Sea Urchin Fried Rice - 海胆炒飯 - Hoi Daam Chaau Faan

There are so many ways of making fried rice and while it is a comfort food, fried rice has a luxurious versions that’s relatively unknown in America. No matter what nostalgia you might have of your parents making it for you, feel free to take this humble and versatile dish and make it for a special occasion for celebration or for someone you care about. But for this, I’m making 海胆炒飯 hoi daam chaau faan, or sea urchin fried rice.

If Americans are aware of sea urchin, they know about it through sushi. But there are parts of Guangdong where they sea urchin are plentiful and harvested there for a long time. So it’s not like sea urchin is unknown in Cantonese cuisine and that’s where this dish comes from. Sea urchin would have been considered a very localized specialty before refrigeration. Despite it being more available, it’s still an expensive ingredient.

Some people like to make this in a pretty standard way with all the ingredients cooked appropriately and separately as you make fried rice. But, there’s a variation called 黄金 wong gam (golden) that’s done with eggs to make the color of the rice golden and it’s more visually appealing. The only thing to know about this is that you do need to add a more oil than a standard fried rice otherwise the egg soaked rice will stick. Most videos online show with this method and why not? If you’re already using a luxury ingredient, what reason is there to not take the extra small step to make it more visually appealing.

Of course there are many ways of making it, you can fry some of the sea urchin at the beginning, add it after the rice has been added to the wok, or even blend the sea urchin and mix it in the eggs to be added with the rice. But no matter what version you make, you should never be stingy with the sea urchin.

Ingredients:
Rice, about 2 cups (day old rice is best in my opinion)
2 egg yolks
Sea urchin, 1 tray
1 clove of garlic
2 green onions
Neutral oil
1 tbsp butter
Salt to taste
White pepper to taste
Soy sauce, a splash (optional)

Mince the clove of garlic and set aside. Thinly slice the green onions and set aside.

With the sea urchin tray, set aside all but one row of them. Reserve the one row to top at the end.

In a large mixing bowl, add the rice to it and add the egg yolks. With a rice paddle, gently toss and press the rice to separate any clumps. Do not poke at the clumps to try and separate it since all that will happen is that the rice will break down into small uneven bits. Toss until the egg yolk is evenly distributed and there are no clumps of rice.

Heat up a wok over high heat and when it is hot, add a moderate amount of oil. Add garlic and stir fry for about 10 seconds until the garlic becomes fragrant. Do not cook the garlic until it’s golden otherwise it will burn later.

Add the egg soaked rice. Stir fry for about 2 minutes over high heat tossing so it doesn’t burn. This step should be done to dry out the moisture of the egg soaked rice so high heat is needed. Add the butter and continue to toss for another minute or until some rice starts jumping in the wok.

Season with salt and white pepper to taste. If you want to add soy sauce, add just a splash and this is a tiny amount, less than half a teaspoon, just for some color. To me, this fried rice should be primarily seasoned with salt so it doesn’t take away from the flavor of the sea urchin.

Add the sea urchin and toss for about 30 seconds. Add the green onions and toss for about another 10 seconds.

Place in a bowl and top with the reserved sea urchin and enjoy!