few parameters.
Ken's tips for fried rice:
Day-old rice is preferred, especially if it's white: Fried rice should be fluffy, dry, and a little crispy. The best way to achieve that texture with white rice is to use day-old rice that's been refrigerated. Whole-grain rice, including brown, red, and black, works well in fried rice, even when it's freshly cooked, as long as it's not wet.
Prep all your ingredients ahead: Cooking fried rice moves lightning fast. So have ingredients prepped and sauces mixed before you heat the oil. And make sure everything is bite-sized or smaller.
Add ingredients in the right order: Ken starts with aromatic vegetables, like onions, garlic, and ginger. If you have some firm vegetables, like carrots or bell pepper, you can add them with the aromatics. He then moves to quick-cooking vegetables, like frozen peas or chopped asparagus. If he has tender leafy greens, like baby spinach, he'll add them in at the end. For veggies that take longer to cook, like broccoli, use frozen or steam them first. For meat, it should all be pre-cooked.
Cook eggs, so they form large curds: You do not want the eggs to coat every ingredient but rather for them to form larger curds. You can achieve this by cooking the eggs first, removing them from the pan, then adding them back in. Or, you can push the rice to the edge of the pan to form a well, then scramble the eggs in the well until set before tossing them with the fried rice.
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Ever since working on the book with Ken and Caryl, I now, too, make fried rice pretty regularly, and every time, it's a bit different.
I know this doesn't fit the usual mold of a five-ingredient recipe, but I'm giving you a formula based on what Ken has taught me.
This way, you can whip up fried rice anytime you have leftover rice from take-out or purposefully make too much rice one night, so you have some for the next.
While the recipe looks long, the dish comes together fast.
I hope that once you make it once or twice, you won't even need to look at a recipe.
Perhaps, as it is for Ken, cooking fried rice will become a practice for you, and you can refine it to your tastes along the way.
A Formula For Fried Rice, Inspired by Ken Lee
Serves 4 as a light main course or alongside other food
If I want to guarantee that my daughter will love the fried rice I make that night, I'll add bacon. While it's tempting to cook the bacon in the skillet and use the fat to make fried rice, the smoke point of the fat is too low to work well in this dish. (Ask me how I know.)
Instead, I'll cook 8 ounces of bacon in the microwave or oven and crumble it when it's crispy to get the right amount for 4 cups of cooked rice. (Or I'll use leftover bacon, if such a thing exists.)
But really, any cooked meat or protein works, as long as it's somewhat dry.
Ingredients
For the sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce, shoyu, or tamari, or 1 tablespoon soy sauce blended plus 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon molasses or maple syrup
¼ teaspoon white pepper (optional)
For the eggs (optional)
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as peanut or rice bran oil
For the aromatics (use all or what you have…at the very least, I like onion and garlic)
1 1/2 tablespoons neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as peanut or rice bran oil
1 small onion or 2 medium to large shallots or the whites and light green parts of a bunch of scallions, chopped
½ cup chopped firmer vegetables, such as carrots, celery, or peppers
2 to 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger (from 1 in [2.5 cm] peeled ginger)
For the rice
3 to 4 cups cups cooked and cooled rice (day-old rice is best if it's white rice)
For the additions (use all or mix and match)
1 cup small, tender bite-sized pieces of cooked meat (or meat alternative), such as poached or roasted chicken, roast pork, char siu, lap chong (Chinese sausage), ham, bacon, seitan, or fried tofu (fresh tofu is too wet)
½ to 1 cup bite-sized, quick-cooking vegetables, such as frozen peas, frozen broccoli, fresh asparagus cut into rounds, etc.
2 to 3 cups fast-wilting greens, such as baby spinach or chopped napa cabbage
Chopped scallions or chives, for serving
Method
Mix the sauce
In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce with the oyster sauce (if you're using it), the molasses or maple syrup and the white pepper.
Cook the egg (optional)
In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt
Set a large, deep skillet (either one that’s nonstick or well-seasoned) or a well-seasoned wok (if you have one) over medium-high heat and warm 1 tablespoon of the oil until shimmering. Have a lid that fits over the top of the wok or skillet nearby.
Add the eggs and cook, turning them a few times so they cook but not allowing them to break up into pieces, until they're set, about 1 minute. As you cook them, move the eggs as necessary to allow the unset eggs to have contact with the pan. The goal is to have one piece of fluffy eggs.
Transfer to a plate but keep the eggs nearby.
For the aromatics
In the pan, warm another 1 1/2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and firm vegetables, if using, season with a little salt, if desired, and stir-fry until the onion is bright white and opaque and just starting to soften, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, about 20 seconds.
For the rice
Add the rice and use a spatula to press down the rice into an even layer to quickly heat it and squeeze out any clumps, about 20 seconds.
For the additions
Add the quick-cooking vegetables, and toss with the rice, then spread out the rice with the vegetables in a single layer and cover the pan. Cook, until you hear the rice start to crackle, 10 to 20 seconds.
Uncover and use the spatula to flip the rice in large sections so the rice on the bottom is now toward the top; the rice should be a bit browned on the bottom in spots.
Spread out the rice again into a single layer and cover the pan. Cook, until you hear the rice start to crackle, 10 to 20 seconds.
Uncover and use the spatula to flip the rice in large sections so the rice on the bottom is now toward the top.
Add the cooked meat and return the egg to the pan. Stir a few times and break up the egg into smaller pieces.
Press the rice into an even layer to work out any clumps, cover the wok again, and cook until it begins to crackle, 10 to 20 seconds.
Give your sauce one more stir. Uncover the rice and pour in the sauce around the edges of the wok or skillet so it hits the surface of the pan. Stir the sauce into the rice until incorporated.
Add the fast-wilting greens, in batches if necessary, and stir-fry until the leaves are barely wilted, 20 seconds to 1 minute.
Remove the fried rice from the heat. Taste and season with a little salt, if desired.
I like when the fried rice tastes seasoned but not overly salty so the delicate flavors of the rice, eggs, and other ingredients can come through.
Sprinkle with scallions, if using, and serve.
Fun for kids
Mix together the sauce
Whisk and season the eggs
Garnish the rice
Bonus points
Play with the sauce: Sauce for fried rice should bring depth of flavor to the dish and help harmonize the ingredients together. Ken tends to like when there’s a salty or umami base with a little bit of sweetness and heat from the white pepper. You can also play around with adding some acidity.
Fish sauce (instead of or in addition to the soy sauce)
Shaoxing wine (brings a little sweetness, a little acidity, and overall complexity; start by adding 2 tablespoons before adding your sauce)
Vinegar (for acidity; start with a teaspoon and increase if you want more)
Citrus juice (for acidity; start with a teaspoon and increase if you want more)
Red chili sauces, such as sambal (start with adding ½ teaspoon and go from there)
Try different garnishes
A swirl of sesame oil makes the rice extra glossy and brings a deep flavor. (You could add a little bit of this at the end; start with 1 tablespoon.)
Toasted sesame seeds bring the nutty flavor with a little crunch
Chopped cilantro has a freshness that’s nice with fried rice
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see how it turns out! Tag me on Instagram @kristincdonnelly.
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Loving this - thank you so much! Perhaps we should do a food and wine combo...
This is so helpful, Kristin! I actually followed his method from the book, which I absolutely love, and it turned out great. It's very handy having all these tips as a blueprint in one place. (I recently made my very first tofu scramble in light of the egg shortage and turned it into fried rice the next day, and it was really good!