Fried rice paradise

Chinese chefs waste nothing. Plain white rice, for example, changes overnight into something that celebrates taste, color and texture. Pauline D Loh shows you how

When I was still an infant gourmet, the highlights of my year were birthday and wedding banquets. The seemingly endless procession of food in a 10-course dinner was an education to my tender palate and aroused my budding interest in the food of my ancestors.

I learned there was form and logic in the order of the dishes, from the first cold platter to the fresh steamed fish to the suckling pig. Even the soup was served only after the mandatory chicken or "phoenix" was placed on the table with proper pomp and pageantry. Ceremonial ritual in the appearance of the food was as important as the food itself.

And always, one dish would signal the tailing off of the banquet and herald the arrival of the sweet soups and pastries. This was fried rice.

It was nothing like the plain white bowls I was used to on my grandfather's dining table. This was a steaming aromatic pile of golden grains, speckled with a graffiti of green, red, yellow and pink. It was Yangzhou Fried Rice.

Pretty beads of sweet green peas, tiny chewy flecks of deep red Yunnan ham and Chinese sausages, golden corn kernels, jeweled cubes of yellow and red peppers - these were generously mixed among the golden grains of rice.

Once, I bit a tiny grain in half and saw that the rice had a rim of yellow. My grandfather had turned to me then and explained that this was what the chefs called "gold coating the silver", with each rice grain wearing a golden coat of egg.

This minute attention to detail still amazes me after several decades, but I am proud to be part of that cooking tradition now. Over the years, I have learned a few tricks and a couple of fried rice recipes.

Each reflects the culinary influences in my life.

Yangzhou Fried Rice takes me back to my introduction to Chinese formal dining.

A simple salted-fish and bean-sprouts fried rice comes from my Fujianese antecedents, my maternal grandfather's kitchen where every meal was a fine act of balance between frugality and good taste.

The spicy prawn fried rice was created for my husband, whose native Beijing palate has had to adapt to the hot and humid cuisines of Southeast Asia. But, he has done so with such efficiency that his tolerance for spices has since surpassed mine.

One secret to good fried rice is to use left-over rice. The sagacity of our chefs cannot be ignored because they have long worked out the fact that cold rice is less starchy and will take to frying a lot better than freshly cooked rice.

The second secret is to use high heat. Keep the rice moving in the frying pan so that every grain is tossed well with both the seasoning and ingredients.

Rice is delicious freshly steamed, but a plate of fried rice is a one dish meal that needs very little else except a huge appetite. Cook some extra today.

YANGZHOU FRIED RICE

INGREDIENTS (serves 4):

3 cups cooked rice

2 slices ham, diced

1 tbsp diced Yunnan ham

150 g medium prawns, shelled

100 g char siew (Barbecued pork), diced

1 cup whole kernel corn

1 cup green peas

1 bunch spring onions, chopped

3 eggs (about 55 g each), beaten well

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

1. Heat up oil in a large frying pan and add Yunnan ham and prawns. Toss over high heat until prawns are cooked.

2. Keeping the heat high, add rice, tossing constantly. Add the diced char siew, ham, corn and peas, and toss to mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Make a well in the fried rice mixture and pour in beaten egg. Add salt and pepper and toss the rice well so that the egg mixture distributes evenly.

5. Add chopped spring onions. Toss again and serve.

FOOD NOTES:

To make sure every rice grain is coated, you do need a generous amount of egg. However, since cholesterol has become a buzzword in our modern vocabulary, you can reduce the number of eggs to one.

You can add any ingredient to the fried rice, but you need to keep in mind color, texture and taste. Green peas and corn kernels add color and sweetness. The Yunnan ham adds flavor and aroma, while the ham and char siew pieces add bite and meatiness. Prawns add a touch of luxury to the dish.

SALTED-FISH AND BEAN SPROUTS FRIED RICE

INGREDIENTS (serves 4):

3 cups cooked rice

2 eggs, beaten

100 g dried salted fish (firm variety, not the wet ones preserved in oil)

2-3 slices ginger, cut into fine strips

300 g bean sprouts, roots trimmed

Chopped spring onions

1 red chili, seeded and diced

METHOD:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and fry the ginger until golden brown. Remove and reserve for garnish.

2. Add the salted fish that has been cut up into tiny cubes and fry until very crisp.

3. Add cooked rice and toss to mix the fish and rice.

4. Make a well in the rice and add the beaten eggs. Allow the eggs to set slightly before stir-frying the rice to distribute ingredients evenly. Keep the heat high and the rice moving constantly.

5. Add bean sprouts and toss until sprouts are just cooked.

6. Plate the rice and garnish with spring onions and chopped chilies.

FOOD NOTES:

Frying the ginger in the oil is one way to infuse the oil. The ginger-infused oil takes away any pungency the salted fish may have. Again, keep the rice moving constantly in the hot frying pan to get a nice fluffy fried rice. The bean sprouts take very little cooking and may need only a few seconds of tossing. The heated rice will continue to wilt the sprouts so it is important not to overcook them.

SPICY PRAWNS FRIED RICE

INGREDIENTS (serves 4):

3 cups cooked rice

300 g prawns, peeled

50 g dried prawns

6-8 shallots (small red onions), peeled

2 cloves garlic, peeled

4 red chili

Salt and sugar to taste

METHOD:

1. Place dried prawns, shallots, garlic and chilies into a blender and pulverize to a fine paste.

2. Add 1 tbsp oil to a deep pan and fry the spice mixture until it turns dark and fragrant. Season to taste with salt and sugar. Remove paste and set aside.

3. Heat 2 tbsp of the spice mixture in a deep frying pan and add peeled prawns. Toss to coat evenly.

4. Add the cooked rice and stir fry on high heat until rice is coated and colored evenly. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt or sugar. Serve hot.

FOOD NOTES:

The combination of shallots, garlic and chili is commonly used in the spicy cuisine of Southeast Asia and is applied to anything from salads to vegetables to meats. Adding a few dried prawns to the mixture sweetens it. A dollop of this paste can turn an ordinary fried vegetable or meat dish into something scintillating - with a spiciness that will warm tummy and soul on a cold winter's night. If you want to turn down the heat, seed the chili.