This is the best Chaufa rice recipe you will ever find on the Internet   

Peru is a country that stands out for its tourist beauty and Inca archaeology: the city of Machu Picchu, the Nazca lines and Lake Titicaca are some of its main attractions.

This country also stands out for the particularity of being the place of origin of exquisite dishes such as ceviche, widely consumed throughout the Pacific coast of Latin America. In fact, this food is considered Peru’s cultural heritage.

But today we are not here to talk about ceviche, but about a very popular dish in this South American country that, although it has Chinese origins, is the result of an evolutionary process to adapt to the ingredients available in Peru and has been part of the typical menu of many Peruvians since the beginning of the 20th century: we are talking about Chaufa rice. 

You will learn how to make a delicious Chaufa rice with today’s recipe. You will also learn how this cuisine style became the most popular type of food in this South American country.

In case you want to know more about this food and try an alternative recipe, visit carolinarice.com/recipes/arroz-chaufa/ and taste new flavors on the same recipe.

Chaufa rice: the most representative meal of chifa cuisine   

Chaufa rice is a popular food in Peru. It’s fried rice with vegetables that usually includes spring onions, eggs and chicken, seasoned with soy sauce and oil, and it’s cooked in a wok over high heat. Although it is usually cooked with chicken, it can also be made with beef, pork, duck, seafood, fish, alligator, or jerky.

Chaufa rice is one of the most representative dishes of Chifa cuisine, a style created by Chinese immigrants.

A cuisine style brought by Chinese immigrants  

By 1850, thousands of Chinese (mostly from Canton province) workers arrived in Peru to work in the cotton plantations. When they settled in Peru, they took with them many of their recipes and customs, adapting them to the available ingredients in this country and creating new dishes such as chaufa rice.

After these workers were released from their jobs on the plantations, they started their chifa food businesses and restaurants throughout the country.

In Peru, these kinds of dishes are called ‘chifa’, because ‘Eat rice’ in Chinese means Chī mǐfàn, and Peruvians heard this phrase and adapted it as ‘chifa’.

Chaufa rice recipe  

Ingredients  

• ¾ lb. of long-grain rice.
• 3 1/2 cup of water.
• 1/2 lb. of chicken breast.
• 4 fresh sausages.
• 1 small red bell pepper.
• 4 eggs.
• 3 Chinese onions.
• 1 tsp. of grated ginger.
• Sunflower oil.
• 1 tbsp. of sesame oil.
• Fresh coriander.
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce.
• 1 Pinch of salt.

Method  

1. To prepare the white rice, add a few drops of sunflower oil in a pan and, as soon as it is hot, add the rice and toast it lightly for a few seconds.
2. Stir the rice and immediately add the water and a pinch of salt. The necessary quantity to cook will be two and a half parts of water for each one of rice.
3. We leave it over medium heat, until it has evaporated, about 17 minutes. When the rice is al dente, remove and set aside.
4. To prepare the rice accompaniment, beat the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt and set aside.
5. Heat a frying pan with a little oil and, when it is hot, make an omelet with the eggs.
6. Remove, cut into pieces and set aside.
7. Pour 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a wok and, once it is very hot, add the grated ginger and the chopped chicken.
8. Fry the meat until it begins to brown. Remove and set aside.
9. Cook the chicken pieces in the wok.
10. Do the same with the sausage pieces and the chopped vegetables (bell pepper and Chinese onion). Sauté, remove and add to the chicken.
11. Cook the sausages with the chopped vegetables in the wok. Add some more sunflower oil and sesame oil.
12. Add all the reserved ingredients, the white rice and soy sauce. Mix everything well to blend the flavors.
13. Cook all the ingredients in the wok.
14. Add the omelet and cilantro and add them to the rest of the ingredients.
15. Serve the chaufa rice warm.