Quick and easy fried rice

Everybody has a go-to dish for when you get home late, are tired and have no energy to experiment with ingredients. Some people make mac and cheese, others eat sandwiches – I cook fried rice. It’s a very quick and easy dish to make because it’s incredibly variable and my rice cooker does half the work! And did I mention it’s absolutely delicious?

I used the ingredients I happened to have in my fridge last night, but you can substitute the bacon for any kind of meat (just make sure to coat it in a bit of flour and soy sauce before frying) and use whatever vegetables you can find (e.g. mushrooms, spring onion, mangetout, green beans…)! I even had a slice of mustard ham in the fridge, which I just chopped up and added.

To give you an idea, these measurements made enough for my dinner and lunch the next day, and I was quite full at the end of it!

– 2 cups sticky rice, cooked with 1 tsp salt (in rice cooker or according to packet instructions)

– 1-2 tsp sesame oil

– 1 tsp chilli oil

– 1 tsp ginger paste

– 3-4 rashers of bacon, chopped into small pieces (tip: use kitchen scissors)

– 100g spinach leaves

– 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces

– 4-5 large shitake mushrooms (dried or fresh), sliced (if you are using dried mushrooms, keep around 3 tbsp of the water they were soaked in)

– 4 tbsp rice wine

– Soy sauce (to taste)

– Sriracha (to taste)

– 2 eggs, beaten

Firstly, cook the rice and keep it aside (ideally it should be a few hours to a day old, but if it’s fresh that’s acceptable too). Heat sesame and chilli oil in a wok or frying pan and add the ginger paste and bacon. Once the bacon is cooked (if you like it crispy, just cook it for a bit longer), add the spinach, carrots and mushrooms and fry until the spinach has wilted and the carrots have softened slightly. Then add in the cold rice and mix everything thoroughly. Add the rice wine, soy sauce and sriracha and stir some more (add the mushroom water here, if you are using dried mushrooms). The reason I have no measurements for the soy sauce and sriracha is because everybody’s tastes are slightly different, so just keep tasting the rice until it’s to your liking. Once you’re happy with the flavour, pour in the eggs and let it cook without stirring for 1-2 minutes before mixing everything thoroughly. Enjoy!

The great thing about this dish is that it can even be enjoyed cold. I’m currently on a train up to Scotland and my Tupperware is all that’s keeping me going!