Earlier this week Karis and I shared Part 1 about our long lived Gourmet Club. I made Cantonese Fried Rice. Before we get to the recipe, I admit, it wasn’t the first time I’ve made fried rice. It was the first time I made the char siu, barbecue pork tenderloin. One of my favorite aspects of Gourmet Club is trying something we’ve never made before. Our group is serious about the challenge, but relaxed enough when it’s comes to a complete fail. I recently experienced this when after a vacation in Italy and wanting to recreate the succulent grilled Octopus that you find there, I tried cooking it three different ways hedging my bets; with a cork, without a cork, from frozen and then defrosted. Whatever I tried, all variations were horrible to almost inedible. Luckily everything else was so amazing, and since I had never made octopus before, I was able to cut myself some slack.
Okay, back to the fried rice. Making the char siu was the new, never done before element that I brought to the fried rice.
The char siu was as delicious as it looks!
Also, what was new to me was frying the egg separately and taking it out of the pan and measuring out quantities instead of just throwing it all in the wok. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but when I make fried rice, I just clean out whatever’s in the fridge and voilà fried rice.
Scrambling the separately and adding the egg at the end, keeps it fluffly.
Assembling all the elements
Cantonese Fried Rice
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 eggs, beaten
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup raw shrimp, shelled (cut into smaller pieces if they’re big shrimp)
*1 lb char siu (Chinese roast pork), diced
8 cups day-old, cooked rice
5 stalks scallions, chopped
salt and pepper
seasoning:
6 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
2 tsp salt
Instructions
In a hot pan/skillet, add oil and cook the eggs for 3 minutes. Don’t overcook eggs, they should be fluffy. Salt and pepper, then set aside.
Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Then add peas and carrots, cook for 3-4 minutes. Add raw shrimp and continue to cook until they start to turn pink, then add the diced char siu, and eggs.
If the rice is still in one big piece, break it down until there’re no large chunks. Add rice to the pan, and stir everything together and season with soy sauce, white pepper powder, and salt.
Lastly, stir in chopped scallion. Serve immediately.
Notes
*Recipe for char siu below
Char Siu ~ Chinese Barbecue Pork Tenderloin
Yields approximately:
1 lb of char siu
Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin (they weigh approximately 1lb each)
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
3 tbs honey
3 tbs ketchup
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs Chinese rice wine
1 tbs hoisin sauce
Instructions
Stir soy sauce, honey, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine, hoisin sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat; cook and stir until just combined and slightly warm, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the marinade into the bag with the pork, squeeze air from the bag, and seal. Turn bag a few times to coat all pork pieces in marinade.
Marinate pork in refrigerator, 2 hours to overnight.
Preheat an outdoor or indoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
Remove pork from marinade and shake to remove excess liquid. Discard remaining marinade. Score all sides of pork and then put into preheated oven at 325F. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 145F.
Let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
