Western Fried Rice (茶餐厅西炒饭)
The Chachaanteng view of American food.
It's a Friday night, you come home from work and want to order in.
Pizza?
Eh, not again.
Chinese?
Sure.
So, you order your favorite: General Tso's, with a side of Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoons. And while you know that that sticky, saucy Tso's isn't exactly what people eat in China, you don't really care – it tastes pretty good all the same.
But. You can't help but wonder, if it's a totally normal everyday occurrence for you, sitting in the west, to order Chinese… do people in China on a random Friday night, order… western?
And… what would that be like?
Do Chinese People ‘go out for American’?
So it's… 2021. Of course people in China'll sometimes eat western food. Open up Meituan, the Chinese equivalent of Uber eats, and, like, some of the top categories are burgers, pizzas, and fried chicken. But as you scroll, while some of this fare'll probably seem pretty familiar, you might start to feel that there's also something a little… off.
See, I would put western food in China in three main categories.
Authentic western food. Especially if you're in Shanghai or Beijing, you could theoretically eat just Western food and still eat pretty well. Maybe not, like, New York City well but pretty solid.
Inauthentic western food. Think of this as like, the P.F. Chang's equivalent. Like, you can order a pizza almost anywhere in this country, but this is what you're gunna get. It can still hit the spot if you're a bit desperate, but I mean, it is kinda sad. That said, inauthenticity can sometimes get pretty inventive... just like Crab Rangoon is undeniably genius, Durian pizza is genuinely good, and I hope one day somebody somewhere can actually make it with a proper crust.
Canto-western Cha Chaan Teng. My personal favorite - the old school inauthentic western food: Canto-western Cha Chaan Teng fare. Now, we've covered a lot of this stuff on our channel before because we find it outrageously fun to make. I mean, like, c'mon. Deep fried French toast. Cheesy seafood rice. I just… love the bombast, think of this as sort of like the equivalent of that takeout fare in the West.
The Chinese-western Trinity
Which brings us to today's dish, western fried rice. Now, this is another super tasty bombastic Canto-western thing, but I actually think it can pretty illustrative of the situation as a whole – because this dish features what I consider to be the holy trinity of the Chinese view of western food: ketchup, onion, and bell pepper.
So like.. right. In Guangdong especially, ketchup you'll usually find cooked down into a sauce. You can see it in stuff like baked porkchop rice, or ketchup sauce steak, or as young me at my college canteen in Hong Kong found out the unpleasant way… ketchup sauce spaghetti.
The onion, meanwhile, is also an interesting one. The Mandarin name for onion is yangcong, or literally 'imported scallion', and while you do see it here or there in Chinese cooking, usually the onion-y allium of choice would be scallion, or welsh onion in the north.
And the third leg of our trinity, bell pepper? I don't really know what it is about red and yellow bell, but doesn't it seem like a lot of those dishes that exist in that liminal space between cultures seem to just… have to feature it for some unknown reason.
Western Fried Rice
Jasmine rice (粘米/丝苗米/泰国香米), 230g.
Onion, ½. Minced.
Tomato, ½. Diced.
Red bell pepper, ¼. Diced.
Ketchup, 5 tbsp.
Hot dog, 1 or spam, ~75g.
Char Siu BBQ pork or honey ham, 75g or skip this.
Lard (猪油) or whatever oil, 2 tbsp. For frying.
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒) or white wine, sherry or whatever, 1 tbsp.
Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp.
Seasoning:
Salt, ¼ tsp.
Sugar, ½ tsp.
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ¼ tsp.
MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp.
Process:
Steam the rice (if not using leftover day-old rice):
Rinse 230g of Jasmine rice 3-4 times until the water loses about half of its translucency. Add to boiling water, par boil for three minutes. Strain. Poke some holes in the rice, then wrap the strainer with aluminum foil. Place over bubbling water, steam for 10 minutes. Then, shut off the heat and let it sit there for another five. Remove, spread the rice over a plate.
To prep:
Mince up 1/2 onion, dice 1 hot dog (or ~75g spam), ¼ red bell pepper, ½ tomato, and 75g char siu (or honey ham). Measure out the seasoning: ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar, ¼ tsp white pepper powder, ⅛ tsp MSG.
Stir fry:
As always, first longyau - get your wok piping hot, shut off the heat, add in 2 tbsp lard (or whatever oil), and give it swirl to get a nice non-stick surface.
Flame on medium, add in the onions and fry for ~3 minutes til translucent. Add in 5 tbsp ketchup, fry until the oil separates and stains, ~2 minutes. Add the hot dog and the char siu. Up the flame to high, quick 15 second fry. Then pour 1 tbsp of liaojiu over your spatula and around the side of the wok - quick mix - and add in the rice. Fry the rice for ~2 minutes, or until evenly coated and you can hear little 'pops' coming from the rice. 1 tsp of soy sauce, over the spatula and around the wok. Quick mix. Seasoning in. Quick mix. Tomato and bell pepper in, ~15 second fry. Out.