Yakimeshi (Chahan)
Japanese sautéed rice is called Yakimeshi (焼 飯) or also Chahan (チ ャ ー ハ ン / 炒飯) and is prepared with steamed rice (preferably advanced the day before) fried in the wok with a number of ingredients of your choice.
This dish was brought to Japan in the mid-1800s by Chinese immigrants who settled in Kobe. Over the years the recipe has been interpreted with many different ingredients, while maintaining the way rice is cooked. There are also versions with strong neighboring foreign contaminations of this dish, as in the case of kimchi chahan with fried egg on top, which is none other than kimchi fried rice.
The recipe that I propose for this dish is very easy and fast and can be made with ingredients that we all usually have at home.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 serving of cold steamed rice
- 1 small zucchini (or 1/2 courgette) cut into small dice
- 1 small carrot (or 1/2 carrot) cut into small dice
- 1 clove of grated garlic
- 1 finely chopped spring onion (or 1 finely chopped white onion)
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sake (optional)
- 1 egg
- vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon butter
- salt
- pepper
PREPARATION
- Heat the wok over high heat and pour in a drop of vegetable oil. Pour in the whole egg and work it with a spatula to cook it scrambled. Remove the egg from the heat and set aside.
- In the same hot wok pour more oil and add the garlic, zucchini, carrot, spring onion. Sauté continuing to mix with the spatula.
- Add the hasty rice and work it with the spatula as if you wanted to "cut" it, so as not to break the grains but only shell them.
- Deglaze with sake and soy sauce. Add the scrambled egg and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue to mix. Serve hot.
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