A Chinese bàn fàn (拌饭) is a simple bowl of mixed rice similar to Korean bibimbap (albeit much simpler). It’s almost crazy how easy it is to put together, and it’s super satisfying and tasty.
As you may have guessed from our almost 2-week hiatus on posting, we’ve been very busy with the cookbook.
The book is designed (exciting!) and we have been doing edits all day (and night) on a tight timeline to ensure the book comes out this fall.
Add to that all the craziness going on in the world, and we’ve found that we just haven’t had much time or energy to cook.
This recipe is for times like these—something comforting and tasty, without much effort. Make this recipe with leftover rice and a couple eggs. I made it for the girls and Justin on a busy day of cookbook editing, and everyone raved over how delicious and simple a meal it was.
What to Make with Leftover Rice
With this Chinese mixed rice recipe, fried rice may no longer be your go-to method for using up leftover rice! This tasty meal takes even less time, and it’s hard to mess up.
The only real cooking involved is frying up two eggs to your liking—sunny side up, over easy, or scrambled, runny or firm—the choice is yours!
This recipe is also perfect for any time of day—breakfast, lunch, dinner, hearty snack, or late night indulgence. And I bet you have all the ingredients in the refrigerator right now.
Tip!
If you always find yourself short on scallions, garlic, and ginger, freeze them! Check out our instructions. It not only ensures you always have them close at hand, it also reduces waste—no more throwing away wilted scallions, fuzzy ginger, and sprouted garlic. It’s also incredibly convenient. Even my mother, who has a Chinese supermarket at her doorstep, has a bag of frozen chopped scallion and a bag of frozen sliced ginger in her freezer.
Cooking for One?
This mixed rice recipe is for a single serving. It’s ideal for those of you who are cooking for one or two—it’s great for solo weeknights and students!
If you want to make the 2 servings shown in our photos, you’ll need to double the recipe. That said, I suggest that you still construct each serving in separate bowls—though simultaneously—for the best results.
Rewards far outweigh efforts here. You will be amazed at how scrumptious just a few pantry ingredients can be. Give it a try!
Recipe Instructions
Add the ingredients to a medium heatproof bowl in the order listed: the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, garlic, scallion, and cilantro. If you’re making multiple servings, multiply the ingredients to prepare the number of bowls needed.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it starts to smoke. For this step, you can simply multiply the quantity of oil by the number of servings and heat it all simultaneously.
Drizzle the hot oil over the aromatics and hear it sizzle.
Fry the eggs in the same saucepan you heated the oil in.
Then add the cooked rice (reheat it first if using leftover rice) to the bowl, and top with the eggs.
Mix well and enjoy!
Ban Fan, Simple Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon garlic (minced; heaping tablespoon)
- 2 tablespoons scallion (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or any neutral oil)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cooked rice (a Chinese rice bowl's worth; if using leftovers, microwave or steam to reheat)
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to a medium heatproof bowl in the order listed—the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, garlic, scallion, and cilantro. If you’re making multiple servings, multiply the ingredients to prepare the number of bowls needed.
- Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it starts to smoke—for this step, you can simply multiply the quantity of oil by the number of servings and heat it all simultaneously.
- Drizzle the hot oil over the aromatics and hear it sizzle.
- Fry the eggs in the same saucepan you heated the oil in. Then add the cooked, warmed rice to the bowls, and top with the eggs. Mix well and enjoy!
I loved this so much! I didn’t even cilantro but it was still tasty. I added some seaweed “chips” for some colour and crunch.
We love eating eggs with rice, especially when we are tired /busy and don’t have a lot of time to make a bigger meal. Please keep making these quick meals with rice!
Will do, B.L. Have you seen our Pao Fan recipe?
Easy and delicious! i had some leftover rice and leftover chicken to use up and tried making the Ban Tan rice. I omitted cilantro (ugh) and replaced with thinly sliced radishes. As I didn’t have light soy sauce J used regular but found it’s was a tad too salty so I will need to purchase the light variety. Next time will use a fried egg. Pre Ordered your cookbook and hope this recipe was included.
Good job, Christine, so glad you enjoyed it :-)
Am I missing something? What’s with the note about substituting agar agar for the gelatin?
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Nicole! This was here due to a glitch with our “tip box” feature. I’ve fixed it and replaced it with the correct box, which talks about freezing herbs and aromatics!
Hi Nicole, are you sure this note is not from another post?
This is one step up from my usual go to. Since I was a child a bowl of steamed rice, a fried egg and maggi sauce has been my favourite quick meal. This however has raised an egg and rice to food fit for the gods.
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes, many of which I have tried with great success and approval from my family.
That’s wonderful, Cathy. Thank you for cooking our recipes :-)
Finally tried this after having had the recipe bookmarked for some time. It’s my new leftovers for lunch favorite! I used salmon as the protein – lots leftover because I overcooked it. The hot oil coated the salmon and brought it back to life! Thank you!
You are so welcome, Jane, this recipe is so simple yet so tasty :-)
Amazing that something so simple can be sooo good. I don’t often make dishes over and over because I like to try new recipes, but this one keeps tempting me back.
Love that you are loving it :-)
Forgot to rate whilst in my “food swoon”
Long time lover of your Blog, infrequent commenter. Having this for lunch as I type, This simple little rice bowl is outstanding and far greater than the sum of its parts! Not sure why I am so surprised/impressed as all your recipes are foolproof while still being “authentic”. Thank you all, and now I am off to cut up my less than fresh green onions for the freezer so my next bowl will be that much simpler to make.
Yayyyy! Another satisfied reader :-)
Yes, I have made it and have eaten it for breakfast many times in the past few weeks. It is fast and delicious. And thank you for the tips on freezing scallions!!
You are welcome, Margaret, glad to hear that you are enjoying this dish :-)
This was so fantastic! I didn’t have cilantro and just left it out, will have to get some next time but it was incredible even without! Will definitely be a new go-to meal. Also love the tip for freezing scallions!!
I love my frozen herbs, they are always available and ready to use :-)