Chicken Fried Rice

One of my favorite things that I've learned from my foray into cooking is that recipes are not, in fact, written in stone.

Shocker, right?

At first, like everything else I did in the kitchen, I was hesitant. How would I know what herbs are better than others, or what would make a better substitute for what? Well, that's what taste buds are for, or so I've heard.

By the way: guess what? Your mom was right - taste buds do change! For example, five years ago, I could not stand the thought of eating an avocado. Now, I can't get enough of them. I put them in salads or stuff chicken with them, or I could just eat a whole avocado by myself, or put guacamole on everything.

Yum.

Anyway, this affirmation of Recipes Are Not Written In Stone has definitely led to me being more adventurous, and it even helped me make tonight's dish a little more interesting.

Before I get into my actual recipe, I want to show those who are beginners what mise en place is:

Mise en place is a French culinary term meaning "everything in place", or, "lay out all of your ingredients before you start to cook so you're not running around like a chicken with its head cut off". Read your recipe, find out how much of everything you're going to need - and whether it's sliced, diced, chopped, pitted, etc - and separate them into prep bowls (I like to use paper plates, though, because then I can just throw them out. I know, I know, not very green of me...). Mise en place also includes your equipment. Does your oven need to be preheated to 350? Are you going to need a small saucepan as a well as a large skillet, or your blender? Make sure everything is out and ready to use.

Well, now I have my mise en place, let's take a look at this recipe:


CHICKEN FRIED RICE
courtesy of Cook This, Not That:

YOU WILL NEED....
1 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
4 scallions, green & whites separated, chopped
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 cups bite sized broccoli florets
2 cups mushrooms (shiitake), stems removed and sliced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into thin, bite-sized pieces
4 cups cooked brown rice
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten.


FACT: I loathe mushrooms. That is one food that will never touch my magical ever-changing taste buds.
FACT: There was not a single zucchini to be found in Shop Rite. Are they even in season? Is that why I couldn't find them? I should look into that. Well, I don't really care for zucchini to begin with, so it's no great loss.

Okay, as you can probably see from my mise en place, peanut or vegetable oil is absent from the lineup. Instead, I'm using sesame oil.

It runs about $9 a bottle and 120 calories per tablespoon. This delicious oil is made, as you might have guessed, from sesame seeds, which are packed with antioxidants. I didn't want to go out and buy peanut oil just for this one dish, and my vegetable oil is on reserve for making tortilla chips tomorrow, so sesame oil it is. I think it will add a delicious flavor without being too overpowering.

Also, I'm changing the chicken thighs to chicken breasts; I'm omitting the mushrooms and the zucchini and instead adding some fresh snow peas.

Now, onto cooking!

First, Cook the brown rice. Follow the directions on the package. Mine took 40 minutes on the stove.

While the brown rice cooks, prepare your ingredients! Peel, chop, dice, mince, etc!

I decided to peel and grate the ginger first. If you've never seen a ginger root before, only the slimy pink stuff that's served alongside sushi, it's the item in the mise en place that looks like a mandrake:

The good thing about ginger root is, it can be frozen. So go ahead and buy a whole thing of it. Cut off a bit of it, throw the rest in a baggie and shove it in the freezer.

 

Then I moved onto the other veggies. The carrots, garlic, and scallion whites (set aside the scallion greens for later). NOTE: For this recipe I used frozen chopped broccoli to save me time and energy. The stir-fry method cooks it off quickly!

Next, I cut up the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. Now, if it's one thing I cannot stand, it's touching raw chicken. I just can't do it. If you're like me, invest in some culinary gloves. You can find them your local supermarket. Or, if you know someone in the culinary industry, ask them to steal a box for you.

Lastly, I beat the eggs. Poor eggs, they didn't do anything to deserve it (yuk-yuk-yuk).

 

By now, your brown rice should be ready. Measure out 4 cups, set aside in a bowl. Resist the urge to gobble it up right away. 

Now the fun begins! Here's what you gotta do:

1. In a wok or a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is lightly smoking, add the scallion whites, ginger and garlic. Cook for 30 to 45 seconds.

 

2. Add the carrots, broccoli, mushrooms (if using), zucchini (if using) and snow peas (if using), and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, using a spatula or wooden spoon to stir the vegetables throughout.

3. Add the chicken and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the pieces are no longer pink.

4. Stir in the rice and soy sauce, and cook for another 5 minutes, allowing the rice to get crispy at the bottom.

Here is where I ran into a little problem. As you can see, I don't own a wok and my "large skillet" is only 10". As you can also see, the large skillet was getting pretty full and the contents were getting hard to stir around, threatening to spill over the sides. So, I made a quick decision. I heated up a second tablespoon of sesame oil in a second 10" skillet, and poured the rice in there, then added the soy sauce. 

5. Create an empty space in the middle of the pan and add the eggs. Use a spoon or spatula to quickly scramble the eggs until light and fluffy, then stir them into the rest of the ingredients.

While the rice and eggs were being cooked separately, once the chicken was cooked all the way through in the other skillet, I added a tablespoon of soy sauce, covered it and turned off the heat. Then, once the rice and eggs were done, I took the biggest serving bowl I had, and dumped into it the contents of both skillets. Then, I mixed everything together.

6. Serve garnished with scallion greens and an extra sprinkling of soy sauce, if desired!

*whew* 

The end result was delicious, if I do say so myself. The sesame oil added unexpected flavor and the fresh snow peas were crunchy and sweet. My fiance claimed it reminded him of his favorite Chinese restaurant, which to me was the highest compliment I could ever hope to get.

As for doing anything differently ... I'm getting a wok! Doing things in two skillets was a little hectic, but unavoidable.

Well, this was my first recipe post! HUZZAH! I hope you learned and I hope you've been inspired. Thanks to my fiance for the photographs, even though he made me nuts with his tripod in the kitchen. Tell me: did you like the pictures? Should there be more or less of them? Does the recipe sound like it would be easy to follow? Give me some feedback, I'd love to hear it! 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's special New Year's Eve edition!: 7-Layer Dip & Homemade Tortilla Chips!