I’ve mentioned before certain foods that I would want to have if I was stuck on a deserted island:  s’mores and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are just a few.  Yes, you know I have a sweet tooth.  I could probably add deviled eggs to that list too.  But another food that I never tire of and could eat every single day is fried rice.  And I mean every. single. day.  I normally eat vegetable fried rice (a habit going back to my vegetarian days) but as much as I love it, I don’t ever try to make it at home.  After all, the Chinese food restaurant is right around the corner and can have my fried rice ready for me in 15 minutes, right?  Well, the problem we all know is that fried rice isn’t exactly healthy and shouldn’t be eaten often, if ever.  But I can’t give it up so why not give in and try to make it, when I can control the oil and the ingredients myself?  This recipe for Chicken Fried Rice seems like a good place to start.

Chicken, scrambled egg, peas, and rice are combined with a mixture of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar and lime juice.  Fresh garlic and grated ginger provide additional layers of flavor to this rich dish.  The lime juice really provides an additional unexpected freshness and the chili sauce gives it a slight kick, which I love.  I used precooked chicken strips since I had them on hand but thin-cut chicken would work well here too since it cooks quickly.  Since I try to eat brown rice as much as possible, I also used ready-made whole grain brown rice in place of the boil-in-bag rice but any kind of rice will work here.  While this isn’t restaurant-style fried rice, this was a tasty and satisfying fried rice dish that isn’t as oily and doesn’t leave you feeling guilty after eating it.  What’s also great about this is you can add adapt it to your own taste by adding other vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, baby corn, grean beans or bean sprouts.  I’ll definitely make this again, maybe even leaving out the chicken, to satisfy that vegetable fried rice craving I get oh-so often.

The ingredients:

Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce, cornstarch, and chicken in a bowl; toss well.  Combine remaining 4 teaspoons soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime juice and chili paste in a small bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken mixture and stir-fry 4 minutes or until lightly browned. (If using pre-cooked chicken like I did, stir-fry just until heated through.)

Push chicken to one side of skillet and add eggs to open side of pan.  Cook 45 seconds, stirring constantly.  Stir eggs and chicken mixture together.

Remove chicken mixture from pan and keep warm.  Return pan to medium-high heat.  Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan.  Add onion, ginger, and garlic and cook 2 minutes or until fragrant.  Add rice and cook 1 minute.

Add peas and cook 1 minute.

Add chicken mixture and soy sauce mixture.  Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Stir in green onions.

Additions:  None

Omissions:   None

Substitutions

• Pre-cooked chicken strips
• Ready-made brown rice

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine