Chinese Restaurant Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 1/2-3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 ham steak (cut into cubes)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 eggs
• 3-4 tablespoons canola oil (or peanut oil)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

1. 1

   Cook your rice (I use a rice cooker). You want it a bit on the crucnhy side, so even though you might want to add more water, DON'T.

2. 2

   Let your rice cool completely (I spread it out on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer if I'm in a hurry). You can even cook your rice the night before and let cool in the fridge.

3. 3

   Heat a wok over high heat with 1 tbs. of oil. Add eggs and scramble until cooked. Add ham and peas and fry for about a minute.(You can add or omit any veggie/meat combo you want.)

4. 4

   Remove omelet from wok. Clean the wok out a bit so the leftover egg doesn't burn while you're heating up your wok and oil again.

5. 5

   Add remaining oil to the wok and heat over high heat until it is very hot. Add your cold rice to the wok and stir to coat every grain. (You can add some more oil if you want; it just depends on how greasy you like it.)

6. 6

   Add your chicken stock to the rice; do it a little bit at a time to give the rice a chance to soak up the liquid. I'm not sure exactly the amount of stock to be added; I eyeball it because it seems to change every time. Basically, you want the rice to soak up the flavor, but you don't want to put in too much as it will end up quite sticky.

7. 7

   Stir fry for a while, stirring constantly until there is no liquid left, then chop up your omelet and add it, along with the soy sauce and salt. Stir. You can add more or less soy sauce and salt according to your taste. NOTE: In this case, the salt is simply to enhance the flavor of the dish, not to make it salty. And remember that soy sauce is salty in itself--unless you use the salt-free or low-salt type. (It is an MSG substitute.)

8. 8

   Enjoy! It's the best homemade fried rice you'll ever make!