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I've been living in California for about 14 years and really miss the Chinese fried rice I would get at Chinese restaurants on the East Coast (Boston in specific).
The fried rice I get at Chinese restaurants in California is much lighter in color and flavor. I thought adding more soy sauce would do the trick. There's definitely something else in the mix. The rice that I'm trying to emulate has more of a malty, savory taste to it.
My fried rice started getting closer to east coast restaurant style when I started doing a couple of new things:
Hope one of those helps.
A basic ingredient of Chinese fried rice which nobody seems to be aware of is stock. That's right, you heard me right. Chinese fried rice is made with stock.
I kid you not. You should consider it an indispensable ingredient.
You can make a simple stock out of a stock cube and some hot water. You add the stock after you put the rice in the frying pan/wok.
Another basic ingredient is scrambled eggs. You should fry these separately from the rest of the ingredients and add them at the end of the cooking.
What you're missing is monosodium glutamate (a.k.a. MSG, Accent, or flavour enhancer). Trust me: my girlfriend is from Hong Kong. Using stock, as The Galloping Gourmet suggested, is right on the money as most commercial stock contains MSG.
It's molasses, not more soy sauce, that you're after.
Use day-old rice and start with 1 teaspoon of molasses (less if the amount of rice is small), and add more to taste. You can always add more molasses but not take away, so be careful.
They use DARK soy sauce. One tablespoon per 3 cups rice is ideal. Stores like Whole Foods and Central Market carry it.It makes the rice much darker. Also, add large pieces of onion (1-inch by 1-inch) crispy tender. Some people add peas. Stir in scrambled eggs.
Not sure about East Coast but I know as a Chinese-Canadian that Oyster Sauce is a traditional ingredient in most fried rice dishes. That would shortly explain the darker color and savouriness.
Source: My parents from southern China
This is from a Polynesian Chinese restaurant owner and his daughters who are chefs as well. It's black Chinese molasses or sweet sauce. This is found mostly in New England Chinese restaurants. You take rice cook it the day before and refrigerate overnight. You need a gas stove or high temp wok to obtain about 400 degrees. Stir fry your scallions, egg, shrimp, bean sprouts etc in the molasses, soy sauce(sparingly), neutral oil, like grape seed, and whatever seasonings you like in the pan. Add a little more molasses and put the rice in. The whole idea is to flash fry it at this point, hence the high heat and very brief cooking time. About a minute or two. That's how it's done. I just released a trade secret, but it is soooooo good!
Dark Mushroom Soy Sauce is specifically the sauce. I call it antimatter because it is WAY BLACK.
Try Maggi Asian Seasoning or Golden Mountain Seasoning.
My wife worked at Dan Chan's in Fitchburg in the 70's. She said they used a dark thick Oyster sauce. It was my favorite. Can't get it here in North Carolina either. They use a yellow rice.
Like the Californian, I too hate flavorless light-colored "fried rice." I am from the city of St. Louis, Missouri where the fried rice is dark, rich in flavor, not sticky (from stock during cooking), nor tasteless (from cooking fresh rice). While it is true that you want to make your fried rice with day-old cold rice, you want to add ingredients such as: 1) seasoned wok oil 2) chopped onion 3) mix in a separate cup 1 pkt of fried rice seasoning mix, DARK soy sauce, 1 tsp molasses, and 1 tsp fish sauce or oyster sauce. Add mixture to your rice when stir-frying over high heat.
Stir-fry until even in color and temperature. You can add scrambled eggs and green onions afterward if desired.
Never add lots of liquid to the wok when stir-frying pre-cooked rice unless you enjoy soggy rice clumps. The Chinese restaurants never serve clumped up fried rice because you can not get an even brown color throughout. Enjoy!
First, use whole grain par boiled rice. It is somewhat oval in shape. Do not use fluffy rice. I use garlic oil, good soy sauce, some oyster sauce and some MOLASSES, that is the secret ingredient. Add it all to the rice. fry up diced fatty pork then on a very hot wok add all the ingredients. Stir frequently for a minute or so. Add diced scallion.
I know what everyone means and it is frustrating searching for the recipe that anyone on the East Coast probably takes for granted. I have never achieved it. I am attempting to figure it out. Kekap Manis is a sweet and thick soy sauce. So to all those who might sneer at the molasses, do not doubt. I understand that if you cannot find the Kekap Manis it can be achieved by equal parts brown sugar and soy sauce, boiled till syrupy (Credit Recipe Tin Eats). Now this makes sense. The traditional Indonesian rice is called Nasi Goreng. The rice is dark, not sticky and it really is not fried at all as we might think: it is tossed in and heated with the aromatics and whatever else you actually fried first.. I understand that many if not most regions use shrimp paste. This is also not available easily. Nevertheless with these basic concepts in mind, this has to be close.
It is molasses. I was told this by my fav chinese restaurant owner in Taunton Massachusetts (where I am from). My father likes it extra dark so he adds more molasses. It gives a sweeter flavor and dark brown. And they use pork rib meat with asso sauce (not spelling that right I am sure).
Dark Chinese soy sauce - not molasses is what to use.
I use black strap molasses a little at a time for the color I’m looking for and it comes out very dark. But like someone mentioned before don’t you don’t want to use too much.
Soy Sauces: Both dark and light are VERY salty....THICK Soy is sweet because of added molasses, very thick, and not that salty...HARD TO FIND at most grocery stores...seek out an asian market. BE CAUTIOUS a little thick soy goes a LONG way.
Google THICK SOY or TYPES OF SOY SAUCE
