I’ve been lucky enough to have been exposed to Indonesian cooking by my father-in-law’s wife, Helen. She has taught me how to make dishes like Spicy Beef – that although tastes amazing, I need to drink a swallow of milk between each bit. One of my favorite things I’ve learned to make from Helen though is Chicken Fried Rice.
It’s not your typical fried rice and it won’t taste anything like what you get in a take-out box. I don’t know for sure but I think she’s Americanized it a little bit – one thing that leads me to this conclusion is that is starts by rendering bacon. As for the veggies, she throws in what she has and the first time she made it for us that happened to be a can of peas, and I really liked it so that’s how I make it most of the time. This does definitely have some authentic Asian flavors though like oyster and fish sauces and a sweet soy sauce. These are pretty readily available in most grocery stores now – at least if you’re in a metro area, not sure about my hometown of Ely. But that wasn’t the case about 10 years ago when I first had this. In fact, Helen took me with her to a special Asian grocery store to load me up on all the things I needed for fried rice and some other goodies too!
Here’s what you need:
As I mentioned we’re going to start by rendering some bacon. Cut about 5 slices of bacon into lardons and cook over medium-low heat until crisp. Set aside.
Cook some chopped onions right in the bacon fat. You can increase the heat to medium and cook until they become translucent.
Now it’s time to add the chicken so we can make this chicken fried rice. I use 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I cut into bite-sized pieces.
Once the chicken is cooked, push it to the side of the pan. Pour in a couple beaten eggs and scramble.
Add the bacon back in and stir everything together.
Now turn the heat down to medium-low and add in some cooked rice – I start with about a cup and a half of uncooked jasmine rice which yield roughly 3 cups of cooked rice. We’re leaving the heat on because this is fried rice after all.
Now it’s time to add the sauces and bring the Asian flavor to this rice. I have two suggestions here – first don’t be afraid of these ingredients, yes fish sauce sounds weird but it adds a nice salty flavor that you really need. Second – season and taste as you go. You can always add more but you can’t take it out. Start with the low end of my suggestions, taste, and add more as you like.
Start with about 1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce.
1-2 tablespoons of oyster sauce. To me this adds some umami, which I can only describe as a rich or savory flavor. In Japanese cuisine it’s the 5th taste beyond sweet, salty, sauce and bitter
2-4 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce. This gives it just a little sweet, and adds more complexity than regular soy sauce.
Now stir it all together so the sauce is incorporated into all of the rice. If you want a little spice you can add in some hot chili or hot chili garlic sauce too.
Now’s the time to taste. Add more sauce as you like and keep mixing until it’s how you like it. Once you’re happy with the taste, turn off the heat and add in a can of drained peas. Or you can use any other mixed veggie you like.
Stir everything together one more time.
And enjoy! My husband likes to drizzle a little more sweet soy on top of his, so you might want to leave that out. We like to eat this as a meal but it also makes a great side dish.
This makes incredible leftovers. In fact, I think the flavors get a little better overnight – but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying a bowl right away.
- 5 slices bacon, cut into lardons
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1.5 c uncooked Jasmine rice, cooked
- 1-2 T fish sauce
- 1-2 T oyster sauce
- 2-4 T sweet soy sauce
- 1 can peas, drained
- Fry bacon over medium-low heat until cooked. Remove from pan.
- Cook onion in bacon fat over medium heat until it softens and become translucent.
- Add chicken and sauté until browned and cooked through. Push chicken and onion to the side.
- Pour in the egg and scramble.
- Add the bacon back and mix everything together.
- Turn the heat to medium-low. Mix in the rice.
- Add the fish, oyster, and sweet soy sauces. Mix together and adjust seasoning to taste.
- Remove from heat and stir in the peas.
- Serve with extra sweet soy for drizzling.
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