Geoff Jansz visited the Golden Century Restaurant in Sydney's China Town, to find out how to make the perfect fried rice. The Managing Director, Eric Wong, told Geoff that it's easy to tell a good fried rice from a bad one. In a good fried rice, the grains of rice don't stick together, and you won't find any excess oil at the bottom of the bowl.

Ingredients

50 mL peanut oil 3 eggs Leftover boiled rice, cold (aprox 2-3 cups) 1/2 cup small prawns, shelled and deveined 1/2 cup shallots, finely chopped 1/4 cup peas 200g char siu (Chinese BBQ pork), diced pinch salt pinch white pepper pinch sugar

Method

Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Add oil to a hot wok or large frying pan. (Tip: make sure the wok or frying pan is hot; this will ensure that the ingredients are cooked quickly and won't stick together or absorb too much oil).Pour the eggs into the wok and allow to set.Add the cold rice, breaking it up and tossing it into the egg until both are evenly distributed.Add the salt, white pepper and sugar.Add the pork, prawns, shallots and peas. Cook for a further 1 minute on high heat, tossing the entire time. (Note: if you prefer you can substitute diced ham or bacon for the char siu).Serve as an accompaniment to a Chinese-style meal or as a meal on its own.

Further information

Char siu is readily available at Asian supermarkets or the Asian section of your supermarket.

Our segment was filmed at:
Golden Century Restaurant
393 Sussex Street
Sydney, NSW
Phone: (02) 9212 3901

Copyright CTC Productions 2002