Spicy ‘Freestyle' Fried Rice from Guizhou (怪噜炒饭)
This is a classic spicy Guizhou style of fried rice called Guailu fried rice - sometimes translated as 'freestyle fried rice'...
"Guailu", is an interesting name for an fried rice. According to our understanding, “Guailu” in the local dialect refers to a certain gambling style seen in novices where their bets are basically random because they don't know what to do). And in a fried rice, it can mean “whatever” or “free-style”, although nowadays there’re a couple fixed combos of how people would make it on the street or at home.
And speaking of fried rice, it’s probably the Chinese dish that seems to trip people up the most, but it doesn't have to be that way. See, what we want in a fried rice is loose, fluffy, individual grains of rice… not too wet, and not to dry, and luckily getting to this point is far from rocket science. You don't have to know how to fling things around like a pro, and you definitely don't need any sort of jet engine burner.
Of course, the thing everyone loves about fried rice is that you can really just toss in whatever you want. So while we will be teaching you using an awesome classic spicy fried rice from the Guizhou province called Guailu Chaofan, don't feel obliged to mimic this guy 100%. Because while ingredients can be local, techniques are universal.
Now, if you look at the vast majority of fried rice recipes, they'll start with day old rice. It's drier and fries up better. And while there's definitely ways you can hack your way forward using fresh rice, they do kind of go against the whole essence of the dish. Fried rice is leftover food. Making rice fresh just to make fried rice would kinda be like roasting a whole turkey and making cranberry sauce just to make a Thanksgiving sandwich. You could do it, but you'd be sort of missing the point.
So then? To start it all off… here comes the part where we say: rinse your rice, toss it in a rice cooker, and follow your machine's instructions. Then once you're done eating your fill of white rice… toss the remainder in the fridge uncovered. Then the next day, that will become your fried rice. "But Chris! Steph!" you ask "I don't own a rice cooker. What should I do?" And after I finish a quick lecture on why you should really just buy a damn rice cooker, we are happy to report that in our tests the very best rice for fried rice doesn't come from a Zojirushi. The best rice for fried rice is steamed. And we can’t stress this enough. So with whatever fried rice you want to make, we hope you can give this method a try.
Guailu Fried Rice (怪噜炒饭)
Cooked rice, 380g (steamed from the 230g jasmine rice, seperate recipe below)
Hunan Duojiao 'chopped chilis' or Guizhou Zaolajiao (剁椒/糟辣椒), 1 tbsp
Scallion, one large (white and green parts separated, both sliced)
Garlic, 3 cloves
Ginger, 1 inch
Chinese smoked larou (腊肉) or American-style smoked country ham or smoked bacon , 20g
Suancai fermented cabbage or sauerkraut or kimchi (酸菜/东北酸菜), 15g, minced
Zhe'ergen (Fish Wort/折耳根/鱼腥草) or cilantro root, 20g or chopped cilantro, 25g
Canned kidney beans (红腰豆), ¼ cup
Cracklins (脆哨), 2 tbsp
Dark soy sauce (老抽), 1 tbsp
Light soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp
Dark Chinese Vinegar (陈醋/香醋), 2 tsp
Seasoning:
Salt, ⅛ tsp
Sugar, ½ tsp
MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp
Lard, 2 tbsp (for frying)
Process:
Roughly chop 3 cloves of garlic, 1 inch of ginger, and 1 large scallion whites. Add to a mortar with 1 tbsp of duojiao chopped chilis. Pound for ~2 minutes.
Slice scallion greens, mince 20g fish wort or cilantro root (or chop 25g cilantro), set them all aside. Then squeeze the liquid out of the suancai/sauerkraut/kimchi, mince it. Rinse ¼ cup kidney beans. Dice 20g larou/country ham (if using).
To fry, first longyau, heat wok until very hot, shut off heat, add 2 tbsp lard. Swirl to create a non-stick surface, then set to medium-low heat.
Fry the smoked pork dice for 90 seconds, add the pounded chili paste, fry 3-5 minutes until oil separates and clears.
Then add in the 15g suancai/sauerkraut/kimchi, fry 2 minutes until oil clears. Add 2 tbsp cracklins and kidney beans, increase to high heat, fry 30 seconds.
Add 380g cooked rice. Fry 3 minutes, breaking up clumps, until grains separate and light popping is heard.
Add 1 tbsp dark soy sauce and 1 tsp light soy sauce over spatula and around wok sides. Fry 1 minute to incorporate.
Season with ⅛ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar, ⅛ tsp MSG. Quick mix, add herbs (scallion green and fist wort/cilantro), mix again.
Add 2 tsp dark Chinese vinegar over spatula and around wok, quick mix, turn off heat and serve.
Notes:
All ingredients are optional except for the rice.
If using bacon, fry separately, take it out and add back at the end with scallions/cilantro.
Adjust cooking time for leftover rice cooker or takeaway rice to break up clumps.
How to Steam Rice for a Perfect Fried Rice (甑子饭)
Jasmine Rice (泰国香米/丝苗米), 230g
Steamer (bamboo steamer or traditional 'zengzi/甑子')
Colander
Wet cloth (muslin, cotton, or any food-safe fabric)
Process:
Rinse 230g of jasmine rice about 3 times, parboil the rinsed rice for 2.5 minutes until it's no longer translucent. Strain, then transfer the parboiled rice to a steamer lined with a wet cloth. Poke some holes in the rice with chopsticks to help the steam come up evenly.
Steam the rice for 10 minutes, then shut off the heat and let the rice sit in the steamer for another five minutes. Then remove the rice from the steamer and fluff it, spread it out to cool down.
If using all the rice for fried rice, leave it uncovered in the fridge to cool down. If making extra for a meal, save ~380g of cooked rice (keep in the fridge) for the fried rice recipe.
Notes:
The 230g of uncooked rice is the exact amount used in the fried rice recipe. If you want extra white rice, cook more.
A traditional steaming bucket called a 'zengzi/甑子' can be used, but any bamboo steamer works well.
Poking holes in the rice before steaming helps it cook evenly, though this step wasn't shown in the video.
Leaving the rice uncovered in the fridge helps it dry out slightly, which is ideal for fried rice.