Avoid these 3 common mistakes when cooking fried rice

When it comes to top-tier rice, fried rice is challenging the top position with jollof. Fried rice has its origin from China and it has since grown from just rice and vegetables to a meal with different combinations cooked in many countries of the world.

To avoid spoiling your elite dish, here are three mistakes to avoid when cooking fried rice:

1. Cooking your rice till it's too soft

The first mistake to avoid when cooking fried rice is overcooking. The first step in most recipes for fried rice is boiling your rice. It is important to note that the process of frying your vegetables and the rice also introduces more heat to your rice and makes it even softer.

With this in mind, there is no need adding so much water while boiling the rice as doing so will just leave you with a fried rice that looks mushy and no one likes that. If you are not sure of the right amount of water to use in boiling, you can always add a little at first and keep monitoring and adding more water where necessary.

2. Overcrowding your frying pan/wok

Another mistake to avoid while cooking your fried rice is overloading your frying pan, wok or whatever pot you use in cooking. This is wrong because fried rice is one meal that has to do with lots of stirring and you will need enough space to do that continuously or at least, as much as is needed.

Overcrowding your pan prevents this. A good way to avoid this if you do not have a big enough frying pan or wok, is to cook in batches. This helps you to stir properly and ensures all the vegetables are cooked properly.

ALSO READ: DIY Recipes: How to make coconut fried rice

3. Not storing properly

The issue most people have with the Nigerian fried rice is how it goes bad easily. This is actually because of the high content of oil which makes it the perfect medium for growth of microorganisms that do not only spoil your food, but can cause food poisoning.

This is why it is important to store properly immediately after cooking. One thing you can do is refrigerating the fried rice the remaining after dishing out what you can consume for that day. Another way is to reheat immediately after frying, especially if you fried in batches.

You could also fry only the batch you need for that day and refrigerate your vegetables and remaining boiled rice for later.