Fried Rice

Fried rice is truly versatile.. use any meat and your favorite vegetables.
The secret to restaurant-style fried rice is keeping 'old' white rice and using an asian oil, such as sesame seed or peanut. Like for any stir-fry, cut up all vegetables before the wok is even hot.
*EDIT*: I improved my fried rice recipe and posted it. Use Thai Fried Rice if you have Fish sauce, high-heat oil, and a well-seasoned (non-stick) wok.



Serves 2
45 minutes
-large saucepan or wok
Easy

INGREDIENTS
1.5 c. pre-cooked (around 3/4 c. uncooked), chilled long-grain white rice (I used basmati)
Meat of choice (around 1/2 lb.): steak, chicken breast, pork chop, shrimp, tofu...
3 tbsp. peanut or sesame oil

Mirage of veggies (choose 3 to 6 of them), in order of cooking time:
water chestnuts? (never actually used these)
3 carrots, julienned
1 zucchini or yellow zucchini, sliced then chopped into quarters
1 head of broccoli
1/2 c. sno peas, ends removed
1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped, or several green onions
1/2 c. bean sprouts
1/4 c. frozen peas (NOT canned, I made that mistake before)
1/4 c. shredded cabbage or lettuce

1 tsp. garlic powder*
ground black pepper
1 large egg
1 tbsp. soy sauce*
*laChoy soy sauce is GF; all McCormick spices are GF

DIRECTIONS
Night before:
1. Cook up 1/2 c. uncooked white rice according to directions on package, EXCEPT add a little less water than originally needed. Also cut the cooking time short by around 5 minutes. This keeps the rice undercooked and not mushy. Stir cooked rice, then place in refrigerator to chill overnight.
Day of:
1. Wash and cut up all veggies into bite-sizes pieces, but not too small. Set aside near range.
2. Place meat into wok, add 1 tbsp oil and spread around sides. Cook meat fully over medium heat; shouldn't take longer than 8 minutes. Cut up into bite-sized pieces.
3. Place longest cooking vegetables into wok (chestnuts, carrots, zucchini) and stir-fry over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add in next couple of veggies (broccoli, sno peas, onion), along with 1 tbsp. more oil. Stir fry another 2-3 minutes.
5. Add in remaining veggies (sprouts, frozen peas, cabbage) and stir-fry another 2-3 minutes. Season veggies with garlic powder and ground pepper.
6. Pull 'old' rice out of fridge and pour remaining 1 tbsp. oil into rice. Stir till well coated.
7. Pour oiled rice into hot veggie/meat filled wok. Stir well.
8. Stir-fry entire mixture for 1-2 more minutes, stirring constantly.
9. Push the rice mixture over to the side to make room for the egg. Break egg, and place onto cleared section of wok. Scramble egg by stirring in wok, until cooked.. it won't take longer than 1 minute.
10. Stir scrambled egg in with rest of rice and add soy sauce to mixture. Stir well and remove from heat. Serve hot. Good as a side dish to chicken or as a main dish.