Egg Fried Rice With Prawns

✅ 5 reasons why you'll love this recipe:

• Quick and easy - there's just 20 minutes of cooking and prep time required. An ideal mid-week meal on a busy day.
• Simple, yet super tasty - fried rice tossed in a deliciously umami sauce, with fluffy pieces of scrambled egg, succulent prawns/shrimp topped with crunchy scallions/green onion.
• Versatile - fried rice is one of those dishes you can make on the fly because you don't have to follow the recipe exactly for it to taste great. Feel free to throw in the meat, fish and veggies you have available.
• Uses up leftover rice and veggies - fried rice tastes so much better when it is made with cold day-old rice making it an excellent way to put leftover rice to good use. It's also a great way to use up any vegetables that are lingering in your fridge.
• It's cheaper and healthier than a Chinese takeaway, and probably quicker too.

🛒 Ingredients and variations:

You'll be able to grab all the ingredients you need to make this tasty fried rice dish at your local store.

• Rice - Any type of long grain rice, including basmati or brown rice will work well. For best results, cook your rice the night before and refrigerate it as soon as it cools. This enables the rice to harden slightly and ensures the grains remain separate and that it does not go mushy. However, don't worry, if you do not have time to do this, you can also cook the rice before you make the dish and still get good results. You can also buy pre-cooked rice to save time.
• Prawns/shrimp - I opt for raw king prawns/shrimp, but you can also use pre-cooked and skip the frying the prawns/shrimp stage in the recipe.
• Peas/other veggies - this fried rice recipe is an excellent way to use up leftover veggies. Red peppers, carrots, cabbage and corn are all good options if you are looking to clear out your fridge. Otherwise, just grab some frozen peas from your freezer and ensure they are thawed before you add them to the dish.
• Sriracha - this adds a little heat to the sauce. You can swap it for another type of hot sauce or omit it if you are very sensitive to spice.

🧑‍🍳 Prawn Egg Fried Rice in 5 easy steps

1. Make the sauce

Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and optional sriracha in a small jug or bowl and set aside.

2. Cook the prawns

Place a wok or large frying pan on a medium to high heat and add sesame oil. Add the prawns when the oil is hot and fry for a few minutes until they are opaque, then set them aside.

3. Aromatics and Peas

Fry the white onions and spring onions/scallions for a few minutes until the white onions are soft and translucent. Then add the chilli and garlic and fry for another minute or two until fragrant.

4. Egg

Reduce the pan to a medium heat and move the ingredients to one side of the pan and pour in the beaten eggs. Wait a few seconds for them to begin to set. Scramble using chopsticks or a spatula.

4. Rice and prawns/shrimp

Add the cooked rice to the pan and mix well. Then pour on the sauce and continue to mix before you add the cooked prawns/shrimp. Serve immediately topped with freshly sliced raw spring onion/scallions.

👍 Top tips for perfect prawn egg fried rice

1. Use yesterday's rice if possible - this allows the grains to separate, the rice to harden slightly and improves its consistency. If you do not have time to do this, don't worry. The dish will still turn out well, you'll just get an improved texture if you use yesterday's rice.
2. Prep all your ingredients before you begin cooking - make sure all ingredients are thoroughly prepped. Everything happens very quickly once you start cooking and there is no time to chop ingredients as you go.
3. Remove the cooked prawns/shrimp from the pan as soon as they are done - take the prawns/shrimp out of the pan as soon as they turn opaque. They will be perfectly juicy and tender at this point. They will become dry and rubbery if you leave them in the pan for longer.

🙋 FAQs

When do you add the egg to egg fried rice?This is a topic of debate. Some recipes advise you to cook the egg first and set it aside and add it back at the end, while others suggest you scramble the egg just before adding the rice or alongside the rice. In my view you should scramble the egg before mixing it into the rice to ensure you have nice definite pieces of scrambled egg as opposed to having egg that is well blended with the rice it disappears. You also want to avoid having cold and dry chunks of egg, which can be a risk when you add the egg first.

Can you crack an egg straight into the pan?You can crack the eggs straight into the pan. Push the other ingredients aside first and then be prepared to move fast. You need to make sure you beat the eggs and whites together before they start to set. Chopsticks are a very effective tool for beating the eggs before you scramble them.

Is fried rice a main dish?Fried rice can be a main dish or a side. It really depends on what you put in it. A fried rice dish that contains fish/meat and veggies can be enjoyed as a meal in itself, whereas fried rice that just contains egg is probably best served as a side.

📦 Storage

Eating leftover shellfish can be risky. Fried rice tastes best when it is served straight from the pan. If you have leftovers, refrigerate them as soon as they are cool and eat them within 24 hours. Ensure you reheat them thoroughly first on the stove or in the microwave.