Sri Lankan Fried Rice

Fried rice really is an incredibly ubiquitous dish, and I think that really is a testament to the versatility of rice itself. Every culture and cuisine has a rice based dish in some form or the other, and every part of the world has their version of fried rice. Admittedly, I think that the root of all fried rice is Chinese. There's a well document history of fried rice within China, with different provinces lending their unique ingredients to make this dish so interesting and varied. As always with human movement and trade history, Sri Lanka is no different to it's other rice loving neighbours, in that we have our form form of unique Chinese cuisine, and the Sri Lankan Chinese fried rice with it's fabulously umami lashings of MSG coating the samba rice it's a thing of beauty.

The defining feature of the Sri Lankan fried rice in my opinion, is the heavy use of leek and carrot. The leeks frying in butter is realy what gives it that flavour we all love and know. Having said that, there is not real right or wrong way to make this dish, and there's no real right or wrong ingredients to add. Some people add soy sauce and oyster sauce but I prefer the rice to remain white and non coated in sauce. Others will add proteins such as chicken, prawns, beef etc. It is totally up to you how you choose to make this dish -- this is a recipe for a very basic egg fried rice, and the rest is up to you!

Recipe notes:

Rice: I like using basmati rice for my fried rice but you can use Samba, long grain, Jasmine rice or whatever suits you. The important factor is that the rice needs to be at least a day old and dried out in the fridge. If you are short on time, cook your rice, spread the rice on a baking tray and leave uncovered in your fridge for at least 2-4 hours to dry the rice out before using.

Egg: This is an optional step and it is not necessary, however I believe that an egg fried rice should have egg at the forefront instead of disappearing into the ether of the rice. For this reason I prefer to beat my eggs with salt and pepper and make thin omelettes with the eggs instead of frying the egg with the leek and carrot. I then thinly shred these omelettes at the end before I finish cooking the fried rice, but once again, this is at your discretion.

Leeks: When cutting the leeks, ensure that you seperate the leeks into 3 parts: the white, tender part of the leek, the light green/yellow middle part of the leek, and the leafy green top of the leek. The reason being that the different parts are added in at different times to add textue and contrast.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten with 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper

• 200g leeks, sliced thinly, seperated into white, light green and dark green parts

• 150g of grated or finely chopped carrots

• 300g rice of your choice, cooked and dried out in thr fridge

• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

• 3 sprigs of curry leaves, finely chopped

• 3" piece of pandan leaf, chopped (optional)

• 1tbs butter

• 1/2 tbs oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 2 tsp sugar

• 2 tsp MSG or chicken stock powder/cube (optional)

Other addtions you can use:

• 100g prawns, chicken, sliced sausgaes or chopped ham

• 50g green peas or edamame beans

• 100g spring onion

• 1 tsp chilie flakes

• 2 tsp soy sauce

Method

Beat the eggs together with the salt and pepper. Using a non stick pan, add in a the egg a third at a time to make omelettes. Fry until cooked through and set aside to cool. Once cooked, cut the omelettes into thin strips and leave aside for later.

Melt together the butter and oil in a high heat durable pan such as a wok or a cast iron skillet. To this, add in the garlic, pandan leaves, curry leaves and the white parts of the leek. Cook until the leek has softened (around 3-4 minutes.

Next add in the carrots and the light green part of the leek. Cook until softened, and add salt to taste at this stage. You can also add seasonings such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, chilie flakes etc. If you are not cooking your eggs seperately, this is also the stage during which the eggs should be added and cooked through.

While maintaining the high heat of the pan, add in the rice and mix through really well. Make sure the rice is evenly coated in the egg, leek and carrot mixture. At this stage, adjust your seasonings to your taste.

Add in the cooked egg and the green part so the leek. You can finish the dish with a small amount of sesame oil if you like. Serve this alongside your favourite Sri Lankan Chinese dishes, but it's perfect as it is if you serve it with a bit of chilie paste.