Chinese Chicken Recipes for Busy People

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.