Fried rice

• 1. Introduction

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  Fried rice is usually a modest dish. At SM City Baguio in the Philippines, though, one batch called Rice and Shine 3.0 used 1,600 kilograms of rice. It came in 15 flavors and served 16,000 visitors.

  Most fried rice is far smaller. It starts with cooked rice stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan, usually joined by eggs, vegetables, seafood or meat. People eat it as a main dish or as a companion to something else.

  At home, cooks tend to use ingredients left over from other meals, so no two versions match. That habit produced countless variations. This documentary asks how a dish built from leftovers earned a place in East Asia, Southeast Asia, parts of South Asia and Latin America. It also asks why the same idea tastes so different in Indonesia, Peru and Ghana, and who carried it across oceans.

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• 2. The Leftover Problem

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  The earliest record of fried rice dates to the Sui dynasty, which ran from 589 to 618 AD, and it points to the city of Yangzhou. Rice that has been left to cool tends to harden. Households needed a use for it.

  The answer was to stir-fry the day-old grains in oil with eggs, vegetables and small amounts of meat. The result was flavorful and cheap. A problem of waste became a meal.

  Chǎo, the Chinese word for stir-frying, was already central to Chinese cooking. By the early medieval period it had become one of the most flexible ways to make a quick meal. A hot wok cooks ingredients evenly and lets the cook season them fast, so fried rice slipped easily into the existing repertoire. It eventually became a common staple in many regional Chinese cuisines.

  Fujian and Guangdong, in southern China, are places where rice was the dominant staple. Cooks there developed their own versions over time. Those southern styles are the ones that later traveled abroad through migration and trade.

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• 3. Anatomy of a Bowl

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  Cooked rice is the one fixed ingredient in fried rice, and almost everything else is open to negotiation. Cooks add chicken, beef, pork, lamb or mutton. They also reach for bacon, ham and sausage, for fish, shrimp and crab, and for mushrooms and vegetables.

  Onions, shallots, scallions, leeks, ginger and garlic are often added for extra flavor. The wok is greased with vegetable oil, sesame oil, clarified butter or lard. The fat stops the rice from sticking and also contributes taste.

  Seasoning comes from salt, different types of soy sauce, oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce and many other sauces and spices. Then come the garnishes. Chopped scallions, sliced chili and fried shallots are common, as are parsley, coriander and mint. Some cooks add boiled egg slices, toasted sesame seeds, or seaweed flakes known as gim or nori. Cucumber, tomato, lime and pickled vegetables also appear.

  Freshly cooked rice causes trouble. It does not fry properly and ends up with an undesirably soft texture. Rearranged by region, these same building blocks produce plates as different as a sauce-covered Hokkien version and a chili-heavy one from Sichuan.

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• 4. East Asian Variations

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  Hokkien fried rice, from the Fujian region, arrives with a thick sauce poured over it. That sauce can carry mushrooms, meat, vegetables and other ingredients. Sichuan fried rice goes in a hotter direction, using doubanjiang chili sauce with garlic, green onions and red onion.

  Yin-yang fried rice is topped with two sauces. Usually one half gets a savory white sauce and the other half a red tomato-based sauce. Elaborate versions use the sauces to draw a yin-yang symbol.

  Yeungchow, or Yangzhou, fried rice is the most popular fried rice in Chinese restaurants. It has generous portions of shrimp and scrambled egg, along with barbecued pork. Menus often call it "special fried rice" or "house fried rice".

  In Japan, chāhan, also called yakimeshi, descends from Chinese fried rice. Cooks suit it to Japanese tastes by adding katsuobushi. Omurice wraps fried rice inside an egg omelette. It often uses a variant called chikinraisu, or chicken rice, which gets its flavor from ketchup or another tomato sauce.

  In Korea, bokkeum-bap means bap, or cooked rice, stir-fried in oil with whatever ingredients are handy. Kimchi-bokkeum-bap, made with kimchi, is a popular variety. In restaurants where the main dishes cook on a tabletop stove, diners often finish with rice. Cooked rice, gimgaru seaweed flakes and sesame oil go straight into what remains in the pan. The mix is then stir-fried and browned.

  Far to the south, in the Malay Archipelago, the dish would turn darker and sweeter.

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• 5. Southeast Asian Transformations

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  In the Malay Archipelago, fried rice became nasi goreng, which simply means fried rice in Indonesian and Malay. Local flavorings set it apart from its Chinese ancestor. These include kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce, along with sambal, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste called terasi or belacan.

  The seasonings gave the dish a darker color and a stronger aroma. They also balanced sweet, savory and spicy tastes. Variants arose in present-day Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand. All of them share the name nasi goreng.

  In Indonesia and Malaysia, nasi goreng became the most widespread and distinctive form, cutting across ethnic and social boundaries. It is counted as one of five national dishes of Indonesia. A fried egg, fried chicken, satay, sambal, acar and krupuk often come alongside. The dish is also popular in the Netherlands.

  Nasi goreng jawa, the Javanese version, commonly includes sambal ulek and tastes spicy. Nasi goreng pattaya is Malaysian-style rice wrapped inside an omelette and garnished with tomato sauce. Indonesians call it nasi goreng amplop. Nasi goreng kambing uses goat or lamb with bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and cumin, and its roots are traced to Arab influences. Singapore has its own sambal fried rice.

  Elsewhere in the region, parallel adaptations appeared. In Thailand, khao phat takes its name from khao, meaning rice, and phat, meaning stir-fried. It uses Thai jasmine rice and fish sauce, and arrives with cucumber, lime and a spicy sauce called prik nam pla. Vietnam's cơm chiên features diced sausage, stirred eggs and soy sauce or nước mắm.

  Cambodia's bai cha usually includes pork, sausages, eggs, garlic, soy sauce and herbs. One variation, bai cha kapi, adds shrimp and shrimp paste. In Myanmar, htamin gyaw is made with fragrant short grain rice, boiled peas, onions, garlic and dark soy sauce. Cooks may serve ngapi kyaw, a fried fish paste, on the side.

  The Philippines would take the dish in a different direction, built around garlic.

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• 6. Garlic and Breakfast

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  Sinangág, the Filipino garlic fried rice, is made by stir-frying pre-cooked rice with garlic. Cooks prefer stale rice, usually left over from the previous day. They say it turns slightly fermented and firmer. The grains should stay loose and never clump. Toasted garlic, salt and black pepper finish it.

  Sinangág is rarely eaten alone. It is paired with dry meat dishes such as tocino, longganisa, tapa or spam. Because it normally uses little besides garlic, it does not overwhelm the main dish. When cooks do add something, it is most often scrambled eggs, chopped scallions or cubed carrots. Cashews sometimes appear. The rice is a part of the tapsilog breakfast and its derivatives.

  Other Filipino versions go bolder. Aligue rice adds a paste of crab fat, which turns the grains a vivid orange-yellow. Bagoong fried rice takes its flavor from bagoong alamang, a shrimp paste, and may include green mangoes. Java rice owes its yellow-orange color to turmeric or annatto, and it is usually eaten with chicken barbecue. Classic adobo rice tops fried rice with crispy adobo flakes and a salted duck egg.

  Morisqueta tostada is a very old colonial-era Chinese Filipino recipe, sometimes called Spanish-style fried rice. Its name means toasted boiled rice in Chavacano. It is characterized by chorizo de bilbao, chorizo de macao or Chinese sausage, along with ham, shrimp and spring onions. Spanish and Chinese traditions would meet again far across the Pacific.

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• 7. Mumbai to Honolulu

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  In India, fried rice is one of the most popular dishes of Indian Chinese cuisine. Curry fried rice mixes the standard dish with curry powder for extra heat. Paneer fried rice pairs spicy rice with fried paneer. Chicken fried rice is made in a huge pan. Tava pulav, or tawa pulao, comes from Mumbai.

  Nepal has bhuteko bhat, usually eaten with achar, though curry and dhal may also be served. Sri Lankan fried rice varies the Chinese original with basmati or other native rice and local spices. Nasi goreng is also widely eaten there, having entered Sri Lankan cuisine through Malay and Indonesian influences.

  In Bhutanese cities, fried rice street vendors park their food carts on busy streets or in residential areas. Across Asia, small restaurants, street vendors and traveling hawkers specialise in the dish. Many Southeast Asian stands offer optional garnishes and side dishes.

  Hawaiian fried rice is cooked in sesame oil and usually contains egg, green onions, peas and cubed carrots. Portuguese sausage or Spam, or both, supply the meat. Some versions in Hawaii also have kimchi.

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• 8. Carried by Migrants

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  Arroz frito is the Spanish-speaking world's name for fried rice. Adjectives mark the Chinese-inspired kinds, such as arroz chino and arroz cantonés. Local specialties include arroz chaufa, chaulafán, chofán and arroz frito tres delicias.

  In Cuba, arroz frito closely resembles special fried rice and sits on menus beside criollo dishes. It features ham, grilled pork, shrimp, chicken, eggs and vegetables. Some restaurants add lechón, lobster tails or crab. Chinese Cubans introduced it.

  An estimated 30,000 people of Chinese origin live in the Dominican Republic, where migration from China began in the second half of the 19th century. Dominican chofán uses leftover rice with celery, bell peppers, carrots, peas and soy sauce. Lippia, also called Jamaican oregano, and a bouillon cube make it distinct.

  In Peru, arroz chaufa belongs to the chifa kitchen, and Chile calls it arroz chaufán. Exotic versions may use dried meat, beef tongue, alligator or lizard. Some regions swap the rice for quinoa or pearled wheat. Aeropuerto is a big dish that adds fried noodles. Ecuador's chaulafán takes its name from Yue, and dark soy sauce is preferred in Ecuador and Peru.

  Puerto Rico's arroz mamposteao was brought by Chinese immigrants. It combines bean sprouts, ginger and soy sauce with red beans, sweet plantains, squash, bacon and longaniza. Cooks garnish it with sesame seeds, avocado, cilantro, cheese or aioli.

  In Africa, Nigerian fried rice uses parboiled rice, with optional diced fried cow liver or shrimp. Tanzanian fried rice uses long-grain rice with beef liver, chicken or shrimp. Both add carrots, peas, green beans, thyme and curry powder.

  Ghanaian fried rice is one of the more contemporary dishes, found in almost every Ghanaian restaurant. Soy sauce and chicken broth flavor it, and it is usually served with Shito, a pepper sauce. In Ghana, then, the recipe is still young.

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