Yangzhou Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted (save the liquid, about 6 tablespoons)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 salt
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons chicken stock powder
• 3 teaspoons Liaojiu, also known as Shaoxing wine, Huangjiu, Chinese Rice Cooking Wine
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4-centimeter knob ginger
• 100 grams shrimp
• 70 grams pork loin
• 60 grams chicken thigh
• 3 tablespoons frying oil with high smoke point, e.g., peanut or lard
• 1 (70 grams) Lap Cheong
• 250 grams various veggies, e.g., peas, carrots, corn, celery, broccoli, edamame
• 3 eggs
• 250 grams jasmine rice, ideally leftover 4 sprigs scallions, sliced

Directions

1. Take some leftover rice or prepare some fresh rice and leave it out, uncovered, so it can lose some of its moisture. Fried rice needs to be prepared with rice that is as dry as possible.
2. Soak shiitake mushrooms for at least 2 hours in hot but not boiling water.
3. Marinate shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch. Marinate chicken and pork with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch.
4. Finely dice garlic and ginger.
5. Prepare veggies by thawing, blanching, dicing, etc. Keep in mind that they will be cooked for only a very short time.
6. Make the sauce by mixing 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of stock powder, 3 teaspoons of Liaojiu and 6 tablespoons of the mushroom soaking liquid.
7. Roughly scramble the eggs. The egg white and yolk do not need to mix homogeneously. In fact, it’s better if they don’t!
8. When you start from an empty wok, add 1 tablespoon of frying oil or lard and make sure that the oil is as hot as you can get it without risk of injury. Fry shrimp 1-2 minutes, then take it out and set aside. Fry garlic and ginger until aromatic (a couple of seconds), add pork and chicken and fry for about 1 minute, until almost done.
9. Add shiitake mushrooms and fry for about a minute.
10. Add Lap Cheong, fry for thirty seconds. Add the veggies and the white parts of the scallions, then fry for 1-2 minutes.
11. Increase the heat to high and add the sauce. Give everything a good stir or shake.
12. Once the sauce starts boiling (which happens quite quickly), take everything out including the sauce. Leave nothing in the wok.
13. Over high heat, fry the eggs by letting them set a bit, then fold over. We do not want regular scrambled eggs, but an almost-done omelet.
14. Add rice and mix with the egg, chopping up the omelet into small pieces. Regularly stir the mixture.