Chicken and Bacon Fried Rice

This is quite possibly the best fried rice you will ever make. It is very quick and simple and generously serves 4. Combined preparation and cooking time is around 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rice
• 500 grams of chicken thighs chopped
• 5 rashers of bacon chopped
• 5 chopped shallots
• 1/2 punnet of cherry tomatoes chopped
• 150 grams of mixed frozen vegetables.
• Chang's Hoisin Sauce (These Chang's sauces are gluten free)
• Tamari (is an excellent Soy Sauce substitute).
• Ground pepper

Preparation:

• Start by chopping chicken thighs into long thin strips then place to one side.
• Chop the rashers of bacon into thin strips about 1 inch long.
• Finely chop your shallots and halve the cherry tomatoes.
• Add frozen vegetables and a little water to a microwave container.
• Heat your fry pan and add around 6 teaspoons of olive oil.
• Add your 2 cups of rice and appropriate water to your rice cooker and start the rice cooking. *

Method:

• Add chopped shallots and cherry tomatoes to the fry pan and cook for about two minutes.
• They're ready when the shallots are softened, but still hold their shape.
• Remove the shallots from the pan. Place into a small bowl then leave to one side.
• Stop what you're doing and add the frozen vegetables you prepared earlier to the microwave and cook for about 6 minutes (adjusting cooking time for your microwave).
• Turn up the heat on the pan.
• Next add the bacon and chicken strips and fry for about 5 minutes trying to brown the chicken where you can.
• Next tip half a bottle of Hoisin sauce in to the pan and stir it in well. All the chicken and bacon should be coated and any juice in the pan should begin to caramelise. Continue to cook for another minute.
• You should find that the rice and frozen vegetables are ready at roughly the same time.
• Drain the vegetables of any excess water and add them to the frying pan. At this point if the rice has not finished cooking, remove the pan from the stove, or at least turn it down to a simmer.
• When the rice is cooked add it to the fry pan.
• Turn your pan down to simmer.
  With a large metal spoon lightly mix all ingredients together. #
• Liberally splash the combined ingredients with Tamari and continue to mix. The mix is ready when all the rice is coated brown in the Tamari. You may need to add a few more splashes of Tamari. Taste test as you go to be sure.
• Serve into small rice bowls and liberally grind pepper on top of each bowl to taste.

Notes:

• * If you do not own a rice cooker use your microwave or boil your rice on the stove. That said, if you're a coeliac (celiac) sufferer, you'll find yourself eating a lot of rice. Investing in a rice cooker is highly recommended.
• #While it's preferable to combine the mix in the pan so as to capture all the juices, should your fry pan not be large enough, feel free to mix all your ingredients in a large bowl.