Chinese Sausage Fried Rice

Common protein to use in Chinese fried rice include, shrimp, chicken, or BBQ pork (char siu). In this recipe, I chose to use a very traditional ingredient - Chinese sausage or "lap cheong"( 臘腸).  Lap cheong is a pork sausage, that is smoked, sweetened and seasoned with soy sauce, rice wine and rose water that you can buy in most Chinese supermarkets.

I was shopping at Kensington market in Toronto at my favourite butcher shop where I also get my cured meats and cheeses. I got so excited when I saw that they made in-house lap cheong and wanted to try it! It was delicious and gave the fried rice a nice aromatic and salty seasoning, reminiscent of the fried rice my dad made at the restaurant.


Serves 2-3

3 cups of old sushi rice or jasmine rice (Chinese white rice), leave it out for 2 hours to bring to room temperature
1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong/ 臘腸), diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 red onions, diced
1 green onion, diced
2 eggs
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp water *Note: if using sushi rice, it is not necessary to add the water

Pour 1/2 tbsp oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Mix the eggs in a bowl, add 1/2 a tsp salt and fry the egg in the pan for a few minutes on each side, about 5 min total. Once it's cooked, cut the egg up using your spatula or knife on a cutting board into small pieces. Set aside.

Over medium heat, pour 1/2 tbsp oil into the pan and cook the red onions for 3-4 min. Add the carrots and sausage and cook for 5 min. Add the rice and water, breaking the rice apart with the spatula. I leave the rice out ahead of time to bring it to room temperature so that it'll break apart and heat up more easily.

Add the soy sauce and stir everything together. Pour a little more water in the pan if you need to use it to break apart the rice.

Once the rice is warmed up and mixed in with the ingredients, add the green onions, sugar, pepper and remaining salt. Have a taste to see if you'd like to add more soy sauce or pepper for taste.

Serve in a bowl on its own or with a side of bak choy.