"Chicken" Fried Rice

Rating: Intermediate.

This is one of my friend Brandon's favourite meals that I make. I tend to make this for company, so the size is rather large. Feel free to cut down the ingredients for small serving numbers. This meal does keep well for several days and is still great re-heated and re-served.

'Chicken' Fried Rice (serves 6-8 large portions)

1.
2 cups white rice*
5 Tbsp oil
2 large onions, chopped
5 cups bok choy, chopped
2 cups sugar snap or snow peas, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups chopped green onion
4 cups mushroom, finely chopped
1/2 cup basil
1 1/2 cups of 'chicken' seitan, roughly chopped**

*You may want to avoid using extra sticky rice, or washing the starches from white rice if you usually do this in your prep. You may even enjoy this with a parboiled rice. There is nothing wrong with using a sticky rice, but you will want to cook it well in the later stages, because the fresh stickiness will clump and not leave you with the easy mix you should be aiming for.

**You may prepare this yourself with instant wheat gluten flour (found in health food and bulk shops) or purchasing ready made 'chicken' strips found in regular supermarkets and health food shops. If you prepare it yourself you may want to spice and cook it as large strips and then chop it into smaller pieces for the dish. If you try to 'roughly chop' the seitan before it has been cooked it will be very sticky and give you quite a hard time.

2.
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup soy sauce
4 Tbsp white vinegar
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp sugar

1. Cook rice in rice cooker or saucepan and set aside.
2. Prepare sauce (using ingredients from #2) in medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. (Using ingredients from #1) Add 3 Tbsp of the vegetable oil, onion, and mushroom to a wok, large pan, or skillet and heat until soft for a couple minutes.
4. Add bok choy, peas, pepper, and green onions.
5. Cook on medium-low for about 5 minutes until they are beginning to crisp.
6. Mix in about half of the sauce with the vegetable and cover with a lid. Let cook for about 10-15 minutes to absorb the flavours.
7. Remove the vegetable-sauce mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
8. Add 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil to your new empty pan and cook on high, adding the rice and pushing down evenly around the pan to ensure all of the rice is further cooked. The rice may be slightly discoloured but this does not mean it is burnt. I usually add the 'chicken' in with the rice at this stage.
9. After about five minutes stir in vegetables with the remaining sauce and basil.
10. Cook for another several minutes to lose some of the extra moisture.

There is a lot of sauce, so mix it well and don't be afraid to let it cook (without being covered) for extra time to lose some of that moisture. Much of the moisture will be absorbed by the rice, but I find the recipe does really well after re-heating because of the additional moisture being absorbed or evaporated.

Serve warm and enjoy!