Add the perfect side to your next fakeaway night with this Chinese takeaway style egg fried rice recipe.
Chinese takeaway style egg fried rice is deliciously savoury, with each individual grain ready to soak up your favourite curry or stir fry sauces. This recipe requires a little forward planning in terms of cooking rice a day ahead, but with the rice prepared and set aside the final cooking process takes just a few minutes.
When it comes to cooking rice, I’ve found that the two most important things in ensuring fluffy and perfectly cooked rice are the brand or quality of the rice, and the care taken to rinse the rice of excess starch. With a good quality rice well rinsed, you can cook the rice in a pot on the stovetop, or in a rice cooker. Whilst not essential, I highly recommend investing in a rice cooker if you cook rice often. As well as offering perfectly cooked rice every time, it can operate independly of your stovetop. This is useful in leaving more space to cook accompanying dishes. The following recipe includes a method for cooking in a pot on the stovetop if you prefer, as well as standard instructions for using a rice cooker.
Ingredients For Chinese Takeaway Style Egg Fried Rice
Whilst long grain rice has great texture, it’s a little bland in taste. Jasmine rice is soft and tender but deliciously fragrant. I’ve made egg fried rice with either one quite happily many times, until my friend Chin Taylor recommended doing what many takeaways do and using a combination of both jasmine rice and long grain rice. The result is flavourful, aromatic rice that has delicious bite to it and makes perfect fried rice! You can find more tips like this, as well as recipes and ingredients from Chin and Choo at Ziang’s Food Workshop.
- Rice: A combination of fragrant jasmine rice and long grain rice with great texture makes for perfect egg fried rice. I like Royal Umbrella or Green Dragon Jasmine Rice and Tolly Boy Long Grain Rice. I’ve also had some success with Sainsbury’s Long Grain Rice.
- Seasoning: Dark Soy Sauce, Sea Salt, MSG – I like Lee Kum Kee and Pearl River dark soy sauce.
- Other Ingredients: Vegetable Oil, Egg, White Pepper
How To Make Chinese Takeaway Style Egg Fried Rice
As this recipe uses cooked and cooled rice, the first step is to wash and cook the rice. After cooking, the rice is cooled and set aside in the fridge, ready to be turned into fried rice the following day. When you’re ready to eat, the rice takes just a few minutes to fry in some hot oil with egg, soy sauce and seasonings.
Step 1: Rinse The Rice
Put the jasmine rice and long grain rice in a sieve over a bowl and cover with fresh water. Mix the rice briefly by hand to agitate it – the water will become cloudy as excess starch is released from the rice. Drain the water and repeat the process twice more until the water is clear. Give the rice a final rinse with water, then drain well once more and tip into the rice cooker pot or stovetop pot.
Step 2: Cook The Rice
Rice Cooker Method: Add water to the ‘1 cup’ level indicated in your rice cooker and cook on ‘long grain’ setting. When the rice is cooked, fluff it up with a rice spoon, close the lid and leave on ‘keep warm’ setting for 10 minutes. Pour the rice on to a plate and set aside to cool as quickly as possible.
Stovetop Method: Cover the washed and drained rice with 225ml fresh water. Bring to the boil over a high heat and, as soon as the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest available setting and cover the pan with a lid. Let the rice cook for 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the rice stand for another 10 minutes, resisting the urge to lift the lid. Fluff the rice up with a fork, pour on to a plate and set aside to cool as quickly as possible.
Once the cooked rice is cooled, cover and set aside in the fridge overnight or until needed (up to 2 days).
Step 3: Fry The Rice
In a small bowl, add the egg and white pepper. Mix briefly. Heat a wok or large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil, then add the prepared whisked egg mixture. Stir-fry the egg for 20 seconds until it’s scrambled and almost cooked through. Add a little more oil to the pan if needed. Add the prepared rice and dark soy sauce and mix well. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the rice is piping hot. Season with sea salt and MSG and mix well once more.
Increase the heat to high and continue to stir-fry the rice for a further minute or so until the texture is dry and the rice grains appear to pop or dance around in the middle of the wok.
Step 4: Serve The Egg Fried Rice
Transfer the piping hot egg fried rice to a serving plate, or keep warm in a food container while you prepare other dishes. Serve with your favourite curry or stir-fry dishes.
Tips For Egg Fried Rice
- Add a touch more dark soy sauce to add deeper colour to the rice.
- Add cooked chicken, pork, beef, king prawns or mixed vegetables for a more substantial dish.
- Finish with a touch of chopped garlic in oil, aromatic oil or sesame oil for extra flavour.
I hope you’ll try this Chinese takeaway egg fried rice recipe. If you do, let me know in the comments how it went!
Add the perfect side to your next fakeaway night with this Chinese takeaway style egg fried rice recipe.
- 100 grams long grain rice
- 50 grams jasmine rice
- 225 ml water
- 2/3 rice cooker cup long grain rice
- 1/3 rice cooker cup jasmine rice
- water to the '1 cup' level on the rice cooker
- 1 egg
- Pinch white pepper
- 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
- 1 portion cooked and cooled rice as above
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon MSG
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Put the jasmine rice and long grain rice in a sieve over a bowl and cover with fresh water. Mix the rice briefly by hand to agitate it – the water will become cloudy as excess starch is released from the rice. Drain the water and repeat the process twice more until the water is clear. Give the rice a final rinse with water, then drain well once more and tip into the rice cooker pot or stovetop pot.
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Rice Cooker Method: Add water to the '1 cup' level indicated in your rice cooker and cook on 'long grain' setting. When the rice is cooked, fluff it up with a rice spoon, close the lid and leave on 'keep warm' setting for 10 minutes. Pour the rice on to a plate and set aside to cool as quickly as possible.
Stovetop Method: Cover the washed and drained rice with 225ml fresh water. Bring to the boil over a high heat and, as soon as the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest available setting and cover the pan with a lid. Let the rice cook for 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the rice stand for another 10 minutes, resisting the urge to lift the lid. Fluff the rice up with a fork, pour on to a plate and set aside to cool as quickly as possible.
Once the cooked rice is cooled, cover and set aside in the fridge overnight or until needed (up to 2 days).
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In a small bowl, add the egg and white pepper. Mix briefly. Heat a wok or large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil, then add the prepared egg mix. Stir-fry the egg for 20 seconds until it's scrambled and almost cooked through. Add a little more oil to the pan if needed. Add the prepared rice and dark soy sauce and mix well. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the rice is piping hot. Season with sea salt and MSG and mix well once more.
Increase the heat to high and continue to stir-fry the rice for a further minute or so until the texture is dry and the rice grains appear to pop or dance around in the middle of the wok.
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Transfer the piping hot egg fried rice to a serving plate, or keep warm in a food container while you prepare other dishes. Serve with your favourite curry or stir-fry dishes.
Egg Fried Rice Recipe FAQ
Why does egg fried rice from my local Chinese takeaway taste so good?
MSG! Well, no, that’s not quite fair. It is, of course, largely down to the skill shown by your local chef, and you should thank him by placing orders often! But, you should also add MSG to your fried rice when cooking it at home. Don’t be scared of it! It’s absolutely safe unless you have a specific allergy (very unlikely) and it makes food taste amazing!
Do I have to use day-old rice to make egg fried rice?
No! Many takeaways use rice cooked the same day for their fried rice, and you can too. It’s a more difficult task however, as the rice still has some moisture and can become mushy. If you can plan ahead, it’s easier to use day-old rice to make your egg fried rice at home. If you can’t do that, at least allowing the rice to cool completely before frying will help. At a pinch, you can also use supermarket pouches of precooked rice to make egg fried rice.
My egg fried rice turned out mushy, what happened?
This could be down to a few things, but the main two to focus on are the brand / quality of the rice and ensuring the rice is properly rinsed of excess starch before cooking. The rinsing step is particularly important to make sure your cooked rice is soft and fluffy. Recommended brands: Green Dragon, Royal Umbrella, Tolly Boy.
What brand of soy sauce should I use?
Supermarket own brand soy sauces can be very thin and watery. In order to best replicate the dishes made at your favourite Chinese takeaways, try to use the same brands and ingredients they do where possible. Recommended brands: Lee Kum Kee, Pearl River.
Do you like this Chinese takeaway style egg fried rice recipe? If so, buying a copy of my book might appeal to you! In The Chinese Takeaway Secret you can find a host of restaurant and takeaway style recipes that you can make at home. You’ll learn how to make sesame prawn toast, crispy chicken, sweet and sour sauce, chow mein and more! You can buy The Chinese Takeaway Secret in paperback or kindle form here.
- McGovern, Kenny (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages – 06/09/2022 (Publication Date) – Robinson (Publisher)
