Vietnamese Pork Fried Rice

Who doesn’t love fried rice?!  It’s a great way to make use of leftover rice and meats too.  I usually will refrigerate leftover rice and within a few days have enough for a nice batch.  The trick to making fried rice is to use COLD rice – just cooked or warm rice will render a sticky version of fried rice.  If you want fried rice but don’t have any left over rice, you can spread the warmed/cooked rice onto a baking sheet, let it cool for 10-15 minutes before sticking in the freezer for an hour or so to have chilled/cold rice (not frosty!).

If you have never had Vietnamese fried rice, you are in for a treat.  I think it’s not as greasy as the Chinese version and the fish sauce adds a nice depth of flavor.

This fried rice version is made with cooked pork – leftover from a pork tenderloin dish.  Great substitute would be Chinese barbecued pork if you have any on hand.  If you need to cook up some pork, slice up some meat from a pork tenderloin and give it a quick stir-fry with the onion and garlic.  Once the pork is cooked then proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Tip:  If you don’t like the carrots or peas, you can substitute instead bean sprouts.  Be careful not to over stir-fry the rice – more than 10-15 minutes you will have dried out fried rice.

Vietnamese Pork Fried Rice

(Serves 4)

• 3 tbsp of oil
• ¼ cup of chopped onion or shallots
• 3 cloves of smashed or chopped garlic
• ¼ cup of finely chopped carrots
• 6 cups of cold, cooked rice
• 1 cup of roughly chopped/sliced cooked pork
• 1 egg  
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• ¼ cup of frozen peas
• crushed black pepper to taste
• 2 sprigs chopped green onions (optional)

 

1.  Heat oil in a large 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat.

2.  Add chopped onions/shallots and give it a quick stir until softened.  Next, add chopped garlic and chopped carrots.

3.  Cold rice tends to form clumps so use your hands to squeeze the clumps to separate the rice.  Add the cold, cooked rice to the fry pan and frequently turn the rice with a spatula for about 3-5 minutes.

4.  Add to the fried rice the chopped pork/meat and turn the rice mixture regularly over the next 2-3 minutes.

5.  Create a hole in the middle of the pan by pushing the rice mixture to the sides of the pan.  Crack and egg in the hole and with the spatula give it a few stir until the egg is scrambled.  Now stir the scrambled egg into the rice mixture.

6.  Once the rice seems to have softened and is emitting steam, add oyster sauce, fish sauce, frozen peas and crushed black pepper.  Stir-fry for about 1-2 minute over medium heat to integrate the seasoning with the fried rice.  Stir in the chopped green onions at the very end.

 

 

    

Vietnamese Pork Fried Rice, originally uploaded by simpleviet.