Weeknight Fried Rice
Real talk: We’ve eaten a lot of bad homemade fried rice, most of which we’ve made. Homemade fried rice shouldn’t have to be an oily, soggy, mushy mess that you end up eating out of spite after a 60-minute battle with your kitchen! And yet, it kept turning out that way.
We’ve experimented. We’ve cooked in batches, switched up oils, and tried countless sauces. We’ve invited various specialty ingredients to the party. We’ve even gotten the broiler involved. (Listen—sheet pan fried rice actually kinda rules but that’s a topic for another time.)
To get a handle on homemade fried rice, we had to go back to basics. There are fundamental reasons why wok-fried rice is so good! Namely, the texture variance and complex smoky flavor created by wok cooking. Think of stir-fried veggies at your favorite restaurant—crisp-tender with caramelized outer edges. Think of the specks of crisp and chewy grains mixed throughout a plate of your favorite fried rice. (Hungry yet?) Wok cooking is practically alchemical, transforming food from simple ingredients into a dish greater than the sum of its parts.
Restaurants that rely on wok cooking can achieve these results because the extreme heat of the cooking method (much higher than Western home stoves) blasts away excess moisture allowing for maximum caramelization of foods and vaporization of cooking oils. All of this happens in seconds—David used to work with a cook who had run the wok in a Thai restaurant and said he never minded remaking orders, since most dishes on his station cooked for under a minute!
Trouble is…Your landlord and/or lungs won’t abide by the use of that sort of equipment and heat in a home kitchen. The smoke produced by traditional wok cooking requires a serious ventilation setup for the safety and comfort of cooks and diners alike.
But you can have delicious fried rice at home without a six-figure kitchen remodel! The trick? A combo of cold pre-cooked rice, low-moisture veggies, sauce that aids in caramelization, and letting heat and time do their thing. By not over-stirring your ingredients, they have a chance to caramelize and develop some of those sought-after flavors. The ingredients just need more time in contact with the surface of your pan than a commercial wok!
This fried rice is a go-to in our home for tired weeknight dinners and easy weekend lunches alike! It’s ideal comfort food, with starchy-salty-sweet vibes meeting fresh and bright flavors. The recipe makes 2-3 servings, so if leftovers are your thing, you might need to make a couple of batches.
Tips & Info
Tofu fills in here for the scrambled egg commonly present in fried rice. Salt, oil, and minimal stirring help it to develop texture and flavor variance that elevates its presence in the final dish.
You can choose-your-own-veggie-adventure by switching up the veggies. Large chunks of green onion and broccolini are our favorites, as the recipe calls for. One of the big reasons is that they’re lower in moisture, preventing the final dish from getting soggy. But you do you! Half an onion leftover from Tuesday’s pasta? Cabbage you over-bought when you made coleslaw last weekend? Swore you’d use up all two pounds of those carrots but they’re starting to wilt? Now you have a home for them. Just make sure you drain off any excess moisture that’s accumulated in the resting veggies before adding them back to the rice.
Rule-of-thumb regarding veggie quantity: 1 large handful of alliums (like 5 green onions, ½ a large yellow onion, etc.), and 2 large handfuls of another veggie (like a head of broccoli, a bunch of asparagus, etc.)
No matter what veggies you choose—be sure to give them as much time on the bottom of the pan as they need to develop some dark color and charred texture.
Leftover white rice is the real star of this recipe. We often prep extra servings of rice over the weekend to have on hand for easy-meal-moments. Turns out, though, that cold leftover rice actually works better than the fresh-cooked stuff when making fried rice. This is because rice grains become more separate and less starchy when refrigerated! It’s the trick to getting the crispy-chewy rice you want, whereas fresh rice will stick to the pan and end up soggy.
Don’t have day-old rice? Cook some up fresh, then spread it out on a plate or sheet pan to cool and dry uncovered in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.
Use a pan with a large flat cooking surface that can handle sustained heat (like a 12-inch cast-iron skillet). You want the rice and veggies to cook through direct heat, meaning they need to be in contact with the bottom of the pan as much as possible. This will make the difference between mushy and crisp-tender veggies! The heat retention and distribution of cast-iron also makes it the best choice for crisping the rice.
No matter what pan you use, make sure you have a spatula that is safe and effective to scrape up all the crispy bits of rice as you go! This is essential for texture and flavor! You want to see variance in the final dish, with speckles of dark caramelized rice throughout.
Seasoned rice vinegar swoops in at the very end to liven up this dish with a hit of acidity and sweetness, turning the aromatics up to eleven. But what’s up with all the different types you see in the store? Rice vinegar is all made by fermenting rice first into alcohol (rice wine) and then into acid. Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are just different names! However, seasoned rice vinegar has a bit of sugar and salt added to balance the acidity (it’s usually found seasoning steamed vegetables or tossed in a salad). If you want to use plain rice vinegar in this recipe, do a slightly lighter pour. It’ll still work great.
Weeknight Fried Rice
Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | Feb 22nd, 2020
Time: 25 minutes | Feeds: 2-3
Equipment:
Ingredients:
Stir-fry
Sauce
Instructions:
1) Heat your cast-iron over medium-high heat (6-7/10) until it is nice and hot! (To test the heat, sprinkle some cool water into the pan. Droplets should skitter around for a second before evaporating.) We usually chop veggies while the pan heats. Add 1 tbsp oil to the pan and add the broccolini, onions, garlic, and peanuts. Add a pinch of salt and stir to coat them in the oil. Arrange in a single layer and press them so they are in contact with as much of the pan as possible. Cook these undisturbed for 2-3 minutes.2) While the veggies cook, mix your sauce ingredients together, keeping rice vinegar separate.
3) When the veggies are done: Remove them from the pan and set aside—use the plate or bowl you’re going to eat out of to save on dishes! They probably won’t seem fully cooked yet. They will steam and carry-over cook while they wait for you to finish the other steps!
4) Add the remaining tbsp of oil to the pan. Crumble your tofu (not too small!) directly in and add a pinch of salt. Stir, then let cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes until edges are crisp and there is no excess moisture in the pan.
5) Add the rice to the pan, crumbling it evenly as you go, and stir in the sauce. The rice will start to stick to the pan—don’t worry! The secret is to avoid over-stirring and do a good job scraping with your spatula later. The sugar in the sauce will help the rice brown, and the soy sauce will take on a deeper flavor as it cooks. Watch your heat from now until the end, adjusting as necessary to avoid smoking or under-cooking! Pack everything down into the pan and cook, undisturbed, for 1.5-2 minutes. By then the rice will be getting a little charred on the bottom, which is good! It’s the only way you’ll get the texture and flavor you want throughout the dish with a home-hitchen setup.
6) Stir, making sure to scrape burned bits off the bottom of the pan thoroughly and incorporate them throughout the dish. Pack down and cook another 1.5-2 minutes. Add the veggies back to the pan, stir and scrape again to incorporate them, and cook for 1-1.5 minutes.
7) Remove from heat. Stir in rice vinegar. (The vinegar will cook off if you add it sooner—it really brightens the dish to wait until the end!) Serve, garnish with seasame seeds, and enjoy!
