Egg fried rice is over a thousand years old! It was born in the Sui Dynasty. There’s an interesting story during the Qing Dynasty about one of the Empress Dowager Cíxī ‘s favorite dishes called 金包银 (jīnbāoyín) which means “silver wrapped in gold”. As the name suggests, every piece of rice (silver) would be coated with egg (gold). Hence, when you bite into the rice, it would look like “silver wrapped in gold”. So luxurious!
I’m almost sure that the invention of fried rice was the result of not wasting any leftover food. Fried rice is so versatile. You can make it with any meat or vegetable that is fairly dry. Sometimes I have bits of leftovers in the fridge. I just fry everything together with some oil. I add some soy sauce, green onions and an egg; and then voilà...a new tasty meal! No one would even notice that they were leftovers!
A good fried rice should be dry; not oily; each piece of rice should not be sticking together; and it should be slightly al dente in texture. It’s difficult to do this at home because the heat from residential stoves are usually not hot enough. Chinese restaurant kitchens all use big woks over an open flame for maximum heat. In Cantonese, we call it ”鑊氣 (wok hei)” which literally translates to “wok energy”. Cooking food in minimal time and maximum heat is the essence of Cantonese cooking. Having "wok energy" can preserve the food's natural flavour, colour and texture. Without wok energy, fried rice would be mushy and the colours of the ingredients would all look dull. And of course the taste would just all blend together.
It’s not to say that you can’t make good fried rice at home. But two key factors in making a good fried rice is that you need to use a well-seasoned pan/wok or a non-stick pan that you can use on medium-high heat on. Second, is using day-old rice. If you have these two things, then you’re already half way there! My Bacon & Egg Fried Rice 培根雞蛋炒飯 recipe will show you how to make fried rice that is worthy of being on a restaurant menu. If you don’t want to add bacon, you can just leave it out and it can be a delicious vegetarian dish. If you’re interested, this is the wok, which I absolutely love, that I purchased from Amazon:
Joyce Chen , Classic Series Carbon Steel Wok Set, 4-Piece, 14-Inch, Charcoal
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
Try this Bacon & Egg Fried Rice 培根雞蛋炒飯 with my Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken 鹽酥雞 recipe.
Bacon & Egg Fried Rice 培根雞蛋炒飯
Ingredients
- 1 lb Cooked short grain rice, day old
Approximately 1½ rice cooker cups of uncooked rice will give you 1 lb of cooked rice - 3 Large eggs
- 4 strips Bacon (100g), cut in small pieces
- 2 stalks Green onions
- 200 g Taiwanese Bok Choy
Vegetables should amount to a little less than half the weight of the rice. You can use any vegetable except the ones with high water content, for example spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers…are not recommended - ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- Beat eggs in a bowl, cut bacon into small pieces and set both aside
- Break up and loosen day-old rice and set aside
- Wash and dry vegetables. Slice horizontally into ½ cm wide shreds and set aside
Vegetables should be as dry as possible to prevent excessive moisture when cooking which will cause rice to stick together - Heat pan on medium-high heat. Add oil
- Pour eggs into pan and stir constantly with a spatula until egg breaks into small pieces (should take 30 seconds)
- Turn heat up to high, add bacon and stir constantly until most of the moisture evaporates so there will be less bubbles (should take a minute).
If at any time, you feel the heat is too high, turn it down to medium-high 
- Add green onions and rice, stir constantly until everything is mixed together
- Sprinkle ½ tsp salt onto the rice, stir constantly
- Move rice to the side of the pan, creating a hole in the middle for the vegetable
- Add vegetables in the middle of the pan and leave it alone for 20 seconds to allow the pan to resume heat level and then stir the vegetables in the centre. After 10 seconds, stir and mix everything together
- When all the contents are fairly mixed, add 2 tsp light soy and 1 tsp dark soy and stir again for 20-30 seconds
- Remove from heat and serve
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