Shadowing Practice: Secrets to Best Fried Rice | Helen's Recipes - Learn English Speaking with Video
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42 sentences
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Hi everyone!
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Today I'm sharing with you some of my secrets to make the perfect fried rice.
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It's a very basic Asian dish that everybody might have made at least once in their life.
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But you might still be wondering why your homemade fried rice isn't as good as the one at the restaurant.
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So let's see how you can make it differently.
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Let's begin!
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You want to soak 1 to 2 Chinese sausages in hot water to soften and then dice them.
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You also need some vegetables like carrots, corn, green peas.
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You can dice up the fresh ones and steam them or buy the frozen package sold at the supermarket supermarket.
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You might want to use some sausages or Vietnamese ham cut into dices.
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3 cups of 1 day old cooked rice are left in the fridge overnight.
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Add a dash of water and use chopsticks to fluff the rice really well.
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Rule number one, you should always make fried rice with 1 day old rice and not hot steamed rice.
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Leaving the rice overnight in the fridge, we also have this to be drier and also crispier when we fry.
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In a large bowl combine 1 cup of the frozen vegetables, 1 cup of diced Vietnamese ham or chả lụa, 1 cup of Chinese sausages,
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then season with a teaspoon of chicken stock, 1 third teaspoon salt and 1 half a teaspoon of sugar.
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Mix well.
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Heat a large frying pan or non-stick wok and add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
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Then fry a tablespoon of mint shallots and garlic until fragrant.
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Add the veggies and sausages and stir-fry for about 3 minutes so the seasonings can absorb into the vegetables.
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Then add the rice and stir well for 1 to 2 minutes.
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Make a hole in the middle of the rice and crack in one egg.
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Use the spatula to beat up the egg and sprinkle some pepper into it.
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When the egg is roughly solidified, you can mix in the rice and stir everything up again.
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This is the second tip to keep the rice grain still dry and not overcooking the egg.
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If you crack the egg directly onto the rice, the rice gonna get kind of wet and soggy.
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If you fry the eggs before adding the rice, the eggs gonna be overcooked and turn too dry.
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So this trick of making the hole in the center of the rice really great.
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You can press down the rice and cook for a few minutes
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so the rice at the bottom will turn more golden and crispy.
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Transfer to a serving plate.
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Sprinkle some pepper on top and some cilantro or mint to garnish.
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Serve with a bowl of chili soy sauce.
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Another trick to make a perfect fried rice is
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that You don't want to overcrowd the rice and the vegetables in the pan.
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At the restaurant, they use a very large wok and fry maybe just one or two portions at a time.
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That's how they get the rice grains really dry and separated.
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I hope these tricks helps you to perfect your fried rice dish.
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And if you make it next time, don't forget to send me a photo of your fried rice on Instagram,
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Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag HelenRecipes so I can see how great it turns out.
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Thank you so much for watching.
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Bye bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Secrets to Best Fried Rice”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: rice, egg, fried, fry, vegetable. This video has 42 sentences and 557 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:33. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fry verb | /fɹaɪ/ | To cook (something) in hot fat. |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| sausage noun | /ˈsɔsɪd͡ʒ/ | A food made of ground meat (or meat substitute) and seasoning, packed in a section of the animal's intestine, or in a similarly cylindrical shaped synthetic… |
| teaspoon noun | /ˈtiˌspun/ | A small spoon used to stir the contents of a cup or glass. |
| stir verb | /stɝ/ | To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it. |
| crispy adjective | /ˈkɹɪs.pi/ | Having a crisp texture; brittle yet tender. |
| overcook verb | /oʊ.vɚ.kʊk/ | To cook for too long or at too high a temperature. |
| sprinkle verb | /ˈspɹɪŋkəl/ | To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance). |
| tablespoon noun | /ˈteɪbəlˌspun/ | A large spoon, used for eating food from a bowl. |
| supermarket noun | /ˌsupɚˈmɑɹkət/ | A large self-service store that sells groceries and, usually, medications, household goods, and/or clothing. |
| mint noun | /mɪnt/ | Any plant in the genus Mentha in the family Lamiaceae, typically aromatic with square stems. |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| pepper noun | /ˈpɛp.ə/ | A plant of the family Piperaceae. |
| grain noun | /ɡɹeɪn/ | The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice. |
| overnight adverb | /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪt/ | During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| beat up verb | To give a severe beating to; to assault violently with repeated blows. |
| turn out verb | To end up; to result. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are left · is roughly solidified · be overcooked |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might have · might still be · might want |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | gonna get · gonna be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, gonna, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dish /dɪʃ/, garnish /ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/, shallot /ˈʃælət/, hashtag /ˈhæʃˌtæɡ/, dash /ˈdæʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: supermarket /ˌsupɚˈmɑɹkət/, solidify /səˈlɪdɪˌfaɪ/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like fry, vegetable, sausage.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.