Prep 10 mins · Cook 12 to 15 mins · Total 25 mins (rice cooked night before) · Servings 2 to 3 · Difficulty Advanced
For 4 cups day-old jasmine rice
The night before
4 cups cooked jasmine rice (250 mL cup measure, about 600 g cooked weight), spread thin on a sheet tray, uncovered in the fridge overnight. Day-old rice is non-negotiable. Same-day rice steams instead of fries.
Pork, canonical protein
8 oz boneless pork chop, center cut, trimmed and cut into 5 mm dice
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing wine, Pagoda or Pearl River Bridge
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp neutral oil
Prawns
10 mid-size prawns (16/20 count), peeled and deveined
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp neutral oil
Eggs
4 large eggs, separated. One yolk for the rice coat. The remaining 3 yolks plus all 4 whites beaten together for the wok.
Rice coat
1 yolk
1/2 tsp neutral oil
Aromatics
1 1/2 tbsp finely minced yellow onion
2 stalks scallion, whites and greens separated, greens sliced thin
1/4 tsp finely grated ginger
Seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp rendered pork fat
1 tsp Knorr chicken stock powder
1/4 tsp MSG
1/8 tsp fine sea salt to start
1/4 tsp white pepper, split in half
1 tsp light soy sauce, Pearl River Bridge Superior
1/4 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
Neutral oil for the wok, about 2 tbsp total across the cook
Coat the rice
Break up clumps with wet hands until every grain stands alone. Toss with 1 yolk and 1/2 tsp oil, working it through until every grain glistens uniformly. The lacquer is the dish. Set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes so the coat sets.
Velvet the prawns
Toss prawns with baking soda, sugar, and salt for exactly 3 minutes. Longer turns the texture rubbery. Rinse thoroughly under cold water until no slick remains, pat bone-dry. Toss with cornstarch and oil. Hold cold.
Velvet the pork
Toss pork with baking soda first, rest 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear, pat bone-dry. Combine with soy, Shaoxing, cornstarch, and oil. Rest another 10 minutes.
Heat the wok
Carbon steel wok over the highest flame your burner gives you, until the surface begins to smoke and a drop of water vaporizes on contact within a second.
Sear the pork
Add 1 tbsp neutral oil and swirl. Pork in a single layer, undisturbed 45 seconds to set a crust, then toss until just cooked through, about 60 to 90 seconds total. Out onto a holding plate.
Flash the prawns
Same wok, 1 tsp oil. Prawns 30 to 45 seconds, until barely opaque and curled. Out, with the pork.
Eggs
Wipe the wok clean. Add the pork fat and swirl until it slicks the entire bowl. Beaten eggs in. Let them set 5 seconds, then push through with the wok spatula in long folds. Pull off the heat while still glossy and slightly underdone, the residual heat finishes them. Out.
Build
Wok back on the highest heat. Splash of oil, about 1 tsp. Onion, scallion whites, ginger for 20 seconds, no color. Rice in. Spread, press into the wok face, lift, repeat until every grain is dancing and the wok sounds dry, about 90 seconds. The rice should pop, not stick.
Season in stages
Chicken powder, MSG, the first half of the white pepper. Toss until distributed. Light soy down the hot wok edge so it bloom-cooks before mixing. Toss.
Reunite
Pork, prawns, eggs back in. Break up the egg curds against the rice with the spatula edge. Chinkiang vinegar down the wok edge. Toss twice.
Taste before salt
Stock powder lands late. Taste a spoonful from the wok. If it needs lift, add salt by pinches. Most cooks oversalt at the start because the chicken powder reads slow.
Finish
Off the heat. Scallion greens and the second half of the white pepper. One final toss. Plate immediately on warm plates. Wok hei fades within minutes.
Notes
Why the yolk coat
The lacquer gives the rice its grain separation and the deep gold color. Day-old rice alone will not get you there. The yolk is half the dish.
Why split the pepper
First half cooks in and seasons the body. Second half hits the nose at the table. The aromatic top note is the difference between fried rice and gold fried rice.
Why no garlic
The dish is built on egg, scallion, and ginger as the aromatic spine. Garlic crowds it and pulls the flavor toward Cantonese yang chow style. Different dish.
Protein swaps
Ground pork at 8 oz, season but skip cornstarch and baking soda, for the weeknight move.
Boneless skinless chicken thigh in 5 mm dice, 1/8 tsp baking soda velvet, then same marinade as pork.
Char siu at 4 to 6 oz in 5 to 7 mm dice. Trim sticky glaze and add 1/2 tsp Shaoxing at the wok edge when it goes in.
Wok matters
Carbon steel beats nonstick beats stainless. The thermal mass and the seasoning carry the wok hei. A nonstick pan can make this dish at 80 percent.
Rice cup size
Rice volumes assume the 250 mL Asian rice-cooker cup, not the US 240 mL cup. The difference compounds at 4 cups.
