Yangzhou fried rice recipe

Egg fried rice tossed with prawns, meat and vegetables in a delicious simple sauce.

Yangzhou fried rice is probably pretty familiar to you from your local Chinese takeaway. On a menu it's more commonly called special fried rice. The recipes vary according to the chef - and you can vary this one according to what you like. Swap the soya beans for peas, chop the vegetables up much smaller, leave out the mushrooms - whatever works for you. It's a great way of using up leftover meat you have in the fridge because you don't need to be fussy about amounts. Just throw in what you have. It's a really pleasing family dinner, and it's healthy - only 300 calories per portion. In fact, it's one of our best healthy chicken recipes.

Ingredients

• 500g pack Thai fragrant rice
• 3 tbsp groundnut oil
• About 60g (2oz) each of diced raw pork, raw tiger prawns, raw or cooked, diced skinless chicken, diced pancetta or cooked ham
• About 60g (2oz) frozen soya beans or peas
• 150g (5oz) shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean (halved if large)
• 150g can bamboo shoots, drained
• 1 tbsp Chinese (Shaoxing) cooking wine
• 400ml (14fl oz) hot chicken stock
• Salt
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 6 spring onions, trimmed and sliced

Method

1. Cook the rice following the instructions on the pack. Drain and rinse through with running cold water and leave to drain in a large sieve, then cool in a large bowl.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the raw meat and shellfish: pork, prawns, chicken, and pancetta - and stir-fry for 1 min. Add any cooked meats, the soya beans or peas, shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots, and stir-fry for another couple of minutes until cooked through.
3. Add the wine, pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Season with salt, to taste then spoon into a large bowl.
4. Wipe the wok clean with kitchen paper. Put it back on the heat with rest of the oil. Beat eggs with a little seasoning and pour into the hot oil, swirling them round. When half cooked, add all the rice in batches and stir-fry using a large spatula to break up any lumps.
5. When hot, add the cooked ingredients in the stock. Mix well until hot, then add sliced spring onions and stir in. Serve hot. Serve with soy sauce if preferred.

Top tips for Yangzhou fried rice

Quantities also work as 1 small pork escalope, 1 chicken thigh, 70g pack cubed pancetta. This dish isn't suitable for freezing, but the rice can be cooked the day before if cooled quickly and kept covered in the fridge.

There are some specialist ingredients in this dish, like the Shaoxing wine and the shiitake mushrooms. Swap the wine for sherry if you can't find it (or Japanese mirin if you have that). Use sliced portobello mushrooms instead of the shiitakes if necessary.

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