Chicken Fried Rice Recipe: Indian-Chinese Style Recipe

This is a quick chicken fried rice recipe that I tried at a friend's place almost a year back. We had vegetarians in the group so I made vegetable fried rice and some chicken fried rice to mix things up a bit. You can make a very quick chicken fried rice if you have cooked or boiled chicken in hand. I generally add a vegetable or two like I do for egg fried rice - carrots, beans and capsicum being favourites - but this is entirely optional.

The chicken fried rice from my childhood was almost always take-out or eaten out. I remember the delicious chicken fried rice at Anjali Hotel, one of our favourite and pretty much only nice restaurant back in the day in Kottayam. Their fried rice was almost white but had a lovely flavour. Since i add ketchup to mine, it does have a darker colour but this is my almost-perfected fried rice recipe which I absolutely love! This is very similar to my egg fried rice recipe, except that we need to saute the chicken before adding it to the rice. So let's go make some chicken fried rice, shall we?

To see how to make fried rice step by step, please check out the vegetable fried rice recipe post.

CHICKEN FRIED RICE RECIPE

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4-6
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of cooked rice (here's how to cook rice for fried rice)
• 1 cup of mixed vegetables, chopped fine (I used carrots and beans), optional
• 1 cup of cubed boneless chicken pieces, boiled for 10 mins
• 1 small bunch of celery stalks, chopped fine (discard the leaves)
• 1 small bunch of spring onions, chopped fine
• 2 tsp of soya sauce
• 1 tsp of green chilli sauce
• 2 tsp of tomato sauce or ketchup
• 1 tbsp of freshly minced ginger + garlic
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp of oil

How to Make Chicken Fried Rice:

0. Boil the cubed chicken pieces in water for about 10-12 mins until the flesh turns opaque and you are able to shred it to pieces. Mix this with 1 tsp pepper powder, some salt, and 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste. Let marinate for for 10 mins and lightly saute in some oil. Drain and set aside.

1. Heat some more oil in the same pan and add the onions. Let them fry on medium heat until light golden brown, don't let them brown too much. Then, add the ginger + garlic and fry for 2 mins.

2. Add the finely chopped vegetables (if using) and celery and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins until they wilt just a bit. Then add the soya sauce, tomato sauce, and green chilli sauce. Fry on high heat until the sauces bubble and reduce flame to medium-high, stirring constantly. Continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 mins. The vegetables should be cooked yet crunchy and not mushy or soft. If you are not using vegetables, you can skip to the next step after adding the sauces but I recommend adding atleast some carrots or capsicum to chicken fried rice to give it a more interesting look and flavour.

3. Add the cooked rice and chicken pieces and stir well to combine. Remove from fire, check for salt and add more if required. Add the pepper powder and spring onions and mix well. Pat down into a tight mound and keep partially covered for 30 mins before serving. 

Note: If you want to add some eggs to the chicken fried rice, scramble a couple eggs with salt and pepper and mix into the fried rice at the very end. This would make a pretty complete meal in itself and you don't need to go crazy making side dishes for your chicken fried rice.

If you do want side dish ideas for fried rice, may I suggest Gobi Manchurian, Szhechuan Eggplant, or Chilli Paneer?

Enjoy!