Fried Rice with Chicken, Zucchini and Cheese

4 cloves of garlic

1 large zucchini

2 large chard leaves

Marinated Chicken:

1.5 lb Boneless Chicken Breast

Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed or from a bottle)

Salt

Pepper

Other:

Butter (upon your own discretion)

Sesame Oil (upon your own discretion)

Sake (upon your own discretion)

Soy Sauce (upon your own discretion)

Day old rice (upon your own discretion)

Topping:

Cheddar Cheese (upon your own discretion)

Mozzarella Cheese (upon your own discretion)

Note: Since I made up this recipe I had no idea how much of some of the ingredients were used, hence “upon your own discretion”,  what I mean by that is start a little a time and keep adding the ingredient until it tastes just right. After a few tries you will find what works for you.

1. Prepare rice in a rice cooker the day before and refrigerate Tip: If you don’t have a rice cooker it’s a worthwhile investment. I received mine for my wedding and it is the best gift that lasted for a very long time. Without a rice cooker boil the water, drop the rice in and wait until the rice absorbs all the water…something like that I am not sure since I have a rice cooker J
2. Defrost the chicken
3. Wash all the vegetables
4. Peel the garlic cloves
5. Wisk 1 egg in a separate bowl

1. Clean it off the veins (the white slimy or red tube like items around the edges of the meat)
2. Cut the chicken into equal size cubes. Tip: Usually the package comes with about 3 chicken breasts. Cut the chicken sideways first then long ways, making similar sized squares
3. Place chicken into a bowl
4. Pour some lemon juice (fresh or from a bottle), this will be used as a chicken marinate.  Don’t overdo it J
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
6. With your hands mix everything together until evenly coated
7. Set aside

Important: Wash your hands with soap thoroughly. Wash all the tools (knife, cutting board, counter) that came into contact with raw meat.

Step 2: Cut up your vegetables

1. Cut the tops and the ends of each. Chop onions white and green parts into small circles. Set aside in a separate bowl
2. Separate the tough steam of chard from the leaf part. Tip: Cut off the button steam up to the beginning of the leaf part. Fold leaf in half like a piece of paper and cut off the back side, this will completely separate the steam from the leaf
3. Chop up the steam parts into small parts, to match the size of the onions. Place the chopped parts into the same bowl as the green onions
4. Mince the garlic cloves into small pieces. Tip: After washing the garlic cloves, cut off the buds. Then cut each clove in half. Then bunch up the cut garlic and keep halving, with your hand pressing down on at the top of the knife.  You might notice that some of the garlic has stock to your knife blade. Carefully slide the stock pieces back to your cutting board with your finger and continue to mince the garlic. Place the minced garlic into the same bowl as green onions and cut up chard leaves steams
5. Cut up the remaining chard leaves into smaller pieces. Tip: The leaf part will cook down a lot so don’t worry about making it perfect. Bunch up the cut pieces and maybe only halve the cut pieces twice. Set aside in a separate bowl.

Step 3: Sautee cut up vegetables (except for chard leaves)

1. Place wok over medium high fire
2. Drop maybe a ¼ cup of butter into the wok, you may add more or less
3. With a spatula swirl the butter around the pan.  As it begins to melt add the cut up vegetables.
4. Coat the vegetables with melted butter and leave to cook for a few minutes until soften and onion/garlic begin to get a bit of color. You might need to stir the vegetables a few times to make sure they are not sticking to the pan or burning

Step 4: Add some salt and pepper. Tip: You will be adding soy sauce later on which is high on sodium, so either salt a little or skip adding salt all together. Stir to mix the salt and pepper evenly

Step 5: Add sesame oil maybe about two table spoons and the chicken. Stir until the chicken is no longer pink. Tip: Since the chicken is cut up into small chucks it will cook pretty fast. Still make sure it is cooked through prior to eating it.

Step 6: Remove all the cooked chicken and place it into a separate bowl Tip: Use chopsticks to take out all the chicken pieces. You can leave the chicken in, just don’t want it to overcook and become too dry

Step 7: Add soy sauce and sake. Bring to a boil as you scrape the sides with the spatula.

Step 8: Add the rice. With a spatula mix the rice in and let some of the liquids to cook out. Keep mixing to ensure rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Step 9: Add the chard leaf. Mix it in with the vegetables and rice. Let cook for a little until wilts.

Step 10: Pour in the egg and quickly mix the rice mixture with it. Once the egg cooks add the chicken back.

Step 11: Mix all the vegetables together and cook for another minute or so

Step 12: Transfer the cooked rice and chicken mixture into an oven proof casserole dish

Step 13: Grate the two cheese right into the casserole dish. Place it in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Step 14: After the cheese has melted switch to broil. Tip: Switching to broil will give the cheese the extra crispiness, but keep an eye on the dish not to burn the cheese, keep it on broil for about 2 minutes.

Rice with chicken, zucchini and cheese