Better-Than-Takeaway Roast Chicken Fried Rice

Final version: Better-Than-Takeaway Roast Chicken Fried Rice

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 12–15 minutes
Total: About 25 minutes
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 600–650 g cold cooked white rice, approximately 4 cups

• 300 g cooked supermarket roast chicken, skin and bones removed and chopped or shredded

• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten

• 2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil such as canola, vegetable or peanut oil

• 150 g frozen peas and carrots, approximately 1 cup

• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced with white and green parts separated

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, plus up to another 1 tablespoon if needed

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper or black pepper.

• For serving, extra spring onion is enough. Chilli crisp or sliced fresh chilli can be offered separately.

Method

1. Prepare the rice. Break up all large clumps before you start. The grains should feel relatively dry rather than wet or sticky. Chilled leftover rice is ideal for an easy home version. If using recently cooked rice, cool it rapidly and properly before storage rather than leaving it at room temperature to dry. Adequately dried rice is more important to fried-rice texture than simply being “day-old.”

2. Prepare everything before heating the pan. Mix the 2 tablespoons light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon oyster sauce in a small bowl. Keep the sesame oil separate. Have the chicken, rice, vegetables, eggs, garlic and spring onion beside the stove.

3. Heat a large wok over high heat, or a large frying pan over medium-high heat, with about 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the beaten eggs and allow them to set for a few seconds before gently scrambling. Remove them while still soft and place on a clean plate.

4. Add approximately 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil. Add the frozen peas and carrots and the white parts of the spring onions. Stir-fry for 2–3 minutes, until the vegetables are hot and any water released into the pan has evaporated. This is important—wet vegetables will steam the rice.

5. Add the garlic and cook for only 20–30 seconds, until fragrant. Do not let it become dark brown.

6. Add the remaining oil followed by the rice. Spread it across the pan rather than keeping it in one mound. Cook for approximately 3–4 minutes, tossing and turning it regularly but also allowing short periods of contact with the hot pan. Cooking in stages and giving the rice room to fry helps avoid steaming and clumping.

7. Add the roast chicken and toss through for approximately 1 minute. The chicken is already cooked, so we are heating it—not cooking it again.

8. Pour the soy-and-oyster-sauce mixture over the rice. Toss quickly and thoroughly for approximately 1 minute. The rice should become lightly seasoned, not visibly wet.

9. Return the egg to the pan. Add most of the green spring onion and the pepper. Toss for another 30–60 seconds, breaking the egg into bite-sized pieces.

10. Turn off the heat and drizzle over 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil. Toss once more. Adding sesame oil toward the end preserves more of its aroma; fried-rice recipes also commonly use it as a finishing flavour.

11. Taste the fried rice. Only now decide whether it needs more soy sauce. Add ½ teaspoon at a time, rather than automatically adding the extra tablespoon.

12. Serve immediately with the remaining spring onion.