Shin-Chahan (Fried Rice) · Ryuji

Cut the green tops off the scallion (15 g) and chop the white part (25 g). Grate or very finely chop the ginger (3 g), and chop the pork (50 g) small.

Melt the lard (大さじ2) in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the green scallion tops in it until they are dark and crisp and the fat smells strongly of scallion — about 3–4 minutes. Fish the tops out and discard them.

💡 You have just made ねぎラード, negi-lard. The scallion tops are a delivery vehicle — their whole job is to move flavour into the fat, and then they leave. Do not try to eat them or leave them in; by this point they are spent and will only burn.

While the lard infuses, put the pork in a small bowl with the soy sauce (小さじ1) and oyster sauce (小さじ1) and mix so every piece is coated. Leave it there.

Turn the heat up under the negi-lard and add the coated pork. Stir-fry 2 minutes, until it is no longer pink and the sauce on it has caramelised onto the pan.

💡 Coating the pork in soy and oyster sauce beforehand — rather than seasoning the rice later — means the sauce hits the hot pan directly on the meat and browns there. Season it at the end instead and you get salty rice; this way you get seasoned pork.

Add the ginger (3 g) and stir-fry 30 seconds, just until it smells fragrant.

Pour in the beaten eggs (2) and add the warm rice (200 g) straight on top of them, immediately.

💡 Rice on top of still-liquid egg is the classic trick: the egg coats the grains rather than setting into lumps beside them. This is also why the rice needs to be warm — cold rice clumps and the egg sets around the clumps instead of the grains.

Break the rice apart against the pan and toss it with the egg over high heat for about 2 minutes, until every grain is coated and separate and the egg is set.

Add the salt (小さじ1/3), 8 shakes of Hi-Me, black pepper and the chopped white scallion (25 g), and keep tossing for another minute.

Pour the sake (大さじ1) around the rim of the pan and toss immediately — it should hiss and vanish in seconds.

💡 Sake at the end, not the start, and around the hot rim rather than onto the rice. It flashes to steam on contact, which loosens any grains stuck to the pan and leaves aroma without wetting the rice. Pour it into the middle and you steam the rice instead.

Check the texture: the grains should be separate and glossy from the lard, not sticky and not dry.

Press it into a small bowl and turn it out onto a plate to make the classic dome, or just pile it up.

Top with a small heap of beni-shoga and eat straight away.