Hey guys, a few notes: 1. As I was writing this, someone over on Reddit just blew my mind. They were asking if a metal steamer insert could do the job here, and my first reaction was "eh...". Then they took a small clip of themselves removing the center column of the insert... I had no idea those had that function haha. Maybe this's old news, and I'm a doofus. Anyway, a steamer tray would also work for this provided (1) you can remove that column and (2) you wrap a cloth around the lid of your pot. This's a little tough to explain, so you can see a visual here: i.imgur.com/FW2okxm.jpg Basically, you don't want the steam to condense on the lid of your pot and drip back down onto the rice, and a cloth helps prevent that. 2. At 1:01 in the video, you can see one of the old school steaming buckets that'd traditionally be used for rice here. While you *can* find them on Amazon, they're fantastically over-priced. Thai steaming buckets are much more reasonably priced, but tend not to feature lids. You want a bucket (and I wouldn't blame you, they're awesome), you can use the Thai style one, but do do the towel trick from above in order to avoid drippage (or you can gently lay a towel over the bucket itself, that could work). 3. There's not *too* much of an cost to really piling a bunch of rice into a steamer (those buckets are designed for quantity), but the more you steam, the less fluffy it'll be. No free lunches and all that. 4. As we said in the outro, using day old rice is absolutely a valid method for frying rice as well. To be completely frank, I think in a taste test a good chunk of people might not be able to tell the difference. Which route you go is ultimately up to you - the primary benefit of the steaming method is that it's just so straightforward to fry. 5. Oh! If you're opting for the day old fried rice approach AND you own a Zojirushi rice cooker, be sure to select the "quick" setting when making your rice. For the unaware, Zojirushi rice cookers make for incredibly delicious rice... rice that ends up fantastic as leftovers as well. But for fried rice? Zoji rice is a little bit *too* nice - the rice ends up a bit too sticky. Selecting the 'quick' setting forces the Zojirushi to, in effect, act like a normal rice cooker. 6. Me and Steph have a running argument about which white rice is better - white rice from a Zojirushi, or white rice from a steamer. Both are excellent white rice on sort of different ends of the spectrum. Zojirushi rice is stickier and softer. Steamed rice is looser and fluffier. Steph prefers Zoji rice, I prefer steamed rice... but of course, in general the Zoji rice generally wins because... lazy. 7. What do you do with the rice cooking liquid? Many people would drink it as soup alongside the meal. In some areas in Guizhou, (notably Hmong areas), they'd ferment this rice soup and that can be a base for the sour fish soup hot pot. Throughout Southwest China, this rice cooking liquid is also used to make fermented pickled greens. I know this was sort of a quick one - originally we were planning on having this be a side video for our upcoming Fried Dace with Black Bean video, then take a week off after that. But thinking on it, I think we'll just wait to release that guy around this time next week instead :) EDIT: Whenever we have any over these sort of videos, there's always a chorus of people asking "what would Uncle Roger think of this"? Etc etc. I promise we're good sports. But like... c'mon guys. Nigel is a comedian, not a food guy. His criticisms of the BBC/Jamie Oliver fried rice were valid because they were just *so* silly that pretty much anyone with a modicum of understanding can appreciate the inherent absurdity. On UA-cam, Nigel has a video of him himself cooking fried rice. This is *our* feedback to *his* video (ua-cam.com/video/SGBP3sG3a9Y/v-deo.html ): - All in all, pretty decent. - I like that he did a proper restaurant longyau - that is, pouring the hot oil out. But a more proper way would be to heat the wok up first, then swirl the oil around a bit, then pour it out. No need to get it up to smoking. - This might be a bit personal preference, but we would add the egg first, then the aromatics. If you go aromatics --> egg, then you can get bits of garlic & scallion encapsulated in the egg. - He doesn't break up the clumps enough during the cooking process. Using day old rice like he did, you have to be a bit more paranoid on that front. - He used WAY way too much MSG. I understand that probably some of that was just to get that effect for the camera. But given that salt also wasn't added, our instinct says that he was likely using MSG as a 'salt-replacement', which's sort of a common beginner error when using the ingredient. In that sized portion of rice, a sprinkle or maybe ~1/8 tsp would be a more correct quantity. Definitely no more than 1/4 tsp... he used much, much more than that.
When you were comparing normal cooked rice and steamed rice, did you try what Kenji recommends, which is cooking rice as usual and then spread it thinly on a tray for the surface moisture to evaporate, and use the freshly cooked rice after about 15-20 minutes? I noticed that after steaming you do a similar thing (where you spread the rice on a plate and wait for it to cool down), which might be a confounding factor why the fried rice from steamed rice turns out better. No doubt that steamed rice is so delicious though, especially steamed glutinous rice, but I very rarely cook it because I was taught to soak it overnight - have never thought of the flash boil - great suggestion!
Cooking then cooling starches actually dose alot more than dry it out. It converts some of the starch into resistant starches. This is partly responsible for the dryer less sticky rice. Resistant starches also function like fiber resulting in less calories.
Appreciate your channel that you actually let me look at my own food culture in much understandable point of view instead of “a pinch and to your taste/judgement” kind of teaching from my mother lolll bless her soul And this way of cooking rice never came my way until today....so yeah felt like Colombo today! Thank you!
Great to see another video breaking the myth that fried rice is only made with day-old rice. Pailin has been using fresh rice in her fried rice recipes too, just have to make sure that it is cooked with slightly less water
Yeah the dry-ratio method can definitely work too, IIRC we did that method in our Yangzhou fried rice video. In my personal opinion, I like steamed > day old > dry ratio, but yeah... dry-ratio is also perfectly valid.
Last time I fried rice I used jasmin rice, and cooked it for like 11 minutes, and didn't let it steam with the lid on. I used a bit less water as well. I then spread it out on a baking sheet to cool and dry off. That fried rice might be the best one I have made so far. I have had better sauce and ingredients for better taste, but the rice itself was just awesome after frying it
before this video it was utterly unclear whether he just wanted food or pets. I always thought he wanted food but he just likes being included it seems.
One good way to avoid clumping is to make Korean-style "golden fried rice", where the rice is mixed with beaten egg yolk before you put it in the wok. The moisture from the egg seems to dissolve the surface starch and separate the grains nicely. You'd think that it would form clumps as the egg cooked, but as long as you keep it moving as you fry, it actually doesn't at all
does this work on already clumpy rice like day old rice? or would i still need to somehow break apart that clumpy rice first? also...i'd think that putting liquid around the rice would prevent me from searing/toasting the rice?
i love your channel. one thing that prevents me from making alot of dishes is i don't have the unique ingredients on hand (authentic chinese is a new style of cooking for me). But i have been shopping at my local asian market alot lately. they have better and cheaper produce than the chain stores in my area.
Yeah! Even if you cook solely Western food, Chinese and Asian supermarkets can be a fantastic resource. In university in Boston I'd pick up alot of groceries from a Chinese supermarket for those same cost reasons you mention. We also base these recipes off of what's available in those Chinese supermarkets (there's a specific one in Philly that we take inventory from to ensure that things are available, though obviously availability can vary from supermarket to supermarket) because we *do* want these recipes to at least be theoretically-actionable for folks in the West. We never call for an only-available-in-China ingredient without testing subs for it :) Luckily it turns out that a ton's available abroad too.
Oh my gosh loving the audio quality upgrade. And the musical outro feels so good. Y'all were already my favorite cooking channel and you just keep polishing the videos!
I've always put basmati rice in a boiling saucepan of water, quick stir to stop it clumping, quick stir again when it comes back to the boil, simmer until the rice very slightly nutty and drain in a sieve and quickly cool down under cold tap water. leave to drain for five minutes and ready to go. Love your channel btw.
oh I have the exact opposite happen to me, I always cook rice for 2 or even 3 if I'm not paying attention, so I always have rice for lunch the next day.
I've read so many different instructions for getting fried rice separated like restaurant quality, but never has anyone ever mentioned leaving it uncovered (while in the fridge) Thanks for this
I just cooked the most PERFECT basmati rice of my life. And it was so easy! I just put the rice in a fine stainless steel colender on top of the pot. Thank you so much 🥺
I watched the Alex video a couple weeks ago, and wanted to re-learn steamed rice again from this one having watched it back when it first came out. Thank you for answering, "How does a restaurant get more day-old rice for fried rice when they run out?"
When I make fried rice using left-over rice, to get rid of the clumps/hard texture on top, I put it in the microwave with a glass of water on high for about 1 - 2 minute(s) (depending on the portion size). This makes it nice and steamy and helps seperates the grains faster for me! :)
There's a japanese method recommended by Nozaki Hiromitsu which involves first coating the cold rice in beaten egg and frying in a non-stick skillet over medium heat - you definitely end up with a drier (パリパリ/paripari) dish, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it's by far the most foolproof method I've come across for getting a uniform dish with no clumps
this is the "golden fried rice" technique from cantonese cooking! my partner always gives me a hard time for making taiwanese style fried rice (with the curds cooked separately first in the wok, as in this video), instead of the coated approach
This is SO cool. Cooking techniques that work - just work! Doing research on a food project - reading *The Carolina Rice Kitchen* Dude... you guys are "-" this far from making pilau/plov/chellow/pilaf etc. etc. The boil until the rice swells and then steam IS how Persian and other long grain rices are treated to get the rice "dry and every grain separate".
Anathema to your channel, I often use day old Jasmine rice, but a few weeks ago, I tried Basmati. It was unbelievable. Even better, it was leftover Basmati with saffron. Some egg, garlic, green onion, and green peas. A little salt and pepper was the only seasoning, besides the fact that it was saffron basmati made with chicken broth.
My family has always just done 2 x wash to remove the starch, and use the rice cooker with slightly less water than usual, then let the rice cool for about 1/2 hour before starting to fry our ingredients and then add the rice. Comes out great, and much faster to make than waiting a day or steaming, but getting the right rice/water ratio to get your preferred fried rice texture takes a few tries.
I must say this REALLY works. Perfect rice! I let the rice cool while I prepped my other ingredients and it was the best fried rice I’d made in years. Definitely will do this from now on. Also, even though there were several steps, it didn't feel like a lot. Well worth the time versus on the stove or using Instant Pot.
Another way to use leftover cooked rice and also avoid clumping which I can personally recommend is by making golden fried rice (黄金炒饭 - huángjīn chǎofàn). The general concept of that is that you coat and unclump the rice with egg yolks before you cook the rice. The fat of the yolk allows for the grains to separate nicely plus you’ll end up with a really pretty dish too. Note that this is just *another* way to cook fried rice, no one method is better than the other plus this is a bit more laborious than just trying to unclump the rice as you’re cooking it. (And it’s also not vegan-friendly either, sadly.) Credit to Lucas Sin for teaching this to everyone on his Instagram account by the way.
i'm glad to see you're on Team Lard, too. i've found brown rice is really good in fried rice, but it's way less popular for a lot of important reasons.
Day-old basmati rice works best for me. I find basmati rice to be more forgiving (or more suitable) for fried rice as it seems to resist glumping into a sodden mess. I also prefer to pre-mix the beaten egg with the rice before adding to the wok. The idea is that the rice grains would be individually coated with egg as a result (aspirational).
I just had a sudden urge for an LPL crossover. Chris saying "nothing on 1, 2 is binding, nice click out of him..." and LPL saying "I'm using this wiper insert as a turning tool, and as always, longyau."
ah yes, i see the "just watch people do something they're good at" side of youtube is going strong. found a thread mentioning LPL under a baumgarnter video a while ago
Good vid and nice tip for those of us who forget to cook in advance. Since there is almost no difference, then I would opt for the day or two old rice, less dishes to clean. BTW, I cannot get over how many Japanese and I see you use a "rice cooker". Come on, rice is so easy to cook just with a regular pot with a good lid. Bonus, more counter space. I gentility break up the cold rice with my fingers.
I was brought up learning to cook rice by boiling for 12 minutes or so and then rinsing in the colander. I never saw absorption methods until I went to Asia. By boiling the rice and rinsing you always have separate grains of rice. We then spread on a large baking dish and dry until ready to use.
I usually steam the rice in a 2 tier steamer, with a towel on the lid. My Chinese mother taught me this. She also used to flavour the rice with some chicken stock and garlic. ... 20 percent less water so the rice doesn't turn out soggy from the steaming. This works out well for family Fried Rice.
Before making fried rice, I always separate all the rice grains in my day old rice by hand. Just stand near the sink and keep the water running, keep my hand wet and squeeze the rice. Makes frying it much easier.
Love these videos. We have a number of great Asian supermarkets where I am from in Australia but it can be difficult to know how to use many of the ingredients that come from them. Yes I am one of those weird people who buy things because they look interesting and cool. Fortunately they also taste excellent as well. But I am becoming better educated with every video.
From what I've heard, in rural Sichuan it's very common to par-boil the rice a bit longer and then let the liquid cool slightly to be used as a drink for the meal, or as the base for a soup. I've always been too fond of Zoji rice (or too loathe to break out and clean my steamer for rice) to try it, but I might have to now that I know it's a good way to get fried rice ASAP!
The way I learned it with day old rice is that you beat the eggs, and then mix it all in to the rice with your hands (breaking all the clumps) before frying. It's messier on the hands (unless you use disposable gloves) but it fries up much better. Not sure how it compares to steaming in terms of work / taste tho.
Whenever I do this it ends up making the final product really gooey and unpleasant. My girlfriend (Chinese) doe a better job of it but I'm not sure what here secret is..
@@3LLT33 I do it on a standard American electric stove at the highest heat setting and it comes out really well. I think one important thing is to not add in too much egg? Because the excess egg can't just be cooked into clumped scrambled egg like things they can get gooey.
@@3LLT33 If it's still gooey, just keep stir frying! It's simply not done yet. At some point the eggs will cook and become solid, cook it even a bit more to truly fry the rice (you'll see the rice "dance" in the wok), only then you know you're done. Hope you give it another try. There's no such thing as too much eggs btw, just keep going. You can't go wrong with it!
Oh, that's a solid idea. We were mulling over doing that sort of thing in an "other rice you can do in a rice cooker" kind of video... but next month we'll be doing another video on "over rice/下饭 dishes", so we'll be trying to space out the rice related vids haha
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Nice! My favorite thing as a kid were the little urns of spare rib and chicken feet steam rice that you could get at dim sum places on weekends. (I still love them but they're a bit harder to come by in the US.) Definitely looking forward to the 下饭 video tho because, well, they are tasty and I love rice. :D
Yes! Love this - there are practically no recipes in the west for this sort of thing. Reasons seem to boil down to 1) western people: who would do that? 2) rice cooker nation: you need a recipe? You just do that.
If you **ARE** needing to use a rice cooker to produce the perfect rice for fried rice, this is exactly how to do it: 1. Using a non-parboiled polished rice, like a high-quality Jasmine rice (my favorite is Asian Best Red Elephant Brand), rinse 3 "Go" measures of your rice in cold water twice, which is all you need since the rice is highly polished and free from spalled-off starch. A "Go" is a standard measure for rice in Asian countries, equal to 3/4 of an American formal Cup measure, or 180 ml. The measuring cup that came with your rice cooker is one "Go." 2. Place the rinsed and drained rice into the rice cooker and fill with fresh cold water to well below the 3 Mark on the rice cooker pot. I measure my water to about where a 2.67 mark would be. 3. Add one large knuckle-pinch of kosher salt for each Go and gently stir with your fingers briefly to mix. 4. Set the rice cooker to the HARDER setting, and then start the cooking cycle. 5. As soon as the rice cooker sounds off that it has finished, immediately invert the rice cooker pot into a large metal mixing bowl, then use the plastic shamoji (rice paddle) to gently break up the mound of rice into separated grains. 6. Using the shamoji, spread the rice into an even layer inside the entire surface of the mixing bowl, then fan the rice to blow away the steam. The cooking is done and the steam has done its job; it's time for any remaining steam to take a hike, otherwise the rice will continue to both cook and absorb moisture. 7. Fold the rice in on itself every couple of minutes until the rice has cooled enough to handle with your bare hands. 8. Without packing, let the rice gently fall into a plastic container, then place this container, uncovered, into your freezer for 15 minutes. 9. Cover the container and then place it in your refrigerator overnight or until it is 40F or less. 10. Carefully remove the top keeping it level to prevent any hanging condensation from falling into the rice, and then pour off any moisture accumulated in the container. 11. Spread out the rice to let it dry out a bit more, say about 15 minutes. What you now have is rice perfectly prepared for fried rice. Starved of water during cooking, cooked to a harder than normal consistency, and denied from absorbing post-cooking moisture and heat, this rice will give you the very best possible results that are flavorful from absorbing liquids during stir frying while remaining toothsome and chewy like a great fried rice should. I hope this helps.
If I want to use freshly cooked rice for fried rice, I usually use a technique I learned in Japan. Pour beaten egg onto the steaming rice and mix before frying. The egg will coat the rice grains and separate the grains as it is cooked. But the fried rice will have a richer taste than normal fried rice when using this technique.
I figured out a way to MacGyver this in my pressure cooker. Place two Mason jar lids on the bottom as a trivet. On top, place a large ramekin. Fill with washed brown rice with water to cover. Bring up the pressure, and go for about a half an hour. Perfect steamed brown rice.
I’ve always found that short-medium grain brown rice yields me the best results. Just sticky enough to hold seasoning, never gets mushy, slightly healthier.
I once had duck eggs fried rice from a cheap canteen style joint in Hong Kong; Causeway Bay area..... It was unbelievable....! The rice was translucent, springy & chewy to the bite.....! Unforgettable......! 😋🤤🤪
Thank you for this video. My Yangzhou fried rice has been turning out great! Does this method also work for other grains? Such as the medium grain used to make Benihana fried rice. Not many YTers respond to Qs. Hope to get your answer. Thank you!
You can cover the rice when put in refrigerator. Next day before you toss the rice into the wok, add egg yokes into the cold rice and gently mix them with your hand and at the same time crush the lumps of rice. It’s way easier to crush them when they’re cold. And this is how you make golden fried rice.
Love your channel. Thanks for your videos - I learn a ton. I want to adapt this method of steaming rice for making an Indian biryani where the rice is flavored/steamed in some sort of stock - lamb/chicken and where the final product has highly flavored (with stock) grains of rice that are separate and not gooey. My thought on seeing this video was to not change any of the process till after the 3 min par boiling is done to remove as much of the starch as possible. After draining the partially cooked rice, I thought it would make sense to immerse the partially cooked rice in the stock and proceed with the steaming as shown in the video. This way the rice would have shed a fair amount of starch during the 3 min parboil and during the steaming it would absorb the stock and complete the cooking. Im assuming that the steaming liquid in the wok is water and not stock. The stock and partially cooked rice would be in a pot and inserted in the steamer. Does this make sense? If so, what sort of ratio of stock to partially cooked rice would you recommend to start experimenting with? I plan to use long grain basmati rice. Thanks much in advance.
I am lazy bump. I just put less water than usual to reduce the sticky situation, left it cool down and into the wok it goes. it's even more complicated when my parent mixing all kind of rice together.
Thank you for your wonderful videos. I’ve been attempting to get better at cooking in a Chinese style for a while and your videos have really helped. Celiac has really hampered my ability to go out to the restaurants. Do you have any advice on making homemade dark soy sauce that I may be able to convert to using Tamari sauce instead since it is generally wheat free. Thanks and keep up the great work!
The Woks of Life recommends soy sauce + sugar + molasses but I wasn't able to find amounts. Also, tamari has less sodium than some light soy sauces so you may need to add more salt to dishes. Or you won't.
Thanks for this recipe, just a question do you put the wooden steamer in direct contact with the boiling water? Sorry for my ignorance but wouldn't that dry out the wood/rot it ?
I was taught to get the wok super hot with oil. Remove the oil and add cold oil and eggs and continue on high heat. There is a name for wok skills, but it escapes me now.
For anyone who live in the US-California. there is this rice that you can buy at Superior Grocers. i don't remember the brand name but the bag design is quite simple with some red frame, i always call it Mexican's rice. The unique thing about this rice is that it does not stick together after cooked, which made it, in my opinion, the perfect rice to make fried-rice. except making fried-rice, the rice itself tastes pretty bad so i do not suggest eating like normal rice if you want to get a hand on it. Edit: after a few research, i believe the brand named springfield with GREEN FRAME, also buy the white rice not brown rice.
Growing up in China, I never learned about day-old rice. But then, if it is not day old, perfectly good rice wouldn't going into frys. in reality, though, I think most people in the West consider japonica rice (粳稻米) as Chinese; in fact it is difficult to find indica rice (籼稻米) in Chinese stores. But with low stickiness, boiled japonica rice would be perfect for frying without having to go day-old. (Or strain out soup before steaming.) I recently found that several brands of Indian rice have the property of indica rice; actually, both Indian brands that Costo recently carried have the same low stickiness, very different from rice you get from Chinese stores. (For anyone interested in the two main rice variants in China, The History of China Podcast had an excellent episode: #137 - Song 5: A Song of Rice and Flour) This said, traditional steamed rice is also a favourite - without frying.
Hey look everyone I'm liking and commenting for interaction so the channel stays high on the algorithm during the plague of UA-cam community polls. Wow look at me go!
Yas someone finally properly explain how east and southeast asian traditionally cook rice into nice not clumpy rice for fried rice by STEAM THE RICE....... this is how my mom cooked rice before we had rice cooker, boil then steam it, and i prefer this than the clumpy one out of rice cooker since i eat rice with spoon not chopstick and clumps just falling out of my spoon most of the time if its too big.....
I guess loose ones are better with spoons. For me, if I'm eating just white rice, I still prefer the one from rice cooker, part of the reason is probably I use chopstick. -Steph
Hey guys, a few notes:
1. As I was writing this, someone over on Reddit just blew my mind. They were asking if a metal steamer insert could do the job here, and my first reaction was "eh...". Then they took a small clip of themselves removing the center column of the insert... I had no idea those had that function haha. Maybe this's old news, and I'm a doofus. Anyway, a steamer tray would also work for this provided (1) you can remove that column and (2) you wrap a cloth around the lid of your pot. This's a little tough to explain, so you can see a visual here: i.imgur.com/FW2okxm.jpg Basically, you don't want the steam to condense on the lid of your pot and drip back down onto the rice, and a cloth helps prevent that.
2. At 1:01 in the video, you can see one of the old school steaming buckets that'd traditionally be used for rice here. While you *can* find them on Amazon, they're fantastically over-priced. Thai steaming buckets are much more reasonably priced, but tend not to feature lids. You want a bucket (and I wouldn't blame you, they're awesome), you can use the Thai style one, but do do the towel trick from above in order to avoid drippage (or you can gently lay a towel over the bucket itself, that could work).
3. There's not *too* much of an cost to really piling a bunch of rice into a steamer (those buckets are designed for quantity), but the more you steam, the less fluffy it'll be. No free lunches and all that.
4. As we said in the outro, using day old rice is absolutely a valid method for frying rice as well. To be completely frank, I think in a taste test a good chunk of people might not be able to tell the difference. Which route you go is ultimately up to you - the primary benefit of the steaming method is that it's just so straightforward to fry.
5. Oh! If you're opting for the day old fried rice approach AND you own a Zojirushi rice cooker, be sure to select the "quick" setting when making your rice. For the unaware, Zojirushi rice cookers make for incredibly delicious rice... rice that ends up fantastic as leftovers as well. But for fried rice? Zoji rice is a little bit *too* nice - the rice ends up a bit too sticky. Selecting the 'quick' setting forces the Zojirushi to, in effect, act like a normal rice cooker.
6. Me and Steph have a running argument about which white rice is better - white rice from a Zojirushi, or white rice from a steamer. Both are excellent white rice on sort of different ends of the spectrum. Zojirushi rice is stickier and softer. Steamed rice is looser and fluffier. Steph prefers Zoji rice, I prefer steamed rice... but of course, in general the Zoji rice generally wins because... lazy.
7. What do you do with the rice cooking liquid? Many people would drink it as soup alongside the meal. In some areas in Guizhou, (notably Hmong areas), they'd ferment this rice soup and that can be a base for the sour fish soup hot pot. Throughout Southwest China, this rice cooking liquid is also used to make fermented pickled greens.
I know this was sort of a quick one - originally we were planning on having this be a side video for our upcoming Fried Dace with Black Bean video, then take a week off after that. But thinking on it, I think we'll just wait to release that guy around this time next week instead :)
EDIT: Whenever we have any over these sort of videos, there's always a chorus of people asking "what would Uncle Roger think of this"? Etc etc. I promise we're good sports. But like... c'mon guys. Nigel is a comedian, not a food guy. His criticisms of the BBC/Jamie Oliver fried rice were valid because they were just *so* silly that pretty much anyone with a modicum of understanding can appreciate the inherent absurdity.
On UA-cam, Nigel has a video of him himself cooking fried rice. This is *our* feedback to *his* video (ua-cam.com/video/SGBP3sG3a9Y/v-deo.html ):
- All in all, pretty decent.
- I like that he did a proper restaurant longyau - that is, pouring the hot oil out. But a more proper way would be to heat the wok up first, then swirl the oil around a bit, then pour it out. No need to get it up to smoking.
- This might be a bit personal preference, but we would add the egg first, then the aromatics. If you go aromatics --> egg, then you can get bits of garlic & scallion encapsulated in the egg.
- He doesn't break up the clumps enough during the cooking process. Using day old rice like he did, you have to be a bit more paranoid on that front.
- He used WAY way too much MSG. I understand that probably some of that was just to get that effect for the camera. But given that salt also wasn't added, our instinct says that he was likely using MSG as a 'salt-replacement', which's sort of a common beginner error when using the ingredient. In that sized portion of rice, a sprinkle or maybe ~1/8 tsp would be a more correct quantity. Definitely no more than 1/4 tsp... he used much, much more than that.
When you were comparing normal cooked rice and steamed rice, did you try what Kenji recommends, which is cooking rice as usual and then spread it thinly on a tray for the surface moisture to evaporate, and use the freshly cooked rice after about 15-20 minutes? I noticed that after steaming you do a similar thing (where you spread the rice on a plate and wait for it to cool down), which might be a confounding factor why the fried rice from steamed rice turns out better. No doubt that steamed rice is so delicious though, especially steamed glutinous rice, but I very rarely cook it because I was taught to soak it overnight - have never thought of the flash boil - great suggestion!
My real question is how does one get to this discord :o
Thank you for touching on the change when using the Zoji cooking technique.
@@Bear-cm1vl Yeah it totally drove me crazy until we figured that out lol. For a while it felt like my fried rice was gaslighting me...
Cooking then cooling starches actually dose alot more than dry it out. It converts some of the starch into resistant starches. This is partly responsible for the dryer less sticky rice. Resistant starches also function like fiber resulting in less calories.
Appreciate your channel that you actually let me look at my own food culture in much understandable point of view instead of “a pinch and to your taste/judgement” kind of teaching from my mother lolll bless her soul
And this way of cooking rice never came my way until today....so yeah felt like Colombo today! Thank you!
Great to see another video breaking the myth that fried rice is only made with day-old rice. Pailin has been using fresh rice in her fried rice recipes too, just have to make sure that it is cooked with slightly less water
Yeah the dry-ratio method can definitely work too, IIRC we did that method in our Yangzhou fried rice video. In my personal opinion, I like steamed > day old > dry ratio, but yeah... dry-ratio is also perfectly valid.
Last time I fried rice I used jasmin rice, and cooked it for like 11 minutes, and didn't let it steam with the lid on. I used a bit less water as well. I then spread it out on a baking sheet to cool and dry off.
That fried rice might be the best one I have made so far. I have had better sauce and ingredients for better taste, but the rice itself was just awesome after frying it
Rice technique welcomed! Kitchen kitty cat adorable!
Last time I was this early, Chris hadn't even longyau'd yet
He should make a shirt with that word and i'll buy it lol
I'm just here for the incredibly needy dog constantly demanding pets
before this video it was utterly unclear whether he just wanted food or pets. I always thought he wanted food but he just likes being included it seems.
It's a Smoochound
Wait you can give dogs fried rice?
The dog is a THIEF, constantly stealing the show
Doggos can't be needy, for they're much deserving.
1:58 - Somewhere in Malaysia a cry goes out... "Colander?!"
I paused the video and started scrolling looking for this comment as soon as they brought it out, lol.
thats a very common technique, actually the only way, to cook rice in south asia countries like india
Hai~~~~~~yahhhh...
Uncle Roger so upset he put leg down from chair!
Haiya
One good way to avoid clumping is to make Korean-style "golden fried rice", where the rice is mixed with beaten egg yolk before you put it in the wok. The moisture from the egg seems to dissolve the surface starch and separate the grains nicely. You'd think that it would form clumps as the egg cooked, but as long as you keep it moving as you fry, it actually doesn't at all
does this work on already clumpy rice like day old rice? or would i still need to somehow break apart that clumpy rice first? also...i'd think that putting liquid around the rice would prevent me from searing/toasting the rice?
@@Layarion it works for me though. Putting a liquid (in this case an egg) does separates a grain of rice that forms a clump.
i love your channel. one thing that prevents me from making alot of dishes is i don't have the unique ingredients on hand (authentic chinese is a new style of cooking for me). But i have been shopping at my local asian market alot lately. they have better and cheaper produce than the chain stores in my area.
Better and cheaper, true, and a well kept secret apparently.
Yeah! Even if you cook solely Western food, Chinese and Asian supermarkets can be a fantastic resource. In university in Boston I'd pick up alot of groceries from a Chinese supermarket for those same cost reasons you mention.
We also base these recipes off of what's available in those Chinese supermarkets (there's a specific one in Philly that we take inventory from to ensure that things are available, though obviously availability can vary from supermarket to supermarket) because we *do* want these recipes to at least be theoretically-actionable for folks in the West. We never call for an only-available-in-China ingredient without testing subs for it :) Luckily it turns out that a ton's available abroad too.
Oh my gosh loving the audio quality upgrade. And the musical outro feels so good. Y'all were already my favorite cooking channel and you just keep polishing the videos!
Great idea. You might have solved my biggest dilemma when it comes to wanting fried rice, how to make it within the day. I will have to give it a try.
I've always put basmati rice in a boiling saucepan of water, quick stir to stop it clumping, quick stir again when it comes back to the boil, simmer until the rice very slightly nutty and drain in a sieve and quickly cool down under cold tap water. leave to drain for five minutes and ready to go. Love your channel btw.
As a bachelor, I never have leftover rice unless I purposely make extra, so this method is not much extra work for me. I'll definitely give it a try!
oh I have the exact opposite happen to me, I always cook rice for 2 or even 3 if I'm not paying attention, so I always have rice for lunch the next day.
I always make extra!
As a bachelor, I'm surprised you haven't mastered batch cooking
Pan fried a few pieces of Spam to go with the Rice. You can thank me later...:). Cheers 🍻
I've read so many different instructions for getting fried rice separated like restaurant quality, but never has anyone ever mentioned leaving it uncovered (while in the fridge)
Thanks for this
Oh, you have a Kitchen Floor Cat as well. A vital appliance. I've not figured out what function they serve, but they seem handy.
It's for belly grabbing.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Oh, no. I'm not falling for that again. (But if you pick mine up like a baby, he lets you tickle his belly.)
I just cooked the most PERFECT basmati rice of my life. And it was so easy! I just put the rice in a fine stainless steel colender on top of the pot. Thank you so much 🥺
I watched the Alex video a couple weeks ago, and wanted to re-learn steamed rice again from this one having watched it back when it first came out.
Thank you for answering, "How does a restaurant get more day-old rice for fried rice when they run out?"
"Drain in your trusty colander..."
*Uncle Roger has entered the chat*
MSG toss it on your Baby make it smarter
Uncle Roger is an idiot.
That roger sketch is like Ramsay and eggs. He can eat my shorts lol
@@colingee6687 he really is lol
@@colingee6687 Uncle Roger doesn't exist
Thank you very much for your wonderful Chinese dishes channel. I have ever failed to practise these. Great job, support forever...
When I make fried rice using left-over rice, to get rid of the clumps/hard texture on top, I put it in the microwave with a glass of water on high for about 1 - 2 minute(s) (depending on the portion size). This makes it nice and steamy and helps seperates the grains faster for me! :)
One of the best Asian food cooking channel.
There's a japanese method recommended by Nozaki Hiromitsu which involves first coating the cold rice in beaten egg and frying in a non-stick skillet over medium heat - you definitely end up with a drier (パリパリ/paripari) dish, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it's by far the most foolproof method I've come across for getting a uniform dish with no clumps
this is the "golden fried rice" technique from cantonese cooking! my partner always gives me a hard time for making taiwanese style fried rice (with the curds cooked separately first in the wok, as in this video), instead of the coated approach
"Scottie dog!" - Me at the end of every video
This is SO cool. Cooking techniques that work - just work!
Doing research on a food project - reading *The Carolina Rice Kitchen*
Dude... you guys are "-" this far from making pilau/plov/chellow/pilaf etc. etc.
The boil until the rice swells and then steam IS how Persian and other long grain rices are treated to get the rice "dry and every grain separate".
I can't believe this video is only like 4 months old- I just started Chinese cooking and this was really great info, thank you
Anathema to your channel, I often use day old Jasmine rice, but a few weeks ago, I tried Basmati. It was unbelievable. Even better, it was leftover Basmati with saffron. Some egg, garlic, green onion, and green peas. A little salt and pepper was the only seasoning, besides the fact that it was saffron basmati made with chicken broth.
Hee hee... so you made pilau! (pilaf, chellow... it has like a bazillion names!)
Correct - it IS delicious.
My family has always just done 2 x wash to remove the starch, and use the rice cooker with slightly less water than usual, then let the rice cool for about 1/2 hour before starting to fry our ingredients and then add the rice. Comes out great, and much faster to make than waiting a day or steaming, but getting the right rice/water ratio to get your preferred fried rice texture takes a few tries.
Other than risotto on the stove or in the Instant Pot, I use a 25 year old Black and Decker steamer to cook my rice.
This is the perfect ASMR Food video that I need
😋😋😋
I must say this REALLY works. Perfect rice! I let the rice cool while I prepped my other ingredients and it was the best fried rice I’d made in years. Definitely will do this from now on. Also, even though there were several steps, it didn't feel like a lot. Well worth the time versus on the stove or using Instant Pot.
Another way to use leftover cooked rice and also avoid clumping which I can personally recommend is by making golden fried rice (黄金炒饭 - huángjīn chǎofàn). The general concept of that is that you coat and unclump the rice with egg yolks before you cook the rice. The fat of the yolk allows for the grains to separate nicely plus you’ll end up with a really pretty dish too.
Note that this is just *another* way to cook fried rice, no one method is better than the other plus this is a bit more laborious than just trying to unclump the rice as you’re cooking it. (And it’s also not vegan-friendly either, sadly.)
Credit to Lucas Sin for teaching this to everyone on his Instagram account by the way.
Love love love fried rice....all kinds. My favorite is made with sticky Thai rice...OMG, that is wonderful friend rice.
Thank you for answering the title's question in the thumbnail 😅 it's like anti-clickbait and actually makes me wanna click it
i'm glad to see you're on Team Lard, too. i've found brown rice is really good in fried rice, but it's way less popular for a lot of important reasons.
This is one of the best cooking content I’ve seen
Day-old basmati rice works best for me. I find basmati rice to be more forgiving (or more suitable) for fried rice as it seems to resist glumping into a sodden mess. I also prefer to pre-mix the beaten egg with the rice before adding to the wok. The idea is that the rice grains would be individually coated with egg as a result (aspirational).
I just had a sudden urge for an LPL crossover. Chris saying "nothing on 1, 2 is binding, nice click out of him..." and LPL saying "I'm using this wiper insert as a turning tool, and as always, longyau."
Lol, did not expect a LPL comment on here. 🤣
ah yes, i see the "just watch people do something they're good at" side of youtube is going strong. found a thread mentioning LPL under a baumgarnter video a while ago
Now that you mention it... LPL and Chris have surprisingly similar voices.
@@cameronsouth4029 more specifically, it's the "only shows hands; has slow soothing voice" segment :)
"Please state the nature of the Chinese food emergency."
Good vid and nice tip for those of us who forget to cook in advance. Since there is almost no difference, then I would opt for the day or two old rice, less dishes to clean. BTW, I cannot get over how many Japanese and I see you use a "rice cooker". Come on, rice is so easy to cook just with a regular pot with a good lid. Bonus, more counter space. I gentility break up the cold rice with my fingers.
I was brought up learning to cook rice by boiling for 12 minutes or so and then rinsing in the colander. I never saw absorption methods until I went to Asia. By boiling the rice and rinsing you always have separate grains of rice. We then spread on a large baking dish and dry until ready to use.
I'd like to see more of the cat...,
I usually steam the rice in a 2 tier steamer, with a towel on the lid. My Chinese mother taught me this. She also used to flavour the rice with some chicken stock and garlic. ... 20 percent less water so the rice doesn't turn out soggy from the steaming. This works out well for family Fried Rice.
Before making fried rice, I always separate all the rice grains in my day old rice by hand. Just stand near the sink and keep the water running, keep my hand wet and squeeze the rice. Makes frying it much easier.
I pre-crumble my day old fridge rice before it goes in the wok. Works for me!
Was wondering how you’d work longyao into rice steaming. Silly me...
This channel is the best of the best
Thanks for that recipe was trying to find out how to make that long time
0:13 DAT CAT
This is a very valuable channel, thank you very much.
Love these videos. We have a number of great Asian supermarkets where I am from in Australia but it can be difficult to know how to use many of the ingredients that come from them. Yes I am one of those weird people who buy things because they look interesting and cool. Fortunately they also taste excellent as well. But I am becoming better educated with every video.
From what I've heard, in rural Sichuan it's very common to par-boil the rice a bit longer and then let the liquid cool slightly to be used as a drink for the meal, or as the base for a soup. I've always been too fond of Zoji rice (or too loathe to break out and clean my steamer for rice) to try it, but I might have to now that I know it's a good way to get fried rice ASAP!
The way I learned it with day old rice is that you beat the eggs, and then mix it all in to the rice with your hands (breaking all the clumps) before frying. It's messier on the hands (unless you use disposable gloves) but it fries up much better. Not sure how it compares to steaming in terms of work / taste tho.
Never heard of this, but will give it a try!
Whenever I do this it ends up making the final product really gooey and unpleasant. My girlfriend (Chinese) doe a better job of it but I'm not sure what here secret is..
@@3LLT33 hmm ... maybe higher heat?
@@3LLT33 I do it on a standard American electric stove at the highest heat setting and it comes out really well. I think one important thing is to not add in too much egg? Because the excess egg can't just be cooked into clumped scrambled egg like things they can get gooey.
@@3LLT33 If it's still gooey, just keep stir frying! It's simply not done yet. At some point the eggs will cook and become solid, cook it even a bit more to truly fry the rice (you'll see the rice "dance" in the wok), only then you know you're done. Hope you give it another try. There's no such thing as too much eggs btw, just keep going. You can't go wrong with it!
Ooo, will y'all do a video on steaming rice with spare ribs / smoked meat / chinese sausage / etc?
Oh, that's a solid idea. We were mulling over doing that sort of thing in an "other rice you can do in a rice cooker" kind of video... but next month we'll be doing another video on "over rice/下饭 dishes", so we'll be trying to space out the rice related vids haha
@@ChineseCookingDemystified as if there can be too man rice related vids!
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Nice! My favorite thing as a kid were the little urns of spare rib and chicken feet steam rice that you could get at dim sum places on weekends. (I still love them but they're a bit harder to come by in the US.) Definitely looking forward to the 下饭 video tho because, well, they are tasty and I love rice. :D
Yes! Love this - there are practically no recipes in the west for this sort of thing.
Reasons seem to boil down to
1) western people: who would do that?
2) rice cooker nation: you need a recipe? You just do that.
Neat. Since I have a small pressure rice cooker I don't normally have leftovers since I can make rice in 14 minutes. This is handy.
Thank you for your sharing.
Much love to y'all in the PRC, from those of us living in the belly of the beast (aka the USA)
If you **ARE** needing to use a rice cooker to produce the perfect rice for fried rice, this is exactly how to do it:
1. Using a non-parboiled polished rice, like a high-quality Jasmine rice (my favorite is Asian Best Red Elephant Brand), rinse 3 "Go" measures of your rice in cold water twice, which is all you need since the rice is highly polished and free from spalled-off starch. A "Go" is a standard measure for rice in Asian countries, equal to 3/4 of an American formal Cup measure, or 180 ml. The measuring cup that came with your rice cooker is one "Go."
2. Place the rinsed and drained rice into the rice cooker and fill with fresh cold water to well below the 3 Mark on the rice cooker pot. I measure my water to about where a 2.67 mark would be.
3. Add one large knuckle-pinch of kosher salt for each Go and gently stir with your fingers briefly to mix.
4. Set the rice cooker to the HARDER setting, and then start the cooking cycle.
5. As soon as the rice cooker sounds off that it has finished, immediately invert the rice cooker pot into a large metal mixing bowl, then use the plastic shamoji (rice paddle) to gently break up the mound of rice into separated grains.
6. Using the shamoji, spread the rice into an even layer inside the entire surface of the mixing bowl, then fan the rice to blow away the steam. The cooking is done and the steam has done its job; it's time for any remaining steam to take a hike, otherwise the rice will continue to both cook and absorb moisture.
7. Fold the rice in on itself every couple of minutes until the rice has cooled enough to handle with your bare hands.
8. Without packing, let the rice gently fall into a plastic container, then place this container, uncovered, into your freezer for 15 minutes.
9. Cover the container and then place it in your refrigerator overnight or until it is 40F or less.
10. Carefully remove the top keeping it level to prevent any hanging condensation from falling into the rice, and then pour off any moisture accumulated in the container.
11. Spread out the rice to let it dry out a bit more, say about 15 minutes.
What you now have is rice perfectly prepared for fried rice. Starved of water during cooking, cooked to a harder than normal consistency, and denied from absorbing post-cooking moisture and heat, this rice will give you the very best possible results that are flavorful from absorbing liquids during stir frying while remaining toothsome and chewy like a great fried rice should.
I hope this helps.
I got unreasonably excited that I have the same rice cooker as yall
the day old thai jasmine rice is best for making fried rice
Omg that rice looks so good. Do you guys have a tutorial about making steam rice with an insta pot? Thanks
Cha-han uses short grain sticky rice. Really nice.
That cat is living his best life.
If I want to use freshly cooked rice for fried rice, I usually use a technique I learned in Japan. Pour beaten egg onto the steaming rice and mix before frying. The egg will coat the rice grains and separate the grains as it is cooked. But the fried rice will have a richer taste than normal fried rice when using this technique.
I figured out a way to MacGyver this in my pressure cooker. Place two Mason jar lids on the bottom as a trivet. On top, place a large ramekin. Fill with washed brown rice with water to cover. Bring up the pressure, and go for about a half an hour. Perfect steamed brown rice.
I’ve always found that short-medium grain brown rice yields me the best results. Just sticky enough to hold seasoning, never gets mushy, slightly healthier.
Also, I tend to have left over “fillings” more often than leftover rice and brown rice is easier to use fresh.
Can you tell me where you purchased the lovely plating bowl/plates you used in this video? Great video! Thanks.
you guys using msg brightened up my day.
more cameos of the cat thank you 😊
YASS PLZ
yes
Love the Thumbnail! No messing around.
I once had duck eggs fried rice from a cheap canteen style joint in Hong Kong; Causeway Bay area.....
It was unbelievable....!
The rice was translucent, springy & chewy to the bite.....!
Unforgettable......! 😋🤤🤪
Thank you for this video. My Yangzhou fried rice has been turning out great!
Does this method also work for other grains? Such as the medium grain used to make Benihana fried rice.
Not many YTers respond to Qs. Hope to get your answer. Thank you!
LOOK SO GOOD!
Your pretty Chinese bowls stole the show! Where can I get ones like that! 😍
I use dried precooked rice (I cook it with oil and salt) works perfectly.
Tried it today……wow and wow
You can cover the rice when put in refrigerator. Next day before you toss the rice into the wok, add egg yokes into the cold rice and gently mix them with your hand and at the same time crush the lumps of rice. It’s way easier to crush them when they’re cold. And this is how you make golden fried rice.
Would cheesecloth be fine for steaming?
Yep! You can use cheesecloth, but it's just a bit stickier/more annoying to handle.
Love your channel. Thanks for your videos - I learn a ton.
I want to adapt this method of steaming rice for making an Indian biryani where the rice is flavored/steamed in some sort of stock - lamb/chicken and where the final product has highly flavored (with stock) grains of rice that are separate and not gooey.
My thought on seeing this video was to not change any of the process till after the 3 min par boiling is done to remove as much of the starch as possible. After draining the partially cooked rice, I thought it would make sense to immerse the partially cooked rice in the stock and proceed with the steaming as shown in the video. This way the rice would have shed a fair amount of starch during the 3 min parboil and during the steaming it would absorb the stock and complete the cooking. Im assuming that the steaming liquid in the wok is water and not stock. The stock and partially cooked rice would be in a pot and inserted in the steamer.
Does this make sense? If so, what sort of ratio of stock to partially cooked rice would you recommend to start experimenting with? I plan to use long grain basmati rice. Thanks much in advance.
I am lazy bump. I just put less water than usual to reduce the sticky situation, left it cool down and into the wok it goes.
it's even more complicated when my parent mixing all kind of rice together.
Thank you for your wonderful videos. I’ve been attempting to get better at cooking in a Chinese style for a while and your videos have really helped. Celiac has really hampered my ability to go out to the restaurants. Do you have any advice on making homemade dark soy sauce that I may be able to convert to using Tamari sauce instead since it is generally wheat free. Thanks and keep up the great work!
The Woks of Life recommends soy sauce + sugar + molasses but I wasn't able to find amounts. Also, tamari has less sodium than some light soy sauces so you may need to add more salt to dishes. Or you won't.
Thanks for this recipe, just a question do you put the wooden steamer in direct contact with the boiling water? Sorry for my ignorance but wouldn't that dry out the wood/rot it ?
You can just put the colander over a pot and put a lid on top, works great.
If you have an microwave just put the old rijst in for a few minutes to warm it up so it seperates easier
I was taught to get the wok super hot with oil. Remove the oil and add cold oil and eggs and continue on high heat. There is a name for wok skills, but it escapes me now.
For anyone who live in the US-California. there is this rice that you can buy at Superior Grocers. i don't remember the brand name but the bag design is quite simple with some red frame, i always call it Mexican's rice. The unique thing about this rice is that it does not stick together after cooked, which made it, in my opinion, the perfect rice to make fried-rice. except making fried-rice, the rice itself tastes pretty bad so i do not suggest eating like normal rice if you want to get a hand on it.
Edit: after a few research, i believe the brand named springfield with GREEN FRAME, also buy the white rice not brown rice.
Thank you so much
Growing up in China, I never learned about day-old rice. But then, if it is not day old, perfectly good rice wouldn't going into frys. in reality, though, I think most people in the West consider japonica rice (粳稻米) as Chinese; in fact it is difficult to find indica rice (籼稻米) in Chinese stores. But with low stickiness, boiled japonica rice would be perfect for frying without having to go day-old. (Or strain out soup before steaming.) I recently found that several brands of Indian rice have the property of indica rice; actually, both Indian brands that Costo recently carried have the same low stickiness, very different from rice you get from Chinese stores. (For anyone interested in the two main rice variants in China, The History of China Podcast had an excellent episode: #137 - Song 5: A Song of Rice and Flour) This said, traditional steamed rice is also a favourite - without frying.
Hey look everyone I'm liking and commenting for interaction so the channel stays high on the algorithm during the plague of UA-cam community polls. Wow look at me go!
No
We still use this method in my house to make coconut rice.
I'm SO proud of you both! You have over 500k subscribers! That's incredible. Congratulations Steph and Chris! 💖
Jenn
What portable burner did you use?
fantastic video. just what the Doctor ordered.
I wonder what size of your Cantonese wok it is? thanks
Yas someone finally properly explain how east and southeast asian traditionally cook rice into nice not clumpy rice for fried rice by STEAM THE RICE.......
this is how my mom cooked rice before we had rice cooker, boil then steam it, and i prefer this than the clumpy one out of rice cooker since i eat rice with spoon not chopstick and clumps just falling out of my spoon most of the time if its too big.....
I guess loose ones are better with spoons. For me, if I'm eating just white rice, I still prefer the one from rice cooker, part of the reason is probably I use chopstick. -Steph
I SEE THAT MIC UPGRADE!!!! nice shure sm7b :-)
I was thinking about what the best rice for fried rice was and perfect timing I guess uploaded 3 hours ago
That is a good boy you got there.
They should just invent a fried rice setting on the rice cooker
Hi, just a thought. Can you use parchment paper for this instead of cloth?
O my God I love your cat 😺😺😺😺🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈😻😻😻😻😻😻
Great method. 3 minutes boiling gave me somewhat hard rice though, I'll test 4-5.