Pork is my favorite protein in fried rice. The pork that restaurants use is typically char siu, which is roast pork often with a red tint (I recently found out this is usually food coloring). Char siu is delicious, but takes a long time to make. For a speedier preparation, we can marinate and stir-fry the pork for great infusion of flavor. You can probably cut the pork chunks smaller for a more elegant presentation, but my husband Ben and I like our chunky chunks. For the rice, it’s best to use rice that is at least a day old, kept in the rice cooker overnight or in an airtight container. The rice dries out a bit which is what you want, not the freshly steamed fluffy rice we’d normally prefer on any other occasion. Once you have the pork and rice on hand, making the fried rice is quick and simple. Fried rice is a perfect dish to make when you have left over rice that you don’t know what to do with. At our home though, we tend to cook rice in advance specifically for fried rice because we love it so much.
Pork Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 rice-cooker cups uncooked Jasmine rice cook 1 day ahead
For the pork marinade
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons Japanese cooking sake
- 1 teaspoon grated garlic
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
For the pork
- 2 pounds boneless pork loin
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
For the eggs
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the fried rice
- 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons pork marinade from above
- chopped scallions for garnish
- Sriracha sauce for serving on the side (optional)
Instructions
Cook the rice [1 day ahead]
- A day ahead of making the fried rice, cook the Jasmine rice per rice cooker instructions.
- Keep the rice in the rice cooker overnight or in an airtight container.
Marinate the pork
- In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the pork marinade. Stir well.
- Set aside the required amount of marinade for seasoning the fried rice later.
- Rinse the pork under cold water, pat dry with paper towels, and cut into bite-size pieces.
- Add the pork to the marinade and mix with a spatula so that all of the pork pieces are evenly coated. Let the pork marinate for 40 minutes.
Cook the pork
- Drain the pork of the marinade.
- Add the vegetable oil and sesame oil to a large wok and heat over medium-high heat.
- Add the pork to the wok and stir-fry until the pork is cooked. Stir frequently. Be careful as the oil may splatter quite a bit at first.
- Once the pork is cooked, remove from the wok and set aside. If there is any sauce left in the wok, pour it over the pork to keep them from drying out.
Prepare the eggs
- Clean the wok from above and add the vegetable oil. Heat over medium-high heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the lightly beaten eggs and quickly stir with a wooden spatula. Remove the eggs from the wok when the eggs are 80% cooked. Set aside.
Make the fried rice
- Keep the wok on medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil and sesame oil.
- Add the green onions and stir-fry until evenly coated with oil.
- Add the garlic and stir-fry until evenly coated with oil.
- Add the cooked rice and toss the rice to break-up any chunks. Be careful not to mash the rice.
- Drain the pork of excess marinade and add to the wok. Stir well without mashing the rice.
- Add the cooked egg and stir to break into small pieces.
- When all of he ingredients are mixed well, add the soy sauce, salt, white pepper, freshly ground black pepper and the pork marinade that you set aside earlier. Stir well without mashing the rice.
- Garnish with chopped scallions and serve warm. You could provide Sriracha sauce on the side for those who would like a spicy tangy kick.