Stir-fried Rice with Egg and Spring Onions

First, warm the frying pan over a medium heat, next, add the rice, then add 8 fl oz (225 ml) boiling water along with the salt, stir once only, then cover with a lid.

Turn the heat to its lowest setting and let the rice cook gently for exactly 15 minutes. Don't remove the lid and don't stir the rice during cooking, because this is what will break the grains and release their starch, which makes the rice sticky. After 15 minutes, tilt the pan to check that no liquid is left; if there is, pop it back on the heat for another minute. When there is no water left in the pan, take it off the heat, remove the lid and cover with a clean tea cloth for 5-10 minutes, then transfer the rice to a dish and fluff it lightly with a fork and allow it to become completely cold.

When you are ready to stir-fry, heat half the oil in the frying pan and when it's really hot, quickly fry the onions for 3 minutes, moving them around in the pan until they are tinged brown. Now add the remaining oil to the pan and, when it's smoking hot, add the rice and stir-fry this time for about 30 seconds. Now spread the ingredients out in the pan and pour in the beaten egg. It won't look very good now, but keep on stir-frying, turning the mixture over, and the egg will soon cook into little shreds that mingle with the other ingredients.

Finally, add the spring onion and soy sauce, give it one more good stir and serve with Chinese Stir-fried Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms and Purple Sprouting Broccoli, see recipe below.

You can also watch how to cook perfect rice in our Cookery School Video on this page.