If I have a bit of leftover salmon in the fridge, one of my favorite things to do with it is make salmon fried rice! This simple Japanese fried rice [1] is packed with fishy goodness, and calls for only a few ingredients—leftover rice, eggs, scallions, and sesame oil.

Ingredients

8 oz salmon, fresh or leftover
4 eggs
3 cups cooked rice
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 scallions, chopped
Vegetable oil

Fried rice is generally made from leftover rice, and we’ll be using three cups of cooked rice for this recipe. If you are making rice specifically for this recipe, 1 cup of uncooked rice will make about 3 cups of cooked rice. Make the rice on the drier side, to emulate leftover rice, and be sure the rice has had the chance to cool before using it in the fried rice. Otherwise, the freshly cooked rice will bring too much moisture to the dish, resulting in an unpleasant and mushy texture.

You can use either fresh salmon or leftover salmon for this dish. If you’re cooking some salmon specifically for this rice, chop the fish into small pieces. This will make the job of breaking the fish up into flakes easier. Heat about 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the salmon pieces to the pan and fry for 5 minutes, breaking the fish up with a spatula. We are looking for small individual flakes of salmon, which can be folded easily into the rice. If you are using leftover salmon, simply heat the salmon briefly in the pan until warmed through, breaking it up into flakes with a spatula.

We now add the rice directly to the pan with the fish, so the rice can soak up all of the flavorful salmon oil. Press the rice into the pan with a spatula and then begin breaking the rice up. Toss the rice with the salmon pieces until the rice has warmed through and the grains have separated, about 2 minutes.

At this point, you can choose to remove the rice and fish from the pan, cook the egg as an omelet, then break it up and return the rice to the pan. In this recipe, however, we will demonstrate a fried rice method known as “gold over silver,” in which we will pour the beaten egg directly into the rice and cook it while tossing. This method results in very small strands of egg mixed in with the rice.

Beat the 4 eggs and pour them over the rice. Begin tossing with your spatula, and keep the rice and eggs moving in the pan for about 3 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked.

Stir in the chopped scallions and 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, and remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, and serve.

Substitutions

This recipe can work for other leftover oily fish, such as mackerel. If you prefer a more savory fried rice, mix some soy sauce into the rice as it cooks.

[1] Fried rice is known as “chahan” in Japanese, a direct loan of the Chinese “chao fan” (炒飯).Fried rice was likely introduced to Japan by Chinese immigrants to the port city of Kobe in the 1860s.

Recipe

Prep Time: 5 min Cook Time: 10 min Total Time: 15 min

Difficulty: 1/5

Heat Sources: 1 burner

Equipment: pan

Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 oz salmon, fresh or leftover
4 eggs
3 cups cooked rice
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 scallions, chopped
Vegetable oil

Instructions

1. If using fresh salmon, chop the salmon into small pieces, and heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in the pan over high heat. When the oil is up to temperature, add the salmon to the pan and fry for 5 minutes, breaking the fish into small pieces. If using leftover salmon, simply add to the pan and heat through, breaking into small pieces.

2. When the salmon is cooked, reduce the heat to medium and add the cooked rice to the pan. Break the rice up and press it into the skillet with a spatula. Toss with the salmon until the rice has warmed through and the grains have separated, about 2 minutes.

3. Toss with the eggs until the rice has warmed through and the grains have separated, about 2 minutes.

4. Beat the 4 eggs, and pour the beaten egg over the rice. Toss until the egg is cooked and uniformly distributed, about 3 minutes.

5. Stir in the chopped scallions and sesame oil, and remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and serve.