Yangzhou fried rice (Yangzhou chaofan)

1. Ideally cook the rice in the water the day before, spread it out to cool, then cover and refrigerate; before frying, break it up grain by grain with your hands.

2. Dice the ham and the peeled shrimp into pea-sized pieces and finely chop the spring onions; beat the eggs with a pinch of salt.

3. In the wok, fry the shrimp in 1 tablespoon of oil for 1 minute, then add the ham and peas for another minute; remove.

4. Heat the remaining oil over high heat, pour in the eggs and, when half set, immediately add the rice and toss quickly so the egg coats the grains.

5. Stir-fry over high heat for 3-4 minutes until the grains jump in the wok; return the shrimp, ham and peas and add the soy sauce, salt and white pepper.

6. Stir in the spring onions and serve piping hot.

Tip: The secret of good fried rice is cold, dry, day-old rice – freshly cooked rice clumps and turns mushy. If you must use fresh rice, spread it on a tray and chill it for half an hour to dry out.