Over the last hundred years, several influences have shaped and evolved Filipino cuisine to what we know of it today. One significant although quite underrated foreign influence is Chinese cuisine. The first contact with the Chinese in the archipelago is through Chinese traders where ancient Filipinos have gradually adapted and evolved several Chinese dishes into our cuisine.
Today, Chinese-inspired Filipino dishes are fully integrated into the local cuisine in the Philippines with authentic Chinese recipes also being a hit with the Filipino palate. Filipino noodle recipes, also known as pancit, are great examples of Filipino recipes with a huge Chinese influence.
For today’s recipe, we’re going to dive into recreating an authentic Chinese recipe with a Filipino-style twist. If you’re a big fan of Chinese cuisine, you’ve most likely eaten at Chowking, a massively popular fast-food chain that serves Chinese cuisine with some added Filipino touch to their dishes.
One of their most popular menu items is the Chow Fan, simply known as fried rice in China. Chow fan is also my favorite thing to order in Chowking. The delicious bowl of fried rice is mixed with several other ingredients including several seasonings, chopped up vegetables, bits of scrambled egg, and ground meat for protein.
It’s a flavorful and filling meal by itself. I love ordering some siomai to go with a bowl of chow fan if I want an even more filling meal or some kangkong with bagoong (water spinach with shrimp paste) if I wanted something more healthy.
I was really inspired to recreate a homemade version of Chowking’s chow fan because I don’t want to eat out every time I’m craving some Chinese food. It’s actually quite an easy recipe to follow. It’s the perfect meal if you need something filling for lunch or even just a snack after a grueling day.
I figured that Chowking’s secret recipe for their chow fan is the curry and chili powder which brings out some zingy spiciness to the dish and even blends well with any choice of ground meat. Add in some chopped vegetables and you’ve got a well-rounded meal that’s highly customizable to your taste.
Chow fan recipes are also great to use for leftover rice from the day before for breakfast. Pair that up with some sausage in as the meat of your choice and you’ve got a hearty breakfast.
I’m quite excited to do this recipe because it means bringing a popular menu item from a fast food restaurant right at home. I think that anyone can make this dish at their home if they follow the steps just right and have the patience for prepping the ingredients.
Speaking of ingredients, we’re going to need 6-8 cups of cooked rice. You can use freshly used rice for this recipe or yesterday’s rice that hasn’t gone bad. We’re also going to need ¼ cups of ground meat of your choice. If you’re going to use breakfast sausage, make sure that it’s finely chopped to get the portion that we want.
We’re also going to need 2 tablespoons of garlic, 1 medium-sized onion, 1 medium-sized bell pepper, and ¼ cups of carrots. All of these ingredients should also be finely chopped to get the desired measurements. Also, we’re going to need 2 teaspoons of green onion.
But wait! There’s more. We’re going to need 2 eggs that we have to finely beat. For the delicious flavors of the chow fan, we’re going to need 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of curry powder. We should also have 3 tablespoons of cooking oil, and salt and pepper for seasoning.
Now that we have all the ingredients at hand prepared, it’s time for cooking. The instructions for this delicious Chowking-style chow fan recipe are all enumerated below. If you’re a visual learner, we’ve also prepared a cooking video which was so much fun to make.
Serve your cooked Chowking-style chow fan hot and enjoy eating!
- 150 grams Ground Pork
- 3 cups of Cooked Rice
- ⅛ cup of Water Spinach
- ½ cup of Mix vegetables
- ½ small slice Onion
- 3 cloves of slice Garlic
- ⅛ cup of Soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. Oyster sauce
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sugar
- 2 pcs. Egg
- 3 tbsp. Oil
- In a pan put the oil, eggs and salt then make scrambled eggs and set aside.
- In the same pan add a little oil and saute garlic for 15 seconds.
- Add onion and saute well. Add ground pork and mix well.
- Seasoned with oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar and pepper.
- Add mixed vegetables and chopped water spinach.
- Lastly add cooked rice and scrambled egg. Mix well
- Served while hot. Enjoy
