Likes of mine

Passport & Plate - Brown fried rice

Ingredients
Ingredients:
White rice - ½ cup
500 ml – water (depending on the type of rice may be added more)
Chicken breast - 250 g
Egg – 1 (2 can be used as well)
Vegetable oil – 5 tbsp
Soy sauce – 5 tbsp

Spices:
Black pepper - ½ tsp
Curry powder - ½ tsp
Ginger powder - ½ tsp
Satureja - ½ tsp (aka Savory)
Red pepper powder - ½ tsp
Chilli powder – a pinch or to taste
Salt - to taste

 

How to prepare this recipe
In a large pan heat 4 tbsp of vegetable oil, throw in the dry (pre-cleaned rice) and fry it till brown, while stirring regularly. Not burning but Browning! ;) When properly browned, take off the heat, wait a bit and add the water (not to fast the oil is hot). Return the pan back on to the stove and add the soy sauce, stir it, and leave to cook about 15 minutes, till the rice is soft. Lower the heat after it starts boiling.
While the rice is boiling take the breast and cut them into 1-1,5 cm cubes and place them in a large bowl. Through in all the spices and the last of the vegetable oil and mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. You can leave it like that as little as 15 minutes, but I recommend leaving it at least one hour so the spice and the meat have time get more intimate with each other. ;) Then cook it on medium heat till the meat is firm yet tender with maybe a bit of brown showing on one or two sides, not too much.
When both the rice and chicken are cooked, just before serving heat a pan on medium-high heat and break the egg(s) in and cook until almost done, then add the rice and the meat, so they mix good. You don’t want to add them before the egg whites have become white, if you do the whole think will look more like a mess then fried rice.
Serve with pickled vegetables on the side or a salad of your choosing.

P. S. I don’t follow a recipe usually, so the amounts up there are just suggestions; if you think it might be better in different proportions go with it. Follow your nose! ;)

Bon appetite!

 

The story behind this recipe
I remember the first time I cooked for myself was when I was 8 years old, scrambled egg of course. But since then I found out that mixing this’n’that over a stove and following my nose can result in delicious meal; I have not stopped experimenting with cooking and flavors since then.
Then there was the first time I went to a Chinese restaurant, with my mum when I was 15 years old. I had never had Chinese food before, I know it doesn’t sound like much but at that time we couldn’t afford a lot, and I was very excited about it. :) I didn’t like much rice at that time but I did get rice and when I got served that big plate perfectly cooked fried rice with chicken I was baffled, I could have never imagined that you could do that with rice, then when I saw that it had egg in it well that was it; I was blown away. After the big meal I should say, I had so much rice and seaweed salad that that evening I threw up, but I never forgot the fried rice with chicken and egg. Then I didn’t even think about searching the internet for a recipe on how to make fried rice Chinese style, and I started to try out myself.
First I fried the rice before it was cooked, which was as I found out afterwards not how you do it, but after the tenth time I had something that didn’t resemble the rice I had at the restaurant much, but it was good and whoever tried it liked it, so I started developing it further in the new way I had found out to cook it. Later on I found out how to properly cook fried rice with an egg, but that recipe stuck with me; I’ve cooked it for a lot of friends, every time they ‘mmmm’, nod, and smile, someone of which always asks how to make it. It’s amazing to see someone enjoying that much something you made. :)