Jasmine rice is a type of long-grain rice that is commonly used in Chinese restaurants. It has a light, delicate flavor and a slightly sticky texture. Jasmine rice is named after the Jasmine flower, which has a similar aroma.
The rice you find at the Chinese restaurant is usually Jasmine, but you can steam most regular white long-grain rice varieties.
The answer: high heat, expert tosses, and something known as 'wok hei. ' As J. Kenji López-Alt writes for Serious Eats, expert cooking with a wok (and the gas range it requires) is one of the main reasons that fried rice from a Chinese restaurant tastes so much better than what you can make at home.
In Fried Rice, most quick-service restaurants (QSRs) use long-grain white rice like Basmati, whereas Jasmine Rice is used in Chinese Rice. If you love rice unconditionally, you should definitely try out Fried Rice varieties (available in veg & no-veg) from Hong's Kitchen.
For a classic, basic, Chinese fried rice like today's recipe, medium to long grain would be my two top choices. For Thai fried rice such as pineapple fried rice, fragrant rice, also called jasmine rice, is what's used. The grains are long and thin, thinner than regular long grain rice.
Jasmine rice cooks up stickier, in clumps, whereas basmati rice tends to cook up as dry, individual grains that do not stick together. When used to make fried rice, jasmine rice may beat out basmati rice because of its ability to crisp up without breakage.
Today, parboiled rice is readily available and is a popular choice in foodservice. Parboiled rice begins with paddy rice that is pressure-steamed before it is milled to make parboiled whole grain brown or white rice.
Jasmine Rice (茉莉香米, Mòlì xiāng mǐ)
This is our favorite type of white rice. Look for premium brands with unbroken grains with a nice shine to them. This is also our preferred rice for making fried rice! Try our popular Pork Fried Rice recipe.
Rice: Use any long grain or medium grain thin rice. Any rice labelled as long grain, basmati or jasmine work well to make fried rice. Avoid using short fat grains as they have more starch content and likely to turn sticky after cooking.
Rice selection
Long grain white rice is the best to use as it holds its shape and stays separate when stir-fried. Plus, it's less sticky compared to short-grain rice. Jasmine is my top choice because it has a light floral aroma, is not too sticky when cooked, and is slightly dry in texture.
Nutrition-wise, both jasmine and basmati contain just trace amounts of fat and will give you a little protein boost, but basmati has a lower glycemic index (around 57-67 to jasmine's 68-80 range), meaning it raises blood sugar more slowly and creates a better effect of fullness.
Composition. Glutinous rice is distinguished from other types of rice by having no (or negligible amounts of) amylose and high amounts of amylopectin (the two components of starch). Amylopectin is responsible for the sticky quality of glutinous rice.
IMPORTANT NOTE: if you want it to taste like true restaurant style, you need to put the rice only in a pot over high heat and stir it around for about 5 minutes or so before cooking. it helps the grains of rice to stay separate (more like restaurant style) and less sticky.
Lo mai fan is a traditional rice dish originating from China. It's often served as a part of dim sum meals. Chinese sticky rice, as it's also known, is made with a combination of glutinous rice, shiitake mushrooms, shrimps, soy sauce, Chinese sausage, scallions, salt, pepper, sugar, and sesame oil.
Take Chinese congee as an example. Congee is a porridge cooked and eaten during breakfast, it's bland and creamy. So, going back to the question in the title, Arborio rice is a great option for this recipe as it has a great amount of starch.
Less sticking and clumping with the long grain. Restaurant fried rice, uses freshly cooked rice, that has been cooked with slightly less water so make it less sticky.
One tip is to never fry with cold rice right out of the fridge – be sure to take the overnight rice out of the fridge beforehand and warm it up briefly in the microwave. It should be barely warm or at least room temperature when you start cooking, otherwise it won't be able to absorb the flavours from frying.
White basmati rice is the most popular type used in Chinese restaurants. Basmati rice cooks quickly and has a fluffy texture. Basmati rice pairs well with stir fry dishes, curries, and other flavorful dishes.
Basmati rice is a North Indian variety of rice grown in the foothills of the Himalayas. This rice can be described as having a nutty flavor with a hint of floral notes. Many chefs and home cooks like working with basmati rice because it has a long grain that is slightly tapered at the end.
Among them, fried rice might be the most popular not only in China, but also around the world. Depending on the types and amount of added ingredients, such as beans, chopped meat, vegetables, eggs, etc., as well as different manners of preparation, there have developed endless variations of fried rice.
Long grain rice has less starch which makes it the perfect choice for fried rice. Using a long grain rice like jasmine rice will result is soft and fluffy rice every time! Other rice varieties like short grain sushi rice would not work for fried rice. It would make the fried rice clumpy and almost gummy in texture.
All types of rice originated from two varieties called japonica and indica, and today, indica is still the most popular kind of rice in the world.