FINALLY Fried Rice Recipe

I've battled the Fried Rice Hates Me Monster for over a year now. Even after my mom bought me a wok for (LAST!!) Christmas! It's all over now. I've defeated you, silly FRHM Monster.

Basically, I started with this recipe http://chinesefood.about.com/od/ricefried/r/basicfriedrice.htm

I used 3-4 cups cooked, long grain, white rice that cooled for about 8 hours. I started as the recipe says with 2 tablespoons of oil in my wok and lightly scrambled the eggs. Basically, I left them a little runny for my taste, but they harden up once you re-add them to the mixture after the rice is cooked.

Then, I removed the eggs and added 2 more tablespoons of oil, let it heat (about a minute) and added my rice. The key here is to use a wooden spoon to break it up (rice shouldn't be stuck together in the end). After stirring for about 2 minutes, I added a bit of soy sauce (probably about 2 tablespoons). Basically, I didn't want to add too much (a mistake I've made before), so I added little by little until most of my rice was a light brown color.

Next, I added my chopped green onions (3-4 medium sized stalks) (because I like my green onion to be just slightly cooked as opposed to not cooked at all) and then the egg. I stirred for another minute and removed it from heat and added a 1/2 ground ginger (I buy the pre-ground type in a jar) as well as a 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce.

Another previous mistake was using a yellow sweet onion instead of the green. This mistake caused my fried rice to take on an odd sweet taste, because really the ginger is responsible for bringing the sweet to fried rice.

Also, I was using too much oil but thought what made it seem more oily was the type of oil I used. Today, I simply used what I had on hand - canola oil (I use it because it's healthier than veggie oil), not a fancy sesame oil or wok oil mixture (although I have in the past), but only used the recommended 2 tablespoons.

I hope this helps anyone that's ever gone through batch after batch of less-than-awsome fried rice! I've been eating out of the pan for over an hour!

The Proof is in the Pan

I DID IT!

After tens, possibly a hundred meals ranging from dry to tasteless, from undercooked to “honey is this fish or chicken or both?”…. I’ve FINALLY mastered Chicken Fried Rice.

And the secret weapon, the one thing I’ve been missing throughout it all including my calculations into garlic, chopped onion, when to fry the egg, peanut oil or vegetable? how long to let the rice cool… overnight? The AGONIZING over how to cook the chicken and when to do the seasonings… all of it in VAIN because it was never about the ingredients or the recipe or the method… IT WAS THE FRIGGIN PAN!

It may sound silly to those who don’t cook Asian, or have never attempted it without a Wok, but MAN - WHAT WAS I THINKING??

My mom pampered me, literally, with The Pampered Chef Stir-Fry Skillet made of titanium reinforced hard-anodized aluminum for even heat conduction, strength and durability. It’s the G5 of Wok’s to be honest. And G5s are PLANES PEOPLE!!

Seriously though, I unwrapped this 20-pound puppy and my mom whispers “Now, that’s a 150 dollar skillet Amanda”

And she only calls me Amanda when she’s serious.

I put about ¼ cup of veggie oil, allowing it to heat enough before I added my chicken strips that had been lightly salted and covered in a bit of soy sauce, garlic powder and onion powder. Stirring constantly, it took about 1 minute for all the chicken to appear to have been cooked properly. I removed the chicken and let it drain on paper towels.

Next, I added my minced garlic (about 3 cloves!!??), a small diced onion, some red pepper flakes and let them simmer for a minute or two while I cooked off two egg’s in a small amount of oil in a pan to the side. Then, I added my brocolli , egg and (day old and cold) rice with a “healthy” splash of soy sauce (maybe ¼ cup, maybe less?). Stirring frantically (like as in really breaking a sweat and now my shoulders hurt, this pan is GYNUMBO) the whole ordeal was over and done within 3-4 minutes.

I was amazed.

I threw the chicken back in the mix, turned off the gas, and put a lid over the top (not covering, but I wanted to save a little heat). I was SHOCKED that it was all over in ¼ the time it normally took me to make sub-par stir-fry and here I had what looked like the Real McCoy! I was sitting there on my couch with the dishes done and stir-fry a-waitin’ for the hubster to come rolling in any minute now.

Seriously folks, proofs in the pan. This stir-fry was GREAT.