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Quick and Easy Dinners 1

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Seven tips for delicious egg-fried rice

1. A helpful ratio
Many people find it difficult to cook rice. The easiest, almost foolproof way is the absorption
method: simply submerging the rice in water. It slowly softens, expands and fluffs up as it
absorbs the water around it. The golden ratio for this method is one part rice to two parts
water. Bring salted water to the boil in a pot. Add the rice to the boiling water (75g is
enough for one portion) and pop on the lid. Boil it for about 10​-15 minutes, tilting the lid

slightly to release the steam. The rice is ready when all the water has been absorbed. Voilà!
There you have it – perfect rice, every time.

2. Use regular, long-grain rice
For excellent egg-fried rice, get your hands on long-grain rice. It has a slightly higher starch

content, which makes it stickier when cooked and also helps it hold any added vegetables.
There’s no need to use flavoured rice, like basmati or jasmine, as these delicate flavours will
be lost when the egg and vegetable ingredients are added later.

3. Don’t let starch be a stranger

Ordinarily, you’d first rinse your rice under running water before cooking it, waiting for the
water to run clear. (This helps to remove starch from the grains, which might make them
stick together.) With egg-fried rice, the stickiness of the starch is actually what you’re after.
You want to save the starch so the rice clumps together with the vegetables and the egg.

4. Day-old rice works best
For best results, use day-old rice that has been kept in the fridge. The rice will have dried
out a little, which makes it perfect for soaking up the flavours that you add to the pan.

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