Real fried rice

Just to explain, I've learned to cook Chinese food from my Chinese mother-in-law, so its not always like restaurant Chinese food. Fried rice is a good example of that... Here is what I do.
Get out your leftover white steamed (never boiled) rice. This should be (but don't be paranoid about it) Chinese/Japanese/Korean as other styles, even Thai, won't be the right texture for traditional fried rice.

If you want meat/chicken/shrimp in your fried rice that is not cooked yet, make a paste of rice wine, soysauce and some cornstarch and let your meat sit for at least 20 minutes, red meat longer.

boil some water and pour over a few dried shitaake mushrooms (you can substitute fresh, even though the flavour is different, but just slice, don't soak) and dried shrimp (optional)

Next, beat 2 eggs with 1/4 tsp of salt and a tsp or a little less of sugar and a tsp of sesame oil. Heat a pan on high with some oil and when very hot, pour in the eggs. They should cook into folds almost immediately. Don't let them cook absolutely through as they will finish cooking later.

Shred some greens (spinach, tong choi/cong ching tsai, watercress, whatever)
shred a couple green onions
finely shred a nub of ginger
mince a couple cloves of garlic
You can also add chopped preserved gourd, rehydrated day lily buds, fried tofu (don't use fresh, it goes to mush)
Then prepare any cooked meat by shredding


Heat some oil with the garlic and ginger until very hot. Drain the marinade from the meat and begin to stir fry (adding mushrooms, either the fresh sliced or the rehydrated sliced). When mostly cooked through, add the the onions and greens. When wilted, add the gourd, fried tofu, etc, and cooked meat. When fried off a little, add the rice. Pour over the mushroom soaking water except for the last spoonful which is normally full of debris. Keep stirring and frying and, if needed, add a little more oil or stock. When the rice has absorbed the oil and liquid, add in the eggs and mix. Voila, real fried rice!