Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice 鹹魚雞粒炒飯 (Cantonese: haam yu gai lup chau faan) is a very popular fried rice dish that was born in Hong Kong. The salted fish industry in Hong Kong flourished in the early 1900’s, peaked in 1960’s and has been in constant decline since the 1980’s. For Chinese people, salted fish symbolizes survival through hard times. It was inexpensive relative to other meats. You could use a little bit of it, with a few drops of soy sauce and finish a big bowl of rice. It always reminds me of a George Lam 林子祥 song, 分分鐘需要你 (“Without the Two of Us”). It’s a love song about when two people are in love, “鹹魚白菜也好好味” which means “(even) salted fish and bok choy would taste really good”. Hence, these lyrics tell you that salted fish is a poor man’s ingredient.
As the war ended, people’s lifestyles started to improve, they had more money to spend on food. Salted fish became a thing of the past. Fresh fish became much more desirable. Everyone being able to afford a refrigerator also brought on its demise. Only elderly people liked it because it was a familiar taste. Ironically, salted fish became more expensive because fishermen earned more money selling fresh fish. So, the people still making them had to raise the prices to make a living.
The best salted fish would be those that started the fermentation process at sea. They would start drying them on the boat while still at sea with salty wind blowing at it. The meat would be softer and mushier…smellier too. For those who don’t like it, it’s stinky. For those who like it, it’s aromatic!
I never grew up eating salted fish but I do like the taste of it. I find it very aromatic! But then I also like stinky tofu and durian (I love durian)! However, Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice 鹹魚雞粒炒飯 is usually well-liked by most people. There's not a lot of the salted fish, just enough to flavour the rice. It’s a very simple fried rice but the aroma is incredible! Whenever I make this dish, I want to eat it straight out of the wok because as I’m cooking it, it releases an amazing scent!
In my Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice 鹹魚雞粒炒飯 recipe, I’ll show you how to make this rice so that you have the aroma of the salted fish as well as from “wok hei”. I’ll also show you how to make fried rice from freshly cooked rice and not leftover rice (you can still use leftover rice). I know that most recipes call for leftover rice but leftover rice doesn’t have the rice aroma freshly cooked rice has. As long as you have a wok that can use high heat, using fresh rice shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s take fried rice to the next level!
Looking for more fried rice? Try these:
- Ancient Chinese Egg Fried Rice 金包銀蛋炒飯
- Bacon & Egg Fried Rice 培根雞蛋炒飯
- Yin Yang Fried Rice 鴛鴦炒飯
- Stir-Fried Sticky Rice 生炒糯米飯
- Long Bean Rice 豆角飯
Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice 鹹魚雞粒炒飯
Ingredients
- 200 g Chicken meat , diced
- 60 g Salted fish meat , chopped
- 500 g Cooked white rice
- 2 Large eggs
- ¼ Head of iceberg lettuce , shredded
- 2 stalks Green onions , chopped
- ⅛ tsp White pepper powder
- 1 tsp Fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Oil for frying egg and rice
- 2 tbsp Oil for frying chicken
Ingredients for chicken marinade:
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Corn starch
- 1 tbsp Water
- ½ tsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Oil
Instructions
- Prepare 500g of cooked white rice. When using freshly cooked rice, spread it out in a large mixing bowl or on a cookie sheet to cool and dry for 30 minutes before frying
Freshly cooked rice is actually preferred for the fried rice aficionados because there is a fragrant aroma that only freshly cooked rice has. However, if you don’t have access to a wok that can use high heat, then leftover rice will be easier to cook 
- Dice up chicken meat and add ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar, 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tbsp water and ½ tsp light soy sauce. Use your hands to mix and gently squeeze the chicken so that it can absorb all the liquid. Then add 1 tsp oil to lock-in the marinade and mix well again. Marinate until you are ready to start cooking (5-10 minutes)
- Shred ¼ of a head of lettuce (approx. 100g) and let dry in colander or dry using kitchen towels.
The lettuce needs to be very dry before adding to the rice - Remove bones from salted fish and chop into small pieces
If using dried salted fish, you will need to steam it to soften it first - Chop up 2 stalks of green onions
- Beat 2 large eggs
- Heat wok using high heat, add 2 tbsp oil. Add diced chicken, arrange in single layer and cook for 45 seconds or until browned. Flip over and repeat. Stir-fry until cooked. Remove from wok
- Add 2 tbsp oil to the wok and add egg. Spread the egg around by rotating the wok for 5 seconds or until egg is ½ solid and ½ liquid
Alternatively, you can also add the rice to the raw egg and mix it together before frying. This will give you the classic “gold wrapped silver” egg fried rice - Add rice to the wok, on top of the egg
- Stir-fry by mixing, gently pressing and breaking down the rice and egg until egg is in small pieces and well mixed with the rice
- Take 1 tsp of fish sauce and drizzle it onto the side of the wok so it can drizzle down the wok
D rizzling sauces directly onto the wok creates a toasty aroma from directly cooking the sauce on wok. This creates “wok hei”. If you don’t have fish sauce, use light soy sauce - Stir-fry until the fish sauce is well mixed and make a well in the middle of the wok and add chopped salted fish
- Fry the fish in the middle by itself for approx. 30 seconds and add chicken. Stir-fry and mix well
- Sprinkle ⅛ tsp white pepper powder and add green onions, stir-fry and mix well
- Add lettuce, stir-fry and mix well. Stir-fry by tossing the rice up slightly to prevent the rice from sticking together. You also want quick tosses so that you can expose more rice to the hot wok to get more “wok hei”.
The reason for not adding everything together is so that the heat is not brought down too much. If heat goes down, then instead of making fried rice, you’d be making braised rice because the moisture from your ingredients will start coming out at a lowered temperature. The high heat is preventing the moisture from coming out - Taste test. Add more fish sauce or light soy sauce if it’s not salty enough
Saltiness will also depend on your salted fish and your own personal preference - Serve
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