Craving a Chinese takeaway with an empty bank account is heartbreaking. Luckily, you can make egg fried rice at home on a budget.
Rice is a great food to buy when you’re broke: you can buy it in bulk for a low price. It’s the same with eggs: they’re cheap (providing you’re morally ok with buying eggs from caged hens), filling, and high in protein.
We made this egg fried rice as a side to our salt beef chow mein, which we made from the contents of a Nisa Local Too Good To Go bag.
Ingredients (with prices)
- 1 packet of microwaved rice either long grain or basmati, whichever you can get – £0.60, Tesco
OR
- 1 mug full of uncooked rice – 1kg basmati rice – £1.20, Aldi
- 2 eggs – £1.95 for six from Tesco, or £2.15 for 15, Tesco
- Light soy sauce – £0.59, Tesco
Total cost: £3.14 (six eggs and microwave rice), or £3.94 (12 eggs and 1kg rice)
Serves: Two
There are more authentic recipes on the internet, and we’re well aware that this isn’t one of them. This is a cheap and easy version aimed to satisfy your soy sauce cravings, while also giving you ideas on how to use your bulk-bought rice.
You can cook the rice, if you’re not using a microwave packet, ahead of time. Fried rice dishes always turn out better when the rice has had time to dry out – it gives you a firmer feel to the rice and you don’t run the risk of the grains sticking together or going mushy.
Depending on what you’re got in your fridge or freezer, you can also chuck in some vegetables. Peas, onions, broccoli, bok choy, mixed veg, are all easy to stir fry. Cook your veg first, then add the rice.
You can do the same with proteins. Whatever you’ve got, shred it and add it. Protein, veg, rice, egg. In that order.
You can prepare the whole recipe ahead of time and reheat in the microwave for lunch or dinner. Or even breakfast, you do you.
If you don’t have a wok, a large frying pan will be fine.
Method
Prepare your meat and veg (if using)
Marinade your meat ahead of time. You can find marinades with a quick Google search. There’s a lot of variation, but the general idea is: salt, oil, dark soy sauce, cornstarch. Leave in a covered bowl for a few hours; maybe do this when you pre-cook your rice to streamline things.
Once marinaded:
Heat oil in a wok, add your protein (shredded). Stir or toss occasionally to prevent it sticking. Set the meat aside once it’s cooked. Keep the wok hot, add a splash more oil if necessary, then add your vegetables. Stir fry your vegetables for a couple of minutes and remove from the wok while they’re still crunchy.
Step 1
Heat oil in the wok, when hot add the microwave rice or dried out cooked rice. Keep tossing the wok, or stirring, to prevent the rice from sticking.
While the rice is cooking, scramble the eggs in a jug.
Step 2
When the rice is hot, push to one side. In the now-empty side of the wok, pour the scrambled eggs.
Step 3
As the egg begins to scramble, start stirring, breaking any chunks up as you go. Once the majority is cooked, but it’s still a bit wet, combine with the rice.
(If using: add your vegetables and proteins back in.)
Step 4
Add two tablespoons of soy sauce. Toss to coat the rice. Give it a taste and add more if needed. The soy sauce in fried rice should only be a hint, don’t overdo it.
If you’re of the opinion that soy sauce doesn’t belong in fried rice, don’t add it. We did because we like it.
Step 5
When you’re happy that your fried rice is hot, serve it up.
If you have any spring onions, chop them up and use as a garnish. If you made our salt beef chow mein, then you can use one or two of the spring onions leftover from that. Waste not, want not.
Verdict
Really nice. The 18-year old who ate both servings gave it a big thumbs up.
Things to note
- If you’re preparing this ahead of time, you can store it in a microwave dish and reheat when you’re ready to eat.
- Fried rice recipes aren’t set in stone, you can add whichever proteins or vegetables you have to hand. Just slice your meat and chop your veg and you’re good to go.
- Your leftover eggs can be fried, scrambled, poached, boiled, turned into an omelette. You could also use them to do a bit of baking.
- You can increase the quantity of rice to match who you’re cooking for. Use one egg per person. Or two if you’re a gym rat, a growing teenager, or if like us, you ignore serving sizes.
