Wok Hei Fried Rice

Chinese cooking and the elusive "Wok Hei"! This method of making fried rice will get you as close to Wok Hei as you can get this side of an authentic Cantonese restaurant. And, it is super easy as well!

A Wok, or large cast iron pan (A Wok is nearly essential here)

Wok burner, or very hot (20,000 BTU at least) kitchen stove gas burner.

Instant Pot, Rice cooker, or just a regular old pot.

3/4 Cup Jasmine rice, or, whatever rice you like to use.

4 (or less) Tablespoons Peanut, Avocado, or other high smoke oil, divided

3 or 4 eggs

2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoon cornstarch, divided

1 Tablespoon butter

1 or 2 chicken breasts, cut into roughly 1/2 x 1/2 x 1" rectangles.

2 teaspoons Shaoxing cooking wine (or Dry white sherry), divided

1/2 head Garlic

1-1/2" x 1" ginger

1 Medium onion

2 teaspoons honey, or 1 teaspoon sugar

1 Tablespoon light or dark soy sauce, or both, your choice (I use dark)

1 Tablespoon Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce

10 oz peas, fresh or frozen, snow or regular

Start by lightly frying your dry rice. Fry 3/4 Cup of rice, in 1/2 tablespoon of oil, over moderate heat in your Wok or cast iron pan. The goal is to toast in to a nice golden color. (I have added a new photo of what the rice shoild look like if toasted correctly)

I have a brand new Wok station, which is a little hotter than my old station, so, consequently, I have a little darker color on my rice than I usually do. I have done my rice in the past on very high heat, so as to get more color on the rice grains. The results usually end up tasting slightly burnt, as opposed to the "Nutty" flavor you achieve when toasted to a nice golden brown. So long as you do not get too much black on your rice grains, it will end up tasting slightly smoky, which is what you are looking for in "Wok Hei".

Once the dry fried rice grains have cooled a little, I put them in a glass bowl that fits into my Instant pot, add 1 Cup of water and 1 teaspoon of salt. Place the bowl on a trivet in the Instant Pot, and cook on the "Rice" setting. You can go ahead and cook it using whatever is your preferred method to cook rice, or, if you haven't tried an Instant Pot, give it a whirl.

The rice should them be used immediately, of spread on a plate or platter, and allowed to dry in the refrigerator for at least 1 day.

Cut you protein into bite size pieces, as uniform as is practical, but, no thickness larger than 1/2". (I cut mine roughly 1/2 x 1/2 x 1")

Place the cut up protein in a glass or stainless bowl, add 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing cooking wine, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt. Massage well, and allow to marinate, up to overnight.

Crack your eggs into a glass or metal bowl, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch. Add 1 teaspoon of Shaoxing cooking wine (or Dry white sherry), and 1 tablespoon of whipping cream (optional). Beat well with a fork or whisk, until a little foamy, and you have a nice homogenous mixture. Set aside.

Peel and chop the ginger, garlic, and onion. I like to arrange my chopped aromatics on the cutting board, in the order they are going to go into the Wok.

Place peas, and any other vegetables you are going to add into a bowl. Everything gets it's own bowl, when it is time to cook, things happen very fast, and you need to be ready to quickly add the next ingredient.

Make a sauce for the fried rice by combining 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon of Shaoxing cooking wine, and 2 teaspoons of honey. Mix well.

Line everything up in the order you want to use it. Stir frying happens very fast, everything must be ready to go.

Add the butter to the hot Wok (Not super hot, we are scrambling eggs), pour in the eggs and immediately start stirring with your wok spatula. Remove when still a little runny. They will overbrown quickly. I ended up with mine a little too brown. Still haven’t figured out the new burner.

Remove eggs from the wok, back to the bowl the eggs came from. Don't worry, they will finish cooking later.

Now might be a good time to wipe out the wok by rubbing down with a damp paper towel, moving it around the wok with your spatula.

Note: I discovered long ago, that adding whipping cream (or butter) to scrambled eggs makes them fluffier, and they hold that fluffiness when they cool down a little. Well, it turns out that adding a little cornstarch to your raw eggs before you scramble them, works even Better!

With the wok on very high heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil, swirling to coat the wok, just as the wok starts to smoke. I usually start with the aromatics. In this case the onion first, stir fry for about 1 minute, then add in the ginger, fry for another 30 seconds. Finally, add the garlic. It goes for another 30 seconds.

Most people mince their ginger and garlic. I like to slice mine into roughly dime size, that way when you bite into one (especially the ginger) you get a little flavor surprise.

Once the aromatics are done to your liking, slide them out into a bowl. (Try to leave the frying oil behind)

Return the Wok to high heat until lightly smoking. Add 1 tablespoon oil, if required (there will still be oil from the aromatics), swirl around, then add protein. Spread in a single layer, allow to fry undisturbed for about 30 seconds, then stir fry until 90% cooked. Remove protein back to the bowl it was in.

Note, the picture is the protein at the stage right before you start stir frying it.

(Tip: If your flame is not large enough to be reaching over the back of your wok when you are stirring/tossing, tilt the wok to allow the flame to lick over the back. This will ignite some of the vaporizing oil in the steam cloud coming from the wok, and impart that "Wok Hei" flavor you are looking for. The picture of the veggies being fried, shows this tilting action. If you look closely, you can see a little lick of flame just off the back of the wok, where the vaporizing oil is burning.)

I didn't get a picture of this(remember, things happen quickly). When the Wok is lightly smoking, add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok, swirl the oil around, then add the rice. Stir fry on very high heat, until the rice is taking on more color. (And more Wok Hei)

Again, tilt the wok if required.

Heat the wok on very high heat until light smoke is rising from the wok, add 1/2 tablespoon of oil, swirl the oil around the wok, then add the veggies. Stir fry until veggies are just turning color. More "Wok Hei".

Leave veggies in the wok.

Add the aromatics back to the Wok, stir to combine. Pour the sauce around the edges of the veggies in the wok. This serves the purpose of not cooling off the center of the wok, as well as driving off water from the sauce to increase the flavor. (It also carmelizes the sauce somewhat)

Stir the sauce into the veggie mix, until the sauce is cooked to your liking. (Usually no more than 20 seconds)

Add the protein, stir to combine. Add the rice, stir. Add the eggs, stir to combine. Ladle out into a serving bowl, garnish with Scallions, or garlic chives.

Title says it all!