Any Fried Rice Lovers Out There?

I'm most familar with what I suspect is the "Americanized" version of fried rice. Basically peas, onions and scrambled eggs. Usually with brocoli and chicken but it's delicious even by itself!

Has anyone made fried rice from scratch before?

I do it quite often.

There are a number of south Indian fried rice dishes that are quite simple - combinations of various mixed vegetables (cauliflower, peas, carrots, cabbage, onion, etc - you name it), occasionally paneer, rice and a light seasoning that usually includes some cumin, asafoetida, coriander powder/seed, and some more savoury/sour elements (garam masalas, tamarind, etc). Normally cook the rice separately in a rice cooker, start cooking the vegetables, then add the cooked rice and seasonings and stir-fry.

I've also played around with Chinese-themed variations, using more meat (pork or chicken), egg, scallions and ginger, and Szechuan peppercorns, red chillies and minced garlic for a seasoning. Though if I feel incredibly lazy I'll just toss in some Sriracha, it's come out quite nicely before. Usually use a white fragrant variety like jasmine rice for these dishes (though not basmati).

I make fried rice from scratch, too. My favorite variants are probably the Thai ones (basil, chilis, fish sauce, tofu) but at home I'm more likely to do a Chinese one with onion, egg, meat or tofu, scallion, soy sauce, etc. It's a great lunch item when you're cooking at home and a great use for leftover rice.

Mark Lipton

Yes, it was a favourite with my kids.

I think it has to be made with cold cooked rice.

I base mine on how I saw it prepared in Thailand. I could never get the colour just right till one time when I saw them adding a splash of tomato sauce.

I stir fry some vegetables in a wok, add the cold rice and mix, make a opening add an egg and as that cooks, break it and stir it through. Add splashes of Thai fish sauce, soy and a bit of tomato ketchup. Serve with garnish of slice cucumber. (and for me some sliced birds-eye chillies in fish sauce to sprinkle over).

I have made it from scratch before, but find it much easier to pick some up from a reputable Chinese purveyer. We do make an Indonesian fried rice, which is a whole different deal.

[Jenise]

Make it all the time, Jeff. I absolutely adore it.

Did you know most Chinese don't eat it for dinner? Well, maybe now they do, but because it's made with leftover rice its traditionally a breakfast meal made out of the rest of the leftovers, too. My Chinese gal pal Annabelle often makes the dish when we stay with her, and we've had it with everything from duck to green chiles.

[Robin Garr]

I rarely go for fried rice - it seems either too old-school "Chinese-American" or just too much use of calorific oil for an ingredient list that can make some mighty tasty alternatives with less fat.

But that being said, the fried rice at The Nice restaurant in NYC's east Chinatown, where Dave Sit arranged many an offline back in the day, was the best I ever ate. And it's probably not coincidental that it was fried but never greasy.

Fried rice is almost a weekly meal in my house. I make a pot of rice for dinner almost every night. Whenever there is rice left over it will surely end up as fried rice. I keep it simple with some kind of meat, some kind of vegetable, scallions, egg and soy sauce. Then people can season with other ingredients as they like. I don't insult any country by claiming it blongs to anyone but the Henderson household!

[David M. Bueker]

Duirng my recent business trip to China there was fried rice available at breakfast every day. I did not see it at dinner even one time.

Many years ago I was in New York walking over to the UN and stopped at an Asian restaurant that was just opening for the day. It was a made-over old dinner that still had the counter and flat top grill behind it. They were prepping their lunch buffet. I watched a guy make it on the flat top. The one thing I noticed was that he put into the rice a pile of shredded cabbage was that was about 1/3 the size of the rice used. It cooked down so far you hardly noticed in in the rice. Previously my homemade fried rice has always been "too solid" and had a tendency to be dry especially if I used cooked rice that was not freshly done. This guy was obviously using yesterday's rice and the end product was light, moist and flavorful. Since then I have followed his lead and always include a large amount of cabbage whether Chinese or regular cabbage in my fried rice.

Regular dish in many variations here. We always have "leftover" rice in the fridge just for this purpose.