Fried rice is believed to have originated in the city of Yangzhou, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai. Fried rice is widely believed to have arrived from Central Asia during the Han Dynasty, where the current staple food was known as muxufan. It was a rice dish made with “muxu”, a plant called medick that has many medicinal and health benefits. The founder of Silk Road, Zhang Qian, was one of the first defenders of Muxufan.
While it may be easy to prepare, fried rice can get quite soaked if you don't take precautions to reduce humidity before cooking it. Thailand is another country that is home to its own versions of fried rice, such as khao pad goong, or fried rice with shrimp. According to Food52, most fried rice recipes start with medium- or long-grain jasmine rice, although some exceptions, such as the Japanese version of fried rice, are based on short-grain rice. It began as a humble and simple way to cook leftovers, initially there is no exact recipe for fried rice in the tradition of Chinese cuisine, since any different leftovers and additional ingredients could lead to another different recipe for fried rice.
According to The Woks of Life, a wok is essential to success, since it reheats quickly after adding new ingredients, especially at high heat, which is not negotiable for making fried rice. China Today points out that golden fried rice from the Sui Dynasty was evenly covered in eggs and recommends doing the same in modern fried rice recipes, in addition to adding key ingredients such as ham, chicken, mushrooms, scallops, sea cucumber and bamboo shoots. For example, Japanese chāhan () originated from fried rice prepared by Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. According to Three Guys from Miami, Cuba, which was once home to the largest Chinatown in Latin America, has a version called fried rice (literally fried rice in Spanish) that uses leftover roasted piglet as its main source of protein.
The influx of Chinese workers incited nativist movements, which forced workers to work underclass in the laundry or restaurant. According to The Takeout, if you don't have old rice, you can cook some rice the morning of the day you plan to serve fried rice for dinner and spread it on a baking sheet to dry before cooking it in fried rice. Using freshly steamed rice will make the final fried rice soft and mushy, far from the normally desired texture of fried rice. Sichuan fried rice stands out for its spicy, spicy and spicy flavor due to the doubanjiang chili sauce mixed with garlic, green and red onions.
One of the most popular variations of fried rice in the United States is found in Peru, where it is prepared under the name of Arroz Chaufa and is one of the best-known dishes in restaurants in Chifa. Since then, garlic has been an important part of Chinese culture, not only because of its culinary properties, which are believed to be fire and heat, but also because of its shape and color, which symbolize jewelry and white hair. Like chow mein, it's perfect for those nights when you're cleaning the fridge and want to get rid of any leftover meat or vegetables. Latin American countries have also had their versions of Chinese fried rice for a long time, such as rice chaufa (Peruvian-Chinese fried rice) and fried rice (Cuban-Chinese fried rice).