What's for dinner: Fried Rice

Okay, so I'm not actually having this for dinner but this is one of my favorite things to cook.  Its a simple dish to make and you can mix and match ingredients based on what you have on hand.  While its possible to make with fresh rice, its much much much better if you use left over rice.  Sounds silly, but I'll sometimes cook rice the night before just to let it sit in the fridge for fried rice the next day.

Prep
Like any other stir fry type dish, getting everything ready to go before you start cooking is key.  Once you start throwing things into the pan you need to have everything ready to go as the cooking process is relatively quick.  I like to chop up onions, carrots, and bell peppers as my base veggies but also will throw in green onions or bok choy or something else if I have it on hand.  If you are missing any of those things, no big deal just throw in what you have.  Along with chopping up the veggies, I also chop up garlic separately to fry that up as well.

After cutting up the veggies, I then move on to the meats.  This is piece is optional if you have left overs and can be made without any meat easily.  If you are using raw chicken, marinate it for a half hour or so with some soy sauce and corn starch.  The soy sauce seasons the chicken while the cornstarch gives it a more velvety texture.

Next, I prep one egg to be scrambled.

Finally, I get the sauce together.  I use a combination of oyster and soy sauce with a heavier hand on the oyster.  This is the flavor that you always think of fried rice, I can't really describe the taste but its good.  This sauce can also be modified if you want to try a little different flare, for example if you add a little fish sauce and lime juice you will get more thai flavored sauce

Cooking
Once you have everything ready to go, its time to get your pan heated up.  First, scramble the egg then remove from the pan and set aside.  Next, cook the meat (if you are using raw meat) until 3/4 of the way cooked then add to the bowl with the egg.  After wiping the pan with a paper towel, heat up oil real hot then drop in any chilis you may use and garlic.  Before the garlic begins to burn, add the veggies and toss to coat with the oil / garlic.  Let the rice cook for a little bit, then add the sauce as well as the meat / egg bowl.  Mix everything together and cook for a few minutes stirring to ensure all parts get some time by the heat.  Taste the rice to make sure you have enough sauce and you're good to go.

Getting the right balance of sauce to rice ratio takes a few tries to get but its easy to adjust the amount / taste of your sauce to fit you tastes.  Additionally, if you are worried about too much sauce, just add a little bit at a time until it gets to the flavor that you want.

Enjoy!!!