When using previously cooked rice for a fried rice recipe, the rice is first fully cooked using the boiling/absorption/steaming method. The cooked rice is then well chilled. After chilling the rice for a number of hours (or overnight), it is cooked a second time using the frying or stir-frying method.
The fine, long grains of jasmine rice with its delicate flavour are perfect for fried rice. Precook the rice at least 30 minutes, but preferably one day, before making fried rice and keep it uncovered in the fridge. WATCH THIS RECIPE
2 cups jasmine rice
2 ¼ cups water Steps
Place the rice into a fine sieve and wash with water to remove excess starch.
Drain the water and place the rice into a saucepan. Add the water. Heat the rice over high heat until the water starts boiling. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook until you can see the rice grain starting to rise above the water. Then cover with a lid that is slightly ajar to let some of the steam escape. Cook for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes it should look like all of the water has been absorbed by the rice. Turn the heat off and cover completely with the lid. Allow the pot to sit on the warm hotplate for 10 minutes to allow the steam to continue cooking the rice.
Use a fork to fluff the rice grains and transfer to a large baking tray. Place the rice, uncovered, in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (overnight is best though) before using for fried rice. Tags:
Chances are you already have. If you’ve ever made pilaf, paella, or biryani, you’ve used a version this technique—though each of those things carry reputations of being high-effort main dishes. The kind of rice I’m talking about isn’t that. I mean quite simply frying your rice a little before boiling it, just enough to give it a slightly toasted flavour, but not so much as to cook it through before adding liquid. Maybe you’ll add a few smashed cloves of garlic to the oil while you’re frying. For extra flavour, maybe instead of water you use a little chicken or vegetable broth. Either way, the result is a seasoned, hardy rice that’s far less likely to overcook or clump together if stored in the fridge. Households all over Latin America make it this way (it’s how my mom prepared it growing up), and it’s handy for cutting down cooking times on denser grains such as brown rice.
Do I always cook rice this way? No: curries and saucy stews just soak into steamed rice better, and there is something so comforting about fragrant plain rice. But regardless of what TikTok says, it’s well worth trying.
So what does this method do differently than the many East and Southeast Asian versions of fried rice, which involves stir-frying rice after it’s been cooked? On some level, they have a similar goal: articulated grains that don’t stick together, which is caused by excess starch. Frying well-rinsed rice before cooking achieves this by reducing starch before adding liquid and giving the grains a chewy, denser texture and slightly toasted taste. Frying afterwards—and ideally frying leftover rice that has had time to dry up a bit—means the hot oil is interacting with starches that have already gelatinized through cooking and firmed up again, resulting in something a bit crispier. Both methods are quick and extremely tasty.
Not too long ago, shortly after Chatelaine got on TikTok (hello!), my own account’s algorithm started showing me a steady stream of gross-out cooking videos—the kind purposefully meant to incite disgust, or rage, or any feeling more powerful (i.e. clicky) than “wow, I’d like to make that!” They’re fascinating in their own sort of sordid way, but I stopped short when I scrolled into one that had someone cooking rice in oil instead of water—the suggestion here being that rice and oil don’t go together, that the result is gross, and indeed the amount of oil being used in this clip was obscene. But hear me out: sautéing rice before cooking it is actually quite delicious, and you should try it.
Eight guidelines to prepare the rice before making fried rice
FAQ
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