Fried rice with vegetables

 

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger , finely sliced (optional)
• 1/2 onion , peeled and sliced
• 1 carrot , large
• handful of green beans, cut
• 1 capsicum , sliced 1/2cm  thick
• Finely sliced green onions
• Jasmine rice (1 cup per person)
• water (1 cup per cup rice + 1 extra cup water)

Sauce 

• 1 tbsp cornflour / corn starch
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce , light or all purpose (not dark soy) 
• 2 tsp Oyster Sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese Cooking Wine or Mirin
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• Dash of white pepper (or black)
• 3/4 cup / 185 ml water

Garnishes, optional:

• Sesame seeds

Instructions

Sauce:

Place cornflour and soy sauce in a bowl and mix until cornflour is dissolved, then mix in remaining Sauce ingredients.

Pre-cook rice for 10-11 min. Remove and let cool off.

Cooking:

1. Heat oil in a wok or large heavy based skillet over high heat.
2. Add garlic and ginger, stir for 10 seconds. 
3. Add onion, stir for 30 seconds.
4. Add beans, carrot, capsicum  - stir for 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are almost cooked.
5. Add Sauce and toss for 1 minute until Sauce thickens and becomes glossy, coating all the vegetables. Don't overcook so they become floppy and limp - they should be just cooked, "crisp tender".
6. Add the rice and mix it up well and cook for 30 sec.
7. Remove from stove and serve. Garnish with sesame seeds if using. 

Notes

Chinese Cooking Wine ("Shaoxing wine") is the secret ingredient that really makes a restaurant standard Chinese sauce. You get complexity and depth in the sauce with just a bit of the cooking wine.

SUBSTITUTES:

Mirin - best, the Japanese equivalent of Chinese cooking wine;

Dry sherry - next best, any cheap and cheerful dry sherry

Japanese cooking sake

Non alcoholic - substitute the water in the recipe with LOW SODIUM chicken stock/broth