Chinese Chicken Recipes for Busy People

One of my new year resolutions is definitely to lose weight and eat healthier.  A few of my friends are trying the clean eating stuff, which means no dairy, no red meat.   I don’t know if I can do that since I’m such a meat lover, but I certainly want to try eating more veggie.  I made vegetable fried rice the other day cos I didn’t have any meat at home.  It has been snowing so much in NY, and I kind of stuck at home for days and didn’t get a chance to go grocery shopping.  But the dish turned out really yummy.  I didn’t feel deprived.  I’m going to make it a few more times.  Plus, it does fit into the clean eating rules. 

Cook veggie first

Add celery, mushrooms, rice and egg

Mix everything well

Vegetable Fried Rice - not too shabby

Ingredients (Serves 2 as side dish or 1 as main dish for a hungry man):

• Cooked brown rice, 2 cups
• Soy beans, 1 cup
• Sweet corn, ½ cup
• Celery, 2 stalk
• Carrot, 2 stalk
• Mushrooms, 5 or 6
• Onion, ½
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Egg, 1
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp (you can use the vegetarian oyster sauce if you are a vegetarian)
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Salt, a dash
• White pepper, a dash
• Sesame oil, a few drops (optional)

Steps:

1. Peel and cut carrots into small cubes, like 1 cm long. Put it aside.
2. Cut celery into small cubes.  Put it aside.
3. Cut mushrooms into slices.  Put it aside.
4. Cut onion into small dices. Put it aside.
5. Finely chop garlic.  Put it aside.
6. Use a large frying pan, spray non-stick cooking oil on it.  Use high heat, cook carrots first.  Let it cook for 2 or 3 minutes. 
7. Add soy beans, onion and garlic.  Mix it well.  Add cooking wine.  Cook it for 2 or 3 minutes.
8. Add celery, sweet corn, mushrooms, and rice.  Mix everything well.  If the rice is too hard, add a tablespoon of water.
9. Dig a hole in the middle of the rice.  Add the egg.  Buried the egg with some rice.  Let it cook for 30 seconds or so before mixing it.
10. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, and white pepper. Mix it all well.
11. Taste it.  Add a dash of salt if needed.  Add sesame oil if desire.

I’m guilty of eating bad this week.  I was totally buried on my day job, and had 0 time to cook.  I ate all sorts of junk like pizza, and take out.  I had pork fried rice the other night from a take out place. It was greasy and had no taste, pretty gross.  I finally get sometime to cook tonight after golf.  I made a simple Shrimp Fried Rice.  I used brown rice instead of white rice.  I sprayed a little bit of oil when I fried it.  I used soy beans instead of peas.  I never like peas, I don’t know why.  Soy beans gave extra fiber and protein to the dish.  It was a quick fix meal ready in 20 minutes.  And it was yummy and healthy.  I need a lot of catch up this week since I ate bad last week.

Add carrot, onion, soy beans first

Add shrimp

Add rice

Add an egg in the middle, fold the rice in. Mix it well

Easy shrimp fried rice

Ingredients (serves 1 hungry portion or 2 side dishes portions)

• Cooked brown rice, 2 cups
• Uncooked shrimp, ½ pound, peeled
• Carrots, 1
• Onion, 1 small, chopped
• Soy bean, 1/2 to 1 cup (I used 1 cup)
• Egg, 1
• Scallion, 2 stalk
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp
• White pepper, a dash

Steps:

1. Preheat leftover cooked brown rice in the microwave oven for a minute or until it is warm enough.  Put it aside
2. Chop scallion into dices.  Put it aside.
3. Cut carrots into cubes.  Put it aside.
4. Cut onion into dices.   Put it aside.
5. Finely chop garlic.  Put it aside.
6. In a large non stick frying pan, spray a little bit of cooking oil to cover the pan.  Use high heat.  Add garlic, onion, carrots and frozen soy beans to the pot.  Stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add Chinese cooking wine.  Let it cook for another minute.
7. Add shrimp to the pot. Stir well. Let it cook for couple of minutes until it is cooked.
8. Add rice.  Mix it well with all the ingredients.
9. Add an egg in the middle.  Fold the rice from the side into the egg.  Mix it well eventually.  Let it cooked for a minute.
10. Add oyster sauce and a dash of white pepper, mix it well.  Taste it. Add a dash of salt if needed.  Turn off the heat.  Add chopped scallion.  Mix it well.  Serve hot.

It has been a tough week for me dealing with a sick cat.  I’m sure it is tougher for him since he is the one suffering physically.  I really wish I could do something to help.  I didn’t really feel like making anything fancy for dinner.  I found some leftover rice, some roast pork and some shrimp. Hm.. I could make Yeung Chow Fried Rice.  That would be yummy.  Yeung Chow is probably the name of some place in China.  Ya, my Chinese geography is pretty bad.   Anyway, the basic ingredients for the dish are roast pork and shrimp.  If you have these two, you are good to go.  I made Yeung Chow Fried Rice for a gathering at work once.  I got some boneless spareribs from a Chinese take-out place and used that instead of the roast pork.  They tasted very similar.  My ex-boss was asking me for recipe, so I knew it tasted good.  hehehhehe… I put some carrots to add a bit of veggie there. Usually, you’ll find small peas in most of the fried rice dishes including this one.  But I really don’t like peas at all.  I usually picked all of them out whenever I had fried rice.  My friends teased me said I acted like a kid.  LOL.  Anyway, within 20 mins, I finished making the dish.  I also made some pan fried dumplings to go along with it. It was a simple and satisfying meal.

Basic ingredients for Yeung Chow Fried Rice

Cook the carrot, garlic, ginger first. Then add roast pork

Add rice, and then shrimp.

Add an egg, and then slowly fold the rice in with the egg.

Yeung Chow Fried Rice

 Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Leftover cooked rice, about 2 cups
• Shrimp, ½ pound
• Roast pork, 1/3 pound
• Onion, ½
• Carrot, 2 sticks (Optional. I put it in. You don’t have to)
• Peas, ½ cup (I didn’t put them in, but they usually appear in any fried rice dish)
• Egg, 1
• Scallion, 2 stalks
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Ginger, 3 slices
• Water, 2 Tbsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• Salt, a dash
• White pepper, a dash

Steps:

1. Finely chopped garlic and ginger, put it aside.
2. Cut onion and carrots into small dices. Put it aside
3. Cut scallion into small pieces, put it aside
4. Cut roast pork into small dices. Put it aside.
5. Cut shrimp into smaller pieces.  I cut each shrimp into 3 pieces.  You can keep it as a whole instead if you prefer.  Put it aside.
6. Use a large non-stick frying pan, spray a little bit of oil.  Use high heat.  Put garlic, ginger, onion and carrots and peas into the pan.  Let it cook for 2 mins.
7. Add roast pork.  Stir it well for a minute.
8. Add rice.  Mix the rice well.  Add 1 teaspoon of cooking wine.  Depends on how dried the rice is, add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan.  Stir well.  Let it cook for 2 minutes or so.
9. Add shrimp to the rice.  Stir well and let it cook until it is no longer translucent. 
10. Dig a whole in the middle of the pan.  Put the egg in the middle and don’t touch it and let it cook for 20 seconds. Then slowly fold the rice in with the egg.  Mix it well.  Let it cook for a minute.
11. Add a dash of salt and white pepper and oyster sauce for taste.  If the rice is still too dry, add another tablespoon of water. Mix it well.  Turn off the heat.
12. Add scallion.  Mix it well.  Serve hot.

Today was my first day transitioning to a new job. I was very overwhelmed as I found out I have to connect to like 150 people for my job!  I felt so exhausted when I got home. I needed to fix a quick dinner.  24 was on tonight. I can”t miss that  So I decided to put a bunch of leftovers into a meal, ie, Chinese fried rice.   You can put any ingredients into fried rice, be creative.  There is a very famous Chinese fried rice dish called “Yeung Chow Fried Rice” which has BBQ pork and shrimps in it. But I did not have those ingredients. So, I made a simple Chinese Chicken Fried Rice instead.  You can substitute the chicken with other kind of meat like beef, pork or even skip it as you like.  I will show you Yeung Chow Fried Rice some other time.  My high school friend told me that his uncle worked in a restaurant, and workers there used to use their feet to press down on the leftover rice to separate it.  It was sooooooooo gross!  I thought she made this whole thing up to gross me out.  Anyway, I have not ordered fried rice at any restaurant for yeaars.  I make my own.

My leftover rice from a take-out place

Add An Egg to Fried Rice

Basic Chinese Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• Leftover cooked rice, 2.5 to 3 cups (prefer leftover rice over fresh cooked rice because leftover rice is drier)
• Cooked chicken meat, 1- 1.5 cup
• Ham, 2 slices (Optional, ham would give a nice savoury taste)
• carrots, 2 stalks
• Celery, 2 stalks
• Onion, 1/2
• Scallion, 1 stalk
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Egg, 1
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• Salt, a dash
• White pepper, a dash (you can use regular black pepper instead)
• Sesame oil (optional)
• Water, 2 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Wash your hands first!  If the leftover rice has big lumps, break them with your hand first. Put it aside.
2. Finely chopped the garlic. Put it aside.
3. Peel and cut carrots into small cubes, like 1 cm.  Put it aside.
4. Cut celery into small cubes, like 1 cm.  Put it aside.
5. Cut onion into small pieces.  Put it aside.
6. Cut scallion into small pieces. Put it aside.
7. Cut ham into small pieces. Put it aside.
8. Spray oil in a frying pan.  Use medium to high heat. Put carrots into the pan.  Stir fry it for 3 minutes or so. 
9. Add onion and garlic to the frying pan.  Stir fry it for 2 minutes.
10. Add celery and stir fry for a minute.
11. Add cooking wine and a dash of salt to the pan. Mix it well.
12. Spray a little bit more oil to the pan.  Add rice.  Stir fry for a minute or so.  Add 2 Tbsp of water.   Mix it well. 
13. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce to the rice.  Mix it well.
14. Dig a hole in the middle of the pan. Break an egg and put it in the middle (like a volcano).  Let it cooked untouch for a minute.  Then start to fold the rice from the side to the middle of the pan to mix it slowly with the egg.   Keep folding the rice in.  Mix it well for couple of minutes.
15. Add cooked chicken finally.
16. Taste it. Add a pinch of salt if needed.  Add scallion, pepper and sesame oil.  Mix it well. Turn off the heat.