gills chicken fried rice.

gills chicken fried rice

– serves 1 (twice)

contents

walnut oil – a little

fresh ginger – a small lump roughly chopped

white onion, chopped – one

dried mushies (soaked, drained, chopped) - a few

fresh shiitake mushies - or whatever kind you have
chicken, chopped – one breast

shaohsing rice wine – one tbsp

egg – one

five spice powder – quarter tsp

dark soy – generous splosh

cashew nuts – handful

jasmine rice – one or two hundred g

light soy – two tbsp

toasted sesame oil – one tbsp

spring onions – two or three (or four)

black pepper – tons

It starts with hunger and a vague glance around the fridge. 

Some extra cooked rice from the night before? I always make extra. Well, actually I pretend to myself that I purposely do it...when really I just make far too much in the first place. By accident.

A defrosting chicken breast. I generally just take stuff out of the freezer without having a final plan.

A few scraggly spring onions in the cupboard under the sink next to a couple of white onions?

One girl. Armed with a wok.

Who doesn't own a wok? If you don't then I am not sure that I am capable of acknowledging your existence until you do. Seriously.

This haphazard recipe has pretty much evolved over the years to cope with what has been in my cupboards at the time. I don't really like eating Chinese takeaway food because it is most often greasy, salty and mushy. However there was once a wee place in Dundee that did some lovely Spicy Singapore noodles. It's not open any more. (/sadface)

I used to make it without the Chinese five-spice and also without the shaohsing rice wine. What was I thinking? There is something about those two ingredients that give a dish the wow factor. It can just taste authentic - even if you are cooking it in a kitchen in the middle of nowhere, Scotland. Chinese five-spice is an intriguing blend of cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, star anise and fennel. It should, as with most dried spices, be used sparingly, otherwise the end result can be an offensive assault on your tastebuds...and not in a good way.

If only people knew how easy it was to make chicken fried rice, then they wouldn’t have to settle for their local "British-Chinese" takeaway.

Heat the oil in your wok until it is absolutely roasting. Cooking in a wok is all about the heat and the speed. Then chuck in the ginger, onion and all the mushrooms. Stir around mindlessly and you can even cut up the chicken at the same time.

Don't forget to wash your hands, I don't want you to poison yourself.

Once the chicken is sealed splash in the rice wine and continue moving it around the wok until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Then make a pretty litte space in the middle and crack the egg into it. Start stirring straight away to save it from getting burnt to the bottom of the wok (that would equal more difficult cleaning).

The egg really does not need pre-whisked. What a severe waste of time doing that can be. It also adds more to the washing up pile next to the sink. Your wooden spoon is your friend (no, I don't believethey are as unhygienic as a certain celebrity chef would make out...cough cough James Martin) here and you just need to stir the eggs around as if you're making scrambled eggs. Well come on, I am from Scotland, what do you think I stir my porridge with?

Once the egg has scrambled you need to incorporate it into the rest of the contents of the wok. Then throw in the five-spice, dark soy, nuts and rice and fry for a good five minutes or so. If you don't have rice from the night before just make some fresh. It doesn't take very long at all, and you can have the rice simmering away whilst you are frying off all the other ingredients. Jasmine rice is the best alternative to proper Japanese sticky-rice (yes, that's how they use their chopsticks so perfectly, because it's not that dreaded basmati rice (boring!). Not to mention the fact that they've used chopsticks probably before they started walking.

At this point you can grab your beer out of the fridge and decide what tv channel to watch, unless like me you are firing through the Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide series, then just make sure your book is to hand. And don't forget the chopsticks, fork, spoon, spork, massive shovel or whatever your choice of cutlery may be.

The final addition of the light soy, toasted sesame oil and the spring onions are for extra flavour and crunch. They can go in just before you start stuffing your face. 

Don't forget to add a bucketload of pepper. Salt is not needed because the soy sauce and the toasted sesame oil have added enough salt to begin with. In case you were wondering about the difference between dark soy and light soy my educated guess is that dark soy is aged longer, therefore it is stronger and thicker and darker in colour. The light soy is lighter (funnily enough) I find it it can also be more salty.

And there you have it.

Perfect comfort food within a matter of minutes.

And no need to go to the shop. Leave the wok soaking for a few hours to make it easier to clean, and stick the leftovers in a tub in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. The strict food safety enthusiast in me is wanting you to put the leftovers in the fridge as soon as they are cold...between zero to five degrees...you remember now? (Bacillus Cereus and all that jazz). Feel free to browse the Food Standards Agency website here if you have no idea what I am on about. Get yourself educated please.