Original subtitles

What is going on, guys? Jet Peely here, and this is Ready Jet Cook, where I

break down the basics of Asian cuisine and share some tips and tricks for

my favorite dishes.

Today, we're tackling Yang Chao fried rice and Kung Pao chicken, two dishes

have traveled all the way from China to find their home in American takeout

menus. And I'm going to show you just how easy they are to make in your own

kitchen.

You probably have most of the items you need in your pantry to make Yang Chao

fried rice, starting with the star of the show, Jasmine Rice.

This isn't just any rice. This is known to be the king of rice. Jasmine Rice is

unique because it's simultaneously long grain, fragrant, and super fluffy.

So Yang Chao fried rice is fancy fried rice, meaning it's got a lot of amazing

stuff in it, mainly shrimp and barbecue pork.

We've got our barbecue pork back in the kitchen, but we need to talk about

shrimp. Although you see the shrimp fresh and glistening, it's actually been

previously frozen. And that's okay because it's been IQF, individually

frozen, either at sea or at the processor. Let me clarify shrimp sizing.

market or the butcher or the fishmonger, we size them by how many in a pound. So

21, 25.

is a larger shrimp because there's 20 in a pound.

41 .50 is a small shrimp because there's 41 .50 per pound. If you go to your

butcher or fishmonger and say, I want a medium shrimp, they're probably going to

give you like a 21 .25, pretty common size. These shrimp are 21 .25, 26 .30.

So they might appear big, but once you peel them, devein them, and cook them,

they're going to shrink a little bit. So buy a little bigger than you think you

want. 21 .25, 26 .30.

Perfect for Yang Chao fried rice. With shrimp in hand, looks like we got

everything else. Let's go check out.

Fried rice is really deceptive because just about any fried rice is delicious

and you want to eat it. But there are some tips and techniques that can make

fried rice, you know, good to amazing.

And I want to show you all of those secrets.

So let's start prepping here. I like to take the ends off of the scallions

first. I flip them all over at the same time, line them up, and then I take the

tip off so they're even. And now I like to separate the white from the green.

And instead of like cutting these perpendicular rounds, fine, right?

Why don't I just show you the nicer way that doesn't take any more effort? So

instead of a 90 degree, why don't we go 45 degree?

And then a nice consistent 45 degree slice.

all the way down the scallion. And this is called a bias slice. Takes no more

effort, looks super cool.

And ready jet cook OGs know that this is the only way I slice scallions.

Scallions look gorgeous.

Let's talk about one of my favorite proteins on earth, char siu, southern

Chinese barbecue pork. It is a thing of magic. It is a pork shoulder lacquered

in five spice and soy sauce and honey. It is perfect.

So you can kind of find it hanging in barbecue shops at your favorite

restaurants. This is the protein you want to use for, like, the best Yang

fried rice.

Since we're cutting char siu for fried rice, we're going to cut it small.

So I'm going to cut this in half first.

Remember, what's the Jatila rhyme, OGs?

Tile becomes a slice, slice becomes a dice. So I'm going to cut char siu tiles

first, and then we're going to take these slices.

We're going to cut them perpendicular.

and then cut them into dice.

One of the key things is you gotta make the rice a day ahead or early enough so

it's cold before you make the actual fried rice. I got two cups of rice, two

cups of water, and I'm gonna give that a stir.

What I wanna do is I wanna saturate all the rice grains so I don't have any

clumps that are gonna stick together. If you're doing table rice, to eat with

other entrees, that's when you bring the finger technique in. If you place the

index finger onto the rice, you bring the water line to that first crease in

your index finger. Because you're making fried rice, I want a drier rice that

absorbs all those flavors.

I'm at max heat.

The water's gonna come to a boil.

I'm gonna reduce to a simmer.

Simmer 20, turn it off.

Rest 20. It must be covered. You cannot cook jasmine rice uncovered.

Some saucepan lids have the vent hole. I don't love that for making rice. I like

a nice tight -fitting lid because it actually creates pressure and limits

evaporation in the water. Just make sure the water's at a simmer when you're

cooking your rice, and you'll have that perfect amount of water to rice without

too much evaporation.

Okay, so my rice is cooked for 20.

rested for 20, and now I'm going to fluff it up. Your bottom line is don't

the rice grains. That's all I'm asking you to do when you're fluffing. So I

to take either wood or silicone and just kind of start loosening up those bits

of rice.

Don't go right to the middle and start smashing up the rice grains. So breaking

up larger bits and then smaller bits of rice, and that's it.

You want to make sure each grain of rice It's just loosened up from the larger

bits. And now you're ready to transfer it to further cool it.

And that's perfect. And what are you looking for in case you don't really

rice a lot?

Every rice grain is identifiable.

They're not swollen, which means there was too much water.

And they're not opaque, which means there wasn't enough water. But if I can

identify every rice grain, I've done my job. And tasting -wise...

You don't want it too soft. You don't want it too firm.

This is perfect rice.

So we want to cool this rice now. We're making sure the grains are nice, whole,

and cold. So they'll heat up gently in the fried rice. So by the time you're

eating that lovely plate of fried rice, it's like this fresh cooked rice.

My favorite technique is just to use a quarter sheet pan or a half sheet pan if

it's a lot of rice.

And you're allowing all those warm bits of rice.

Now that they're fluffed and opened up, just to cool down naturally and stay in

that whole grain.

If I made fried rice with hot rice, it would basically just turn to mush.

So I've transferred the rice into a quarter sheet pan, covered it with

We're going to put it in the fridge to further cool it down.

So I went ahead and made some rice ahead of time, so it's perfectly cold for

fried rice. I know cooking in a wok looks really romantic, but all you need

something decently wide, some high sides.

and you're good to go. So cook your food in a skillet. All right, so I'm going

to start with some neutral oil.

Canola, peanut, vegetable, avocado. You can get as fancy as you want or not

fancy.

So our char siu, which is already cooked, so I'm just warming it through.

I'm using frozen peas and carrots because it's what we're kind of used to

Chinese -American restaurant experience.

But use any vegetable that's in your fridge.

I'm letting the pork warm up because the shrimp cooks really, really quickly.

Next, shrimp, big or small is up to you.

Now, eggs. I'm whisking three whole eggs here.

All right, this is going to happen fast because I cook a style of fried rice.

called gold -covered silver, which just means I like the egg really wet because

it coats the rice and makes it nice and fluffy. So this is my style.

I put the rice immediately into that egg.

So smash the rice right into the egg.

Gentle flip so the egg comes over the top.

The egg actually envelops the rice, coats it completely, and creates like a

nonstick surface. It's a pretty cool tip.

And this way the egg stays nice and golden versus cooking all the moisture

of it and it drying out.

Once we're mostly mixed together and you get those gold flakes and those Chinese

barbecue bits, the colors coming together, I'm going to start seasoning

Very simple seasoning. The majority of your salt and umami is going to come

chicken powder.

And I don't like a soy saucy fried rice. I like a light golden fried rice.

So I'm going to use oyster sauce and soy sauce very, very lightly.

So just a little bit to add a little more punch.

I'm actually going to show you a technique where I deglaze with it and

right in.

So around the edges, you can hear that sizzle.

And if you notice, I'm being really delicate using silicone so I don't break

those grains.

That's looking phenomenal.

And this is the time I like to take my first taste before I actually put the

scallions in because I don't want to overcook those scallions.

Nice.

Umami. The fragrance of that soy sauce comes through.

I'm pretty good. Add some scallions.

Imagine making this for your friends and loved ones.

That's why I think Yang Chao fried rice is like the king of fried rice because

everything's in there. I mean, check out my one pan feast here. I love it so

much. So in terms of plating, my only tip for you is leave all the delicious

bits for the top. So I'm purposely just getting kind of the rice first and

laying it down as the base. I'm leaving all the big shrimp in the pan for the

last final scoops.

And that way, when you take this to the table, your guests see just like

mountains of shrimp, and they get super, super happy.

The way I like to finish fried rice is very simply.

The greens of the scallions on top, because I think they're a little lighter

taste than the whites.

Don't forget a little bit of white pepper. It's going to add just that

spicy touch to make it perfect. All that's left to do is taste this amazing

dish.

That's it right there. Sorry making you jealous, but I'm just doing my job

That rice is light and fluffy the pork and

shrimp are juicy and tender and I'm getting every bit of that savory egg

goodness This is truly one of those kind of rock star dishes, and it all fits in

one plate.

Yang chow fried rice is fantastic on its own, but I'm going to round out this

takeout feast by making some Kung Pao chicken to go along with it. Don't go

anywhere. Kung Pao chicken was my grandma's go -to dish anytime she didn't

a meal planned, but we never complained because it was so delicious.

It's also a dish I made for Ali really early on.

when we were dating, so it holds a special place in my heart. Kung Pao

from the Sichuan area of China, which is known for two things, chilies and

vinegar. And speaking of vinegar, Kung Pao uses black vinegar, which is very

unique because it's made from rice.

It's fermented in clay pots from anywhere from six months to many, many

So it has that cool, funky, unique flavor, and it's great for dipping

So I've got my vinegar. We really need to talk about chili garlic sauce.

So, Chinese chili garlic sauce is pretty unique.

I know sambal and sriracha have been pretty popular over the years, but in my

opinion, chili garlic sauce from China is its own thing because it's got a ton

of flavor, it's got a good amount of heat and garlic, and it's not overly

vinegar like those other sauces can be. I've got a ton more ingredients I need

to get. I will catch you back in the kitchen for the cook.

So let's do a quick Kung Pao crash course. It's a stir -fried dish, so it

basically comes down to a combination of protein, vegetables, aromatics, all

cooked together really quickly in a wok. It's simple, it's quick, but yields

incredible flavor.

I'm using...

boneless chicken thighs. So these are skin and boned already, but there are

times there's a little bit of fat on here. It's up to you whether to leave

I trim out like the bigger pieces of fat, but if you have smaller pieces, I

leave them on there. I think they're extra flavor. So once you have the

thigh trimmed out like this, I cut it in half first to leave two long lengths.

And then I put them together and cut kind of one inch blocks out of them.

Because it's a thigh, you're not going to get perfect one -inch cubes. Like,

don't stress.

As long as they're reasonably the same size, you're going to be fine.

So this is Kung Pao chicken, but you pick the protein.

If you like pork, use pork. If you like fish, use fish. If you want tofu,

delicious. I'm going to teach you how to velvet this chicken, which is the

secret to getting that ultra -tender, juicy nugget. So the two powders here,

baking soda.

This is cornstarch. Just a little bit of water.

A little bit of oil. The oil actually kind of pre -lubricates the chicken for

the pan so it doesn't stick.

I'm going to put a little bit of soy sauce in here.

This is going to help flavor the chicken. It's going to help tenderize

chicken. I'm going to let this marinate for about 10 to 15 minutes. It's time to

get saucy. So it's time to build the Kung Pao sauce. Let's start with a

oyster sauce.

And this is black vinegar. I'm using Chinese chili garlic sauce to get deep

umami flavors. You guys know my secret. Chicken power.

It's very important that you use a Chinese chicken powder, not a...

American or Latin bullion because these are formulated very specifically to have

that Chinese taste to it. And in the world of Chinese cuisine, there's a

types of soy sauces.

This is dark soy, which means it's brewed and reduced more.

It's gonna have a deep kind of color and a rich flavor that is slightly sweet.

The star of Sichuan cuisine is this right here.

Sichuan peppercorn. It is...

Truly unique in the food world, it is simultaneously sour like citric acid,

spicy, and very floral.

And the effect of this on the palate, it's actually quite numbing. Buy it

and you have to ground it yourself, or you can actually just buy the powder.

Either one is fine, but use it sparingly because it actually will numb people's

tongues.

Kind of great for a prank as well, but you didn't hear it from me. Although

sauce is pretty thick, I need to dilute this and still kind of make a glaze.

So the way to do it is to make a slurry. I have cornstarch in here, and I'm

adding water.

I'm going to stir this up to make a slurry.

Don't dump the cornstarch right into the sauce because it'll just clump up. The

best way to work it in is to dilute it with water, then put it in, just like

this. And you've just made...

Kung Pao sauce.

If you find yourself falling in love with a recipe and making it a ton, make

this recipe times four, times five, put it in a squeeze bottle, put it in the

fridge, and you've got Kung Pao sauce at your disposal.

It's almost time to rock the wok, so don't go anywhere.

All right, team, I've got my chicken marinating and my sauce is ready. It's

to move on to the vegetable prep. So for ginger, I peel it.

Ginger and garlic are foundational aromatics when it comes to Chinese food.

goes into everything.

It pairs really, really well with that kind of guac hay or breath of the guac.

Garlic, don't overthink it. Just smash it and mince it.

Half cup of each bell pepper. Tile becomes a slice. A slice becomes a dice.

I like using red and green for the color variants, but they do taste quite

different. The green is going to be a little more grassy. The red's going to

a little more sweet.

So it's really up to you. I'm keeping them in the large dice this time to

with the chicken.

All right, onion.

Tip, root, discard, half, peel.

Dice everything today.

Next, I'm going to cut my scallions. I want the white to be diced, matching

those vegetables.

I'm going to take the greens now and bias slice them for garnish.

And just like that, it's time to head to the wok. I'm preheating the wok at

least two minutes on a home stove to get it screaming hot.

Neutral high temperature oil going in until you see white smoke, which is

now.

Ginger, garlic.

And it's all about order of operation.

Whatever takes longer to cook is going to go in sooner. And in this case, it's

going to be the chicken.

We'll start moving the items around.

Make sure to scrape as you go. Anything that starts to stick, the sooner you get

it, the sooner you convert it into deliciousness. Because if you don't get

you're going to convert it into burn.

Chilies are going in.

Warn everyone in the house that chili vapors are going to happen soon. Because

of the shape of the wok, anything you toss comes right to the middle.

I'm going to put peanuts now.

And every time I add something, I want to toss.

Because I want all these ingredients to come into contact with that hot wok.

Yeah, Martin Yan used to joke, it's stir fry, not...

Stare fry, meaning like just stop standing there, move things around and

them down.

So it's veggie time.

And remember, we cut all these vegetables about the same size, so

to cook at the same rate. That's why they can go in together.

And I'm always listening for the sear. As long as the wok is streaming, that

means you're at a good heat. If it starts to kind of quiet down, don't put

anything in there. Let it come back up to temp and then keep moving.

And people are like, yo, how do you toss food in the wok? It's pretty easy once

you kind of understand it. Let me kind of give you the mechanics.

Trying to get the food to the far side, flip and bring it back. And what's going

to help you is using this shovel, right? So we're going to kind of center all

the food.

I'm going to position the shovel to push it forward.

And then Simon says you flip and pull back towards me. And that's how you get

nice wok toss by using the shovel.

So remember, there is cornstarch in here. So give this sauce a stir before

add it to the pan.

Cornstarch starts to thicken or quote -unquote activate.

Work the sauce in. Let it start to come to a boil.

And as it comes to a boil, it's going to thicken up nicely.

I love to give you the visual cues before plating. So has the sauce

into a glaze?

Check. Chicken cooked through? Veggies cooked through? Check.

it's time to garnish and turn off the heat all right the tops and these are

those via sliced green tops and this is ready to go to the plate

i

mean this dish packs a punch You get that numbing spice from the Szechuan

peppercorn, the notes of sweet and sour from the chicken and the sauce, and the

crunch of the vegetables. This really is an irresistible classic.

Kung Pao fried rice.

The punch of this Kung Pao chicken pairs perfectly with the more mellow and

almost sweet notes of the fried rice and shrimp.

this is an irresistible pair this dish has been a staple in my house and

hopefully it will become one in yours so there you have it two titans of chinese

takeout now it's your turn to cook this dish in your kitchen and i'll see you

next time on ready jet cook