Crispy Pork Fried Rice with Spring Onion Tops

Ingredients

• 300 g pork mince
• 600 g cooked jasmine rice, day-old, cold
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 tbsp tamari
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
• 0.5 tsp chilli flakes
• 4 spring onions, green tops only, sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Season the pork mince generously with salt and pepper before it goes anywhere near the pan — this is your one chance to season the meat itself.
2. Heat the garlic-infused oil in a wok over a fierce, high heat until it shimmers. Add the pork mince in two batches, breaking it up with a spatula, and cook each batch for 5–6 minutes until the edges are deeply browned and crisp. Don't crowd the wok — all at once and water comes out, and you've boiled the pork instead of crisping it.
3. Return all the pork to the wok, tip in the ginger and chilli flakes, and stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Watch it — at this heat the aromatics turn from fragrant to bitter in seconds.
4. Push the pork to the sides to clear a well in the centre. Pour in the beaten eggs and scramble for about 1 minute, until just set in soft curds, then fold through the pork.
5. Add the cold rice and press it flat against the base of the wok. Leave it undisturbed for 2 minutes so the underside crisps and crackles — that's the texture you're after, the bit that makes this worth doing — then stir-fry for a further 2 minutes, breaking up any clumps.
6. Pour over the tamari and sesame oil and toss everything together over a high heat for 1–2 minutes, until every grain is glossy and slick. Taste now — most of the salt comes from the tamari, but a final pinch ties it together. Adjust here, not at the table.
7. Divide between bowls, scatter generously with the sliced spring onion tops, and finish with a shower of toasted sesame seeds.