At Home with Chinese Cuisine (35 page)
Read At Home with Chinese Cuisine Online
Authors: T P Hong
Stir-fried Rice with Eggs
500 g cold steamed rice 4 medium-sized eggs 2 spring onions; separate the whites from the greens, finely chopped to the size of the rice grain salt and pepper 1 t rice wine (optional) 2 t light soy sauce (optional) 3 T hot chicken broth or water 45 ml cooking oil | Loosen the rice first. Sprinkle a little bit of water to help loosen it if necessary. Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add 1 t of the wine or water, a small pinch of salt, and white pepper; beat well. To season the wok before cooking, please see “Wok” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Put the wok back to the heat source and adjust it to a medium heat. Add the cooking oil and pour the beaten eggs into the wok. Stir gently and shake the wok to ensure the eggs do not stick to the wok. When the eggs start to congeal, add the rice and turn the heat down lower. Use the back of the spatula pressing the lump of the rice and stir to separate the grains. Continue stirring until the rice grains are coated well with oil and look shiny. Add the soy sauce (if used) and stir until amalgamated so that there is no rice grain of different colours. Add the spring onion whites and stir to mix. Stir continuously until the rice is heated sufficiently (observe the loose rice grain hopping a little in the wok with a quiet sizzling sound). When the mixture looks dry, add the hot chicken broth or water, salt, and pepper; stir-fry until the rice grain looks fluffy and the loose grain hops a little in the wok with a quiet sizzling sound again. Add the spring onion greens before plating. Stir and plate. |
Rice Wrapped in Gold
If you like your stir-fried rice golden in colour, use egg yolks instead of the whole egg keeping in mind that the colour of the yolk will have a direct influence on the colour of the dish. Beat the egg yolks with 1 teaspoon of the wine or water and stir into the cold rice to coat the rice grains before cooking.
To season the wok before cooking, please see “Wok” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Put the wok back to the heat source and adjust it to a medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of the cooking oil and add the rice with the egg yolks. Stir continuously to ensure the rice grains do not stick to the wok. Continue stirring until the rice grains are coated with egg yolks. Add the spring onion whites and stir to mix. Stir continuously until the rice is heated sufficiently (observe the loose rice grain hopping a little in the wok with a quiet sizzling sound). When the mixture looks dry, add the hot chicken broth or water, salt, and pepper. Stir-fry until the rice grain looks fluffy and the loose grain hops a little in the wok with a quiet sizzling sound again. Add the spring onion greens before plating. Stir and plate.
YangZhou Stir-fried Rice is one of the dishes in the collection of the book
Rice
around
the
World
in
300
Recipes
, published by the United Nations in 2004. It is a dish that involves a tale of two cities.
YangZhou Stir-fried Rice was made famous by restaurants in GuangZhou, the major city of GuangDong Province. There are different stories as to how it happened. A popular story has it that during the late Qing Dynasty in the nineteenth century, a restaurant in GuangZhou known for its JiangSu cuisine had a stir-fried rice dish on the menu. It was named YangZhou Stir-fried Rice to give the dish an authentic feel. It built upon the basic recipe of Stir-fried Rice with Eggs and added local GuangDongnese BBQ pork and prawns, as well as other ingredients. It became popular in GuangDong and the neighbouring provinces. The emigrants from these two provinces also spread the dish overseas and made it as well-known as sweet and sour pork on the menu of Chinese restaurants and eateries in the West.
With high expectations, visitors to YangZhou in JiangSu Province found the local stir-fried rice a casual affair that hardly lived up to the international fame. The negative feedback was such that in 2002, a recommended recipe was published by the Culinary Association of YangZhou to salvage the culinary reputation of the city. The association also applied for trademark protection for the name YangZhou stir-fried rice, but without success. It was in their second attempt in 2010 that a collective trademark protection of YangZhou Stir-fried Rice was granted. Domestic and extraterritorial enforcement is a mission impossible because the dish’s name can be found all over China and in the West with different combinations of ingredients.
Apart from the omission of MSG, the list of ingredients followed is as recommended by the Culinary Association of YangZhou. A characteristic of preparing this dish is that the accompanying ingredients have to be precooked; they are then stirred into the rice and egg mixture during the cooking process. Furthermore, throughout the whole cooking process, the nonstop stirring movement is required in order for the rice grains to be fluffy and all the ingredients well mixed.
Sea cucumber and prawn roe can be omitted if they are not available. JinHua ham is a dry-cured ham, similar to San Daniele or Parma hams. If neither of them is available, pancetta or bacon can be used as a substitute. Reconstituted shiitake mushrooms give black and white colour and the taste of umami. Different mushrooms can be used, but avoid those that will release brown juice so that they don’t affect the colour of the dish. Fresh bamboo shoots give the taste of sweetness and the crunch in texture; tin bamboo has neither. Omit the bamboo shoots if fresh ones cannot be found.
500 g cold steamed rice 4 eggs 20 g dried shiitake mushrooms 10 g dried scallops 20 g reconstituted sea cucumber 10 g thinly sliced JinHua ham, San Daniele ham, or Parma ham 30 g fresh bamboo shoots 10 g peas or petits pois 30 g chicken breast or leg meat 50 g river prawns, shelled 1 g prawn roe 10 g spring onion, finely chopped to the size of the rice grain; separate the whites from the greens 6 g salt 2 t ShauXing wine 3 T hot chicken broth 75 ml cooking oil | Soak dried scallops in warm water until soft; it will take at least a couple of hours. They will have softer texture if steamed in rice wine for about 30 minutes. Pat them dry, cut across the grain in half, and shred them finely. To reconstitute the dried shiitake mushrooms, please see “Dried shiitake mushrooms” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Dice them into 4 mm morsels. Dice the JinHua ham into 4 mm morsels. Slice the sea cucumber lengthwise and dice it into 4 mm morsels. Blanch them in simmering water for 1 minute or so. Remove to drain. Blanch the bamboo shoots in simmering water for about 5 minutes and dice them into 4 mm morsels. Blanch fresh peas or petits pois in boiling water (without salt) until cooked. Remove to drain and set aside. If frozen ones are used, defrost thoroughly. Dice the chicken meat into 4 mm morsels. To prepare shelled prawns for cooking, please see “Shelled prawns” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Dice them into 4 mm morsels. Blanch them in warm oil until they turn pink or white; drain and set aside. The oil can be used for stir-frying the rice later. Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add 1 t of the wine or water, a small pinch of salt, and white pepper; beat well. Loosen the rice. Sprinkle a little bit of water to help loosen it if necessary. |
T Put the wok on the heat source over a medium heat. Add 45 ml of the cooking oil, pour the beaten eggs into the wok, and stir gently. When the eggs start to congeal, add the rice and turn the heat down lower. Use the back of the spatula to press the lump of the rice, if any, and stir to separate the grains. Continue stirring until the rice grains are coated well with oil and look shiny. Continue stirring until the rice is heated sufficiently (observe the loose rice grain hopping a little in the wok with a quiet sizzling sound). Add the prawn roe (if used) and stir until amalgamated with the rice grains. Add the diced ingredients except the peas and prawns. When amalgamated, splash 1 teaspoon of the wine along the rim of the wok and continue to stir-fry. When the mixture looks dry again, add chicken broth and salt; stir-fry until the rice is heated sufficiently (observe the loose rice grain hopping a little in the wok with a quiet sizzling sound). Add peas and stir for 1 minute or so. Add the prawns and spring onion greens before plating. Stir and plate. |
Shanghai Vegetable Rice started as a dish for local workers and labourers probably during the 19th century. Leftover steamed rice cooked in lard with cured meat and vegetable thrown in was economical, filling, and tasty. Its flavour gained popularity as time went by and became a household alternative to steamed plain rice. Eventually, it was the restaurant trade which made it a well-known local dish. It is a dish that tells how eating habits among commoners in Shanghai have evolved over the last two centuries.
For the older generation Shanghainese, this dish is a cult dish that is synonymous with comfort and homeliness. The traditional method of preparing this dish was to fry the diced home-cured ham (and JingHua ham if available) in lard and cook with chopped pak choy and rice in an iron or cast-iron wok in open fire. The aroma of lard, cured ham, the rice crust at the bottom of the wok, and the over-cooked pak choy bring back the memory of mother’s kitchen.
In the old days, people enjoyed the flavour of lard and the soft over-cooked brown pak choy. Rice crust could often be found in the bottom of the wok.
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It adds the aroma from the Maillard Reaction to the dish. These days, the attention paid to healthy dining and presentation is challenging the casual affair of serving pak choy brown. Pak choy has to be green, lard is not healthy, and the concerns of possible carcinogenic substances in the rice crust all push the professional chef and domestic cook to modify the way this dish is prepared while preserving the familiar flavour of the dish.
The Chinese prefer short grain rice for this dish. It cooks differently from long grain rice
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because of the starch they contain. There are two types of starch, amylopectin and amylose. Short grain rice has more of amylopectin with branched molecule that makes rice sticky when cooked. Long grain rice has more of amylose with long straight starch molecule that does not gelatinise during cooking, hence the cooked rice is fluffier, with separate grains and less sticky.
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In order to keep the greens green, some people stir in raw or stir-fried pak choy into the cooked rice in the later stage of the cooking process. But the aficionado find something amiss when prepared as such. One characteristic of the Shanghai vegetable rice is to have the flavour of the vegetable permeating in the cooking liquid and is then absorbed by the rice grain. It is because when cooking the rice with steam, the heat and the cooking liquid permeate the rice grain. The starch molecule of the rice grain starts to break down and absorb the liquid.
In this recipe, I use pancetta in place of the home-cured ham and JinHua ham. Pancetta is not as salty and is easier to get hold of in the West. If the home-cured ham and JinHua ham are available, stem them for 20-30 minutes before using. Choose those with fat in between layers of lean meat.
Depending on individual preferences, shiitake mushrooms, dried prawns, Chinese sausages replacing cured ham, cabbage or chard replacing pak choy, chicken broth instead of plain water are all possibilities.
I use a 24 cm shallow casserole for preparing this dish with good result. It is a heavy-duty non-stick casserole with a tight lid.
450 g short grain rice 150 g pancetta 10 g ginger, finely chopped 300 g pak choy 1 T cooking oil or lard (home-rendered lard preferred) salt and pepper 450 ml hot water | Cut the pancetta into 1.5 (length)-1-1 cm cubes. Wash the pak choy well. Separate the stem from the leaves. Cut the stem in 0.5 cm pieces. Cut the leaves lengthwise and then cut across the fibre at 0.5 cm intervals. Heat the casserole over a medium-low heat. Add the cooking oil or lard and wait until it is hot. Add the pancetta and fry until golden. Add the ginger and stir until it releases its aroma but without picking up any colours. Add the pak choy stem and stir until they are soft. Add the rice (do not stir-fry the rice to coat the oil), followed by the water. Season to taste. Stir until the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Put the lid on and turn the heat down to the lowest on the smallest gas burner. Cook for 12 minutes or so. Switch off the heat, do not open the lid, and leave the rice to rest for 10 minutes. Put the wok over a medium heat. When it is hot, add a small quantity of the cooking oil and a tiny pinch of salt. Add the green leaves and stir-fry until the leaves just wilt. After the rice has rested, mix in the leaves. If a layer of rice crust cannot be found at the bottom of the casserole: Switch the heat back on to a medium-low level. Poke 4 holes with chopsticks into the rice. Pout ½ t of warm water into each hole and observe when the steam starts to rise from the hole. When the crust is formed, the steam will subside and you will hear a gentle sizzling sound. It will take 5 minutes or more depending on the temperature of your gas burner and how golden you like the rice crust to be. |
