Sunday, February 03, 2008

Garlic Chicken Fried Rice

This has always been a nemesis of mine - I could never quite get it right. Either it comes out too soggy, or not eggy enough, or the rice comes out plain. But whatever it is, it comes out without 'wok hei'.
Thanks to the wonders of the Internet however, I got some ang mo tried-and-tested recipes and voila! We have a winner. This is what I did:
Ingredients (serves 2)1 cup rice
1 chicken breast, cubed
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup mixed vegetables
2 eggs
1 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce
Oil for frying

Method
1) Marinate chicken with 1 tbsp soya sauce and pepper. Leave to marinate for at least 15 mins.

2) Usually all fried rice recipes call for cold leftover rice, but I've never got any hanging around in my fridge, thanks to the wonders of the microwave. I wondered it if would make a difference - being cold or not. Anyway I had freshly cooked rice, but left it out until it cooled down a lot, so that when you stir it, it doesn't break up so easily and become mush. The whole point of fried rice is really to have dry, separated whole grains of rice.
3) Heat up the pan or wok and fry the chicken. Once 3/4 cooked, add the mixed veg and fry for a minute. Lastly, add the eggs and scramble. Dish everything out and set aside.
4) Either wash the pan, or wipe the pan clean because you don't want any burnt bits in your rice.
5) Add oil again, and heat it up until the pan is very hot. Add the garlic and fry for a minute. Add the rice and stir fry. Dash in the fish sauce, soya sauce and sesame seed oil. I find it helps to use 2 spatulas to ensure everything is stir fried evenly.
6) Once the rice is warmed thru, add back the scrambled ingredients. I find it's easy to add a bit of ingredients, mix well before adding more.
7) Serve immediately with la cheow yao, parsley or spring onion.
I still didn't achieve wok hei and its probably because I used a non-stick pan. However at least for once in my life, the rice grains were well-separated and not soggy!

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