Chicken fried rice

I luuuuurve Chinese food. Chinese food makes me so very happy. It is a real treat for us to get in a takeaway or head out to the all you can eat buffet. However I've never really attempted Chinese cooking at home, save for honey chilli chicken and Mary Berry's sweet and sour chicken. And of course, Mr's famous curry sausages and rice are made with Chinese curry sauce concentrate we get at the Chinese supermarket. But apart from that we haven't been very adventurous, and I always worry that without the MSG from takeaways it won't taste as good!

This recipe - loosely based on a Slimming World recipe I saw at my mum's house - is hardly adventurous either but it is so deliciously authentic I'd actually say it was as good as the real stuff. Give it a go and tell me what you think...

(Apologies for lack of picture, every time I make it I am so keen to get stuck in I forget to take one!)

Chicken Fried Rice (serves 1)

Before you start, it's helpful to have the following ingredients chopped and ready to go. This dish is stir fried and needs to keep moving in the wok so you won't have time to prep as you go. It seems a lot but worth it, I promise.

Ingredients
One garlic clove, minced
Small piece of ginger, chopped finely or grated (sorry for vague amounts but I use 1 tsp of the Very Lazy stuff!)
One small red chilli, finely chopped, or 1/2 tsp of chilli flakes
Half a carrot, sliced into thin batons
Half a red pepper, sliced into thin batons
Handful of frozen peas
Shredded cooked chicken breast
One portion of COLD cooked rice (do not used recently cooked rice or it'll turn to mush)
One egg, lightly beaten
5 spice powder
Soy sauce
Shaohsing rice wine (if you have it, not necessary)
Sesame oil (ditto)

Method
1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable or other flavourless oil in a wok. Add ginger, chilli and garlic and stir fry for a few moments.
2. Throw in the carrots, peppers and peas and stir fry until beginning they start to colour and pick up all the flavours.
3. Add the rice and chicken and stir well. Slosh in some soy sauce and a sprinkle of 5 spice.
4. After stir frying for a few moments, push the rice to one side and pour in the egg. Wait until it sets a bit then start breaking it up with a fork. Then mix the whole lot together - the egg should mix through in little shreds.
5. Add a splash of rice wine - this will help deglaze the wok if the egg has made everything catch a bit.
6. Finally sprinkle a few drops of sesame oil over the rice (only a few, this is a strong oil and would quickly overpower everything else).
7. Serve up and eat immediately.

When I have made this, the flavours exactly match those you get in the stuff from the Chinese. And it is low fat too - only about 400 cal according to MyFitnessPal!

Let me know if you give this a go!

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