Perfect with leftover rice.

Just about every suburb in Sydney has either a Thai, Malaysian or Chinese restaurant or takeaway shop. If you don’t want the stodgy pizza or burger and fries available, your next choice is Asain food of some kind. And almost one meal that is always up for consideration is fried rice.

Whenever I have to steam rice, I always seem to have some leftover. It’s enough for two or three people the next day but not for four or five. What I love about making fried rice is that you can add in a lot of other ingredients to stretch it out. How I make mine adds more vegetables than what you’d get from your local takeaway store.

This prawn fried rice recipe is easy to make using many common ingredients you’d have at home already. It’s also a great way to hide vegetables in plain sight as to pick it out is too frustrating and time wasting when little tummies are hungry.

In my loaded prawn fried rice recipe I add in zucchini, capsicum, onion, peas and corn. If you don’t have prawns readily available, substitute this for diced ham or leftover roast chicken (minus the stuffing) if you have this available. Here I made this recipe using both prawns and diced ham. The recipe itself is flexible enough to allow you to use a protein that best works for your family.

Why is leftover rice best?

The advice I give here is from experience. I’ve made rice for this dish on the day and by using it warm this dish turned out soggy and without those distinct individual grains we all know and love. After experiencing this, I did some research and discovered it’s best to cook the rice at least a day ahead of time and refrigerate. What this does is help dry the grains out to give your fried rice a really good texture.

Prawn Fried Rice

Fried rice is a staple dish in Asian cuisine. This recipe is loaded with vegetables to ensure all family members get their fair share of goodness - even if vegetables are "hidden" in plain sight.

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Servings 4 people

Ingredients

 

• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/2 cup baby peas
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 1 large capsicum, core removed and diced
• 250 g ham, diced
• 500 g cooked prawns, shelled & deveined
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, or more to taste
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, (optional)
• 3-4 cups rice, cold & day old

Instructions

 

• Heat both sesame and olive oils in a wok or deep frying pan.
• Add onion, garlic and ham. Cook until ham starts getting a golden colour.
• Add all vegetables and cook for about 2 minutes. If you use frozen peas and corn, cook until these defrost and water evaporates.
• Before you add in the cold rice, make sure you break it up so that clumps don't remain. Add the rice and prawns into the wok as well as the soy sauce and oyster sauce - mix with vegetables and cook for about 1-2 minutes until liquid evaporates. Don't overcook or the prawns will be tough.
• Remove from heat and serve immediately. Season with extra soy sauce to taste.

Notes

• You can use a frozen vegetable mix that includes peas, corn and carrot.
• Other vegetables you can add include carrot, mushrooms, spring onions and broccoli.
• Fried rice also commonly includes scrambled egg. If you do, make sure the egg is not a soft scramble but well cooked through.