Most Sundays I like to sit around the house in my pj’s watching Netflix nursing an Azalea hangover until it’s Game of Thrones time.  The typical hangover Sunday dinner tradition is to peruse the Shenghai II delivery menu for about an hour before ordering the same thing I always do and having one of my two favorite delivery boys, Mike or Earl, deliver it to my door while I apologize for looking the way I do.  MOST Sundays.

Last Sunday I decided I didn’t want to spend $20 on takeout that I was sure to only eat about $4 of before putting in the fridge and throwing it out 3 days later.  It was like I turned into a grown up for an evening.  A hungover grown up in her pj’s on her couch at 5pm.  It’s the best I can do.  A semi-grown up in pj’s that still wanted Chinese food.  Solution: Stir Fry.  And, of course, fried rice.  That’s right, because I’ve been absent with recipes for a couple of weeks due to a hectic schedule on my end, you guys get a two-fer this week.  You’re welcome.

I’m not gonna lie, you need a shit ton of ingredients to make this particular stir fry, but you could certainly scale back on the veggies and use what you have in your fridge.  This recipe also works with beef, shrimp or even tofu for you vegetarian weirdos.

The ingredients (that I used):

• 2.5-3 cups cold cooked white rice
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 large yellow or white onion
• 1 lb chicken breast
• 1/2 zucchini
• 1 large carrot
• 4 fresh broccoli florets
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1/4 cup frozen green peas
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2-3 green onions
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
• chili oil
• sesame oil
• soy sauce
• red pepper flakes
• vegetable or stir fry oil

Not to sound all Rachel Ray-ey here, because I would drop kick that annoying, pancake-faced, flat-chested little wench given even the smallest opportunity…but the rule does apply:  Need it twice?  Chop it once.

Many of the same ingredients will go into both the stir fry and fried rice, so even though they get chopped differently, do all your prep work up front and then you’ll be ready to cook.  The cooking goes quickly, the prep…not so much, depending on how fast you are with a knife.

Start with the chicken.  I used super thin ribbony slices of white meat.

I set the chicken aside in a bowl and mixed in 1 1/2 tablespoons of corn starch, red pepper flakes (to your liking), and about 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce.  That can chill in the fridge out while you’re doing the rest.  With the remaining 1 tablespoon of corn starch, you’ll make a slurry.  Basically, you need to mix it with a whisk or fork into about a cup of cold chicken stock and set it aside (sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step).

Zucchini.  I like to chop mine into ribbons, so that they’re about the same size as the chicken.  Put it on a large plate for all your stir fry veggies.

Carrot.  Peel it.  Cut about 2/3 the same way you cut the zucchini and the last 3 into a smaller dice for the fried rice.  Separate them onto their respective plates.

Onion.  I used 1/2 a large onion and diced half of it for the fried rice and slivered the other half for the stir fry.

Broccoli.  Slice about 4 large florets thinly for the stir fry.

Celery.  Slice about 1/2 stalk into ribbons for the stir fry.

Green onions.  I used 2-3 and chopped them on the bias.  1/2 for stir fry, 1/2 for fried rice.

Garlic.  About 4 cloves, finely chopped for stir fry.

Ginger.  Peel and finely chop about 1 tablespoon.  More if you like more ginger.  Less if you like less ginger.  None if you don’t like ginger.  Duh.  It goes on the stir fry plate.

Now you should be all ready and prepared to begin cooking.  Get your ingredients all set by the stove.  This goes pretty fast.

Fried rice first. Get your shit together.

Heat a pan or wok to med-high heat and coat with about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons of oil.  Add your veggies (minus the peas) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.  Then add the eggs and scramble while you stir fry.

Next, once the eggs are just cooked, add in the cold rice and keep stirring.

Now add in about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 1/2 tablespoon of chili oil and stir, stir, stir.  I season with red pepper flake, too, but that’s your call.  I like it spicy.

Finally, add the frozen green peas and stir fry for about another minute before transferring to a plate.  Give it a taste.  It’s delicious.

The perfect use for leftover rice any day of the week.  Not just Hangover Sunday.

But wait!  There’s more!

I switched pans because my wok is super small, but if you have a big wok (wink, wink), use it for both and clean one pan…like a boss!

It’s stir fry time.  Get your stuff within arm’s reach.  This goes fast, too.

Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a pan or wok over medium high heat.  To that, add your garlic and ginger and stir fry about 30 seconds.

To that, add the chicken that has been marinating in the soy, pepper, and corn starch.  Stir fry that just until it starts to get some color.

Now start adding your vegetables.  They can all pretty much go in at once.  Stir, stir, stir.

After about 1 minute, it’s time to add the chicken stock/corn starch slurry that you mixed up earlier.  Pour that in and let it come to fast boil while you continue stirring.  It should begin to thicken after boiling.  Keep stirring for about 1 minute.  Add in about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a splash of chili and sesame oil.

After a couple minutes of stirring and sauce thickening, it’s all done!

Enjoy your Sunday Hangover dinner without having to open the door to a delivery boy half naked this week!  Best when served hot while watching Game of Thrones.