Arroz Chaufa (Fried Rice With Chicken and Bell Pepper)

I think people rate it after reading it based on how they think it’ll taste. Not at all fair, I believe. Make it as written, rate it and tell things you’ll change next time you make it!

Cooked brown rice, or light brown, if you can get it, can be used. It’s delicious and more filling than white rice, and much healthier. I cook brown rice in whatever stock I have on hand and add a tablespoon of dark soy sauce. It’s a great base for stir fries and fried rice dishes.

Is there a rule of thumb for translating x inches of fresh ginger to x ounces (or grams)? Ginger root sizes vary so greatly that I'm more comfortable using weight for accuracy. Thanks.

I make it almost exactly like this (veggies and meat vary according to what is in the fridge) but add a teaspoon or so of oyster sauce for extra umami. It's always very tasty.

I made something very similar to this recipe the other night before I saw this article. It's a great recipe to riff on and easily resized for a smaller batch. I don't add the sugar and msg and add extra soy and celery. The chicken can be precooked too or replaced with tofu, turkey or some other protein. It's a good way to clear out the refrigerator of leftovers and odd bits of vegetables.

Fried rice is always made with old cooked rice. It doesn’t work as well with newly cooked rice. Most Asian households have their version of fried rice. It’s easy to put together from whatever is in the fridge and offers such great comfort food best eaten in a bowl.

It would be helpful if the NYT would indicate the preferred rice/rice used in the recipe as prepared, even if substitutions will work. Was the recipe made with long or medium grain rice? Long grain is typical in Peruvian arrocito and medium grain typical in Chinese-style fried rice. Regardless, if using freshly cooked rice, I'd recommend spreading it out in a sheet pan to allow the rice to dry while it is cooling, not just letting it cool in the pot or rice cooker (or using day-old rice).

Made this exactly as written, except that I did not use the MSG or white pepper (used black instead). Really good! I was a little worried about a whole tablespoon of cumin, but it was great.

jasmine is my preference

Uh, I'm assuming this recipe means two cups of rice measured prior to cooking, not two cups after cooking?

Regular sesame oil is very mild. I would add toasted sesame oil to fried rice.

I made this pretty much as written except I doubled the chicken as I wanted more protein. I used tamari and splashed on some soy at the end. Cooked this up in a wok really crisped the rice nicely. I'll make this again and didn't find a TBS of cumin overwhelming at all. I thought it was a lot at first but it all mixed in nicely.

My mom (Irish immigrant) taught me a similar recipe. She called it a "some" recipe. Some of this, some of that, whatever you've got on hand. She cooked everything in the pan in stages, did not put anything in a bowl to add back in. 1. Veggies in oil (or butter), seasoning. 2. Rice, may need more oil/butter. 3. Eggs, scramble with the rice/veggies. 4. Meat/fish (usually leftover already cooked). 5. Soy sauce additional seasoning.

Anyone do fried rice on a sheet pan? I am thinking maybe step 5 on--putting the cooled, cooked rice on a preheated sheet pan, adding the protein/veg (step 4), and letting it crisp in the oven at 450.

The recipe makes sense to me. Steps 1 and 2 include ingredients that you don't want to overcook, so they are added back at the end with just a quick additional minute of cooking. Also, the author says in the header that you should cook the rice in batches if you want more servings. So--if you're staying with the number of servings in the recipe, you don't need to remove anything after Step 2.