Fujian fried rice is probably one of my favorite versions of fried rice. This is an eye-catching dish with a variety of colorful vegetables in a rich sauce with eggs. The first time I saw it I was attracted by its beautiful appearance; after tasting it, I fell deeply in love with it.

Fujian is a province of China, located on the southeast coast. It is next to the Zhejiang province in the Northeast and on the border of the Jiangxi Province. It is connected with the Guangdong province in the southeast and across from the Taiwan Strait to the Taiwan province in the east.

Fujian fried rice is not as famous as Yangzhou fried rice, but it is full of rich ingredients and is therefore more flavorsome.

Today I will share with you the method of making Fujian fried rice.

Main Ingredients:

500g cooked rice

1 egg

Secondary Ingredients:

4 prawns

60g chicken breast (boneless)

20g celery

40g carrot

20g red capsicum

4 mushrooms

20g winter bamboo shoots

Seasoning:

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons starch

4 tablespoons peanut oil

Step 1:

Break the egg into a bowl. Peel the prawn and remove the head. Using your knife, dice all the raw ingredients and beat the egg using chopsticks.

Step 2:

Preheat a wok, and pour in two teaspoons of the peanut oil. Stir-fry the eggs and immediately stir in the rice, adding pepper.

Step 3:

Boil a pot of water and add all the ingredients except for the red capsicum and celery. Blanch them, then remove them from the pot and drain.

Step 4:

Heat your wok and pour the remaining two tablespoons of peanut oil into it. Add the red capsicum and celery and fry briefly.

Step 5:

Add the blanched vegetables and fry briefly, then pour in some hot water, oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauces, and salt. Bring the sauce to the boil. Mix the starch with a little cold water and pour this into the sauce to thicken it. You can then pour the sauce over the rice.

Cooking tips:

1. Making fried rice should not be much of a challenge. Check out my guide to cooking the perfect fried rice.
2. When you add the rice to the eggs, make sure the oil is not too hot. After adding the eggs, do not boil the rice immediately, but fry it with the eggs until it is a golden-yellow color.
3. Stir the rice over the heat until it becomes fragrant then add pepper. Do not add salt at this stage.
4. Capsicum and celery do not take long to cook, so do not boil them in the water as they will overcook once you add them to the pan.
5. The seasoning is typical of that in Cantonese cuisine: light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and oyster sauce. Use these three ingredients, and you may not need salt. Only add it if you feel you need it.
6. The sauce is supposed to be thick, and the slower it pours, the better.

Facts about the nutritional value of prawns

Prawns are made up of 20% protein, being higher in protein than food such as fish, eggs and milk. In fact, prawns contain up to ten times the amount. They also contain essential amino acids, for example, valine and glycine. They are a nutritionally balanced source of protein. The more amino acids it contains, the sweeter the prawn will be.

Compared to fish and poultry, prawns contain less fat and almost no carbohydrates, which are an energy source. They contain lots of cholesterol and are rich in taurine, which can help lower human serum cholesterol. Shrimp is also rich in potassium, iodine, magnesium, phosphorus and other trace elements including vitamin A, etc.