Yangzhou Fried Rice

This is one of the most famous dishes from Yangzhou in eastern China – one of the ancient centres of Chinese gastronomy. If you don’t have all the ingredients, don’t worry: the important thing is just to have a tempting selection of colours and tastes amid the rice.

Preparation time :	15 minutes
Cooking time :	15 minutes to 20 minutes
Total time :	35 minutes to 35 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

5 tbsp groundnut oil
25g pork fillet, diced
25g raw tiger prawns, peeled
25g ham, diced
25g cooked, skinless chicken, diced
25g frozen peas, or soybeans
25g tinned bamboo shoots, drained and diced
2 tsp Chinese cooking wine or Shaoxing wine
200ml chicken stock
1 egg, beaten
600g cold, cooked Thai fragrant rice (250g when raw)
50g Shiitake mushrooms or 2 dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water for 30 minutes
3 salad onions, green parts only, sliced

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the raw pork and prawns and stir-fry briefly, until the pork is pale in colour. Add the ham, chicken, peas and bamboo shoots and continue to stir-fry for 1–2 minutes, until everything is sizzling and cooked through. Add the rice wine, pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Season with salt to taste, then transfer to a bowl.
2. Rinse and dry the wok. Return it to the heat with the remaining oil. When the oil is hot, season the egg and swirl it around the base of the wok. When the egg is half-cooked, add all the rice and stir-fry, using a ladle or wok scoop to break up any lumps of rice.
3. When the rice is very hot and smells delicious, add the cooked reserved ingredients and their sauce. Mix well, add the sliced salad onion and stir briskly for about another 30 seconds, seasoning to taste. Serve immediately,

Drinks recommendation

Great Australian Riesling has just the right combination of perfume, vivacity and structure for this archetypical rice dish.