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I see a lot of recipes for fried rice, but never seem to be able to give the gorgeous lightly browned color (and therefore flavor) to my rice.
This is before adding soy sauce or anything else. Is this a question of heat, or quantity of oil? How do they do it in the restaurant (e.g. young chow fried rice)?
There are really only a few secrets to good fried rice:
If it all seems complicated, it really isn't. Use day old rice & give it lots of heat.
Here are a couple of recipes that give further detail and have great explanations:
I think it's four major things:
Mostly, I think 1 & 2 are what I see being the most over looked parts of restaurant style friend rice, but 3 & 4 are just as important.
The secrets to my fried rice:
I've made it with other kinds of meat and it's not really the same. If you're making it vegetarian I'd recommend frying up some vegetables in garlic and sauce (I'm not sure what the red bbq pork sauce is).
BTW I agree with the other suggestions about high-heat and slightly dry rice.
Something to add onto the answers given above. "Chinese fried rice" is a very broad term. Because different regions in China produce a wide variety of rice, there are just so many different ways to fried them.
While using day old rice is common among house-holds to deal with left-over rice, it is not the authentic way to fried rice.
Most chiefs use fresh rice. They cook rice with less water and remove them from the cooker before it gets completely cooked. That is to give rice the moisture and chewiness while at the same time, perserve its rigidity as it gets fried. Day-old rice will easily crack into two or more pieces as you apply the turner, and absorb sauce or broth very inconsistently.
Out of the "Chinese fried rice" context, Korean and Japanese almost never use day-old rice for frying. Chinese from the north also do similar. Using day-old rice seems to be a concept for Thai-type rice or southern type rice which are more brittle, dry and less chewy. To deal with this physical properties, southern restaurant often fried their rice in clay pot in medium heat. If you go to a high class Canton restaurant, this is how it's done. If you see fried rice where the rice is crack apart - they are not good. Fried rice is not just about the taste, texture and feeling are also crucial classifying indicators.
The browning of rice are not from the sauce (supposedly)! At least this is not the right way to brown the rice, and many real chief fried rice without soy or fish sauce. The browning comes from the natural browning of the ingredient, such as garlic, onion etc. Brown the ingredient before adding rice will brown the rice.
As to how most, real Chinese restaurant flavor their fried rice? Answer is chicken broth or stock or powder.
I find making a good Chinese style fried rice both simple and difficult at the same time. It is simple in concept but difficult in practice. I also like to differentiate between a home style as well as a restaurant style fried rice. I do believe there is a difference.
Home style fried rice, this is the common recipe of day old rice and then whatever ingredients you have to add flavor and texture to the dish. Rice here makes a difference as the Chinese and Thais tend to use "long grain" rice. While Japanese and Koreans like the medium to short grain rice. I find that long grain rice works best for fried rice or "chao fan". Less sticking and clumping with the long grain.
Restaurant fried rice, uses freshly cooked rice, that has been cooked with slightly less water so make it less sticky. Can you imagine a restaurant wasting space with day old rice specifically for making fried rice? And let's face it, most people are taking about the fried rice at their favorite Chinese restaurant, right?
Anyways the keys are really the wok and high heat. These two things are the keys to making a good fried rice or just good Chinese restaurant food. A well seasoned wok will allow you to toss the rice easily so as to make for even browning. The high heat will allow you to brown it without drying it out. You could make this in a flat pan but it is a bit more messy and for me not as fun. Another secret for the home cook is adding beaten eggs to the rice, this gives them a coating to prevent drying and sticky clumpy rice. We don't have as much fire power as a professional chinese kitchen.
As with all good cooking technique, have your ingredients prepped and ready to go before you even think about cooking them. In this case have your rice ready, add enough beaten eggs to coat all the rice, mix it well till all the grains look yellow. If you are adding some kind of meat, this is the time you would half cook it first in the wok. Wash out your wok and then prepare to cook the rice. Raw vegetables can be cooked with the rice later or precooked with the meat.
In a hot wok, add some oil and swirl it around the wok till it covers the wok, then toss this oil out, and add fresh oil. Wait just a second or two, then add the rice to the wok and spread it out over the sides for just a second or two. This allows the rice to get it's initial browning. The hotter the wok the less time it takes, the less hot the more time.
After initial browning, it's time to toss the rice, this is where the wok outshines any other pan. Moving food in a wok is very easy as the sloped sides naturally allow the food to come back to the center, you don't have to chase the food. If you coated all the rice grains then they will not stick to each other, they will slide around easily. If they do start to stick, add just a few drops of oil around the edges of the wok and let them slide to the center of the wok.
When you can smell the delicious aroma of rice then you can start to add whatever ingredients you want. Some of the meat and vegetables and some extra beaten eggs if you want. At the very end of cooking time, is when you add the wet ingredients, this will keep your rice moist and soft. Soy sauce (dark or light or both), oyster sauce, and or sesame oil. When you add the wet stuff, drizzle it along the edges of the wok and let it slide to the center. This adds a bit of steam and also doesn't reduce the heat too quickly. Heat is your friend in wok cooking. A few more tosses and you are done.
For a visual demonstration just go to Youtube.com and type in "cha han", "chao fan" or just plain old "fried rice"
For a Chinese fried rice, it is best when it is just made of old cooked rice, eggs, green onion, and oil;
everyone's comments are spot-on from my experience. but you might also want to consider changing the KIND of soy sauce you are using. try some of the chinese (not japanese!) soy sauces at asian markets. maybe a lighter flavor, or a sweeter one, or something like that will give you the intangibles you are looking for. japanese and chinese soy sauces taste very different, and in addition to that, i'd stay away from some of the ones made in the U.S., since those just taste wrong, haha.
My process is this. Makes a full meal for 1 or an side amount for 2 or 3:
The whole process takes about 15 minutes and only dirties one saute pan and a small bowl, plus your eating plate.
I just started making fried rice a few months ago and now make it this way at least once a week! It's so good and the frozen veggies make it a snap.
As FRANKO wrote, every comment above is based on personal experiences. Nobody mentioned anything about using vinegar in the process. That is the "secret".
