Worth It Chicken Fried Rice

We live in a small town in north eastern Maine.

There’s two gas stations, one of which boasts the only restaurant in town.

Obviously, if you have only one restaurant in a small Maine town, it’s not gonna be international cuisine. So my husband and I have had to get a little creative in order to have something different, without having to drive 45 miles in any given direction to get it.

Or in the case of Thia food, 85 MILES TO GET ANY.

For those of you who have never been to Bar Harbor Maine, and have never gone to the little alleyway Thai food restaurant, you are in for a treat. This is not an exact match, but my hubby agrees it’s pretty close.

Hello homemade Siam Orchid in order to curb my insane need for fried rice.

So my first secret is, use day old rice if possible. If not, then let it sit in the pot off of the heat with the cover on for at least an extra half hour. This is  a key step to making fried rice dishes, because slightly drier rice will grab the flavors better.

Once you have your rice situation figured out, time to grab your other ingredients.

• 3 cups prepared rice
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 TBSP oil of your choice (to cook chicken in. For this day I used regular old Veggie Oil, but feel free to use butter, sesame oil, canola, etc. Whatever is handy is fine)
• 3/4 cup Carrot
• 3/4 cup Peas
• 1/2 large onion (I really recommend a sweet yellow onion)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 can pineapple
• 3 eggs
• Spring onions
• 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

 

To start, figure out your rice situation. I didn’t have any on hand, so I made what would become three cups and then let it hang out in its pot for about a hour before i even startted on the chicken.

Once I knew what was going on with my rice, it was time to grab my trusty wok and get it going with the cooking oil. I set it on low heat and got to cutting my chicken up into nice little chunks. With the chicken cut up, I threw it into the heated oil and let it cook until thoroughly done. Because my chicken was cute up so small, it took about 7 minutes for it to cook well, with a nice browned outside.

With your chicken done cooking, you want to get it out of the oil or it will be over done and really greasy. A paper towel lining a plate is my go to method of draining.

After your chicken is out of the pan, get your onions and pineapple, with a little bit of juice from the can, into the wok- still on low heat – and get those cooking.

I let the onions and pineapple cook for a few minutes until i notice the onions getting soft. Now it’s time to crush your garlic, rinse your frozen peas and carrots and throw them in the wok to work their magic.

Now, with the assorted veggies cooked, its time to fry up some eggs! I let them cook sunnyside up until pretty well done and then I scramble them up with my spatula. When they are cooked all the way, mix them into your veggies really well.

With the egg all fried, scrambled and mixed, its time for the rice, cut spring onions and soy sauce. Mix all of this together right in the wok- It gets pretty heavy, so I actually use two rubber spatulas to make sure the soy sauce gets really well incorporated.

This amount fed my husband, our 15 month old and myself for 2 meals. And it was better the second time, like most Thia leftovers, in my experience.

 

Quick Reference Recipe

Worth It Chicken Fried Rice

 

• 3 cups prepared rice
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 TBSP oil of your choice (to cook chicken in. For this day I used regular old Veggie Oil, but feel free to use butter, sesame oil, canola, etc. Whatever is handy is fine)
• 3/4 cup Carrot
• 3/4 cup Peas
• 1/2 large onion (I really recommend a sweet yellow onion)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 can pineapple
• 3 eggs
• Spring onions
• 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

1. Prepare three cup of rice according to package details then let sit for at least a half hour longer then recommended, off of heat.
2. In large wok, heat up 2 TBSP of oil on low heat.
3. Cut up chicken to preffered size and cook in wok until done
4. Remove chicken from wok, but reserve the juices. This is done easily with a slotted spoon –  transfering the chicken to a paper towel lined plate.
5. Put cut onions andpineapple pieces into wok and let cook in the chicken oil and some of the pineapple juice. I usually just add a dash of the juice but have used as much as 1/4 cup
6. Once the onions are softened up, add in the crushed garlic, rinsed peas and carrots.
7. Next, move all your cooked veggies to one side of the wok. Into the cleared side, crack your eggs so that they can get frying.
8. As your eggs are finishing up, take your spatula and scramble them really well. Then mix the eggs in with your veggies.
9. Finally, add in your rice, soy sauce and cut up spring onions. Grab a couple spoons and mix it all together really well.
10. Enjoy!

 

 

Well there it is. One way we make small town living a little bit better for the tummy. We have a spring roll recipe that we usually make with this that I will make sure to share sometime.

There is a lot going on on the homestead this last week. We had a full on chicken rebellion,  where we thought we lost over half our flock, but that is a different blog altogether. And our zucchini is in. We are going to take advantage of this and make up some sweet relish. That is also the topic of another blog tho.

So until that time, have a wicked good day!