Authentic Chinese Shrimp Fried rice Recipes

Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe features:

• Learn about the best kind of rice to use for fried rice
• The right amount of heat that is essential for the perfect fried rice
• Why it’s important to fry all the ingredients separately
• The right way to fry rice and why constantly poking, prodding, turning and flipping at every second isn’t ideal

The first time I attempted to cook fried rice on my own, I was a teenager and my parents and little brother were on vacation. I stayed home to attend summer school and to enjoy a little freedom living on my own for a couple of weeks.

Since my Mom was the queen in the kitchen, I didn’t really cook too much back then. My job was just to eat and enjoy her wonderful home cooked meals. But that week, after 3 days of instant ramen, I was longing for something a little more substantial. Too lazy to bike to the market, I decided on fried rice. I steamed a batch of rice and found enough bits of vegetables to make the dish.

It was a total disaster. Mushy, soggy and goopy. Back to Top Ramen for another 10 days.

When the family returned, I told Mom about my fried rice misfortune and she laughed, “You better start learning from me before you go off to college or you’ll starve!” And a crash course in fried rice followed the next day.

So here I am to teach you what I learned from my Mom and share with you an authentic Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe. These are her secrets to light, fluffy and flavorful fried rice, no matter what ingredients you use.

Use previously chilled leftover rice

Here’s rule #1. You have to use yesterday’s (or earlier) cooked rice as it’s had a chance to dry out a bit in the refrigerator. The heat of the pan and the soy sauce will re-steam and hydrate the leftover rice. If you try to use freshly cooked, hot rice (like I did years ago, ) you’ll end up with too much moisture in the rice and will make a heavy mess in the pan.

High heat is essential in cooking fried rice

But high heat doesn’t mean that you need super high BTU’s or a gas stove. All it takes is a bit of patience to let your pan or wok heat up. The high heat ensures that whatever ingredients that you put into the pan gets fried quickly and that each grain of rice gets hot to the core.