China in a mouthful: easy special fried rice
Last week I wrote a guest post over at Circus Mums about the things I missed most from home when we lived in China. (You knew we lived in China for four years right?) But while it was a difficult time for us in a lot of ways due to Curly Girl’s traumatic birth, there are lots of things I miss about our expat life. And one of them is the delicious food.
So this weekend we decided to ring the changes from our usual roast dinner and recreate a bit of China at home with Gok Wan’s delicious Char Siu Pork and stir fried green beans from his fab tv series and . (Chef crush!!) I made my quick and easy special fried rice to go with it.
Why is it so easy? Because I cheat. I use the leftovers of my daughter’s favourite spinach omelette and microwaved rice. Ok, it’s not traditional, but it’s simple and delicious. (And if there happens to be any chorizo in the omelette I just pretend that it’s Chinese sausage – Lap Cheong – one of my favourite things on the planet!) You can of course make it with ordinary rice but I recommend wholegrain because it’s healthier and has a lovely nutty taste.
Want a fast supper dish? Add prawns or diced chicken, beef or pork to the basic rice recipe for a main meal in minutes.
Michelle’s Special Fried Rice
What you need (4 big servings):
- 500g wholegrain microwave rice (2 packets)
- Half an omelette (or 2 eggs if you don’t have any leftovers)
- 2 spring onions
- handful of canned water chestnuts
- 2 tbsp groundnut or rape seed oil
- small bowl frozen peas
- 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
- 2-4 tsp Light soy sauce
- White pepper to taste (or black if you prefer)
Method:
- The day before you want to make this dish (or at least a few hours before) microwave the rice according to the instructions. Spread it over a baking tray and leave it to cool and dry out in the fridge. (This is so that it will fry rather than steam and become mushy.)
- Prepare all your ingredients: chop the omelette (if using) into bite size pieces and slice the spring onion, removing the stalk and outside layer. Slice the water chestnuts and cook the peas. (If you’re not using leftover omelette you can quickly scramble 2 eggs at this point and leave to cool a little while you cook the rice.)
- Add the oil to a wok preheated to a medium heat and then add the rice, spring onions and Chinese 5 spice. Stir fry for a few minutes until the rice is warmed through before adding the omelette/scrambled eggs and peas.
- Add 2 tsp of light soy sauce and taste, adding more if necessary. Finally add white pepper and serve in a large bowl. (You shouldn’t need any additional salt as the soy sauce is salty enough.) You can also serve this in lettuce cups made from the leaves of a baby gem lettuce for some added crunch.
Linking up with Share With Me over at Let’s Talk Mommy, Welcome to the Weekend at ClaireJustin, Recipe of the Week at A Mummy Too and Foodie Friday at Romanian Mum
My dad would be lapping that up literally!
one of my hubby’s favourite meals is lap cheong and rice with an egg in top! It’s the simple dishes x
Ooh, I love the look and sound of this Michelle. Definitely pinning and stumbling it now to give it a whirl very soon as Ben and I are huge fans of Chinese food. Do share if you have other recipes xx
#Recipeoftheweek
Thank you so much Sophie! Will definitely be sharing some more recipes soon x
Ooo I love fried rice. It is a great dish for using up left overs isn’t it? Yours looks amazing!
Thanks so much! That means a lot coming from an expert
Ooh sounds yummy – will have to try this!
We think so – and it’s super easy too!
That looks lovely and so easy to make. Love the Char Siu Pork as well, will have to find out how to make that
Char Siu pork is one of my all time favs. Gok Wan has a great recipe for it in his book… (I should get royalties!)
I love a Chinese takeaway but worry about exactly what’s in it so I’m in the process of trying to recreate all of my favourite dishes at home. I’ll definately have to give this rice a go #recipeoftheweek
You’re right – some Chinese takeaways (and others too) use monosodium glutamate in their dishes which isn’t good for you. This recipe is super easy – hope you give it a go! x
Wow this looks amazing. I love friend rice but never tried to make it myself… must pin to try out
thanks for linking up to the weekend blog hop …
It’s super easy – especially if you cheat a bit! 😉
Ooh sounds and looks delicious. I love egg fried rice, but this is definitely an even easier version
It really is super easy – not traditional I hasten to add – but I’m a big fan of using leftovers! Thanks so much for visiting.
Delish xxx
It is too 😉 xx
WOW this looks delicious. Love the photos. Sounds so yummy too. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
It’s yummy and easy – my two fav words 😉