Chicken Fried Rice

I like to try to make Asian food. I think its because Mom never made it. But now I understand why. I have made some absolutely awful Asian dishes. I can vouch for the easy sweet and sour chicken recipe on my pinterest board, that’s about it. Tonight I was expecting Matt to be here and to make crockpot cheesy chicken and rice but unfortunately he is stuck in Charlotte due to weather. So I am alone and have four chicken breasts that are slowly going bad in my fridge. Time to act is now!

Chicken fried rice is possibly my favorite Asian meal ever. I pinned a recipe last week that looked easy enough and I had most of the necessary ingredients, Better-Than-Takeout Chicken Fried Rice. The one thing I had to pick up before the snowstorm was sesame oil. I have never used it, but I thought it may be worth it to have a bottle in the cupboard. The second that stuff hit the pan my apartment was filled with an Asian aroma. I think every Asian dish ever has sesame oil in it.

2 chicken breasts, chopped into cubes

1 1/2 cups of long grain white rice (3 cups cooked)

1 cup of peas and carrots, I used frozen peas and fresh carrots

1/2 yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs sesame oil

2 tbs vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup of soy sauce

The Enterprise was busy tonight, but this meal was fairly simple. First thing I did was set up the rice. I used 1 1/2 cups of rice and cooked it in 3 cups of liquid. Because I had it in my fridge, I used 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and 1 1/2 cups of water. That sat on the side burner while I cooked the chicken.

I used the same pan to cook the chicken as I did to make the rest of the meal, so make sure its big enough! Season the chicken cubes with S&P. Heat 1 tbs of vegetable oil in the pan. I added a couple drops of sesame oil. Once heated, drop the chickens in and toss occasionally until browned and cooked through. On the Enterprise, this task took almost thirty minutes. I checked the fattest chicken cubes until they were no longer pink, I can’t imagine this should take more than 15-20 minutes.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I set it on a plate while I cooked the veggies. This process took a respectable 12 minutes. I heated 2 tbs of sesame oil and 1 tbs of vegetable oil in the pan. First I cooked the onion and carrots, they are the toughest and need the most time to soften. About 6 minutes later, I tossed in the garlic and a couple minutes after that the peas. After testing a carrot and pea for appropriate tenderness, just a little carrot crunch and almost mushy peas, I added the egg.

To add the egg, simply crack them into the pan and scramble with the veggies.

Bring it all together by adding the chicken, rice, and 1/4 cup of soy sauce. Mix together and enjoy!

This was truly as good as Chinese takeout. I was so impressed I blogged while I ate! 🙂

Just wait for dessert! I made it last night and it’s been chilling all day!