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Things To Try

* I've cooked this as a half-batch before, cooking half the rice as a meaty version and half as this version.
* You can use olive oil or another vegetable oil. I use avocado oil because I know this will be heated pretty high and I don't want it smoking, but you just have to be careful with timing if you use olive oil.
* I use onion because it's handy, but you can totally use green onion. The recommended usage is to separate the white from the green parts, and cook with the white (and maybe half of the green) and then garnish with the green.
* This is a very versatile recipe -- you can use other things instead of, or besides mushroom, like veggie meat (I've used Beyond Meat's hot Italian sausage), squash (cut into similar sized chunks to sliced mushroom), etc.
* You can omit the Shaohsing wine if you want; sometimes we don't have it on-hand. But it really does give it that extra zing.
* You can also add some MSG powder at the same time as adding salt.
* Definitely add the soy sauce to taste. I often put too little in and then have to keep adding more to get the color (used as an indicator of taste) right.
* Another yummy addition is to top your fried rice with crispy fried onion. This is something my mom picked up from Indonesia.

Directions

Cook rice and store uncovered in fridge overnight. Remember to release the steam from the rice after you cook it so it doesn't continue to cook. This is an important step because the chilling changes the chemical structure of the rice for cooking.

1. Put olive oil in a wok or high walled pan (should cover the bottom), and heat on high.

2. Turn heat down to medium/medium high, and add carrots and cook until slightly soft

3. Add onions and cook until glossy and translucent.

4. Add mushrooms, cook until brown. Try to cook the mushrooms in a single layer so that it browns instead of steaming.

5. Add garlic and cook.

6. Add a pinch or two of salt. This will make your veggies release some of their liquid into the oil.

7. Add your chilled rice. You might want to break up the rice a bit in the bowl before adding it. Using your spatula, break up the rice and try to get the liquid to coat every grain.

8. Turn up the heat to high, stir constantly to make sure the rice directly touches the heat. One of the key steps in making a good fried rice is to try to give it "wok hay", (literally, the "breath of the wok"), which usually is added when you try to flip the rice in the wok to "kiss" it with the flame. I don't do this because I cook in a dutch oven. But I have found that trying to get the oil-coated rice to directly touch the hot bottom/sides of the pan is a good substitute.

9. Add Shaohsing cooking wine, which can help deglaze the bottom of the pan.

10. Add soy sauce, which will start making the rice stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep scraping up the rice from the bottom of the pan. This step is a pain in the wrist, and can cause a mess. Try to mix the rice enough that you don't see any white on the rice.

11. Add peas and mix into the rice. At this point, the heat from the rice will cook it just right, even if you turn the heat off. Keep mixing and scraping the rice, though!

12. (Optional) Clear some space in the middle of the pan and add sesame oil. Once heated, mix quickly into rice.

13. (Optional) Mix in the cooked egg. I usually fry the egg in a separate pan, but traditionally, you shove the rice up the walls of the wok and scramble the eggs in the middle. You can use any egg substitute if you want to add protein while still keeping the recipe egg-free.

14. Remove from heat.

11. Turn heat down to medium

Notes

* I use a gas range to cook this, but I know my mom has used an electric stove to cook this before. It's a little harder to get the wok hay from an electric stove, in my opinion, but it's possible.
* Step 10 requires a strong spatula. I use a metal spatula with a wooden handle. The spatula will get very hot, so make sure it's something that doesn't conduct heat!

Sources

* My mom
* Uncle Roger
* Experimentation