The Simple Technique That Makes Cooking Fried Rice A Breeze

Fried rice is an awesome and easy one-pan dish that can be assembled in a flash with little more than leftovers from the fridge and a dash of salty soy. You can change up the veggies (both fresh and frozen work), switch around the protein (try cooked sausage, shrimp, or even sliced hot dogs), and finish it off with an aromatic drizzle of sesame oil for a fancy flourish. However, cooking the eggs separately before removing them from the wok to make room for the veggies and rice is a hassle. Luckily you can eliminate this annoying stage by employing a simple technique. Just push your hot fried rice to one side of the wok and scramble your eggs on the vacant half before breaking them up into pieces and stirring them through to combine.

While cooking the eggs first and removing them from the wok before returning them to the pan at the end is an option, it can result in rubbery textured protein. Scrambling the eggs in a separate skillet while the rice cooks eliminates this issue but also means more washing up. Adding the eggs to one side of the wok is the solution to both of these problems because your huevos cook to perfection at the same time as your rice in a single pan. As the grains warm through and become deliciously toasty, the eggs fluff up in the wok before being immediately scrambled into bite-sized tender pieces. The result? Piping hot restaurant-quality fried rice.

Begin by sauteing your vegetables in your hot wok until they're warmed through. Then add in your cold, cooked rice and stir fry well before drizzling over your soy sauce. Once your rice is warmed through and has started to develop those characteristic toasty and smoky edges elicited from wok-frying, it's time to crack on with the eggs. You're going to push all the rice and veggies to one side of the wok before adding a touch more oil into the vacant portion. Crack your eggs directly into the space and give them a quick stir to combine. Alternatively, crack the eggs into a separate bowl first and beat them together to ensure that the yolks and whites cook through at the same rate. When the eggs are almost set, use a utensil to break them up into fluffy little nuggets or small flecks, depending on your preference. Finally, combine them into the rice and give everything a good toss to make sure the egg pieces are evenly distributed.

As always when preparing fried rice of any variety, use cold cooked rice (preferably long grain) rather than freshly cooked rice that's still warm. Using chilled rice ensures that the individual grains remain separate and don't clump together into a sticky and starchy lump.