Sinangag — Filipino Garlic Rice & Egg
A whole head of garlic in last night's rice, half fried to crisp gold and saved for the top.
Why it works
Starting the garlic in cold oil draws out its sugars before the edges colour, so it turns nutty and crisp rather than scorched. Cold rice has lost enough surface moisture overnight to fry into separate toasted grains; warm rice from the pot steams and clumps.
Method
- Break the cold rice apart with your fingers until no lumps remain. Lay the tomatoes and cucumber out on the plates.
- Put the garlic and 3 tbsp of the oil in a cold wok, then set it over a medium heat. Fry, stirring, 3 to 4 minutes until the slices are pale gold and the bubbling slows. Lift half onto kitchen paper at once, since they keep darkening off the heat.
- Turn the heat to high. Add the rice, salt and pepper to the garlic and oil left in the wok, press flat and leave 45 seconds, then toss. Repeat for 3 minutes, until the grains separate, smell toasted and carry crisp brown patches.
- Divide the rice between the plates and wipe out the wok. Add the last tablespoon of oil and crack in the eggs. Fry 2 minutes, spooning hot oil over the whites, until the edges are lacy and the yolks still run.
- Sit an egg on each mound, scatter over the reserved crisp garlic and spring onions, and serve with lime to squeeze.
For the toddler
This wants almost nothing done. Lift a small handful of the rice out at the start of step 3, before the salt and pepper go in, and fry it in a little of the garlic oil on its own. Chop their egg through it rather than leaving the yolk to run. Cut the tomato into lengthways quarters and the cucumber into soft finger-length strips, and keep the crisp garlic off their plate.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Day-old brown or red rice fries just as well; give it an extra minute to loosen.
Slice the garlic the night before and keep it submerged in oil in a jar.
Flake in a tin of sardines or some smoked mackerel with the rice at step 3.
Cold garlic rice fries again happily. Store the crisp garlic in a dry jar or it goes soft.