Chicken fried rice

A long time ago in the Blogosphere, I posted a comment about how much I dislike left over cold chicken. I made a pasta bake that day that was very acceptable. One of the only uses I advocated for cold chicken was this dish, chicken fried rice, which I made yesterday. It, too, was perfectly acceptable but it stops there, (apart from maybe soup). There is no way I am ever going to eat stringy left over chicken, boiled up in a curry or casserole. This fried rice dish allows the chicken to keep it's shape as long as the chicken is added towards the end. Those cooked chickens you can buy from a supermarket are great at first but just look sad to me thereafter. 

 

This is a great store cupboard type dish. As long as you have rice and some leftovers, you have a meal. I have started to cook lots more rice than is necessary, freezing it in 1 portion bags. Despite Neil's misgivings about reheated rice, it is incredibly convenient to just grab a bag, defrost and add some stuff. Genius.

Recipe : Chicken Fried Rice

1 portion of cooked rice (What you consider a portion may be different to mine, so I'm not going to give any measurements)

3/4 cup leftover cooked chicken

2 tsp peanut oil

1/2 small onion, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced

1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and diced

1/2 small bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced

3 mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 piece ham, sliced into long pieces

1 egg

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp salt and freshly ground pepper

A handful of frozen peas

A few drops of soy sauce

Heat the peanut oil in a frying pan or wok over high heat until very hot.

Add the garlic, onion, ginger and bell pepper and fry quickly for about 30 seconds.

Add the rice, mushrooms, chicken and ham and stir fry everything well for a few minutes until the rice is starting to get drier and toasty and the mushrooms look soft.

Add the frozen peas and crack the egg over everything. Start stirring well, breaking up the egg and stirring it into all the other ingredients. (A non stick pan is very useful here).

Continue to stir until the egg is well cooked in little bits and the rice is coated and fried. 

Season with the salt and pepper and stir well. (If you would like some crispy bits, leave the rice to cook undisturbed for a few minutes, it should start 'crusting' on the bottom and getting crispy and golden brown).

Serve the rice in bowls with the sesame oil and soy sauce sprinkled over and some hot sauce too if you like.