Fried Rice | Basics with Babish

Hey guys, this week's episode of basics is sponsored by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is a meal kit delivery service that's a great option for anybody who's trying to cook more, cook healthier, or cook more deliciously. The first hundred people to use the link in this video's description to sign up for Blue Apron will get $60 off their first three weeks. As you can see, Blue Apron once again saves the day with quick, beautiful meals featuring instructions you can follow and ingredients you can pronounce. All right folks, let's get down to making some fried rice. And before you start making your rice according to your manufacturer's instructions, hold up, because first we want to rinse it before pouring it into the specified amount of boiling water. Rinsing rice removes excess starch, which results in a fluffier end product. And after seasoning with a little bit of salt, if we bake the rice in a covered pot at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 minutes, you will find that you are met with perfectly cooked white rice. No sticking, no breakage, no goopy, gummy crap. It's easier to make and it comes out better. Now, fried rice is always made from leftovers, so we need to let this chill completely, about 30 minutes at room temperature, and then four hours in the fridge, before we can even start talking about woks. Woks are fun to cook in, but they really only work on high output commercial stoves. Home stovetops are gonna concentrate all the heat in the bottom of the pot, while the sides are gonna remain relatively cold. And since stir-fries are all about high heat, we want as much surface area as possible exposed to the flame, so this wide nonstick pan is perfect. Once it's preheated, we're gonna hit it with a little bit of vegetable oil and add two beaten eggs. These are gonna cook really quickly and we don't want them to brown, so keep them moving until they just barely form into curds, and then set them aside. Wipe your pan clean, add a little bit more oil, and it's time to add the protein of your choice. I'm going with shrimp. And just like the eggs, we're gonna keep these moving and saute them until they are just cooked. Give them a little flipsy-do, so you make sure that each side is nicely caramelized, and then we're gonna dump them right into the large bowl in which our eggs are already waiting. Then we're gonna give our pan one last wipe down, hit it with one last glug of oil, and we're going to enter the final phase of cooking by starting with some shiitake mushrooms. Sauteing until they've given up all their moisture and they're just starting to brown. Then I'm gonna add some frozen peas to give my fried rice a nice frozen pea vibe, and a generous double handful of chunked up ham. We're just sauteing these over medium-high heat until everybody's nice and warm and happy. Make sure to pick up every individual ham cube and inspect for browning. Number 67's looking good, so it's time to add two cloves of crushed garlic and continue to saute for another 30 seconds at most until it's just starting to get fragrant, and then it's rice time. We're adding about four and a half cups of our quote-unquote leftover white rice, and then I've got a mixture here of three tablespoons each of oyster sauce and soy sauce, which I'm going to add to the mixture as we crank the heat to high and let this guy saute. Break up any major clumps, and fry the whole affair together for about three to five minutes until it looks like everybody's gotten to know each other. Then it's time to invite our work friends to the party, let everybody mingle, and hope things don't get too awkward. But it won't because we're gonna provide a little bit of social lubricant in the form of some vegetable oil, some thinly sliced scallions, and my personal favorite addition to fried rice, sesame seeds. Now by this point, we've reduced the heat to low, and we're just gonna give everything a cursory mix just to make sure that everybody's dancing and nobody's hanging up on the wall. And then the final and maybe most important ingredient is a big ol' dollop of butter. This is just gonna amp up the richness of the fried rice and assuage any worries that you had that this isn't gonna taste awesome. There you have it folks, your very own homemade fried rice. As you can see, this dish is incredibly easy to make and can be tweaked a thousand and one different ways to either use up what you've got in the fridge or appease the picky eater in your life. It can be made healthier, fattier, meatier, or entirely vegetarian. And so if one of your New Year's resolutions is to get cooking more, this is a great place to get started. I'll see you guys in 2019.