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This Yeung Chow fried rice is packed with sticky char siu pork, juicy prawns and sweet peas. A flavour-packed Chinese takeaway favourite you can make at home.
Nicky’s Notes
You know when you order special fried rice from the Chinese takeaway and find yourself hunting around for the best bits? For me, it’s always those lovely little chunks of Chinese barbecue pork.
That’s exactly why I love the combination in this Yeung Chow fried rice. You get the smoky-sweet, caramelised flavour of the char siu pork alongside tender prawns and sweet peas, so there’s something delicious in every forkful.
I particularly like making a batch of my homemade char siu pork and saving some for dishes like this. It freezes beautifully, so it’s handy to have ready for a Chinese fakeaway night.
And don’t worry if you haven’t got homemade char siu waiting in the freezer. You can buy ready-made versions too. I’ve included some notes in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients for Yeung chow fried rice
***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***
A note on the rice
- Use cooked rice (I’ve got a simple tutorial here for how to boil rice in a pan perfectly), then cool it in a wide dish, so the rice cools quickly and dries out a little. I like to let it come to room temp, then cover and refrigerate (for up to a day) until i’m ready to use it).
- Cooling the rice helps stop the rice from sticking together and will also help it to absorb more flavour.
🧑🍳 Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Fry the onion in oil until softened. Add chilli and garlic, then stir in the peas, char siu pork and prawns, cooking until the prawns are pink. Add the cooked, cooled rice and stir-fry until piping hot. Push rice to one side, crack in the eggs with the light soy sauce and scramble before mixing through the rice. Stir in the dark soy sauce, salt and lemon juice, then finish with a drizzle of sesame oil. Serve topped with chopped spring onions.
Recipe Tips
- Get everything prepped before you start. Fried rice comes together quite quickly, so have your pork, prawns, vegetables and sauces ready to go. It makes the whole process much easier!
- Don’t overcook the prawns. Raw prawns only need a few minutes to turn pink and cook through. If you’re using pre-cooked prawns, they just need heating through, otherwise they can become tough and rubbery.
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Pin ItMake ahead and Leftovers Information
- Can I make it ahead?
- I recommend making this Yeung Chow fried rice fresh, particularly as we’re using pre-cooked char siu pork and potentially pre-cooked prawns.
- You can get ahead by preparing the ingredients in advance. Cook the rice, cool it quickly (ideally within an hour) and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. Chop the vegetables and have your pork and prawns ready in the fridge, so everything is ready to go when you start cooking.
- Can I refrigerate leftovers?
- As we’re using previously cooked rice and char siu pork (and possibly cooked prawns), I recommend making only what you’re going to eat straight away. The fried rice reheats these ingredients, so any leftovers shouldn’t be cooled and reheated again.
📺 Watch how to make it
Yeung Chow Fried Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion peeled and finely diced
- 1 red chilli chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 100 g (3/4 cup) frozen peas I like to use petit pois, as they're smaller and sweeter and cook more quickly
- 200 g (7 oz) char siu pork – chopped into small chunks (see options and alternatives in notes section)
- 200 g (7 oz) prawns or king prawns they can be raw or ready-cooked. Defrost first, if frozen.
- 800 g (4 cups) boiled and cooled long-grain rice (this is about 1 1/3 cups (300g) dried rice that has been boiled in water) See notes
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled is fine)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
To Serve:
- 4 spring onions (scallions) chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wok over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes until the onions are starting to turn soft and translucent.2 tbsp oil, 1 onion
- Add in the chopped chilli and garlic. Cook for a further minute, stirring often with a spatula.1 red chilli, 2 cloves garlic
- Add the peas and cook for one minute, then add the char siu pork and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.100 g (3/4 cup) frozen peas, 200 g (7 oz) char siu pork
- Add the prawns and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes (if you're cooking them from raw, we want them to turn pink at this point).200 g (7 oz) prawns or king prawns
- Now add the rice turn up to a medium-high heat. Use a spatula to ensure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, and move the rice around so that it's all getting reheated.800 g (4 cups) boiled and cooled long-grain rice
- Once the rice is hot (this will take about 5 minutes), push the rice over to the side of the pan and crack the two eggs in the space. Add the light soy sauce to the eggs.2 eggs, 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- Making sure the part of the wok with the eggs in is over the heat, fry the eggs, giving a mix with the spatula until the egg starts to cook and look scrambled. Now mix the egg into the rice.
- Add the dark soy sauce and salt and mix it all together.1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1/4 tsp salt
- Add the lemon juice, stir and taste. Add a little more lemon juice if required. Drizzle over the sesame oil and stir together.1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp sesame oil
- Divide between bowls and top with spring onions (scallions) before serving.4 spring onions (scallions) chopped
Video
Notes
Char Siu Pork
Char Siu pork is a traditional ingredient in Yeung Chow fried rice. It takes a little time (marinating + 1.5 hours cooking) if you make it yourself. I have a recipe for my family’s favourite char siu pork here. – Alternatively, you can buy ready-made char siu pork from larger Asian supermarkets. UK supermarkets: M&S, Ocado and occasionally Iceland have it too. If you can’t find it, you could swap with:– Lap Cheong (a sweet/savoury cured Chinese sausage) – chop into chunks and fry before adding
– Chopped up cooked roast pork belly, or shredded leftover pork (toss in a bit of BBQ sauce for a sweet/savoury flavour)
– Chopped up ready-cooked Chinese/Sweet-Chilli/Sweet-smoky chicken breast pieces
– Shredded cooked Chinese duck
– Chopped up ham pieces (doesn’t replace the sweet-smoky-savoury flavour or char siu pork, but is an alternative meat to the chicken and prawns that are already in there, and taste pretty good too. Nutritional Information is per serving, based on 4 servings.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was first posted in March 2015. Updated since with recipe improvements, new photography, new video and for housekeeping reasons.
🍽️ Serve as part of a Chinese buffet with these dishes
🍲 More fantastic fried rice recipes
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Cooling the rice is vital,I like to spread mine on a sheet pan let it cool and then refrigerate overnight it really does make a huge difference to the flavour and texture,it’s how they do it down your local chinese.
I cooked it with my dad and everything was delicious i didnt like the sweet and sour sauce but the rest of my family did.
Hi, in the early 90s, I worked permanent nights, 7hr for four nights & Twelve on Fridays so we went to the local Chinese for tea. I had their special egg fried rice, they added all the meats they served beef, chicken, pork & prawns. I’ve never found a Chinese who has used this recipe since then.
I love your page!!!
Robin.
I always use a really old Sainsbury’s recipe from the 80’s I think, that does the whole thing backwards…you basically fry the uncooked rice first until lightly browned, then (carefully) tip it into a saucepan of simmering chicken stock and cook as normal. Any veggies and meat you stir fry separately. When the rice is done you scramble the eggs (with some soy sauce) until dryish and then add them to the rice along with some more soy sauce to taste. It’s the closest taste to take-away fried rice that I’ve come across so far and prevents the rice either going mushy and broken up, or the eggs mixing in too much and not staying as separate flakes. Totally inauthentic, but it works 😂
One word ……fantastic.
delicious yummy fried rice ..very simple
Another way to cook rice from Nicky and her fried rice.
The way I use now, the rice is freshly cooked and it turns out every time in my non-stick wok. 🙂 Freezes well too.
When I first started making fried rice in the 70s, I only cooked my rice the rapid boil method as I had never heard of the absorption method. My rice turned out perfect every time but my sister couldn’t get the hang of making it in a saucepan, so she uses a rice cooker. I could never get the hang of a rice cooker and I have never burnt my rice when using the absorption method and I am good at burning things. 🙂
Poor Dan is wrong in his comment. There is no definitive right or wrong way to do most things. If it works with a different method for different folk then all is good. The main requirements for food ar that it tastes good and is safe to eat. Nicky covered both those points.
Great authentic Asian recipes!