My goodness I love fried rice. Breakfast, lunch and dinner I could eat it. And I have. It’s hard, though, to pull off that wok-seared flavor in your own humble kitchen, where you’re not working over a massive black pan on direct heat.
But there are a few tricks you can employ to make your at-home fried rice as tasty (or close to) that which you buy from the restaurant. I, of course, turned to my favorite Jaden at Steamy Kitchen. Her first “watch out” is to always use day-old rice – otherwise it will be too wet to fry up. Second, she has you let the rice get a bit toasted and crunchy (don’t stir it TOO much), which adds a nice texture. Finally, tossing the shrimp in cornstarch before cooking keeps it from getting rubbery.
I added my few own touches to this recipe, notably using brown Basmati rice instead of white rice. I’m so glad I did – it added an extra bit of texture.
Definitely check out Steamy Kitchen, if you haven’t yet!
Shrimp Fried Brown Rice
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces medium uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons canola oil (divided)
- 3 eggs, beaten in a small bowl
- 4 stalks green onion, minced
- 4 cups previously cooked leftover brown rice, grains separated well
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add only 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.
Now add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the pan so that they are not overlapping. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.
Turn the heat to medium and let the pan heat up again. Pour in the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the frying pan onto the same plate as the cooked shrimp.
Use a paper towel to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean (no need to wash) and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok or pan.
Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! (I love Jaden’s writing here!) Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed, same with the sesame oil.
I finish mine with Sriracha hot sauce, naturally.
Seasoned to Taste 
this looks yummy. i was thinking of making kimchi fried rice tonight. good idea to use brown Basmati rice, which IMO is softer than the other brown rice out there. we’ve been eating sprouted brown rice lately which is even softer. 🙂
That sounds fabulous, I can’t wait to hear about it!
this is how i make it: http://trialsinfood.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/the-kimchi-saga-continues/
🙂
That looks SO good. I’ve yet to do a fried rice recipe, I must. Delicious post 😀
Fried rice is a MUST!