Brussels Fried Rice

Fried Shallots • Pancetta • Garlic Sesame Oil

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Chinese

The most important thing you need to know about fried rice is: fry the ingredients separately. Recipes that call for the beaten raw egg and rice to go in together at the same time will only result in mush… and mere disappointment. Try to use a wok if you can, and a HOT one at that. What you are essentially doing is mixing together and reheating ingredients at a high temperature to achieve an umami flavour (which is why your ingredients should be cooked separately before they all go together, and why leftover rice is most commonly used). Also, don’t even try to use uncooked rice. Just, don’t.

This is a different take on fried rice as opposed to the traditional combo. We’re using brussels sprouts and pancetta, which isn’t quite native to China. But… it’s garlicky, it’s salty and what sends this over the edge are the crunchy fried shallots, which adds just the right amount of satisfying oniony taste to the palette. What’s great about fried rice is once you know how to make it, you can get creative with what ingredients you want to put in it!

— mm worthy approved —

We encourage cooking organically. Our recipes are flexible, so you can stop & taste, adjust and create your own spin! Learn More >>

Time –

Prep

5 min.

Cook

20min.

Total

25min.

Equipment –

Wok

Spatula

— instructions —

①

Fry shallots.

Prep the fried shallot garnish. Pour ¼ cup of grapeseed oil (or oil of choice with a high smoke point) into a wok and heat over high heat. Once the oil becomes hot and only just begins to start smoking a little, add the sliced shallots in and start frying. Fry for about 5-10 minutes or until the shallots become a light brown golden colour. It should look a little ‘underdone’, as it will continue to cook and brown when you take it out of the wok. Discard the oil and take the fried shallots out to rest on a paper towel. Blob the shallots with more paper towels and try to get out as much oil as possible. Doing this will allow for more crisp. Let cool.

②

Render pancetta until crisp, remove.

In the same wok, add pancetta to render. There’s no need to add any oil to the wok since the pancetta will provide the fat. Continue rendering until pancetta becomes a deep dark reddish brown and crisps up. Remove pancetta from wok and set aside.

③

Stir fry brussels sprouts, remove.

Add the brussels sprouts to the wok with the pancetta fat stir around, coating the sprouts in the fat. Cook until brussels sprouts are soft and cooking through. Salt to taste, then remove from wok and set aside.

④

Cook egg, remove.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat. Add a pinch of salt. In the same wok, drop a dollop of oil of choice and pour beaten egg in. Scramble the eggs and break apart into small pieces. When the eggs have firmed up, remove from wok and set aside.

⑤

Toast and break apart rice.

In the same wok, over high heat, add another dollop of oil of choice and begin toasting the rice in the wok, breaking apart all the pieces well. Toast for a couple minutes, and continuing to stir and work the rice. Coat all the grains well with oil.

⑥

Add in cooked ingredients and toss.

Add in all the cooked ingredients that you’ve set aside: the brussels sprouts, pancetta, egg. Stir around and combine well with the rice. Keep stirring vigorously to toast every grain and ingredient, making sure nothing at the bottom burns.

⑦

Add final seasoning, toss a little more.

Add final seasonings: garlic, soy sauce, worcestershire, sugar, and sesame oil. Keep tossing and stirring the rice until all is incorporated, about 5 minutes. If you want, you can leave the fried rice untouched for about a minute at the very end before turning off the heat. The bottom will crisp up, giving the fried rice more texture. Once the bottom is crisp, scrape all the browned crispy bits and incorporate that into the rice. Serve with the fried shallot garnish on top. Congrats! You just made brussels sprouts fried rice.