Fried rice is an interesting dish. Although it has humble origins in that it came about with the objective of not wasting food, it has developed into a dish that graces many important occasions, including the Chinese New Year banquet.
The type of ingredients distinguishes the simple staple fried rice dish from the celebration fried rice dish. The simple fried rice is often delicious, but hard to repeat when it is made from leftovers. There are many variations and adaptations of fried rice. My mother told me over lunch that the garlic, egg, prawns and kai lan fried rice she cooked would be served with prik nam pla (chili padi in fish sauce) and lime juice as condiments in Thailand. I suddenly wished we had some lime in the fridge. It would have added a new flavour my lunch.
My mother does cook good fried rice. It’s hard for me to master the dish when she doesn’t trust me to cook it on my own. You might think that fried rice must be easy to cook. But no. There is an art to cooking really good fried rice. There is an order to the steps to be followed, and it is important to use rice that has been cook to the right point – neither too soggy nor too hard.
The secret of my mother’s fried rice is the fried garlic! The garlic makes the fried rice fragrant. There is no substitute for it. You have to start by frying finely chopped garlic until it is brown. The next step is to fry the rice in the garlic oil.
My mother is particular about how the eggs are cooked. They must be cooked separately before being added to the rice. The same goes for the vegetables. The vegetables must be finely sliced so that they cook fast. The fresh prawns are cooked last to keep their freshness.
My mother seasons the fried rice with dark soya sauce and fish sauce. The fish sauce adds an anchovy fragrance which is quite unique. A good fried rice has to be a bit oily, but not too oily. Getting the right oiliness is an art. The secret is to start with a little oil and to add to it. If you start with too much oil, you could remedy the situation by adding more rice.
My mother’s fried rice is tasty and fragrant. I realised that there is a lot of wisdom that goes into Mum’s Cooking, which isn’t always found in recipe books.
Wishing you a Happy Lunar New Year.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 25 January 2025
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