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Hello Umami readers!

Thanks for reading Umami, my food blog. I’ll be putting up weekly postings about food that I’ve had in restaurants across the GTA/Tri-City area, or recipes that I would like to share with you! Come back weekly for more ideas on where and what to eat!

To start off this blog, I’m going to share with you how to make fried-rice, Hong Kong style. You’ll find this dish in a lot of older chinese cafes all across the GTA. It’s cheap and easy to make, but there are a few tricks to making good fried rice.

Fried Rice - Hong Kong Style!

Ingredients

Ingredients for HongKongese Fried Rice

What you’ll need for this dish (serves 3) (left to right):

• Seasoning: white pepper, salt and sugar (not shown)
• Ketchup
• Rice! – 2 to 3 cups
• 2-3 eggs – scrambled. Add in the seasoning as you scramble: dash of white pepper and salt, and a larger dash of sugar
• 1 onion – chopped
• frozen vegetable mix- thawed (run it in a sieve through warm water, then drain). Avoid mixes with the giant green beans
• Hot dogs – 5-7 pieces, sliced into discs (I used all beef in this one, you can also use veggie dogs)
• Ginger – finely chopped, optional

TRICK #1:  Use rice left in the fridge over night! This draws a lot of moisture out of the rice, which prevents your fried rice from being too soggy. Make sure you cover the rice with saran wrap! The alternative is to cook the rice with slightly less water than recommended to get drier grains.

After all the prep’s done, it’s cooking time!

1. Heat up your pan with some oil. after it’s hot enough, add in the hot dog slices. once they take on some colour, add in the thawed frozen veggies. Sprinkle a dash of sugar (<1 teaspoon) to bring out the sweetness in the veggies.
   

   Pretty!

2. Set aside the hot dogs and the veggies. With the pan still hot, add in the onions and the ginger (if you are putting ginger in your rice). When you smell the sweet aroma from the onion, add the rice. Make sure you mix the onions and the gingers evenly into the rice to avoid burnt bits. 
3. TRICK #2: To stir fry the rice, two motions are important in addition to stirring. ‘Cut‘ the rice with the edge of your spatula to break up lumps, and use the back of your spatula to press the rice into the pan. This makes your rice slightly crispier and picks up more flavour from the pan.
4. TRICK #3: After you stir the rice for a while, make a hole in the rice to make way for the seasoned scrambled eggs, like so!   
   

   Make way for the eggs!

   This way, you get to cook the eggs a little before adding them to the rice, which will make the fried rice less soggy. make sure to stir the eggs with the spatula, and scrape the bottom of the pan to avoid burnt bits. Slowly push the rice towards the semi-solid egg, and stir. This way, the eggs get mixed in really evenly with the rice!

5. Cut, press, and stir the rice again to get an even mix.
6. Add the hot dog slices and veggies back into the mix, and STIR!
7. ADD KETCHUP! Ketchup gives the main flavour for the rice, so be liberal with it. Try to use avoid the generic brands (they’re bland compared to Heinz), as you can really tell the difference when you cook.   
   

   Don't be afraid to cook with Ketchup!

8. Stir, till ketchup is even. Taste. I find that if you don’t put enough sugar in the scrambled eggs, don’t use enough veggies, or have too much rice, the dish can taste a little bland. So adjust accordingly!
9. Serve and enjoy!

So there you have it! total cost is probably about $4 for 3 servings, and it takes 10 minute to prep and  1/2 an hour to cook!  Fried rice refrigerates really well, so save from for leftovers for the next day or two!

I hope you find this useful, or at least enjoyable to read! I look forward to telling you more about the dish I’ve made and food I’ve eaten, so stay tuned! Please let me know what you think! I look forward to your comments so I can provide you a more pleasurable reading experience!

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