# Breaking the staff meal blues: Cantonese-style chicken fried rice



## blueicus (Mar 16, 2005)

Okay, so we don't really have staff meals at the kitchen I work in but we do need to eat so we try to throw some stuff together every once in a while. This recipe is something I made last night which is a fried rice that attempts to emulate a restaurant-quality fried rice on a wok with a rocket-engine burner underneath. Our restaurant burners don't have that sort of power but it came out pretty close. Of course when stir frying you want to have all your mise en place on hand so be sure to prep completely before you cook.

Servings: Enough to serve a small army

1 6-inch deep half-pan of day-old rice

Chicken
5 boneless chicken breasts, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white pepper
2 tablespoons white wine or rice wine
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 pinch sugar
(Mix all together and let sit for 30 minutes)

Miscellaneous Mise
6 green onions, cut into thin rounds
3 eggs, scrambled and mixed with a couple teaspoons of oil
1 cup lemongrass oil (cook 1 stalk of pounded lemongrass in oil at low temperature for 1 hour, allow to cool)
garlic-ginger paste (20 cloves of garlic and half as much ginger pureed in a food processor until finely minced)

First prep your chicken by heating a large wok with about 3 inches deep of vegetable or any other light oil to around 250 degrees F (just make sure the temperature isn't deep frying temperature). Cook your chicken in 4 separate batches, slowly stirring the chicken in the oil until it's cooked but not browned (I would use a slotted spoon or a fine mesh strainer). Set aside.

Using 1 couple tablespoons of the oil you used to blanch the chicken heat up another wok (or use the same one) over a high heat until the oil is just short of smoking. Add a couple of tablespoons of the garlic ginger paste and stir for about 10 seconds or until you can smell the aromas without burning it. Next add about a quarter of the rice and then toss (while breaking up large chunks of rice with your spatula) for about a minute. Next add a heaping spatula of chicken, season with a very generous sprinkling of salt (I'd say about 2 tablespoons) and continue tossing for another 30 seconds to a minute. Next add about a quarter of the eggs and continue to toss vigourously until the eggs are incorporated and the rice looks fairly dry. Finally add a quarter of the green onions and a tablespoon or two of the lemongrass oil and toss for another 30 secs to 1 minute. Plate and serve. Clean your wook and repeat to cook the rest of the rice and you have a one wok meal. Personally I just eat it as is... but if you want to add soy sauce just don't tell me about it.


----------

