fried rice (idea)

CloudStrife Fried Rice

This is my own recipe, and is mainly based on ingredients I found lying around my kitchen. As DMan mentions above, "you can toss just about anything in it and it will still taste good", so this is what I generally do. Another reason this dish is so versatile is that it can be made practically vegetarian; except for the eggs. I personally feel that the dish just isn't the same without the egg in it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of long-grain rice
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 2 rashers of bacon (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon Aromat seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
• 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
• 1 tablespoon Worcester Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Red Wine Vinegar
• 4 - 5 mushrooms
• Some cooking oil
• A drop of milk

Method:

1. First, put the rice in a saucepan with the turmeric, half the Aromat and half the worcester sauce. Cover with boiling water, and alow to simmer.
2. In the meantime, beat the two eggs with the Allspice, half the Soy sauce, and a drop of milk. I sometimes add about 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder to the egg as well, but it's hardly essential. Heat some oil in a pan, and throw the egg mixture in. Stir the egg mixture constantly, to avoid it sticking, and to ensure it's thoroughly cooked. When all the egg mixture is fairly solid, take it off the heat; I usually empty it onto a spare plate, and keep it under the grill.
3. Chop up the onion, garlic and bacon. Then, heat some more oil in the pan, and throw the lot in, with the aromat, paprika, five spice and the rest of the Worcester sauce. Stir fry the lot until they're cooked. When the onion is nearing translucency, chop up your mushrooms and throw them in as well.
4. Once the rice is cooked to your liking, drain it and throw it and the egg mixture into the same pan as the onions, garlic and so forth. Add the rest of the soy sauce and the red wine vinegar, and stir-fry the lot for a few minutes.
5. Now, enjoy your CloudStrife Fried Rice!

Other Ideas:
Other tasty ingredients to add include chopped peppers, spring onions (aka scallions), prawns, chopped carrot; anything you fancy yourself, basically. Proper Chinese vegetables, like bean sprouts, oriental mushrooms or bamboo shots would make an excellent addition. Schwarz do an excellent Chinese five-spice mixture, as well as a nice garlic ginger and chili powder, which is a lot more convenient than buying raw ginger, chillies, etc., yourself. Especially when you come home from work hungry and just want something tasty and filling without too much fiddling around.

You can eat this as an accompaniment to chops or grilled chicken breasts, or as a meal itself, if you added about a pound of prawns, pork, chicken or whatever meat/meat substitute you like most, and some extra soy sauce. The amounts listed above should provide two to three servings as a side dish.