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making fried rice brown

post #1 of 20
3/26/06 at 2:35pm
Thread Starter 
Hi everybody,
I'm a newbie here. In my house I'm the 'sou chef' to my wife, although I often come up with new ideas and take liberties with recipes.
As far as Chinese food goes, I make a good hot and sour soup. However, one recipe I've never been able to make the way it is prepared in Chinese take-out (or, as the British say, take-away) is fried rice. I am never able to get the dark brown appearance, even though I use plenty of soy sauce. The white of the rice still shows through. I once used annatto, but that didn't seem to work either. I wonder if it is the reddish pork that usually comes with the fried rice that gives it the color I so like. I'm beginning to suspect that the take-out places use a food dye. :-)

I hope someone can help me out.
Gianni

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post #2 of 20
3/26/06 at 3:26pm
Have you tried adding fish sauce?Or turmeric or maybe curry powder?
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post #3 of 20
3/26/06 at 6:20pm
You can use dark thick soy sauce, although, not all fried rice is brown. Some forego the soy sauce altogether.
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post #4 of 20
3/26/06 at 7:21pm
do you chill your rice first or do you fry it right after steaming or boiling it...?
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post #5 of 20
3/26/06 at 10:24pm
cold rice, ample fat, high heat, a little soy = brown rice.
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post #6 of 20
3/27/06 at 5:56am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, all, for your suggestions.
Gianni
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post #7 of 20
3/27/06 at 6:21am

brown rice

hi,

Well the question is, what is brown, dark brown, light brown. The traditional way is adding a light soy sauce (depending the region and the fried rice). The pork could have an influence, as the traditional chinese BBQ pork was glazed with honey or sugar in the final stage and the fat does disolve some of the color.

regards
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post #8 of 20
3/27/06 at 7:33am
Thread Starter 
Hi SushiGaijin,

Can you be more specific about the kind of fat. I imagine you mean peanut oil or some such, but I'd like to be sure you don't mean Crisco. (When I was a kid we had a friend that we called Crisco, because he was fat in the can.) :-)

As Yan from "Yan Can Cook" says,

Gaijin
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post #9 of 20
3/27/06 at 10:11am
Its usually the dark soy sauce (mushroom soy sauce as its sometimes called). Its usually less in sodium content and we usually mix the light (salt-substitute) and dark (color) and add it to the rice for a more uniform color. (usually mixed in equal amounts)

if you see a hole-in-the-wall type of place making fried rice, the ingredient that they keep adding on a regular basis while continuously stirring is dark soy sauce / mushroom soy sauce.
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post #10 of 20
3/27/06 at 10:42am
Thread Starter 
Thanks very much for your reply. I just went out to buy the dark soy sauce. I went only to one shop and I didn't find it, but I did get a barbecue sauce which is thick and black like roofing sealant. The first ingredient is sugar, the third is soy.
I have the rice boiling right now. We use my wife's method of boiling rice in lots and lots of water, not just enough so the water covers "the first joint of a finger". It comes out very fluffy. Of course, there is no "singing rice" stuck to the bottom of the pot. I guess my wife figured that if lots of water works for pasta it should also work for rice.
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post #11 of 20
3/27/06 at 12:31pm
This is the method favored by Sarah Moulton, too.

I wonder if bead molasses is what turns the rice brown. It wouldn't add saltiness to the rice but would make it dark brown and somewhat sweet.
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post #12 of 20
3/27/06 at 1:44pm

hi

hi,

this type of soy sauce is commonly used by the Japanese, when they make their fried rice and it is darker. however when refering to chinese fried rice in general, especially in the cantonese cuisine the rice is not dark brown. Well at least back here in Asia. Will post a recipe, when i am back form work.

regards have a nice day
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post #13 of 20
3/28/06 at 3:09am
In addition to the Soy some Hoisin sauce helps. I don't cook Chinese much but I do like fried rice.

I've also added Worcestershire, more for flavor than browning but contributes to both. As I type this I'm wondering about Worcestershire and molasses in addition to the soy. Certainly not ethnically authentic but...
just an old guy learning to live off his own cooking
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post #14 of 20
3/28/06 at 4:23am
Some of the colour will come from the wok, the rest will come from either dark soy or oyster sauce and add near the end of cooking. Besides, fried rice shouldn't be dark dark brown but very light brown. If you want that dark brown colour, I recommend you steam your rice with a little soy sauce and add oyster sauce when making fried rice. Should help a little.
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post #15 of 20
3/28/06 at 10:10am
Thread Starter 
I made the rice yesterday. For the amount of rice I used I put too much oil in the pan and I also used too much of the barbecue sauce. It certainly came out much darker than what I had hoped for. It tasted too greasy while it was hot, but my wife liked it a lot after it had cooled off.

I'm going to experiment by steaming the rice, that is using a minimal amount of water, and add the barbecue sauce during the simmering process.
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post #16 of 20
3/28/06 at 5:07pm
The rice needs to be more than just chilled/cold. It should be refrigerated overnight.

The starch in rice takes time in the fridge to retrograde for the proper consistency of fried rice.

Steam the rice, let it cool, refrigerate overnight.

Besides refrigerating the rice, you'll want to track down a good recipe for char siu pork. Fried rice just isn't fried rice without it.
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post #17 of 20
3/28/06 at 5:18pm
hi,

As promissed, a base recipe the way we cook it out here in Asian. The method is stir - fried.


Ingredients
Specifications
Units
Quantity
Cooked Rice
Cold
Kg
1.000
Chinese Sausage
Sliced small, blanched
Kg
0.250
Green Peas
Frozen, blanch before using
Kg
0.200
Lettuce
Iceberg, washed and dried
Kg
0.100
Shrimp
Washed & de-veined
Kg
0.150
Soy Sauce
Dark soy sauce
Ml
40
White pepper
Ground
Kg
0.005
Eggs
Fresh, approx. 50 grams per piece
Pcs
5
Spring Onion
Washed, finely chopped
Kg
0.100
Garlic
Peeled, chopped
Kg
0.030
Oil
Corn oil
Ml
50
Salt
Iodized
Kg
0.005


Method:
· Using a Chinese wok, heat the oil.
· Add garlic and sauté.
· Add the beaten eggs, stirring well. Add the shrimps.
· Add the Chinese sausage and stir well. (or BBQ pork)
· Add the cooked rice into the wok.
· Add the green peas, lettuce, salt and white pepper.
Add the soy sauce and the spring onions. Stir well to evenly distribute the ingredients

you need high heat for this preparation.

note: BBQ sauce is not the right ingredient. Also i saw someone recommending Hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce is served in the chinese for cold roasted appetizers, or when serving pekin duck etc.

regards and good luck
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post #18 of 20
3/29/06 at 12:09am
Dark soy sauce might just be the thing you are looking for. :chef:
But did you use 'overnight' rice? And fry the egg first?
Honour thy food!
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post #19 of 20
3/30/06 at 9:21am
Thread Starter 
I made steamed rice in the pressure cooker today. That's where you put the rice and water in a small bowl and place that in the pressure cooker with a cup of water. I added one teaspoon of barbecue sauce during the cooking which resulted in a very nice brown color and a slightly 'smoked' flavor. It was convenient in that it takes only a few minutes and there is no need to refrigerate the rice before frying it. Of course a true fried rice should include roasted pork.
Gianni
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post #20 of 20
3/30/06 at 9:06pm

Fried Rice done right

I read through all of the exsisting posts up to this point and most of the suggestions revolved around some kind of sauce to bring the "brown" color our friend asked about. The "brown" that you seek comes from method, and not your sauce of choice entirely. Fried rice came from where most things we Westerners think is great...Leftovers! Here's a great tip: Cook off two cups of rice, after you have rinsed it in cold water thoroughly, Chineese style (rice equal proportion to water). It should be sticky, but not starchy-gooey. Lay it out flat and cool it down fast. Allow it to dry out under refigeration. This is key...it must dry out! Now, when you go through your steps to prepare it, your rice will perform. Don't use so much oil and cook over high heat. Stir-fry is fast, hot cooking and it doesn't take much time if your mise en plas are in front of you.
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