Chinese Fried Rice or Yang Chow Fried Rice

When we are dining in a Chinese restaurant, there is a 90% chance that we will order Chinese fried rice along with my other preferred Chinese foods such as “Steamed Lapu-Lapu or Grouper”, “Sizzling Tofu”, “Chop Suey”, “Pata Tim or Pork Knuckle in Soya Sauce”, Spicy Cuttlefish, etc.. The delicious rice dish, also called Yang Chow Fried Rice, is just too good to be ignored even by the trying hard less-rice eater like me. :-)

Chinese Fried Rice originally called "Yeung Chow Fried Rice" or "Yang Zhou Chao Fan" is a popular Cantonese style wok fried rice dish served in most Chinese restaurants in North America, Australia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Although the ingredients is highly varied, depending on the availability and local produce, the staple items are day old cooked rice (though hot cooked rice prepared with less water is also okay), Chinese sausage or “lap leong”, slightly beaten eggs, chopped scallions or leeks, diced vegetables such as carrots and cooked green peas.

Please note that Chinese sausage is the essential ingredient in Chinese fried rice or “Yang Chow Fried Rice”. Whilst Chinese pork barbeque called “cha siu”, some pork loin and shrimp can be substituted, the taste imparted by “lap leong” is quite distinct and difficult to attain. The dish eventually became a favorite fried rice by many Filipinos along with the other fried rice dishes of the Philippines like the “Adobo Garlic Fried Rice” and “Dried Fish Fried Rice” which I prepared and featured here before.

To prepare the quick-fry dish, we need about 4 tsp vegetable oil, 1 egg, slightly beaten, 1½ pcs Chinese sausage or “lap leong”, sliced diagonally, 1 small leek, minced or 2 stalks scallions, 3 gloves garlic, minced, 1/2 carrots finely diced, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper.

In addition, of course we need about 2 cups day-old cooked Jasmine rice, mashed to separate the grains.

In a wok or large pan, heat up 2 tsp vegetable oil and fry the beaten egg until partially done. Don’t over cook, transfer to a small plate, break down to small pieces and set aside.

In the same wok or pan over medium heat, add the remaining oil then fry the Chinese sausage. Fry lightly until the sausage starts to render its own fat. Transfer the partially cooked sausage in a small plate and set aside as well.

Still in the same wok or pan over medium heat, with the remaining oil including the oil rendered by the sausage, fry the garlic followed by the leek. Add in carrots followed by sausage and continue sautéing. Add soy sauce and sesame oil and cook for several seconds more. Then, add in the rice and continue cooking with stirring to properly separate the rice grains.

Add in the egg and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Continue stir-frying until all ingredients are cooked through and steaming hot.

Transfer in a plate and serve immediately. This goes well with any fried viand, which in my case is a fried special dried fish from Cebu City (Philippines) sent to me by a cousin.

With some chopped fresh tomatoes, a great meal is on the go. Yummy! Enjoy! c“,)