Egg Fried Rice - Homemade!

Soldato
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So... i've never been much of a fan of rice with my food, especially Chinese (and sometimes currys) due to it 1.) filling me up and 2.) never being very nice so I made my own.

Ingredients:
3 Ladles of Cooked, Cool Rice (any will do, I use Tesco's own Long Grain)
2 Large onions (finely chopped)
3 Eggs (beaten)
Worcestershire Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Oil
Method:
1. Heat a wok to a high heat for a minute or so and pop in some oil.
2. Fry off the finely chopped onions to how you like. (I like mine crunchy), place to side in a dish
3. Pop a bit more oil in the wok and place the beaten eggs into the wok and continually stir with a flat ended spatula until the egg is broken up into small pieces and cooked (my egg resembles scrambled egg essentially).
4. More oil again, throw in the rice and continually stir for 2 minutes until the rice is heated through.
5. At the very end of cooking, add 1 desert spoon of W.Sauce and 1 of the Soy Sauce.
6. Serve :)
How I cook my rice:
1. Measure out required amount of rice
2. Soak for 30mins+ in cold water and drain
3. Cook for 4/5 minutes in boiling water.
The end result is a mound of lightly browned egg fried rice with NO MSG and just oil, eggs, rice and onions!
Picture:
9468998640_46b4d407b4_c.jpg


So my question; I use olive oil in most recipes especially this one. I find with this recipe that I need a lot of oil firstly for the egg and then the frying of the rice at the end.. I tend to use enough oil on the rice so that it gives it a good coating so the rice frys well enough in the wok. Otherwise it just goes clumpy :(
Any alternatives? :)
 
Associate
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You don't really need to use much oil for fryed rice, a couple of tablespoons should do the trick. I'd switch the olive oil for groundnut though.
 
Man of Honour
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A bit of oil is fine... though so is MSG so I wouldn't worry about that either ;)

Looks like a nice result. Personally I prefer to let my egg stick together a bit more (and I'd probably add a tiny bit less oil).

Looks great anyhow :)

edit: alternatives... I wouldn't use olive oil for this kind of thing. Nut oil works well...and drop a tiny bit of sesame oil in there for flavour too. Something that will make a big difference to the amount of oil needed is letting your rice dry out thoroughly before frying it. Whilst it's wet it tends to absorb tons more oil than it does once it has cooled and dried sufficiently. Nut oil will also allow you to get the oil to a higher temperature, which will once again reduce the amount that the rice soaks up.
 
Soldato
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groundnut works well. I use rapeseed for a lot of things now.

get a bottle of sesame oil - mix a couple of teaspoons into the eggs before tipping them in. this is for flavour, not frying as such. soy + worcestershire aren't needed IMO. Salt the eggs and the rice instead, and splash a bit of soy on after if you like.

fry the rice first, then when it's heated up drizzle in the egg mixture and stir
 
Soldato
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If your wok is non-stick you probably don't need oil to cook the egg.
Well that's what I thought but it sticks... pan to ot or not hot enough? Hmm...

Simple question, exactly how much dry uncooked rice is equivalent to 3 ladles of cooked.
120g my ladle is :)

Looks good! I follow this one and sometimes add spring onion as well - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/eggfriedrice_89260
Spring Onions check! Good idea that, i usually use finely chopped onions as it gives a bit of crunch. Might give that recipe a go though, never thought to use tommies :)

Thanks for the advice on the oil, shall try something different next time around and see what it's like. Just have a habit of using olive oil for EVERYTHING :(

Regarding the Soy and W.Sauce; I add it because it gives the rice a tiny bit more flavour (aside the onion and egg) otherwise it's just a bit bland for my liking.
 
Soldato
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The spring onions give it a nice little kick. Personally, I just use generic supermarket 'stir fry oil' for it. It is cheap and has a hint of garlic and ginger in it which works really well.
 
Soldato
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I find its important to let the rice cool completely before you do the frying, makes a big difference to texture and also helps stop the rice sticking to the pan.

Indeed. I will boil mine in the morning and let it cool, before putting it in the fridge. I have no idea why it works, but it does.
 
Soldato
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I find its important to let the rice cool completely before you do the frying, makes a big difference to texture and also helps stop the rice sticking to the pan.

Indeed. I will boil mine in the morning and let it cool, before putting it in the fridge. I have no idea why it works, but it does.
Very much so. It'll get extremely clumpy and stodgy otherwise due to the starch still being "near" the surface of the rice. I hate sticky/stodgy rice, beleive it or not I once would refuse to make rice (and potatoes) due to it always going sticky (or disintegrating in the case of potatoes).
 
Soldato
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I find its important to let the rice cool completely before you do the frying, makes a big difference to texture and also helps stop the rice sticking to the pan.

This. We put on more rice the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight to dry out. Spring onions are a must - we also put in diced cucumber and a bit of finely-sliced red chilli for flavour :)
 
Soldato
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Remember to cook the rice the day before for proper fried rice. Also a few vine ripened tomatoes chopped into 1in chunks and added to the fry about 3 mins before serving is quite nice also.

Also duno if u had mushrooms in but there nice fried as well.
 
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