October 4, 2006
Yang Zhou Fried Rice (with Char Siu)
You can find a great variety of Yang Zhou Fried Rice, a popular wok stir-fried dish, in Chinese restaurants. Some chefs use shrimps, others use beef slices. I like mine with char siu.
Char siu is also known as Chinese barbecued pork, and literally means “fork roasted”, which is the traditional preparation method. Long forks hold the meat in a covered oven or over a fire.
I bought the char siu from Ranch99 deli counter. Half a pound is more than enough to make 4 servings of Yang Zhou Fried Rice.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups, rice
- 1/2 lb char siu, cut into small pieces
- 2 strips bacon (make extra to keep, if you wish)
- 1/4 lb, lean pork (used to add flavor only and to make soup later)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 stalk, green onions (also called scallions or spring onions), chopped into small pieces.
- light soy sauce
- white pepper
Method:
1. Cook rice in rice cooker and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes.
2. Cut bacon strips into small pieces and allow to cook in the wok.
3. You will know the bacon is cooked when it starts to turn brown. Set aside the bacon and scoop off excess bacon oil to leave about 2 tbsp in the wok.
4. Season the pork with salt and transfer the pork to the wok. When cooked, remove the pork. (You can make soup using the same pieces of pork.)
5. Transfer the rice to the wok and stir fry a bit to make sure the rice gets all the flavor from the bacon oil and pork juice.
6. Make a ‘hole’ in the center of the heap of rice and pour the beaten egg into the center. Stir fry the egg to mix thoroughly with the rice.
7. Transfer the bacon pieces, char siu and chopped green onions to the wok. Mix well.
8. Add light soy sauce and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Cooking tips (Many!):
When you cook the rice, use slightly less water than you normally would as fried rice requires the rice to be drier. That’s also the reason why some people recommend the use of overnight rice, though it’s not exactly necessary.
The egg is mainly used to provide a tinge of yellow to the fried rice. Hence I add the egg before the other ingredients or the egg will also color the other ingredients.
Instead of chopping the green onions and setting them aside, you can also use your kitchen scissors to snip off the green onion into the wok when you are ready to add them.
If you add too much char siu to the rice, your rice will be smeared with a tinge of red (like in my first picture!). To prevent this, you can choose to use only half the above suggested quantity to stir fry with the rice, and the rest, as a side dish when you serve.
If for health reasons you do not want to use bacon oil, it’s OK. But please do remember to still use pork to add flavor!
Bite This!
More recipes:
Scallop Fried Rice - Why Pay A Premium In Restaurants?
Claypot Chicken Rice Without The Claypot
Found: Chai Tow Kway in Ranch 99
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October 4th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
hiyaaa, kRrrrrr…kRrruuuuu…kRrrr…rr…did u hear that ? my stomach juices are churning away….it’s dinner time, you know ;p
October 4th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
I heard ya! :)
October 5th, 2006 at 12:04 am
[…] Yi Chen who valiantly launch SimCooks.com a week after getting SecretBlogWeapon.com. Check out the lovely pictures. She promptly joined Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger.net Writing Project and made a splash. […]
December 3rd, 2006 at 10:03 pm
[…] Which Asian doesn’t like rice? I love rice of any sort - Yang Zhou Fried Rice, Japanese Bento Boxes, Nasi Lemak (Coconut rice) and plain steamed white rice served with a simple dish. […]
January 13th, 2007 at 10:01 am
[…] This fried rice has a different color from my Yang Zhou Fried Rice. Do you know why? The reason is simple. I used egg white only. This is for aesthetic purposes since the scallops are white in color. […]
January 14th, 2007 at 12:54 am
ARGH!!!! I’m sooo hungry now! And I ate a HUGE dinner tonight. ARGH!!!!!!!!
January 14th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Hi Ming, Thanks for visiting! Guess the cold weather makes us want to just eat and eat!
February 6th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
[…] This Fragrant Fried Rice recipe provided me with a good way to use up quite a bit of my available ingredients which I need to “clear” before my trip back to Singapore. I know, I know… you can throw in any ingredients or leftovers to concoct a Fried Rice dish like Scallop Fried Rice or Yang Zhou Fried Rice, but this dish is different. This one is FRAGRANT Fried Rice. […]
September 18th, 2007 at 9:35 am
[When you cook the rice, use slightly less water than you normally would as fried rice requires the rice to be drier….If you add too much char siu to the rice, your rice will be smeared with a tinge of red] - This is why I like your site - you provide little useful tips like these.
While searching for this recipe, I came across another recipe website which also has this recipe - http://www.mamachinesecooking.com/recipes/viewtopic.php?p=26
I like the pictures there.
Keep up the good work.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Thanks Ying. I do my best to explain why I do certain things. I like to read recipes that do that too, in this way, I know how I can adjust the recipe to my own taste and requirements. Happy cooking!
May 31st, 2008 at 6:03 pm
cool site im going to try the fried rice your way i cook it without the bacon but i will try it out sounds good