Fried Rice?

[mortal]

Any tips on making a good fried rice? Last time I tried, it came out gummy and cooking it longer just burned it.

I'm going to try the Bourbon Chicken recipe recently posted and I think fried rice is the way to go.

[kitchenelf]

A quick thought since I have to run is - make your rice 1 day ahead. Cold rice will not stick together like just cooked, still warm rice. And you're right, heating it longer doesn't help a thing! To me, this is Tip #1.

[soapy]

kitchenelf's tip is the most important one. You want the rice to be kind of hard. It just doesn't work if you have freshly cooked rice.

There are so many variations for fried rice, but what I like is just some frozen peas, some kind of ham/spam, maybe other frozen vegetables and then crack a couple of eggs into the rice and then some soy sauce. You can always scramble the egg separately if you want and mix it in later.

Keep it on medium to low heat, you don't want to burn it since most everything is cooked, you just want it to warm up :)

[abjcooking]

When I cook fried rice I usually spread the rice out on a cookie sheet to let it cool completely. I also sometimes cheat and use boil in bag rice. It almost always comes out perfect.

[mudbug]

abj, thanks to geebs I have been making more than enough rice and then Food-Saver-ing what we don't use and then freezing it. Thawed, it makes super fried rice.

[mortal]

Thanks for the tips.

I've also learned something else. I had my fiancee make the rice the night before and she put butter in it. It kept the rice from drying the way is should. It still turned out ok though. I'll do better next time.

[Claire]

A freind in Hawaii gave me the hint of pouring a little vegetable oil in the rice and toss before putting in the frying pan (NOT the night before). Most households in Hawaii make rice every morning before going to work, and there is usually leftovers at the end of the day. To me, fried rice IS made from leftovers of all sorts. Go through the sandwich meat and chop up odds & ends; bits of veggies in the crisper/freezer. Always onions. We like spicy, so always some kind of hot pepper. The freind used oyster sauce rather than soy, but most households are more likely to have the latter. Then a little scrambled egg added at the end.