Fried rice with salty fish and broccoli

Like all stir-frying, it’s important to have all your ingredients prepared and close by so you can whiz through it and you can of course use almost anything you like instead of the salted fish – try cooked pork, crab, prawn or squid. The Chefs' Line

Fried rice with salty fish and brocolli Credit: The Chefs' Line Series 2

• serves

  2

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp salted fish (see Notes)
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 80 g Chinese broccoli
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 pinch galangal powder (see Notes)
• 1 cup cooked rice (preferably day old)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp red Asian shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp chilli scuds, chopped
• ½ Lebanese cucumber, finely sliced
• lime wedges, to serve

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190˚C.

For the salted fish, remove from the oil or package and allow to drain on paper towels. Place on a baking tray and bake for 8 minutes or until the outsides of the fish are semi-dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, pull the flesh away from the bones, but do not discard the skin as it is very flavourful. Set aside.

Place the garlic and a pinch each of salt and white pepper into a mortar and grind with the pestle to make a paste.

Crack the egg into a bowl and lightly whisk with a fork to break the yolk into the white.

Cut the Chinese broccoli across the stem and leaves into 1 cm pieces. In a small saucepan of boiling water, submerge the broccoli and blanch for 20 seconds. Drain and set aside.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and garlic paste and stir until fragrant and beginning to colour. Pour in the egg and add the galangal and a pinch of white pepper and stir until lightly scrambled. Before the egg fully cooks, add the rice and reduce the heat to medium. Using a spatula, make sure the egg coats the rice, breaking any clumps to separate the rice grains from each other. Add the salted fish, fish sauce, soy sauce, a pinch of white pepper, sugar and vinegar, and stir to evenly incorporate and season the rice. Stir-fry the rice, lightly colouring and perfuming the rice. Finish by adding the Chinese broccoli, then remove from the heat and stir through the shallots and chillies.

Garnish with cucumber slices and lime wedges and serve immediately.

Notes

• Salted fish can be found in any Asian grocer specializing in South East Asian foods. In jars, you can find salted mackerel in oil or individually packed fillets of salted mackerel.

• Galangal powder can also be found in any Asian grocer.

This recipe is from Series 2 of The Chefs' Line airing weeknights at 6pm on SBS. Episodes will be available after broadcast via SBS On Demand. Join the conversation #TheChefsLine on Instagram @sbsfood, Facebook @SBSFood  and Twitter @SBS_Food. Check out sbs.com.au/thechefsline for episode guides, cuisine lowdowns, recipes and more! 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.