I’ve recently been trying to put some new meals in my repertoire and when browsing for new ideas I’ve noticed that many recipes call for day old leftover rice instead of fresh one. Egg fried rice for example. Some people even seem to insist that it doesn’t work with fresh rice. Why is that?
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As others have said, letting the rice sit dries it out and makes it less sticky. Fried rice really does work best with day-old rice, but you can use a variety of rice such as Basmati that has very long grains and is naturally less sticky. Minute Rice and most most microwave pouches also work well. This will subtly change the flavor, but it’s still good.
You can also “hack” Jasmine rice. You rinse it before boiling then cook it like you would cook pasta. Take a cup of rice and boil it for 10 minutes in 2 quarts of water. This method removes almost all of the starch from the outside of the grains, which is what causes it to stick together.
Reasons already given but here’s the analogy.
You want loose fried rich not a plate of rice clumped up like a sushi ball.
Reasons already given but here’s the analogy.
You want loose fried rich not a plate of rice clumped up like a sushi ball.
As others have said, letting the rice sit dries it out and makes it less sticky. Fried rice really does work best with day-old rice, but you can use a variety of rice such as Basmati that has very long grains and is naturally less sticky. Minute Rice and most most microwave pouches also work well. This will subtly change the flavor, but it’s still good.
You can also “hack” Jasmine rice. You rinse it before boiling then cook it like you would cook pasta. Take a cup of rice and boil it for 10 minutes in 2 quarts of water. This method removes almost all of the starch from the outside of the grains, which is what causes it to stick together.
Reasons already given but here’s the analogy.
You want loose fried rich not a plate of rice clumped up like a sushi ball.
As others of said leftover white rice is dryer once it has been in the refrigerator overnight. This allows for fried rice to be separate when cooked the next day. Using fresh rice will result in a mushy fried rice with broken kernels which is not desirable for fried rice.
My parents owned an Chinese restaurant for 30 years, before they retired, and they had a lot of leftover white rice each night so it was never an issue. If there is not enough for fried rice the next day then they will explicitly make more white rice just to put in the cooler for use the next day.
As others of said leftover white rice is dryer once it has been in the refrigerator overnight. This allows for fried rice to be separate when cooked the next day. Using fresh rice will result in a mushy fried rice with broken kernels which is not desirable for fried rice.
My parents owned an Chinese restaurant for 30 years, before they retired, and they had a lot of leftover white rice each night so it was never an issue. If there is not enough for fried rice the next day then they will explicitly make more white rice just to put in the cooler for use the next day.
As others of said leftover white rice is dryer once it has been in the refrigerator overnight. This allows for fried rice to be separate when cooked the next day. Using fresh rice will result in a mushy fried rice with broken kernels which is not desirable for fried rice.
My parents owned an Chinese restaurant for 30 years, before they retired, and they had a lot of leftover white rice each night so it was never an issue. If there is not enough for fried rice the next day then they will explicitly make more white rice just to put in the cooler for use the next day.
Rice is the staple food in most of Asia and it’s easy to cook in large quantities. With this in mind, it’s not particularly surprising that they have come up with lots of ways to use leftover rice in the same way that it’s not surprising that Europe has many recipes for using old bread. If you’ve got lots of it and can’t afford to waste food then you’ll figure something out
Rice is the staple food in most of Asia and it’s easy to cook in large quantities. With this in mind, it’s not particularly surprising that they have come up with lots of ways to use leftover rice in the same way that it’s not surprising that Europe has many recipes for using old bread. If you’ve got lots of it and can’t afford to waste food then you’ll figure something out
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