Tips for Fried Rice

Have you ever cooked fried rice and found you don't really like it? Have you ever wonder why those restaurants can make delicious fried rice but you can't? Was your fried rice a bit damp?

I also had these problems until I learnt from my mother-in-law that there's a few tips you MUST know about making good fried rice.

These are quite simples.

1. Rice must be cool and dried. DON'T use rice that is just cooked and while it's hot. If you do, your fried rice will turn out wet and the rice will be broken. The best is to use rice that's been kept in the fridge (open in a bowl) to make it dry for overnight. While cooking rice in the rice cooker, use less water than normal. Jasmine rice is highly recommended.

2. Fry-pan must be iron. Old pan is better than new pan.

3. Heat - very very important! The stove must be very hot, like in chinese restaurant.

4. Generally.. you should follow these steps:

- Heat the pan
- Add vegetable oil
- Add garlic, stir til brown
- Add meat ingredients.. e.g. pork, shrimp, sausages, etc. stir until cooked
- Add sauce ingredients e.g. soya sauce or Maggi
- Beat eggs in a bowl, pour into the pan. Tilt the pan so the egg covers flatly in the pan. Leave for 8 seconds.. (longer than this the egg will become hard.. 8 seconds for me is perfect because the egg will cover rice nicely while some part of the egg is hard enough)
- Add rice, stir gently so it's covered with egg
- Stir quickly but gently until rice is hot (this is why it's important to use high heat stove)
- Add vegetable ingredients e.g. onion leaves
- Sprinkle with pepper, serve on the dish

Please try my technic and you'll find your fried rice is more delicious than ever!!

Pork Satay and Satay Peanut Sauce Recipes

It was my mother's 67th birthday in May 2009. We had a great dinner together and the most favourite dish for my mum was Satay. Although she's 67, but still very healthy.

Satay is a fun menu for the party. It doesn't take long time to prepare and you can enjoy grilling it on the barbecue.

Ingredients (for pork satay):

500 grams Pork

1/2 t.sp. Coriander seeds, ground

1/2 t.sp. Fennel seeds, ground

1 tb.sp. Lemongrass, fine chopped

1 t.sp. Cumin powder

1 tb.sp. White sugar

3 tb.sp. Condense milk

1 tb.sp. Butter

1/4 t.sp. Salt

2 tb.sp. Vegetable oil

1/2 cup Coconut milk for seasoning while grill

Ingredients for Satay Peanut Sauce :

1 cup Peanut

4 dried chillis (large)

1/2 t.sp. Salt

2 t.sp. Lemongrass fine chopped

1/4 t.sp. Bergamot peal

2 t.sp. Coriander seeds ground

2 Red onion

1 tb.sp. Garlic

3 tb.sp. Palm sugar

1 tb.sp. Fish Sauce

3 tb.sp. Tammarine juice

2 cups Coconut milk

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Ingredients Cucumber Sauce:

1/2 Cup vinegar

1/2 Cup water

1 t.sp. Salt

1/3 Cup Sugar

4 Red onion chopped

3 red chillis

4 cucumber

Cooking :

Satay

- Slice pork into 1" width, 5" length, 1/4" thick

- Mix other ingredients in a bowl, add pork and leave in the bowl for minimum 2 hours in the fridge

- Soak bamboo sticks in water before skewing (this will protect the sticks from burnt easily on the charcoal)

- Skew pork meat on the sticks and place on dish ready for grilling

- While grilling, season with coconut milk

Peanut Sauce

- For Peanut Sauce, fry (without oil) peanut until slightly brown

- Grind all ingredients except for oil

- In a pan, add vegetable oil and once heated add all ingredients

- Bring to boil

Cucumber Sauce

- Mix vinegar, water, salt and sugar until dissolved
- Add chilli and cucumber