I always use freshly cooked rice (rested for 15 mins with a teatowel under the lid of the pan), or MICROWAVED leftover rice. The reason for this is that cold rice goes lumpy, and unless you break it up very gently with your fingers beforehand, you will need to manipulate it with the spatula in the pan, which is hard work and it breaks the rice grains if you're not extremely careful (you can probably tell I'm obsessive when it comes to rice.) I think the reason Chinese always say use leftover rice is because a) fried rice is traditionally a tasty way of using up leftovers, and b) Chinese steamed rice tends to be on the sticky side. I've heard that the rinsing of rice not only serves to remove surface starch and dust, but Chinese cooks do it vigorously in order to break the grains so that more starch is released during cooking.

This is one of the first things I learned to cook!

i registered just for the purpose of commenting here...!
I am an American born Chinese, but my mom was born and raised in Taiwan, and my family is Chinese.

It seems that the purpose of fried rice here is more of a way to get a whole meal's worth in, but do Americans know that back in the day, Chinese people didn't add all this extra stuff to fried rice? It was just eggs, rice, some salt, and green onions (scattered on as you turn the heat off). My mom says, "the rice is white; why do you need to make it brown?" In my opinion, green onions / scallions definitely add enough flavor!

i've never had ginger in my fried rice before, and my mom never used soy sauce in our fried rice (and she's a darn good cook!)... The additional vegetables are okay, but ginger and soysauce, and red pepper flakes?! <--Red pepper flakes do not belong in Chinese cuisine, unless you're talking about Szechuan peppers.

Sorry this post is so much hating, but I had to say it!

I make several types of fried rice depending on how lazy I am:

1. The all out one (as I call it) - instead of oil, I use bacon and bacon grease. Ribbons of egg, ham, peas, and green onions.

2. The everyday one - oil, egg mixed in to the rice, peas, spam (if I'm feeling generous), and green onions.

3. The lazy morning-rush-I-only-have-15-minutes fried rice: garlic chili sauce (the jar with the green cap), egg scrambled into the rice, green onions. This one will wake you up in the morning based on how much chili I decide to put it.

I usually use leftover rice that I leave sitting out on the counter in a bowl covered with damp tea towel. I've tried keeping rice in the fridge and just don't like the texture. Oh... and soy sauce, salt, and white pepper is a must. No other seasoning.

Probably just confusion on my part, but I read step 4 - "Pull the wok off the heat..." - and get a little bothered when the instructions never explicitly put it back on the burner and the photos never show it off the burner.
Maybe it could be clarified a bit to point out that this is just so you can check whether the wok's too hot for the oil (at least, that's why I think you're pulling it off the burner)?

@Megan T- you speak the truth. Soy sauce on rice is absolutely sacrilegious to any Chinese person who is worth his grain of rice. Chinese people just don't do it, it is considered poor etiquette at the table and an insult to the chef.

PHILMILLS: Pulling the wok off the heat when you add the oil is so you can swirl the oil around to keep all your food from sticking. It is not because the oil is too hot, but if it starts smoking, when you read further down, you will see that they are telling you to wipe out the smoking oil and "start over again Two different situations.

@Megant: There's nothing wrong with non traditional ingredients or techniques. I know many Chinese people who love chili flakes in their fried rice. Personally, my favourite additions are pancetta, shrimp, snow peas, scallions and sliced fresh chilies.

In Indonesia, you'll see street vendors late at night selling fried rice - they do a different spin altogether - egg mixed into the rice, the rice itself is seasoned with salt, white pepper, kecap manis, soy sauce, and the different spin - shredded cabbage!

It's soooo good. So, yes... I don't see why you can't have "non-traditional" ingredients. I think that's what makes fried rice so great... you can put whatever you want in there.

@Phillmills - I see your confusion! I re-worded the instruction a little to make the process clearer.

Thanks for all the comments, everyone! I love hearing how other people make their fried rice and what you like to put in it.

Normally fried rice served with fried chicken and chilly past here in Sri Lanka in restaurants, but at home i do my version with may be chicken or sausages with egg and veggies. to add flavor i use soya source and its one pot meal and instant. i think these food originally form Chinese and they might do it in a different way. bottom line this is an easy, instant, whole meal for every one!!

OK, I said I'm obsessive about rice. Here is my secret for that "perfect chewy tender texture" - use freshly cooked JAPANESE rice. (Basmati rice also gives good results, although the texture is almost that of a biryani. The very elongated grains and total lack of stickiness, although delicious, is not what most people associate with traditional Chinese fried rice.) The secret is in the cooking of the rice: rinse very GENTLY; cook using the absorbtion method (1 part rice: 1.5 parts water); heat on HIGH for 10 seconds at the end of the cooking time; allow to rest, lid on, and off the heat, for 15 minutes. The rice is now ready to fry, and will have that lovely, almost 'al dente' yet perfectly cooked texture with no sogginess. The wokking will just be a matter of combining the rice with the other cooked ingredients, with minimum arm work - I like to move it around as little as possible so bits of rice catch and lend a nice smokiness.

@paley: thanks for the support!

what about Sesame Oil?
I had thought this was a basic way to get a fragrant fried rice

Some people think the rice should be stir-fried with sesame oil---but the oil has a low-smoking point which isn't suitable for stir-frying. When sesame oil is used it's added at the very end to give the rice fragrance. You don't need very much to impart a wonderful nutty aroma and flavor.

This is a good base recipe to switch up with whatever veggies/meat combinations you want. To those of you who are complaining that this isn't traditional Chinese fried rice...the recipe doesn't claim to be Chinese at all. It does claim to be fried rice, which it is.

How long can you keep rice in the fridge? I always read that fried rice should be "day old". Can it last a few days? Or should it be the next day?

Nerdgirl: I'm sure that others will have their own thoughts, :P, but personally I've happily used leftover rice up to a week old with good results and no ill effects.

Thanks for the yummy fried rice post. Two foods I like to add are bean sprouts and diced tofu. Seems like more of a meal with the tofu. Or, maybe add more than 1 egg for 4 servings.

The timing of this post is just right. Lately it seems every time I take a go at something AT posts a how to a week or two later. I made fried rice on the fly with no clue earlier this week and LOVED it. I also pulled off a toddler b'day party on the fly with no clue to great success...then AT posts advice today. Sigh.

But anyhow, funny how this recipe is almost what we did. I used frozen veggies because I was pantry shopping but it turned out perfectly cooking the veggies first. I also used sesame oil and it tasted great. I know some will balk but we used brown rice and it was great. It was a hit with our two year old too.

I'm a heathen. I love "the greasy, overly-salty affair from Chinese take-out!" I also have been making fried rice for decades trying to achieve the Chinese take-out flavor, and clicked on this story hoping for just that.

I didn't see your post as hating. I agree simple fried rice is the best.

Eh this "quick and easy" "lazy man's fried rice" seems anything but quick and easy with all the ingredients and mincing-no-grating. I'm sure it tastes better than what I throw together with frozen veggies and soy sauce, but when I want something quick and easy the emphasis stays on quick and easy and I avoid toasting and chopping nuts and mincing-not-grating ginger and cilantro. Goodness...what is the author's version of dressed up complicated fried rice?!

Why can't the ginger be grated? Surely the "uniform size" advice doesn't apply to the aromatics.

If you don't own a wok, do you think there is any way to do this in a cast iron or regular pan? I'm considering a wok, but they are rather large and I have a SMALL kitchen.

I tried this recipe and it was great. I used extra virgin olive oil so cooked at a lower heat which meant longer cooking times. I also added shrimp, chopped, and brown rice. The end result was delicious, which is the whole point in my opinion. I will do it again for sure. By the way, I have an electric wok which worked great for this recipe.

Kitchen Tigress has a really good tip and technique for making excellent fried rice. She recommends steaming the rice, instead of boiling it or using leftover day-old cold take-out rice. The blog post is pretty lengthy but lays out the rational for steaming. I can attest that I made the best fried rice of my life following her instructions. Try it!

I used to use day-old cold rice and it was either too dry, hard and crumbly and I would over compensate by putting more oil and it became too greasy; or it was too sticky and lumpy and I would fry it longer to get the moisture out and it just became stickier and burnt. Now my fried rice is just so nice, I could kiss it, then eat it! :)

http://kitchentigress.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-make-good-fried-rice.html