How to make easy Steak and ‘Heart Attack’ Fried Rice, or rice fried with beef drippings.

What is ‘Heart Attack’ Fried Rice?

‘Heart Attack’ Fried Rice is rice fried with the residual beef drippings from a juicy steak! The result is a beefy, smoky, plate of fried rice. A few years ago, ‘Heart Attack’ Fried Rice blew up in zi char restaurants in Singapore, and quickly became a local favourite. More accurately, New Ubin Seafood started serving this up first, and then a few other restaurants followed suit – such as Eighteen Chefs.

This is my dupe recipe for an easy steak with ‘heart attack’ fried rice from New Ubin Seafood, a zi char restaurant, or eighteen chefs!

What is the best Steak to Use?

I like to use sirloin but the zi char restaurants would use ribeye steaks which will have more fat to render in the pan. I personally love sirloins; it’s the right amount of fat to lean meat.

The seasoning for the Steak cannot be easier! I use just salt and pepper, and I give it a basting with butter while it’s in the pan.

Steak is grilled to preferred done-ness, and then rice is fried in the residual beef drippings and beef char in the same pan. My method here is simple, and ‘one-pan’, but if you want to do it the New Ubin way:

After steak is cooked, allow it to rest for about 5 minutes.
Then slice the steak into cubes in a cutting or serving board, and trim off the fat. Take off the trimmings, and carefully pour the beef juices from the cutting board back to the pan. Serve steak straight on the cutting board.
In the beef drippings and trimmings, stir fry the rice!

Main Ingredients for ‘Heart Attack’ Fried Rice

The beef drippings from the steak is definitely the main ingredients. The butter will also help in aiding adding that fattiness to the rice.

Another key ingredient is Dark Soy Sauce, which gives it that dark colour. I’m not too sure, but this is all the restaurants use to season the rice. I like the colour that it gives, but I like to add salt as well to give it more flavour instead of just adding dark soy sauce which has more sweetness to it.

To add more deliciousness, I added garlic. If you’re a lover of spice, make sure to add the bird’s eye chilli! It adds a really good kick that complements the simple steak!

What Pan to Use to make Steak and ‘Heart Attack Fried Rice’?

You can use any pan to make this! Ideally, you’d want to use the same pan to cook both the steak and the fried rice! This is the most hassle-free way, you don’t waste any of the beef drippings, and less pans to wash.

I’ve also done this the slightly harder way – cooking the steak in a cast iron pan first and then pour the drippings into a bigger wok. If you have a bigger cast iron pan, of course you can accomplish this easily. With a cast iron pan, I get more of a nice smoky char from the steak.

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