Chicken Fried Rice

I love fried rice and often make it at home. Today, I whipped up a batch with what I had on hand (no peas...so I used corn instead), inspired by a recipe in a little booklet Every Day with Rachael Ray gave away with this month's issue of the magazine. The recipe intrigued me because it wanted you to use Chinese 5 spice powder. I don't keep that on hand, but I've always wondered what it tasted like, so I made my own version and used it in this recipe. It was delicious, even though I had to fudge a few of the ingredients. I liked it enough that I will probably look to buy the real deal the next time I'm at the store. If you haven't tried it before, give it a shot. It was really tasty. I'll post the recipe for the 5 spice powder and the fried rice.

Karin's Chinese 5 Spice Powder
Ingredients:

1 tsp. ground crushed red pepper flakes (supposed to be ground Szechwan pepper, but who has that hanging around?)
1 tsp. ground star anise
1 & 1/4 tsp. ground fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper

Combine in a spice blender (coffee grinder) and store in an airtight container.

*I did not have star anise, so I used allspice instead. I know they don't taste alike, but I didn't have anything anise-flavored other than the fennel seed and that was already in the ingredients, so I used only 1/2 tsp. allspice and I really liked it.



My Chinese 5 Spice Powder

Chinese Fried Rice
Ingredients:

1.5 cups cooked brown rice
2 tbs. olive oil
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cut into thin strips
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. Chinese Five Spice Powder
3/4 cup corn (peas are preferable, but the corn worked well)
2 eggs, beaten
Butter (pat)
1/4 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3-4 tbs tamari (soy sauce)
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Garnish: Sesame Seeds

1. In a skillet or wok, heat the olive oil. Add the chicken and season with the Chinese 5 spice powder and salt and pepper. Stir-fry for 3 minutes.

2. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, so as not to burn the garlic. Cook until softened. Add the corn. (You could add all sorts of other veggies (mushrooms, scallions, peppers, etc. - and you would add it at this point.) Cook until softened. Add the rice and stir.

3. In a separate pan, scramble the eggs in the butter. Leave a little wet as they will continue cooking with the rice and meat.

4. Add the eggs to the rice and meat mixture. Cook, for a few minutes, crisping the rice. Add the tamari and Worcestershire sauce at the end. Garnish with sesame seeds.