“Take 10 minutes out of your weekend to prepare ahead so you can get this dinner on the table in a snap during the week.” You don’t ordinarily think of fresh stir fries as make ahead, freezer friendly meals. But that’s exactly what this Sticky Chicken With Vegetable Fried Rice is. To be honest, I’ve never seen a recipe like this anywhere before. Marinating the meat and popping it into the freezer is nothing new. The unique step is cooking the rice ahead and freezing it. I think most people assume you can’t freeze rice. Or they simply don’t think of it as a “done thing”. But it is perfectly ok to freeze cooked rice. It’s actually the “norm” in Asian countries. All my relatives in Japan do it. In fact, freezing rice makes it perfect for using for fried rice because it dries it out. Have you noticed that fried rice is not sticky like sushi rice? That’s because it is made using leftover rice from the day before, refrigerated overnight. By freezing rice, you get the same result. “It’s a meal that kids love but can easily be given a “grown up” touch with a dash of chilli sauce.” I’m going to be straight with you – this is not an authentic Chinese stir fry. I am sure I will offend purists! Because the “secret ingredient” I use to make this “sticky” is tomato sauce (ketchup). Yes, it’s true. It is my secret ingredient in my Asian style marinades that I want to be glazed, like my Sticky Chinese Chicken Wings. It’s perfect because it’s thick and sticks to the meat. Plus it has more than just a tomato flavour but it is neutral enough to use as a base so you don’t taste the tomato flavour after you add other ingredients. And it has sugar in it which helps with the caramelisation. I have written this Sticky Chicken With Vegetable Fried Rice recipe up as a make ahead, freezer friendly recipe which then takes just over 10 minutes to cook. You can also make it from scratch on the day, but you will need at least 20 minutes marinating time as well as cooking the rice. The whole reason I created this recipe was so I could have a really punchy flavoured Asian stir fry that tastes fresh but is mostly made ahead. Oh, a word of warning. Turn your fan on or open your windows. Because this is a quick cook stir fry and the marinade is sticky, it will smoke up your kitchen! Trust me, it’s worth it. The flavour you get from the caramelised marinade is gold. 🙂
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