Chinese Style Fried Rice
From the 4th Edition Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 1968, this version of fried rice uses an unique ingredient.
This recipe is unique in that it uses lettuce as an ingredient. The original version of the recipe called for "shredded lettuce or Chinese cabbage," which I assume meant Napa cabbage. I have never used Napa in this dish. When I made it for the first time sometime around 1987, I could not find Napa cabbage in my grocery store, so I decided to use what I had on hand in my fridge, which was Iceberg lettuce. I liked it and from then on, kept using it. I think that Iceberg lettuce brings a certain flavor dimension to the dish that truly qualifies it as unique. Plus, this is the only dish I know of where you actually cook Iceberg lettuce.
Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, 4th Edition, 1968
My very first cookbook was one my mother gave me as a gift before I went off to college. It was packaged in a red gingham hardback cover and contained over 1,500 recipes in virtually every category of cooking, all methodically arranged in a three ring binder with colorful illustrations and food photographs, which were real innovations when it was first published. The Better Homes & Garden "New" Cookbook really taught me how to cook. The cookbook is still in publication today, and it's a must for any novice cook. It was first published in 1930 and was in its fourth edition by the time I received mine in 1971. I went off to college in 1972 and took it with me.
When my wife and I were married many years later, I learned that she coincidentally also had a copy of this cookbook. Hers was in a more pristine condition than mine. There are many recipes that I tried from this cookbook over the years and a thousand I haven't tried, but you wouldn't know it from looking at it. Unlike my wife's mint-condition copy, mine has pages that have yellowed, some are dog-eared, and many more are crimped and crumpled from droplets of water or cooking grease.
Even with all of my later acquired Chinese cookbooks, I keep coming back to this this cookbook and its recipe for Chinese Fried Rice over and over. The original recipe was named "Chicken Fried Rice," and called for one cup of diced cooked chicken, but I have never made it that way, preferring this as a side dish rather than a main course. I have also added red bell pepper to the recipe, which the original did not have, and I added green peas as an ingredient because traditional versions of fried rice usually have them and I thought the dish needed them.
Chinese Style Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain converted white rice (like, Ben's Original)
- 4 cups beef broth or beef stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp peanut oil
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce (like, Kikkoman Less Sodium)
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (like, Pearl River Bridge Premium Dark)
- 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 3/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed (do not substitute canned)
- 1 cup chicken broth (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 1 cup finely shredded Iceberg lettuce
- 3 green onions, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 beaten eggs
Instructions
- Bring the four cups of beef broth, the garlic powder, the salt and the two cups of rice to a boil in a saucepan.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer after the liquid starts to boil and allow it to reduce until you see the liquid below the top of the rice bubbling up through the rice kernels.
- Turn the heat to its lowest setting, put the lid on the saucepan, and let it sit for 20 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove, take off the lid, and fluff the rice with a fork.
- Place the rice into a metal mixing bowl, and place the bowl in the refrigerator, uncovered or 4 hours.
- Over high heat, bring the wok to its smoking point and then add the peanut oil until it begins to smoke.
- Add the yellow onion, the green and red bell pepper and the celery, and stir-fry for about five minutes until everything starts to collapse and slightly brown, and the onions begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes.
- Next, add the cooked rice and stir-fry with the vegetables for 3-5 minutes to heat the rice through. Add a little more peanut oil if necessary to keep the rice from sticking to the wok.
- Add the chicken broth and both soy sauces, and stir-fry until the liquid evaporates, about another 5-7 minutes.
- Push all of the rice mixture to the sides of the wok, leaving a "hole" in the mixture at the base of the wok.
- Add the beaten eggs to the bottom of the wok and while constantly stir-frying them, cook until the eggs set, then blend them into the rice. Cook everything for a 2-3 more minutes.
- Add the shredded lettuce and stir-fry for another 2 minutes until the lettuce has completely collapsed.
- Add the peas in last and toss a couple of times to heat them, but being careful not to mash them.
- Toss in the green onions at the end.
Notes
- The dish will hold in a 200°F oven while preparing other dishes for a Chinese supper.
