Shrimp and Sausage Fried Rice (臘腸蝦仁炒飯) is a great side dish, and includes Eggs and Black Mushrooms as well as Chinese Sausage and Shrimp.
As Fried Rice dishes go, this version is fairly well enriched with special ingredients. It can certainly serve as a side dish as part of a more elaborate meal, much like the similar, and ever popular Yang Chow Fried Rice common on many Chinese Restaurant menus, but it Is substantial enough in its own right to make a meal by itself.
The one major difference between favorite Fried Rice recipe and the more famous Yang Chow (or Yangzhou) variety, is that I use Chinese Lop Cheong Sausage in place of the more common Char Siu Pork, or Jinhua Ham. Like the famous Ham, the Sausage has a lovely, apple-like sweetness, but it is far cheaper, and can be more easily found in Asian grocery stores.
Ingredient Notes for Shrimp and Sausage Fried Rice
For making this Fried Rice, or indeed any sort, you need to use a long-grain variety, and it must be already COOKED and COLD. I have emphasized the ‘cooked’ and ‘cold’ because this is absolutely the *most* important thing you need to learn about making proper fried rice.
Never be tempted to boil or steam rice and then immediately try to fry it… you will just end up with a sticky, soggy mess. Even just cooling the rice after cooking is not enough; it needs to be allowed to go completely cold for long enough to dry slightly. For best results, cook your rice the day before then keep it covered in the fridge overnight.
How to make 臘腸蝦仁炒飯
Cooked egg is something I almost always include in fried rice. The basic idea is to first make a plain omelet using the beaten eggs and then chop it up to mix with the rice later. As you can see, I let my omelet brown in places as this adds a little extra flavor.
Heat just a little oil in your pan over moderately high heat and then saute the sausage and celery. There is no particular magic to the order in which you add ingredients but there are some useful rules-of-thumb you may wish to observe … Here, for example, frying the sausage in the cooking oil first allows the sweet umami flavor to infuse the whole dish.
Now add the shrimp and the peas along with the mushrooms. The shrimp only need to be fried long enough for them to turn pink (by which time the peas will be cooked as well).
Finally add the rice and, as you toss and turn it, add the soy. This will be the longest part of the cooking process and you need to keep tossing so that the rice gets heated all through without any of the other ingredients burning at the bottom of the pan.
If necessary, adjust saltiness with a little more soy, but, in whatever order you add ingredients, make sure you add the cooked egg after you have added the last of the soy. Doing otherwise won’t affect the taste but liquid soy getting directly to the egg will ruin its pretty yellow color and, ultimately, the final appearance of your dish.
Your Recipe Card for 臘腸蝦仁炒飯:
Shrimp and Sausage Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 cups cold cooked Long Grain Rice
- 2 Chinese Preserved Sausage diced;
- 1 cup medium Shrimp;
- 2 Black Chinese Mushrooms reconstituted and thinly sliced;
- 1 small stalk of Celery;
- ½ cup frozen Peas;
- 2 Eggs beaten;
- 1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce.
Instructions
- Quickly fry the egg to make a small omelet. Remove it from the pan and, once cooled, chop it into small squares.
- Heat a Tablespoon or so of oil and stir-fry the sausage and celery until the celery is soft.
- Add the shrimp, peas and mushrooms and continue stir-frying until the shrimp is pink.
- Add the rice along with the soy sauce and stir until all is well heated through.
- Add the egg, stir for another moment or two, then dish and serve.