This Scallop Fried Rice with Xo Sauce will blow your mind. It’s a delight for seafood connoisseurs thanks to the fresh bay scallops, XO sauce, and—of course—crispy garlic fries.
The inspiration for this dish came from a jar of high-quality scallop XO sauce gifted to us by a friend who was departing Beijing after completing her work assignment there; she’ll be pleased to learn that we put it to good use in this dish.
Since dry shredded scallops aren’t normally used to make XO sauce, I can imagine this unusual jar was rather pricey.
Scallops, shrimp, and sometimes ham make up the bulk of the ingredients in XO sauces, which typically retail for $10 to $20 in each jar.
For this scallop fried rice recipe, we used little bay scallops, but giant sea scallops would work just as well. Except for the searing scallop time, the recipe and instructions are identical.
Ingredients:
- 450g of Bay Scallops or Sea Scallops (rinsed and patted dry)
- 4 large eggs
- 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic
- 4 cups of cooled cooked rice
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 3 tablespoons of oil
- 3 tablespoons of scallop XO Sauce
- 1 teaspoon of Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon of ground white pepper
- Salt
Instructions:
- The rice can be prepared either the day before or the day before serving. The easiest way to get this result is to cook the rice as directed by the rice cooker’s manufacturer, but with a little less water than is called for. Allow the rice to cool naturally, then fluff it with a fork. The rice can be prepared the night before, stored in the fridge, and then broken up into individual grains by hand the following day. The rice shouldn’t adhere to your hands as much if the water is warm enough.
- Put 1 tablespoon of oil into your wok and heat it until it begins to smoke. Put the scallops in the pan and let them sear for 60 seconds without moving so they can obtain a nice color. Turn them until they’re just opaque, then set them aside on a plate. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, Shaoxing wine, and salt and beat until smooth.
- After cleaning it, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a clean and dry wok over low heat. Spread the garlic over the mixture. Keep the heat low and cook the garlic cloves until they are just brown. Keep a close eye on it because once it turns brown, it has been burned and will taste unpleasant. The garlic only needs 5 minutes in the oven to get crisp and light yellow. When the crispy garlic is done, place it on a paper towel to drain.
- Maintain the garlic-infused oil in the wok and increase the heat to medium-high. Stir-fry the onions until they become transparent after being diced.
- Once the onions and garlic have been incorporated, add the rice and pour the egg mixture over it so that it is uniformly distributed. Initiate instant, continuous stirring using a scoop-and-lift motion. Your rice will be lightly covered in scrambled eggs after doing this.
- Add the XO sauce and continue stirring for another 90 seconds. Then, add the scallops and scallion and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix for 30 seconds, then sprinkle the fried garlic on top.
- Serve the delicious Scallop Fried Rice with Xo Sauce!