Help me perk up my Chinese food (First World Problem)

October 30, 2023 6:07 PM

I brought something home from a local place. It's always been good -- until tonight.

This chicken fried rice was kind of dry and somewhat tasteless. I'm not a chef by any stretch, and would appreciate your thoughts to perking it up a bit. Assume I won't go out and buy exotic ingredients tonight, and assume I won't take it back. (I'm home.)

posted by intrepid_simpleton to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

A bit of soy sauce, tamari, or even a tiny dollop of fish sauce will perk up most foods.

I won't have to warn you to be careful with the fish sauce, though, because you'll know this if you already have fish sauce.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:11 PM on October 30, 2023

MSG is your friend. The Accent brand comes in the same kind of container as garlic salt and is available in nearly every grocery store. If you have it on hand, soy sauce is also a good option, but the liquid content can easily make the rice soggy.
posted by wierdo at 6:15 PM on October 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is why you should stock sesame oil and black vinegar along with soy sauce. If you don't have those, try a very neutral oil and a small amount of any vinegar. Chili oil/chili crisp would be another common condiment, so you could try whatever hot sauces you have.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:18 PM on October 30, 2023 [6 favorites]

Heat the rice up, add in a raw egg, mix. Add soy and chili crisp oil. In the spirit of this.
posted by inevitability at 6:19 PM on October 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Since it's dry and tasteless, you have a little more room to work with than just tasteless. If you had everything in my kitchen to work with, I'd add gochujang, sesame oil, and a fried egg. Or I'd do soy sauce, chili crisp, and that fried egg.

Let's say you don't have any of this. What about some chicken broth or bullion mixed in to some water? If you do this on lazy mode, add a splash of broth, mix well, and microwave it a touch to get it all hot and give a minute covered to steam through.
posted by advicepig at 6:32 PM on October 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you are really lazy... those flavor packets from instant ramen... mix some into the rice. It's probably whatever flavor plus MSG anyway. :)
posted by kschang at 6:34 PM on October 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

Hoisin.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:51 PM on October 30, 2023

Some kind of liquid -- broth (chicken), soy sauce (but not too salty), even a splash of water.
Some kind of fat -- agree with others above on the sesame oil. Sometimes I use a piece of bacon to grease up the pan.
Some kind of flavor -- garlic (minced, powdered whatever you got)
Egg, sunny side up.
Green onions to scatter on top.
Now I'm hungry and need to look for that container of rice from last week's takeout order... mmm. Fried rice.
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:38 PM on October 30, 2023

Refry it with peanut oil
Add some shrimp
Add some peas
Saute onions, add garlic
Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds
posted by olopua at 8:27 AM on October 31, 2023

If you want to get it closer to how it usually is / restaurant style, I'd try salt and sesame oil.
posted by Lady Li at 9:32 PM on October 31, 2023