Char Sui Fried Rice

Making classic Chinese take-out dishes at home can be super fun and a nice change of pace from the regularly scheduled programming. One of our family’s very favorite – we have to get it every time we order takeaway – is fried rice and specifically Chinese Barbequed Pork or Char Sui Fried Rice. This is the type of pork that has the red outer coloring and is slightly sweet and smoky. Its such a great flavor and so good for a weeknight dinner.

Char Sui is a Cantonese-style of barbequed pork made with a mixture of honey, Chinese Five Spice, hoisin and soy sauce. My regular grocery has this pork available in the specialty refrigerated section. I know not all grocery stores will stock it. You can most likely find it your local Asian market. I have done some research on making it at home and let me tell you – that’s a process, especially if you are wanting to get the signature red coloring. Traditionally the red color comes from fermented tofu that is red in color. Also making it yourself would probably be more than one could handle on a weekday.

This recipe is best made on a large flattop griddle or a full sized wok. You really need the heated surface area to wide and evenly heated. If you do not have a griddle or wok, I would suggest making this in batches in a smaller pan. This might be tedious but it will be worth it in the end.

Another key to success with making fried rice is to use completely cooled rice. If possible, rice made the day before is ideal. At the very least, make the rice in the morning and let it cool by the time you are ready to prepare dinner. The reason behind using cool “old” rice is that it is no longer sticky and moist. It has dried out enough to make frying it not turn it to mush. I served this up with some nice and crispy potstickers. You could do a spring roll, egg roll or gyoza as well.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Char Sui Fried Rice

This simple but so super tasty fried rice is full of Chinese barbecued pork, egg and carrots.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Chinese

Keyword barbequed pork, boiled eggs, carrots, char sui, Cheesy Rice, chinese fakeaway, chinese food, fried rice

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 3 cups Long Grain Rice
• 3 tbsp Oil
• 1 lb Chinese Barbequed Pork chopped
• 2 Medium Carrots chopped
• 6 Green Onions chopped
• 8 Large Eggs beaten
• 2 tsp Ground Ginger divided
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 cup Soy Sauce
• ¼ cup Rice Wine Vinegar

Instructions

• In a large pot over medium heat, add rice, one teaspoon of ground ginger and six cups of water. Bring just to a bubble. Cover with lid and let cook for 17 minutes. Remove from heat but do not remove lid. NOTE – it's ideal to have completely cooled rice to make this.
• Preheat flattop/griddle/wok to medium-high. Add oil. Once hot add carrots and pork. Cook for 3 minutes (moving frequently with spatula). Then add cooled rice.
• Use spatula to break up clumps of rice and intermix with carrots and pork. Next add soy sauce and vinegar. Cook another 3 minutes (moving frequently with spatula).
• In a bowl, combine eggs, one teaspoon of ground ginger, salt and pepper. Beat thoroughly.
• Push rice out to outer edges of cook surface, forming an opening in the center. Sprinkle green onions over top.
• Pour beaten eggs into center. let cook for about 3 minutes will gently moving around to scramble then eggs. Then start to incorporate rice mixture into eggs. Continue to move around on cook surface another 3 minutes. Remove from heat.