How To Cook Ben Yeo’s Pepper Lunch-Inspired Sizzling Chicken Fried Rice
A fun dish for kids to ‘cook’, too.
When Ben Yeo, 44, isn’t acting or running his F&B empire, the self-professed “daddy chef” enjoys experimenting new recipes and cooking for his two sons, 12-year-old Javier and Jarius, nine.
Contrary to what Javier once said about plain rice being his favourite food by Ben, according to the actor, one of the most requested dishes by his kids is his Pepper Lunch-style fried rice. The Japanese fast-food chain is known for its DIY concept, serving meat and rice on sizzling hotplates with specialty sauces and letting diners cook the dishes themselves.
Ben cooked the dish on a recent episode of e-commerce live stream show The Wonder Shop and shared the recipe with us.
It’s fun for the kids
The idea of cooking the Pepper Lunch-style fried rice came about years ago as a means to get his kids, who are fussy eaters, to eat. “They love fried rice, so I decided to whip up the dish on a hotplate. They found it fun and interesting ‘cos there’s some showmanship involved, sort of like cooking teppanyaki. They also like the communal experience of eating straight from the hotplate,” shares Ben.
Ben is quick to clarify that he is not recreating any particular dish on the fast-food chain’s menu, but the Pepper Lunch experience using a hotplate and a handful of ingredients that can be found in your pantry. If you don’t have a hotplate, you can use a hotpot or iron skillet. The main idea is to have the dish sizzling in front of everyone, so the kids can be involved in part of the cooking process too, he says.
Get creative with the ingredients
Think of this recipe as a guide and feel free to swap out the chicken for your choice of protein and add other ingredients like mushrooms, cheese and even truffle oil.
A key component of Pepper Lunch’s dishes is the sauce. In place of their signature Amakuchi (honey soy) or Karakuchi (garlic soy) sauces, you can use bottled Japanese sauce like shoyu, yakiniku or even tsuyu, a condiment commonly used as a dipping sauce for soba. Just make sure to add the sauce bit by bit and taste as you go along. You don’t want the dish to be too salty, warns Ben.
PEPPER LUNCH-STYLE SIZZLING FRIED RICE
Feeds 1 pax
Ingredients:
Part A:
100g sliced chicken thigh
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp corn flour
Part B:
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp margarine
1 bowl steamed Japanese short-grain rice
50g canned or frozen mixed vegetables
1 egg
1 ½ tbsp Japanese shoyu
Method:
1. Marinate the chicken first. Mix all the ingredients in Part A in a bowl and set aside for 15 mins.
2. Start making fried rice (Part B) when chicken is almost done marinating. Add oil in hotplate or skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add garlic and stir-fry till golden brown.
3. Add chicken slices and stir-fry till around 80% cooked, around 2 mins.
4. Move chicken to the side and add margarine to the middle of the hotplate and let it melt for a few seconds. Then invert the bowl of rice onto the butter. If you like your rice to have a nice crispy crust, flatten the rice and spread it out on the hotplate, leaving a small space at the side to cook the egg.
5. Add mixed vegetables on top of the rice.
6. Add egg onto hotplate to cook a sunny-side-up.
7. When egg is cooked, carefully move it on top of the rice and spread the chicken around the rice.
8. Drizzle the sauce over the rice and serve. Before eating, give the ingredients a good mix to ensure all the flavours from the meat, margarine, egg and sauce coat each grain of the rice.
Watch the full The Wonder Shop live stream on meWATCH here.
Photos: The Wonder Shop/meWATCH, Ben Yeo/Instagram
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