This is an impressive Shrimp Fried Rice. Not only do you get the flavors of the shrimp with 1/2 lb of shrimp added in. But the shrimp fried rice seasoning adds that seafood flavor throughout the entire rice. It’s the perfect accompaniment for any Asian seafood dish. It’s a quick side dish after you have made the day-old rice that can be prepared all while thawing the shrimp. The actual cooking of it only takes about 5 minutes.
Shrimp Fried Rice Ingredients
Shrimp, Shrimp Velveting (Sea Salt, Baking Soda), Rice (Jasmine, Calrose, or White American), Fried Rice Seasoning (Hondashi, MSG, Sugar, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, White Pepper, Ginger Powder), Dark Soy Sauce, Shaoxing Wine, Eggs, Green Onions, Frozen Carrots & Peas, and Oil.
Steamed Rice
For proper Chinese fried rice, you need to use rice that has been previously steamed. More importantly than that is the correct ratio of rice to water. This is because the firmness or the lack thereof of the steamed rice determines the final end product of the fried rice. For this reason, use a 1:1 ratio or equal amounts of rice to water. This allows the rice to cook up with just the amount of water needed and still remain firm, or rice that has some bite to it and is nice and plump.
Rice Cooker Rice for Fried Rice
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Strain through a fine sieve and empty into the rice cooker. There will be some carryover water that the rice holds on to, and that is perfectly fine; shake it out as much as you can. Add the water and cook on the basic white rice setting until done.
In Chinese restaurants, steamed rice is served fresh for a max of 20 minutes. Any leftover steamed rice is transferred to the walk-in to be used up in the following days for fried rice. More steamed rice is prepared and cooked, and this process is repeated all day.
Cooling and Refrigerating Rice
Once the rice is done, empty it into a wide container so that the rice can be spread out and cool down quickly. Once cooled, cover loosely and refrigerate overnight. Ensure that it is cooled completely, or else it will steam and trap moisture. The rice needs to be dried, which is evident if you can pick up a clump and crumble it between your fingers after it has been refrigerated overnight.
Rice should never be left out at room temp for too long to prevent bacterial growth. The cooling process should happen within 30 minutes and up to an hour max. Empty the rice out into a wide and shallow tray, like a sandwich platter tray or a Tupperware container, to promote cooling even quicker. Toss the rice around after 5 minutes or so to expose more of the rice to the air and cool it down quickly. Once completely cooled, it can be refrigerated, loosely covered or even uncovered, so the rice can dry out.
Preparing Rice for Frying
In restaurants, the day-old rice is used just like this and tossed into the wok with oil. Soy sauce is added around the rim, with rice seasoning, usually just msg. But it can include a bit of salt & sugar as well. It is only cooked briefly to heat through. Overcooking will bring out the starches again, and the rice will go sticky; no good.
At home, I just add everything to the rice and mix before it even hits the wok. Then I heat the wok on maximum heat until very hot. Add some oil or rendered pork fat and toss the rice in to stir-fry for about 2 minutes, just until heated through. You want the wok very hot so the rice does not stick. Then just keep it moving.
Shrimp Fried Rice Seasoning
In Chinese restaurants, there are usually 3 white powders that are used to season almost everything. These are Salt, Sugar, and MSG. For shrimp fried rice, MSG is always included and may contain additional salt or a minimal amount of sugar.
I like to use bouillon powder, along with the classic flavors of Chinese, consisting of onion, garlic, ginger, and white pepper. This also contributes a bit of salt from both the broth powder and msg. Combine the below ingredients and use to season the shrimp fried rice, or use as much as desired at the very end to mix into the rice to taste, right before removing it from the heat. This gives you a bit more control over the salt content, since both the broth powder and msg contain salt, as well as the soy sauce.
Shrimp Fried Rice Seasoning Ingredients
- 1/2 Tbl Hondashi & MSG
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Sugar, each
- 1/8 tsp White Pepper & Ginger, each
Fried Rice Coloring
The coloring of the rice that yields that beautiful brown color to fried rice comes from the dark soy sauce used. Sometimes it’s the combination of dark and regular soy sauce. But for this recipe, the rice is already seasoned with broth powder and msg. Both of these are fine for the amount of salt that is added, so only dark soy sauce is used for the coloring and rehydration of the rice.
Mushroom soy sauce, which is also a dark soy sauce, can be used too.
Shrimp Fried Rice Vegetables
Green onions & green peas for the vegetables added are quite common. You can add whatever you like and may cover additional vegetables like garlic, onions, ginger, shallots, carrots, and celery. A frozen vegetable mix of carrots, peas, and corn or other frozen vegetables can also be used. No matter what vegetables are added, you want them precooked before you even stir-fry with them, unless they will be tender or cooked when stir-frying.
For the green onions, the white parts can be fried in the wok with the shrimp after cooking the shrimp through. The top green parts should be added to the rice right before removing it from the heat to mix through.
If adding small diced carrots or celery or any other hard vegetables, parboil until softened and set aside before you even start stir-frying. Frozen vegetables such as carrots and peas are pretty good when placed in a bowl and filled with hot water. Then strain before stir-frying.
Shrimp Fried Rice with Eggs
I absolutely love fried rice with eggs, and it’s easy to incorporate. Just use about 1-2 Tbl of oil or fat from the oil that is used for the entire dish. Heat a wok over max heat and add oil. Scramble 1–2 eggs and add them to the wok. Mix it around to finish cooking through, and it no longer sticks to the wok. Set aside to add back into the rice right before removing the rice from the heat to serve.
Shrimp
After 1/2 lb of shrimp has been thawed, remove the shells and chop into bite-sized pieces. You can opt to leave them whole if you like. I like the bite-sized pieces scattered throughout the rice, and it makes for very fast and easy cooking of the shrimp.
Velveted Shrimp
Additionally, you can fry the shrimp up just like this or velvet it to create nice, plump, seasoned shrimp. Just combine the below ingredients and mix well. Set aside until ready to cook.
Velveted Shrimp
- 1/2 lb Shrimp
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/8 tsp Baking Soda
How to make Shrimp Fried Rice
Making fried rice starts with day-old rice, and once you have this ready, the dish comes together pretty quickly.
- Remove the refrigerated rice from the fridge and break up any clumps.
- At the same time, thaw shrimp in a bowl filled with water.
- Place frozen vegetables into another bowl and fill with hot water.
Fried Rice Seasoning
Sprinkle the shrimp fried rice seasoning over the rice. Add 2 Tbl of dark soy sauce & 1 Tbl of Shaoxing wine. Mix really well until the rice absorbs everything. Chop the green onions and set aside.
If a darker-colored rice is desired, like the old-style chicken fried rice, add more dark soy sauce.
Fried Rice With Eggs
Place the wok over max heat with 2 Tbl of oil and let it get hot. Scramble an egg or two and empty them into the wok to set. Then scramble until the egg is no longer sticking to the wok and is cooked through. Empty the scrambled eggs back into the same bowl the eggs were in and set aside until ready to add back into the rice just as it comes off the heat to mix through.
Fried Rice with Protein
Add another 2 Tbl of oil to the wok and place it back over maximum heat. Add the shrimp and cook through, about 1 minute.
Fried Rice with Vegetables
Optionally toss in the strained carrots & peas with green onions to stir-fry for a few seconds.
Stir-Fried Rice
Add the seasoned rice to cook for about 2 minutes. Continue to stir-fry to warm everything through. Keep the rice moving. Watch for when the rice starts to get sticky. This is your visual clue that the rice is being overcooked. Pull the wok off the heat before the rice gets too sticky. Ideally, you want to warm the rice through and serve it before it even starts to get sticky. Which is why you keep the rice moving for equal distribution of heat.
Toss the Eggs and the tops of green onions in if using and mix through before serving.
Ingredients
- 4 Tbl Oil - Separated, 2 Tbl for the Eggs and 2 Tbl for the Shrimp
- 1-2 Whole Eggs - scrambled
- 1-2 Stalk Green Onion - sliced
- 1 C Frozen Carrots & Peas
Steamed Rice
- 2 C Rice - Jasmine, Calrose, or American White
- 2 C Water
Shrimp Rice Seasoning
- 2 Tbl Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbl Shaoxing Wine
- 1/2 Tbl Hondashi & MSG - each
- 1/2 tsp Sugar, Onion Powder & Garlic Powder - each
- 1/8 tsp Ground Ginger & White Pepper - each
Velveted Shrimp
- 1/2 lb Shrimp
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/8 tsp Baking Soda
Instructions
- Day-Old Rice: Wash and rinse 2 cups of rice well. Place into the rice cooker with 2 cups of water. Cook on the basic white rice setting. Once the rice is done, empty it into a wide, shallow container to cool the rice quickly, in about 30 minutes. Once completely cooled, refrigerate the rice uncovered, or partially covered, until the next day.
- Seasoned Rice: Remove the rice from the fridge and break up any large clumps. Add the seasoning and mix really well. Mix again before adding to the wok.
- Protein: Prepare the velveting or marinade for the protein and mix well; set aside until needed. If adding in eggs, crack eggs into a bowl and scramble. Empty the frozen shrimp into a bowl of cold water to thaw for about 10 minutes.Remove the shells from the shrimp and chop them into pieces. Place into a bowl to velvet the shrimp with salt & baking soda. Mix well and set aside.
- Vegetables: Slice green onions and separate the bottom white parts from the top green parts.Place the frozen vegetables into a bowl and fill with hot water. If including any hard vegetables (fresh carrots, celery), boil them until tender and set them aside to await the wok. Quick-cook vegetables such as garlic, ginger, napa, chilies, and the white parts of green onions can go directly to the wok to stir-fry.
- Fried Rice: Place the wok over max heat and add 2 Tbl of fat. Wait until it gets hot and add the eggs if using and mix until it no longer sticks and empty back into the same bowl to add back to the rice at the end. Return the wok to max heat and let it get hot. Add 2 Tbl fat and follow immediately with protein. Stir-fry until the shrimp is cooked through, about 1 minute. Add your vegetables (except the tops of green onions) and stir-fry for a few seconds.Empty the rice and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Not too long, just to heat through. If the rice is too dry, add a splash of water around the rim. When rice is heated through, add the eggs and tops of green onions and mix before serving.
Notes
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