Over the past month it felt as if I kept bumping into Hong Kong raised Chef Sin. There was a photograph of his Golden Fried Rice on the cover of Bon Appétit, followed up by a two page introduction to the recipe before we even found the list of ingredients and instructions 24 pages later. And, if that were not enough, he and his recipe popped up my public radio station, Oregon Public Broadcasting, the other day when I turned on The Splendid Table. It didn't take much to convince me that there must be more than meets the eye with this simple-sounding recipe. I suspected straight away that it wasn't going to be another version of my mother's soy sauced fried rice, and it wasn't. In fact, for me, the recipe turned out to be somewhat of a trellis upon which I could hang other ingredients such as wild mushrooms.
Oh, yes, surely you noticed that the recipe doesn't include mushrooms. Well, when I served the dish to a friend, his first comment was: You really need to add some fresh boletes to this or white chanterelles ... perhaps matsutake, a great suggestion that you, dear reader, may also wish to consider.
We considered adding slices of
wild mushrooms to this entrée.
Lucas Sin's Golden Fried Rice with Salmon and Furikake
4 large eggs
4 cups chilled cooked short-grain white rice
5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
Kosher salt
12-oz. skinless, boneless salmon fillet, cut into 1" pieces
1" piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped
½ small onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
4 scallions, white and pale green parts finely chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced, separated
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Furikake (for serving)
- Separate egg yolks from whites, placing yolks in a medium bowl and whites in a small bowl. Add rice to bowl with yolks and mix to break up any clumps and coat each grain with yolks (take your time with this as any clumps will cook together); set aside. Stir 2 tablespoons oil into egg whites and season lightly with salt.
- Heat a dry large nonstick skillet over high. Add egg white mixture and cook, pushing around constantly with chopsticks or a heatproof rubber spatula, until gently set, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out skillet if needed.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high. Season fish with salt and cook, undisturbed, until golden brown underneath, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook just until lightly browned on the other side and opaque throughout, about 1 minute. Transfer to another plate. Wipe out skillet.
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in skillet over medium-high. Cook ginger, stirring, until very fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add onion and season with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 1 minute (remove from heat if onion starts to go past golden brown). Add reserved rice mixture, sprinkle with sugar, and season with salt. Toss to combine, then cook, undisturbed, until rice is beginning to warm and crisp underneath, about 1 minute. Push some of the rice to the side to clear a few inches in skillet. Drizzle a bit of oil into the clearing. Add scallion white and pale green parts and garlic and cook, stirring, until just softened and fragrant, about 45 seconds. Toss into rice mixture and cook, tossing occasionally, until warmed through and rice is crisp and chewy, about 3 minutes. Return cooked egg whites to pan and cook, tossing and breaking up with spatula until distributed. Return salmon to pan and toss once to combine.
- Divide among plates and top with furikake and scallion greens.
NOTE: Furikake is a Japanese seasoning that is typically composed of toasted sesame seeds, nori, salt, sugar. However, variations occur, and the seasoning can embrace bonito and/or chili flakes, miso and/or shiitake powder as well as poppy seeds.