When I was growing up in the
suburbs of Pittsburgh the most exotic take-out food that we had was pizza. I didn’t get a chance to try Chinese food
until I was a freshman in college. It
was my good buddy, Kristofer Collins, who initiated me. We used to lunch/skip class/both at Yum
Wok, this Chinese joint on Craig Street in the Oakland section of the city of
Pittsburgh. My first foray into Chinese
food was a basic Chicken Fried Rice (hold the onions). What I had was a glorious mix of chicken,
scrambled egg, pea and carrot. Douse
that shit in soy sauce and I was in heaven.
I thought Yum Wok style Chicken
Fried Rice was the standard upon which all fried rice was made. I was sadly mistaken. It can be made a number of ways. I’ve had it a number of ways, with shit like
sprouts and mushrooms and peppers, etc..
But never like that again. As
they say it’s never as good as your first time.
For years I craved the Chinese food of my intellectual awakening. I figured since I couldn’t get Yum Wok style
Chicken Fried Rice anywhere, I’d make it on my own.
So I present here the John
Grochalski version of Yum Wok Style Chicken Fried Rice. WARNING: this meal is
meant for two people with the idea that one will be having themselves a nice
lunch the next day, or that the two of you will feast like Romans. Or I guess you could invite a friend and make
it dinner for three. Also…I hate onions,
so include onions at your own risk.
Ingredients:
1.5-1.75 LBS on boneless, skinless
chicken breasts cut into small cube-like shapes
egg (I used about 1/3 a carton of
egg beaters because of cholesterol and i won't go back to my insane doctor). 2 or 3 eggs should do the
trick
2 cups of rice.
frozen peas and carrots.
Olive oil and/or non-stick cooking
spray.
Basically what I do is this: I cut the chicken into cubes and cook in
non-stick cooking spray until no longer pink in the skillet (I’m a germaphobe so
maybe I cook the chicken until it browns…but that makes it dry so….). While the chicken is cooking I make the eggs
in a small skillet (scrambled) and cook the peas/carrots according to the directions on
the bag. I have a rice cooker so while
chicken/egg/peas are cooking the rice is cooking separately. If you don’t want to drive yourself nuts feel
free to cook everything at individual moments, or do it all at once like do, shouting at your wife and cat and neighbors for peace and serenity.
Once the chicken is cooked I remove
it from the skillet. I use either
non-cooking spray (PAM) or enough olive oil to coat the skillet. If you have a good skillet you can get away
with the spray. Mine sucks so now I need
to use olive oil. Once the oil/spray is
heated….add the rice. It should start
frying immediately. Move the rice around
and let it get coated/fried…maybe a minute or so. Then add the chicken, eggs, and peas and
carrots. Let it all get nice and hot together. I used to put some soy sauce on while cooking
but now I leave that until I’m sitting down so that I can gauge how salty I
want this mother. If you’ve done your
job correctly the Chicken Fried Rice should look like this:
Mmmm….just like being back in college
and wasting my money fucking around instead of going to class. Enjoy!
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