A little experience in stir-frying will be good, but as recipes go this is a painless one to learn on. The trick to this recipe is the rice--You absolutely CANNOT use warm or moist rice, because it will clump together and refuse to cook properly. That is the only warning you're going to get.
Also, if you use Minute Rice in my recipe, I WILL FIND YOU.
You will need:
Wok or large high-sided skillet
Stovetop
Olive Oil
3 cups cold white rice, precooked
Garlic (whole, or pre-minced, see below)
Green onion
Raw chicken or beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
Frozen peas and/or broccoli
One egg
Regular soy sauce
Lemon juice
Wren and Maddo's (Chicken) Fried Rice
Hopefully the night before you have made three cups of warm rice, let it cool, and then put it in the fridge in a container. Fried rice is an excellent food to make with leftovers for this very reason.
Heat two tablespoons of oil in the wok. You want it to be hot, but not steaming. This requires some knowledge of your stove, so make sure you leave some time for tweaking. If the oil ever gets too hot during the cooking process, take the wok off the burner for a bit. This recipe is going to require a properly seasoned wok, so if you don't know what that means, I suggest you check the guide I've hopefully written on the subject.
Once the oil is ready, add in a clove of garlic. If you bought a whole garlic, you'll be mincing it on your own. If you don't have good knives or have no idea how to mince, buy the refrigeratable containers of the pre-minced stuff and follow the directions on the side. Don't worry, I promise it will turn out okay. Make sure you keep the garlic moving in the oil so it doesn't burn, because burnt garlic is right up there next to burning hair or plastic on the list of Bad Smells I'd Like to Avoid.
After a minute or so, add in the chicken (or beef. Whatever). All you're really waiting for is the olive oil to get nice and garlicky so the chicken picks up the flavor. Stir the chicken a lot until it is fully cooked. You may need to add a bit more oil if the chicken starts sticking. Ten minutes should see all the meat cooked, but it's easier to just cut a piece in half and check for pinkness. Once that's done, toss in some chopped green onion. Just chop it across the stems to create little rings and toss some in. I'd use two full stems for a normal batch of fried rice.
Next, add the peas. I usually just "eyeball" it and toss in a couple of handfuls. It really depends on how much you like peas. (I happen to adore them.) Adding them in right now will make them slightly crispy and garlicky, which is surprisingly good (and I will always thank Maddo for this contribution.)
Once the peas have started thawing, add in the white rice. Don't add the soy sauce just yet, because we still need to get the egg in here. Let the rice get warm and start mixing the chicken and peas around a little. Once it's mixed, scrunch it off to one side of the wok.
Alright. The egg section is a little tricky. Most recipes call for you to scramble the egg in the wok, but if you have a cheap stove, this may be a problem. My range doesn't have a flat burner, so the egg will run into the rice and make a clumpy mess. If you noticed the olive oil pooling in one side of the wok, I suggest you go with the out-of pan method. Here is how you cook it:
1) Scramble an egg. This involves cracking one open, taking a fork, and attacking it in a circular motion until it's all a uniform, pale yellow color. I have seen some of you scramble, so here is a bit of advice--If your forearm does not feel the burn, you are not beating the egg fast enough with the fork. Note that this is not how you would stir tea. The fork should go down into the egg, go back towards your belly button, up towards yours chest, away from you, and then back down into the egg. Don't get bogged down by the technique, though. I'm just trying to give you enough info so the egg gets beaten before the rest of the stir-fry burns. ._.
2) Pour the egg into the clear space on the wok or into a seperate skillet. (THIS WILL REQUIRE YOU TO PREHEAT THE BURNER.)
3) Watch it. When the edges start to look cooked, scrunch the egg around with a spatula. I'm sure you all know what scrambled eggs LOOK like, so you should be able to figure out what to do here.
4) When cooked, mix back in with everything else. WOO!
Once the egg is cooked, add the broccoli. If you're not a fan of the crispy pea idea, add those here, too. I'd make a little divot in the rice and pour it all in there so it heats up quickly.
Now you may add the soy sauce. And let me warn you, this will require more than you think. I usually drizzle it around, stir a bit, check for bits of white rice, and repeat. Please do not make Chicken Fried Soy Soup with Rice, though, because the sheer sodium content may mummify you on the spot.
Finally, if you'd like, squirt a little lemon juice over the whole batch.
Let all of it cook, stirring frequently, for five or so minutes after adding the last of the veggies. Everything should be warm, and the house should be full of an almost abusively yummy smell.
Enjoy!
