Save the white rice...

From time to time there is nothing better than Chinese food brought home or delivered in white boxes accompanied by all those packets of soy sauce. Everyone seems to have their favorite place for Chinese. Mine is located perfectly, I make the call and immediately get in my car and head over to the restaurant. When I arrive they are just bagging my order....perfect. Now I almost always order pork fried rice and some other dish as well which leaves me the ubiquitous untouched container of white rice. This becomes the basis for a meal later in the week. I make fried rice on the second day after. By this time I've eaten the other left overs for lunches etc.

Making fried rice requires the use of cooked rice that has been thoroughly cooled in the fridge. Its better to let it sit in the fridge for a day or two. I works best if the rice is just a little bit dry. One of the great things about fried rice is the ability to include virtually any ingredients you want. Just about any veg and any protein will work well. As for must have ingredients I would say green onions are critical. The sauce used to color and flavor the rice can be easily made from a combination of soy, oyster, hoisin sauces, plus seasonings. To save time there are many reasonably good bottled sauces to choose from. My favorite for fried rice is Maggie Gins Traditional Stir Fry Sauce. Choose what you like.

Tonight's fired rice.

White rice
Fresh Musrooms, sliced
Green onions, evenly chopped about 1 cup
Canned sliced water chestnuts, julienned.
frozen peas and carrots (we were cooking late so time was important) (I'm rationalizing...)
Two eggs beaten and scrambled
Maggie Gins Traditional Stir Fry Sauce
Vegetable Oil
Salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large skillet until very hot.
Brown mushrooms on both sides in the hot pan. Season with salt and pepper, then add the water chestnuts.
Add the rice to the hot pan and stir fry about 4 minutes, add peas and carrots, and continue to stir fry. Slowly add the stir fry sauce and mix well. Taste the mixture often to get the flavor as intense as you like it. I prefer to scramble the eggs separately and then add them to the rice. Finally add the green onion and stir fry until hot. Serve immediately.

We served this with Teriyaki Marinated Steelhead and oven roasted broccoli.