November: Chicken Fried Rice
Serves 4
Estimated time for preparation and cooking: 1 hour and 30 minutes
(Look at tips section as this recipe could require longer for the best result)
Prepared by a young person who attends our Croydon Advice and Support Hub session. This was the first time many of the young people who attend the Hub space have tried Vietnamese food, with many taking a quick liking to the simple yet robust flavours of the dish.
The young Vietnamese man shared how he has loved cooking for a long time, with his grandmother being his inspiration.
Ingredients
1 cup of basmati rice
2 carrots
1 large onion
Fresh coriander (optional)
3 large cloves of garlic
1.5 lbs chicken breast pieces
Salt
2 large eggs
1.5 cups of hot water
Vegetable oil (or butter)
0.5 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 small can of sweetcorn
Recipe
1) Preparing your ingredients
a) Soak the basmati rice in a bowl of water and leave for 10 minutes before draining the water using a sieve. Set the wet rice aside.
b) Chop the carrot, coriander and onions into small pieces, then set aside in separate bowls.
c) Peel the garlic cloves and either finely chop or mince into a small bowl.
d) Crack and mix the eggs into a bowl.
e) Cut the chicken breast pieces into small cubes.
2. Cooking rice*
a) Boil a pot of water and add a dash of salt and vegetable oil. Once boiling, add in your previously soaked (but still not cooked) wet basmati rice. The ratio should be 1 cup of basmati rice for every two cups of water.
b) Leave the rice to boil for 20 minutes.
c) Drain any excess water and lay the rice on a baking tray to help separate the grains. If you have space and time, leave the rice in the refrigerator for as long as you can.
3) Frying ingredients
a) In a pan, add a dash of vegetable oil and once sizzling, add your cubed chicken breast pieces to cook partially through. Add turmeric, garlic, half of your onions and salt, and mix in. Once partially cooked, put onto a plate which should have a paper towel on it to soak oil from the chicken.
b) Add a generous amount of vegetable oil into a new pan / wok on a medium heat, and once sizzling, add your carrots and the other half of your onions. Fry the onions until they are translucent.
c) Whilst onions are turning translucent, retrieve your rice from the fridge. Mix the eggs into your cold rice and then add this into your pan with the carrots and onions. The egg should help give the classic yellow colour you see in fried rice. Use a spatula to keep tossing the ingredients.
d) Add the slightly cooked chicken pieces to your mixture of rice/vegetables and fry for 5 minutes, using a spatula to keep mixing. Add the fish sauce.
e) After the five minutes, add some frozen peas to your mix and continue frying for another 10 minutes.
5) Plate up and garnish with coriander.
*Tips for making the best fried rice
You can use cold, pre-cooked rice which is often dryer making it easier to get best texture of fried rice and ensuring the rice does not end up clumped together. This could be from a recent meal for example.
If you do not have old rice, boil some rice the day before and leave it in the fridge. Or, the young person recommends using a rice cooker if you have one on the day.
Use the biggest pan or wok in your kitchen so that your ingredients are not overcrowded.