Introduction: YangZhou Fried Rice

After seeing instructions on making fried rice on the internet, I found that instructions available online often lack crucial steps and are not detailed enough. Also, I feel that the method they use to cook fried rice cannot make fried rice taste good enough. Therefore, I will show you how to make a Chinese fried rice dish called "Yangzhou Fried Rice." This recipe will show you how delicious fried rice can be. I will introduce all the tools and ingredients that we will use and also I will include pictures to show how we make this fried rice step-by-step. These instructions are for the people who are interested in preparing Chinese fried rice and also have some basic cooking skills.

Step 1: Before Cooking

Before we begin cooking the Yangzhou fried rice, we should know a little bit of background knowledge about Yangzhou fried rice and prepare our kitchenware and ingredients. This preparation is important because we can make sure we will not be hindered by finding the necessary kitchenware. In addition, adequate ingredients allow us to be sure that we can make a wonderful Yangzhou fried rice.

Step 2: Knowledge About Yangzhou Fried Rice

Yangzhou fried rice is perhaps the most well-known dish of the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. The recipe was invented by Qing China's Yi Bingshou (1754–1815) and the dish was named Yangzhou fried rice since Yi was once the regional magistrate of Yangzhou. It is often served with thousand fish soup. This dish incorporates scrambled eggs, but you can scramble your eggs in two different ways. The first variation is known as "silver covered gold", in which the egg is scrambled separately before mixing with the rice. The alternative "gold covered silver" method requires pouring the liquid egg over the rice and vegetables mix and frying the two together. Legend has it that the best cooks of Yangzhou fried rice will create the dish with a rice grain to egg piece ratio of 5:1 or even 3:1.

Step 3: Prepare Kitchenware

1. Wok (we can use Pan instead) (P1 & P2) (“P” for picture)

2. Cutting board (P3)

3. Knife (P4)

4. Whisk (normally we can just use bowl and chopsticks to whisk the yolk) (P5)

5. Plates (P6)

6. Bowls (P7)

7. Rice Cooker (P8)

Step 4: Prepare Food Ingredients (3 Servings)

1. Cook 3 cups of rice (When completed, the rice should be tender, not mushy or crunchy; use it after cooldown) (P1, P2, & P3)

2. 4 Chinese sausages (Cut to granular size, small as the little finger nail. Amercian sausage may be used as a substitute but try to go to Asian store to buy Chinese sausage) (P4)

3. 0.9 lb Cooked Shrimp (Cut to granular size, small as the little finger nail) (P5)

4. 0.1lb Scallions (spring onions or green onions) (P6)

5. 5 Eggs (whisk it) (P7 & P8)

6. Oil

7. Salt

Sample for all things after cutted.(P9)

Step 5: Heat the Oil

1. Turn on the stove to the highest setting.

2. Add enough oil (2 tablespoons) to cover the base of the pan and wait for the oil to smoke. (Similiar quantity as picture shows)

Step 6: Fry the Rice

Add the rice to the pan and consistently turn it over until we put our palm above the rice and feel it as hot as 90°F.

Step 7: Add the Egg

1. Add the egg mixture to the rice evenly like P1.

2. Stir fry the rice and make sure the egg and rice are mixed enough like P2, make sure the eggs are sets before you go to the next step.

Step 8: Flavor the Fried Rice

Add at least 1 teaspoon of salt, you may add more salt to taste until you feel good to eat.

Step 9: Add the Meat

1. Add all the shrimp to the fried rice like P1.

2. Mix the shrimp and rice evenly like P2 and go to the next step after the shrimp is as hot as the rice.

3. Add the Chinese sausage to the fried rice like P3.

4. Mix the Chinese sausage and rice evenly like P4 and go to next step after you can smell the taste from the sausage.

Step 10: Add the Scallions

1. Add the scallions to the fried rice.

2. Mix the scallions and rice until the lettuce is just wilted, and serve like P2.

Step 11: Final Preparations

Finally, before we serve the fried rice, we should taste the fried rice and check whether it is salty enough. If we feel that we need more salt then just add on it.

Step 12: Conclusion

Congratulations!!!! You have just finished your first YangZhou Chinese fried rice, the following picture should be how the fried rice look like. Feel free to enjoy your food and don’t forget to share this message with your family and friends.

Thanks for reading