Egg-fried rice is a dish from the Asian cuisine and a specialty of China. It is a widespread staple in the American Chinese cuisine, where it is sold as fast food. The typical ingredients of the American Chinese fried rice include eggs, vegetables, scallions and meat. Instead of salt, soy sauce is added for flavor. Egg fried rice is popularly served in other cuisines too. It is a staple of the Chinese eateries in the United Kingdom too. Whether it is served as a food on the stands or in a restaurant, egg fried rice is much preferred by the people in the West African nations of Ghana, Togo and Nigeria.
Egg-fried Rice Recipe: Ingredients Used and Preparation
For making egg-fried rice, steamed rice is stir-fried with eggs and vegetables in a wok. Cold rice which has been boiled can also be used for making egg fried rice. The ingredients are not fixed but eggs, carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, peas, corn, spices, peppers and soy sauce are generally added. Onions and garlic are often added for additional flavor.
When cooked at home, egg fried rice can be cooked with any leftovers along with eggs, which is why several variations of this dish exist.
Egg-fried Rice Recipe: Serving
Egg-fried rice is served popularly as an accompaniment to some side dish, as it is treated as the main dish. In Chinese banquets, it is usually served in the form of a penultimate dish, right before the dessert.
Popular garnishes include coriander leaves, chili, sprigs and carrots.
Egg Fried Rice Recipe: Variations
Each variety of egg-fried rice has its own special ingredients. Eggs are common to all of them. The most popular variety of egg fried rice in Asia are Yangzhou and Fujian fried rice.
Yangchow fried rice: The most popular of all egg fried rice varieties in Asia, this dish has scrambled eggs as one of its ingredients.
American Fried Rice: Rice is fried in ketchup and eggs, hot dogs and fried chicken are added to it. It is basically a Thai invention.
Nasi goreng: This is an Indonesian and Malay edition of egg-fried rice which cooked using sweet soy sauce.
Hawaiian fried rice: A specialty of Hawaii which is cooked in sesame oil. Its ingredients include eggs, peas, cubed carrots, green onions and common style of fried rice in Hawaii. Usually contains egg, green onions and Portuguese sausage.
Omelette rice: This variation of egg-fried rice has the fried rice wrapped in the egg omelette.