33. Fried Rice

We would not be exaggerating if we said that fried rice, “ Arroz Chaufa,” has become a national dish. After Cebiche, it is one of the most popular dishes requested by Peruvians. Fried rice is synonymous with chifa, even though it is not a highly respected dish in the Chinese culinary tradition. An excellent Hong Kong chef said:” I don’t understand. Peruvians only want fried rice, they eat it with everything, but it isn’t a dish that should be eaten all the time. “Nevertheless, this style of preparing rice has been incorporated into our gastronomic tradition and its preparation has been transformed. The famed Peruvian seafood tradition has created fried rice with shellfish, fish and prawns.

In Chinese, chau fan means fried rice. It is normally made with leftovers, when a little bit of rice and meat are left from yesterday’s meal. It is not the most respected plate within the Chinese tradition, but Peruvians eat it as if it were manna from the gods. In China it is known as Cantonese rice. It is made with much less soy sauce then in our chifas and they use clear soy sauce, which is not well known here. It also includes peas and different kinds of meat, including Chinese sausage. Peruvian fried rice has become so internalized in our culture that instead of using ciao to say goodbye we say chaufa at times.

Just as with the Peruvian usage of chifa, we leave off the “n” at the end of Chinese word for rice (fan) an elemental word in Chinese cooking. As if by magic, sek fan (to the table) and chau fan (fried rice) came to mean Chinese restaurant and a dish that is symbolic of Peruvian cooking.

Fried rice was probably the first Chinese dish known to Peruvians. As we have stated, the coolies on the haciendas spent time in the kitchens preparing food for their own consumption. Frying left over rice with some vegetables or even better; with some meat-must have been a necessary part of their diet.

Searching for the origins of this dish, we spoke with 101 years old Chepita Ojed. “I knew about arroz chaufa, because of a Chinese in Chancay (north of lima). He was friend of my father in law, who sold meat. They liked Don Manuel very much. Manuel was also known by the Militaries and as a player. He went to Ancon each Saturday or to Huando’s hacienda.  I was 14 years old. One Saturday, my mother in law was very upset with Don Manuel, because he said he was coming with his friends by horse and that they will get dinner there. One of the Chinese in the slaughterhouse asked her: “ What’s wrong lady Encarnación? They would take the giblets, trips, liver and hooves to cook. “Don’t worry Lady Encarnación, don’t worry, I’ll make Arroz Chaufa, he told her. Give me rice, chicken and pork. So he made it. This is how arroz chaufa was known in Chancay. Everyone started to make it. They also made Wonton filling; but not the dough, they boiled only five or six in a pot. All we ate was fish in Chancay. We ate skipjack and even jerked guanay (fowl). They used it to make Carapulcra.
When Chepita came to Lima in 1915, she remembers that “ the Chinese were living on Capon and they were poor. There were no chifas. They ran small stores in alleys but they didn’t face the street. They sold vegetables in some, fried rice in others. You would bring your plate and ask the Chinese for chaufa. They would run into their stores and then come out with it wrapped in paper. They sold it to you a little secretively. It appears that eating fried rice at that time was not socially correct.

Fried rice didn’t have an important value for the Chinese. It was a dish that allowed you to use leftovers. As they improved economically they stopped eating it; they could afford better things. But the more Peruvians tried it, the more they liked it, to the dismay of the Chinese.

After the secretive stage described by Mrs. Ojeda and when the first chifas appeared in the 1920, fried rice was the star on the menu. Its royalty continues today. It is prepared weekly or biweekly in many Peruvian homes. Families with more money eat it with chicken or pork. The poorer ones with hot dogs. Some people add ginger and others; adding a touch of national flavor, eat it with chili pepper. In the supermarkets it is common to find fixings for chaufa, chopped pieces of pork and other meats that are ready to be added to the rice. It is an inexpensive dish that can satisfy a number of people for very little money. Its incorporation into the nation’s cookbooks is fact. We find it in the classic La Tapada cookbook, published around 1955 and the widely circulated Nicolini cookbook, published in 1998. In the Lima Cookbook, published by Gloria Hinostroza (1999), we find the recipe for chaufa with shellfish.

We are certain that Peru holds the world record for consuming Cantonese-style rice. It is served in the Chinese “fast food” establishments and of course, in chifas.

Faced with this gastronomic phenomenon, we need to ask: if it is easy to prepare at home why is it so popular in the chifas? We believe that in the chifas, despite the fact that soy sauce is overused, what makes the dish special is that you can taste the fried rice. When the dish is made at home, kitchen stoves do not emit the same kind of flame as restaurant stoves, and the rice does not fry as well. And this is the taste that Peruvians like and which have made arroz chaufa a national dish.

 

Desserts Recipes 33. Fried Rice Fried Rice Crispy Rice