Breakfast Fried Rice

This is one of my ultimate comfort foods. Fried rice is such a versatile meal, and frankly you can pretty much put what you like in it. I got the inspiration for this particular incarnation of the dish when looking through one of Ching He Huang's cookbooks. In there she had a recipe for Salmon and Egg fried rice and a Sausage, Green Pepper, Tomato, and Pineapple fried rice under the breakfast section. After looking at these thinking that they were odd, yet oddly yummy sounding combinations, and I figured, well why not combine Chinese Fried Rice with a Full English Breakfast, and thus the breakfast fried rice was born. Now, it may seem a bit odd to put ketchup in fried rice, but it's not a completely foreign concept as one of the flavourings in the Japanese dish, Omurice (Fried rice encased in omelette) is ketchup. It's a really easy dish to make, yet it is so tasty, and well worth a try if you like the sound of it.

Ingredients: 3 Sausages 200g Rice Groundnut Oil 3 Eggs (Beaten) 4 Rashers of Bacon (Cut into strips) A Few Shiitake Mushrooms (Chopped) 2 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup 2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce A Drizzle of Toasted Sesame Oil Black Pepper This dish should serve 2 people as a main meal, but it's also good for one person, which would leave a good portion for lunch another day. Simply reheat in the microwave and it will be good as new.

Method:

1. Place the sausages on a baking tray and cook in the oven for about twenty minutes. Remove from the baking tray and cut into thick slices about 1 - 1.5 cm thick and set to one side.
2. In the meantime, bring some water to the boil in a saucepan. As it reaches a rolling boil add in the rice, stirring to ensure it doesn't clump together. Cook until tender and strain.
3. Heat a little groundnut oil in a wok and when hot, tip in the beaten eggs. Stir the eggs with a spatula and keep them moving. As soon as they start to harden and scramble, remove them from the wok and put them to one side. If using a wok that's smoking this should take less than a minute.
4. Put the wok back onto the heat and add in the bacon - there's no need to add more oil as enough fat will come out of the bacom. As they start to cook add in the sliced sausages, then add in the chopped mushrooms. Once cooked, remove from the pan and place on a plate. It may seem like a pain removing all this, but it makes it easier to coat the rice in the flavours.
5. Add a little more groundnut oil to the wok and put over a gentle heat. Add in the cooked rice and stir. Season the rice with a the tomato ketchup, light soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and a good pinch of ground black pepper. Don't overdo the seasoning. Too much ketchup and it will dominate the flavour, likewise too much Soy Sauce and the dish will be far too salty. Mix thoroughly to fully coat the rice.
6. Return the bacon, sausage, mushroom and egg to the wok and heat through. Finally, serve and enjoy!