We have absolutely loved cooking with adoptive families and sharing their favorite recipes from the country of their adoption this month! For our final week, we bring to you authentic Chicken Fried Rice made by the Bowling family!
Ashley and Will Bowling brought their daughter, Anli, home from China in February of 2015. The two of them did not have China on the radar and then, separately, felt the Lord telling them that China was where their child was… so in November of 2013, they started the adoption process. Anli’s file became available for adoption the same week the Bowling’s dossier was ready. The delays in her paperwork and theirs up until the very same week, was God preparing a place for Anli in the Bowling family.
Anli and her brother, Ollin, were so excited to cook chicken fried rice with their parents. The Bowling’s even gave me a whole container to take home with me… and it was absolutely delicious!
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Kendyle: What is your favorite thing to do with Anli?
Ashley: Anli likes making projects and playing games. When we have family time, she almost always chooses the memory game, go fish, wrestling, and rolling up like a taco. We also like singing and dancing–while she has great rhythm, she cannot carry a tune in a bucket, so we play loud music! I enjoy anything that makes her genuinely laugh!
Kendyle: Why is keeping Anli’s culture relative in her life important to you?
Ashley: Right now, Anli doesn’t really want anything to do with her culture so we embrace that. We hope that changes as she heals and grows. One thing that she does love is Chinese food so we cook it and most importantly, eat it!
Kendyle: What are some other ways you incorporate Anli’s heritage?
Ashley: We read books about her culture when she chooses to and we celebrate some of the Chinese holidays!
Kendyle: What is something you hope Anli always knows about China and her adoption?
Ashley: Something that’s important to her now and (I think) will always be valuable for her to know is that she was thought of, worried about, celebrated, and loved when she was in China even before we met her. It makes her feel special that, while she waited, we waited too and we thought about her all the time.
***Recipe below***
Chicken Fried Rice
Makes 8 servings (make rice & marinate chicken the night before)
The Night Before:
3 cups rice
2 large chicken breasts
2 tablespoons garlic olive oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Pepper to taste
Directions:
- Cook rice
- Cool, cover, and refrigerate
- Combine chicken breasts, olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, and pepper in a plastic bag
- Shake well and refrigerate over night
The Day Of:
3 Carrots, finely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup chives (or green onions), chopped
8 eggs
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil
Pepper to taste
Soy sauce to taste
**Make sure to prep all vegetables and cook & cut chicken breast prior to heating wok**
Directions:
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a wok on high to med-high heat
- Add 1/4 of carrots, 1/4 of onions, 1/4 of mushrooms to wok and cook for 2 minutes
- In the meantime, break open 2 eggs and beat in a separate dish
- Once veggie are cooked, move them to sides of wok and add the 2 beaten eggs
- Add pepper to veggies and eggs while eggs cook until scrambled
- Add 1/4 of the cooked rice, a few tablespoons of soy sauce (or to taste), and a tablespoon of sesame seed oil
- Then add 1/4 of chives and 1/4 of the cooked and diced chicken breasts
- Mix together all ingredients in wok and cook for about 1-2 minutes, stir and cook for about 1-2 minutes more
- Remove all fried rice from wok and repeat 3 more times.
Note: Though the wok seems big enough to handle it all at once, it’s important to keep servings smaller to ensure ingredients fry and do not get mushy.
Please also know that one can add peas instead of mushrooms or chives. We just use chives for our green color because I don’t like peas.
