Schezwan Vegetable fried rice

If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know that I love recipes that are quick and easy to make. This Schezwan fried rice ticks both boxes. In addition, it is also colorful and loaded with vegetables. The one thing that does take time is making the Schezwan sauce. If you don't want to do that, you can use any brand of store bought Schezwan sauce. I have used homemade sauce, which I usually make in large quantities whenever I have the time, and store in the refrigerator. The sauce recipe will be shared in a different post.

What  you need:
Rice - 1 cup, cooked and completely cooled
Oil - 2 tbsp.
Ginger - 1 inch piece, julienned
Garlic - 4 cloves, minced
Onion - 1 small, chopped into thin, long pieces
Celery - 1 stalk, chopped fine
Vegetables - 3/4 cup (I used a combination of cabbage, carrot, beans and peas)
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp.
Schezwan sauce - 1 tbsp, heaped (Don't be tempted to use more, as the sauce is quite spicy)
Salt - to taste
Spring onion greens - to garnish
In a large pan or wok, heat oil. Add ginger and garlic. Saute for a few seconds. Add onion and continue to saute. Stir in celery, followed by the vegetables. Saute on high heat for a few minutes. Add soy sauce and schezwan sauce and mix well. Add in the cooked, cooled rice and salt to taste and stir to ensure that the sauce and vegetables mix well with the rice. Garnish with chopped spring onion greens.
This can be served as is or with any Indo-Chinese curry of your choice.

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Pineapple fried rice

When I lived in Chennai, I used to love the Thai food restaurant - Benjarong. I am not sure if the restaurant is still around, but the taste and the presentation of their pineapple fried rice is something that I remember fondly. A mildly spiced rice served in the shell of a pineapple - this is how the dish was brought to the table at the restaurant. I've tried to recreate this dish (not the presentation part of it, though) from memory and I think I've come fairly close to the original.


What you need:
Rice - 1 cup, cooked and
 cooled (I used regular raw rice, cooked with 2.5 cups of water)
Oil - 2 tbsp.
Green chilli - 3 or 4, slit lengthwise
Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
Ginger - a one inch piece, julienned
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Carrot - 1, chopped fine
Pineapple - 3/4 cup
Green onion - 3, chopped fine
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp.
Red chilli sauce - 1 tbsp.
Salt
Cashew & Groundnuts

Heat oil in a pan. Add the chillies, ginger and garlic. Saute for a minute. Add cashew, groundnuts and saute till reddish. Stir in the chopped onion and carrot. Saute over a medium flame until the carrots are cooked, yet crunchy. Now add the pineapple and heat till they start to brown slightly. Stir in the sauces. Increase the flame to high and quickly stir everything together. Add the chopped green onion. Stir to combine. Lower the heat and add the cooked, cooled rice and salt. Mix everything together.
Serve hot.

This is my first post for Week 2 of BM#78 under the theme Oceanic Cuisine - dishes from countries that are bordered by two or more oceans.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM# 78

Fried Rice - Chinese style

Every city and town in India has its own version of Chinese food. Never mind that no person from China would recognize even half these dishes. I myself have tried several versions of 'Chinese' Fried rice. This is one version that I saw on a TV channel, recreated the same day and liked a lot.

What you need:
Carrot - 1, medium sized, chopped into thin long pieces
Capsicum/Bell pepper - 1, chopped into thin long pieces
Beans - 7-8, chopped into thin, long pieces
Leeks - 1/4 cup, chopped
Celery - 1/2 cup, chopped
Green chilli - 2 or 3 (adjust to taste)
Salt - to taste
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
Spring onion - 1/4 cup, chopped
Onion - 1, chopped thin and long
Rice - 1 cup (I used a variety of rice called jeera rice)

Wash and soak the rice in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside. Heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add onion and green chilli. Saute for 2 minutes and then add the leeks and celery. When the onions turn transparent, add capsicum, carrot, beans, soya sauce and salt. Stir well, cover and cook on a low flame. You do not have to add any water at this point as the vegetables in combination with soya sauce and salt will release water and cook beautifully. When the vegetables are cooked, remove from heat and keep aside. Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a pressure cooker. Saute the soaked rice along with some leeks, celery and spring onion. Add salt and water. The rice that I used requires two cups of water for every cup of rice. The amount of water to be used will depend on the quantity, quality and type of rice used. Cook until one whistle, reduce the flame and cook for another five minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool. Mix the cooked veggies and the rice well. The final step in putting the rice together might seem quite unnecessary, but it is essential to make sure that the flavours of the vegetables and the rice blend together well. In the final step, heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add some spring onion and the rice to this. Stir well until heated through. Enjoy!!! Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

Aapam

Aapam is a popular breakfast dish in Kerala and is served with coconut milk and sugar or with a spicy curry like kadala curry or ishtu.
For those who are not familiar with it, aapam is made of fermented rice+dal batter. It is made in a special pan called an aapachatti. An aapachatti or aapam pan is a shallow round pan with a handle on either side. It usually comes with a lid. If you don't have an aapachatti, use a thick bottomed small kadai and a lid that will cover it completely. Cast iron pans were once common but these have now been almost completely replaced by non-stick pans which make things a lot easier.

What you need:
Raw rice - 1 cup
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
Coconut water - from 1 medium sized coconut
Urad dal - a handful
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Wash the rice and dal well and then soak it along with the fenugreek seeds for 6-8 hours in plenty of water. Drain the water. Add coconut water and salt and grind to a smooth batter. Let it ferment overnight.

To make aapam
If you are using a cast iron pan/kadai, grease it with some oil.
Pour a ladleful of batter in the centre of the pan and then, holding the handles on either side of the pan, swirl the batter around so that it spreads into a circle that is thick and spongy in the middle and thin at the edges. Lower the flame. Cover it with the lid and let it cook until the edges start leaving the sides of the pan and become slightly brown.
Slowly ease the aapam out of the pan.
Serve hot with kadala curry.

Note :
Some people use yeast/toddy and coconut milk instead of coconut water. I find that coconut water gives me the best results and the aapam smells much better.
Leftover rice, if you have any, can be added while grinding the batter for softer aapams.

This is my entry to JFI-Breakfast which is being hosted by Suma for Indira and to Priya's Pancakes event.

Vegetable Fried Rice

If I were to list out my top ten favourite foods, fried rice would definitely figure quite high on that list. Special favourites like this and ulli sambar were usually made by my mother on Sundays so that we could all sit together and enjoy the food. I usually end up making it when I am stumped for ideas on what to make or low on time and high on hunger.

What you need:
Basmati rice - 1 cup (washed and soaked in water for 30 minutes)
Cardamom - 4 pods
Clove - 5
Cinnamon - a small piece
Star anise - 2
Pepper corns - 1/4 tsp
Chopped vegetables - 3/4 cup (use a mix of beans, carrot, cauliflower, peas, potato and beets)
Green chilli - 3 or 4 (adjust to taste), minced
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 6 tsp

Heat a tsp of ghee and fry all the spices in it until fragrant. Let it cool and then grind to a fine powder.
Drain water from the rice and then fry it in a tsp of ghee until it loses all the moisture and turns creamish in colour.
Heat the rest of the ghee, add the powdered spices, green chillies,chopped veggies, and turmeric powder. Stir fry for a few minutes. Transfer all the ingredients to a pressure cooker, add 1.5 cups of water, required amount of salt and cook until one whistle.
Enjoy with raita and papad.