Teriyaki Chicken and Fried Rice

 We made this dish on Saturday. It was great. I paired it with fried rice and a fruit platter . The family enjoyed  the leftovers today. The chicken marinade was perfect and the fried rice was the perfect addition to this meal. 

Hawaiian BBQ Feast as seen on The Best Recipes EVAR

(Printable Version)

The Meat and Marinade

·         Boneless skinless Chicken Thighs, beef short ribs, or any kind of meat you want to use.

·         1 C. packed light brown sugar

·         1 C. soy sauce (I use the Aloha Shoyu Soy Sauce)

·         4-5 cloves of garlic chopped

        1 1/2 T. fresh ginger root chopped

·         1/4-1/2 large onion sliced

Marinade Directions

1.    In a bowl, mix the brown sugar and soy suace together. Keep mixing until almost all the sugar is dissolved in the soy sauce.

2.    Add in the garlic, ginger and onion and mix.

3.    Let the mixture sit for a few minutes.

4.    Put meat into a zip lock bag and pour mixture over it. (You can freeze the meat in the marinade at this point and when it is thawed the marinating time is over)

Depending on how much meat you have you may need to make more marinade and split this into 2 different bags. Let this marinade for at least 4 hours.

For the Grill

·         13×9 Pyrex dish or smaller depending on the amount of meat you have

·         1 stick of butter (trust me this makes the chicken so much better..however this recipe is great without it)

·         4-5 green onions sliced small

Grilling Directions

1.    Place Pyrex dish on the hot grill if you have room otherwise you can put it in the oven.

2.    Add the butter to the Pyrex so it starts to melt.

3.    Add the meat to the grill and cook to perfection.

4.    When the pieces of meat are done place them in the Pyrex to let swim in buttery goodness until all are done and add the green onions.

 For the Fried Rice

 

Fried rice made in a frying pan

For 1 to 2 portions

1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked plain rice

1 cup chopped green onion

1 cup chopped vegetables of your choice (see notes below)

1/2 to 1 cup chopped roast pork or ham

2 medium eggs

salt

pepper (white pepper is more traditional here, but black pepper is fine)

2 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. soy sauce I prefer Aloha Shoyu soy sauce as it is not as strong for our taste

cooking oil

optional: sesame oil

Equipment needed: A large frying pan (at least 28cm / 11” in diameter), spatula

Before you start cooking fried rice, you need to have everything ready to go.

First, the aromatic vegetables - the vegetables that add lots of flavor and

umami to your food. Here I have kept it simple and just used green onion (about

1 stalk), chopped up. You could also use regular onion, a little fresh ginger

and/or chopped garlic. If you want spicy fried rice, use a little chopped hot

red chili pepper, or dried chili pepper flakes or powder.

Next are the non-aromatic vegetables. I like to add at least a cup’s worth per

1- 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice. You can use any vegetables you like that are not too watery. Here I have used peas and carrots but  sweet bell pepper and zucchini work well too.

I also use some chopped precooked meat, which adds to the flavor - about 1/2 a cup’s worth per 1 to 1 1/2 cups of rice. Roast pork is nice, as are tiny whole shrimps or chopped shrimp, chicken, turkey, - anything you have. I’ve used some leftover roast ham here.

Eggs are a must-have in fried rice for me. Two medium or small eggs or 1 large to extra-large egg is enough. Beat it lightly with a pinch of salt added.

You’ll need some precooked rice of course. 1 to 1.5 cups will serve 1 person (or 2 people with small appetites) as the main dish of a meal. Leftover plain rice is great for fried rice, but make sure it’s hot or at least warm, not ice cold straight out of the fridge, which will cool down the pan and make the rice go greasy.

The easiest way to warm it up is to pop it in the microwave for a minute or two. If you don’t have a microwave, pour some boiling water over the rice and then drain it off very well before using.

If you are cooking rice fresh for the purpose of making fried rice, use a little less water than you might normally do, to have cooked through but firm and separate grains.

Finally, some seasonings and things: oil for cooking, salt, pepper and soy sauce. You could add other things here but let’s keep it simple.

Once all the components are ready, it’s time to start cooking. The cooking will go quite fast! Heat up the large frying pan - over high heat if you are using an electric heat source, medium to medium-high if you’re using gas. (If you have a very high heat output induction cooker, adjust the heat accordingly; the food should cook fast but not burn as soon as you add it to the pan!) Spread a little bit of oil on the bottom of the pan. The pan is hot enough when you drizzle a little bit of the beaten egg in it and it cooks right away, Pour in the beaten egg and spread it around the bottom of the pan, as if you were making an omelette.

Break up the egg rapidly to make scrambled eggs.

When the eggs are nearly set but a bit runny, take them out of the pan, clean

off the pan if needed with the end of your spatula or a wadded up paper towel, and add a little fresh oil. Put the pan back on the heat and add the non-aromatic vegetables and cut up meat. Let cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.

Add the green onion and/or other aromatic vegetables you’re using. Stir around a couple more minutes, using the whole surface of the pan. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. It should smell very good now.

Add the warm rice and spread it thinly over the bottom of the pan. Break up any clumps with the end of the spatula. When the rice is sizzling on the bottom, stir it up - but let the heat of the pan do it s work before you stir like crazy. If the rice gets stuck to the pan a bit, scrape it off as you go along.(I prefer not to add more oil at this point, since it makes the rice greasy.)

Re-add the scrambled egg and stir.

Clear a space on the bottom of the pan. Pour the soy sauce directly on that hot spot on the pan - it will sizzle. Immediately mix the soy sauce into the rice. This method ensures that the soy sauce flavor gets distributed more evenly instead of getting absorbed by the rice grains in one spot, and also adds a bit of toasty flavor to the whole thing.

Taste, and season with pepper and additional salt if needed. If you prefer, you can add a few drops of sesame oil at this point. Serve immediately while piping hot. (Cold fried rice is fine, but hot fried rice is much, much better.)

key points to making fried rice in a frying pan:

The most important rule: Do not overcrowd the pan! That is the sure way to make sticky, greasy fried rice. For a large 11 to 12 inch (28-30cm) frying pan 3 cups of rice worth of fried rice is probably the maximum you can do successfully at one time.

Have everything cut up and ready to go before you start cooking.                                                            

Warm up the rice before using it. Don’t use ice cold rice

If using an electric heat source, use the highest setting you can achieve.   If using gas, use medium-high heat. Make sure your frying pan is hot, and that you use the entire bottom surface of the pan.

Cook the eggs first, then take them out of the pan, to have soft eggs rather than hard little egg-bullets.Cook the vegetables and meat/shrimp through and season before adding the rice. If the rice gets a bit stuck to the pan, just scrape it off; adding more oil to the rice will make it greasy.

 “Sizzle” the soy sauce on the bare surface of the frying pan, rather than pouring soy sauce onto the rice. Variations You can vary fried rice by using different aromatic vegetables, different protein, and so on. As I said above, fried rice is a great way to use up leftovers! Here are some ideas:

Use about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger instead of the green onion.

Finely slice 2-3 cloves of garlic, and fry them until soft. Remove the garlic and cook the rice in the garlic-scented oil. Add the garlic back at the end.

Use finely chopped white onion and sauté it in butter instead of oil. Omit the soy sauce and just season with salt and pepper. Add some grated Parmesan cheese and dry oregano at the end.

Precooked, finely diced bamboo shoots, water chestnuts are great crunchy additions to fried rice.