Fried Rice, A Recipe With Pictures

After picking up Olivia from school (and going to Wal-Mart and the supermarket, and helping with homework, and installing a smoke detector, and assembling a bookshelf, and making Olivia's dinner) it was time to make dinner for Susan and me.

I decided to make fried rice, so I started pulling things out of the cabinet to make it happen. As is my custom, I got out a CD to cook to, and here are the things I started with:



I poured myself a drink and got right down to it. The recipe is as follows:

1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 cup uncooked Jasmine or Basmati rice (or whatever rice you like... this is a democratic kitchen, friends)
1 Tbsp Thai Chili sauce
1 Tbsp Biryani paste
1/4 lb baby carrots (or more if you like)
3 trimmed chicken breast halves, diced or shredded
1 jar of of roasted red peppers
Garlic Pepper
1/4 cup Sherry

Steam the carrots until done, and set aside.



While the carrots are steaming, cook the rice according to your own liking. I sue chicken broth and a tablespoon of fish sauce instead of water.



Trim and dice the chicken.

Sprinkle chicken with garlic pepper.

Sprinkle chicken with 1 Tsp of cornstarch, combine.

Combine chili sauce and biryani paste.

Mix chicken with chili sauce & Biryani paste



Combine the sherry and the cornstarch and set aside.



Slice the red peppers and set aside.



The next step is important, so pay attention:

Wash your hands thoroughly and dry them completely (careful about this folks, you are working with raw chicken!).

Pour yourself another drink and listen to some very cool music. Tonight's selection was "Dublin To Dakar - A Celtic Odyssey" from Putumayo Music. This CD is a fusion of Irish/Celtic music, with music from Senegal.

Susan came home about this time and we chatted for 30 seconds before Olivia wanted/needed mommy time.

During this interval, the phone rang, and it was Jeff, Olivia's Godfather, calling to wish me a happy (belated) Marine Corps birthday (he had been on travel).

By this time, Olivia had been settled, I had poured Susan a glass of wine, and it was time to resume.

I put the wok on the stove and heated it until it was nearly smoking.

I added the wok oil and then the chicken, and stir fried.



I set aside the chicken, and stir fried the peppers and carrots together for about 3 minutes, to heat through.

I deglazed the wok with sherry, and then fried the rice.

Once the rice was fried, I added the chicken, carrots, and peppers.



A few minutes to combine, and a sprinkling of the sherry cornstarch mixture (use if you like your fried rice a wee bit sticky), and onto the plate!



(Please note that at the top of the picture, you can see where I was writing down what I was doing)

Change the CD, serve and eat! (and it was sooo good!)