Fried Rice

I'll give you a homework for the next time you visit one of those authentic Chinese restaurants in say Chinatown or in the suburbs (you know, the ones that Chinese/Asian people eat at - not the poshy expensive ones that are targetted towards the non-Asians). Take a look around, and observe something - most of the non-Asians in the restaurants will order fried rice to go with their dishes whereas most of the Asians will order plain steamed rice. Why, you may wonder, is this the case? Not trying to put anyone off ordering fried rice, but rather encouraging all to make your own, fried rice is a great way to use leftover rice and dishes. Most of us Asians know this fact so we order freshly steamed rice in favour of, uh, freshly fried rice..

Anyway, I notice that many people seem to think that there are some secrets to making fried rice. There really isn't. Fried rice is so simple to make and all you need are a few basic ingredients and of course leftover food from last night's dinner. It isn't involved like risotto or rice pilaf or paella where you use uncooked rice, so this means that you can quickly whip up a fried rice.

I shall remove some of the enigma surrounding fried rice and post up a recipe of one I recently made. A few notable notes to take when doing fried rice:
1. The rice needs to be already cooked, preferably overnight, otherwise you'll end up with mushy fried rice.
2. I've found that brown rice works just as well as white rice, if not better. Most of my fried rice using white rice have turned a bit mushy whereas brown rice tend to hold the shape and moisture during the frying stage.
3. Anything goes. Feel free to experiment and use any ingredients you have on hand but obviously use a bit of sense. For example, I don't think leftover bolognaise or pasta sauce will go very well in fried rice. But then I would have to wonder why you were having pasta sauce with rice for last night's dinner..

Ingredients
1 tabspn oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped/minced
1 tsp ginger, chopped/grated/minced
chilli to taste (optional)
some 'luncheon pork' aka spam, cubed
Some frozen chopped mixed veges (carrots, beans, peas, corn)
leftover brown rice (enough for two people)
leftover meat dish (I used leftover chilli bean beef) and/or eggs
soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the liquid stuff otherwise you'll end up with risotto-like consistency)

Method
Heat oil in a wok and stirfry onion over high heat for a couple of minutes until onion is just turning brown. Add garlic, ginger and chilli and stirfry for maybe another half minute before adding the spam. Continue stirfrying for a minute or two until spam is cooked. Add the mixed veges and turn down the heat to medium high and stirfry another minute or two until veges are cooked. Add the rice and any leftover meat, breaking up any clumps and stirfry to mix well with the other ingredients. If using egg, add the egg to the rice mixture and stirfry til cooked. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper to your liking.