Indo Chinese recipes are a big hit in all Indian homes. Any Indo Chinese meal is incomplete without fried rice. Egg fried rice is a favourite in our house. It is my goto recipe when we crave to have something fancy at home and yet do not want to put in much effort for cooking. This is a very simple and quick recipe to make egg fried rice and tastes equally good like it’s restaurant counterpart.
Cooking the rice perfectly
The main hassle in making fried rice is getting the texture of the rice right. Most of us fail here and the result however flavourful it may be, just doesn’t feel like fried rice. Each grain of rice needs to be perfectly cooked and separate from each other. The grains should not stick together or form lumps. The rice grains should feel light and not oily or greasy.
Chop the Veggies for the fried rice
The next major task is chopping the vegetables. The carrots are cut into small cubes. The french beans and spring onion shallots are chopped thinly. The spring onion greens are chopped into slightly bigger pieces than the french beans. The cabbage needs to be shredded. And the main hero of the dish is garlic. Lots of finely chopped garlic fried in oil really enhances the flavour of the fried rice.
Get the eggs right
The eggs need to be scrambled perfectly for the fried rice. The eggs need to be seasoned with a dash of salt and pepper and tossed about the wok to make it fluffy.
The last step is to cook the veggies in a big wok on medium high heat and add the sauces and then mix in the rice and eggs. This recipe uses basic sauces mostly found in our homes.
We often think that making the perfect fried rice is difficult and we cannot achieve the restaurant taste and texture. But in reality, egg fried rice is easy and quick to make if you follow the correct steps and instructions. Rather than having the oil laden egg fried rice available in restaurants, you can make this recipe with minimum oil at home.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Finely chopped garlic
- 1 Tsp Pepper powder
- 1½ Tsp Red chilli sauce
- 2 Tsp Soy sauce
- ¼ cup Spring onion greens (chopped finely)
- 1 Carrot (cut into cubes)
- 12 French beans (chopped into thin pieces)
- 1 cup Cabbage (shredded)
- ¼ cup Spring onion shallots (chopped finely)
- Salt as per taste
- Oil
Instructions
- Wash the basmati rice and keep it aside.
- To cook the rice, heat water in a pan. Add 1 Tsp salt and 1/4 Tsp oil to the water. Stir well.
- Once the water starts boiling, add the basmati rice. Cook till the rice is 90% done.
- Drain the rice into a collander. Spread the rice evenly on the collander. Let it cool down and dry for about 1 hour.
- Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wok. Add the eggs, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Stir continuously and cook till the eggs are done.
- Transfer the scrambled eggs into a bowl and set aside.
- Heat some oil in the same wok. Add the garlic and fry for about 30 seconds.
- Add the carrots, french beans, cabbage and spring onion shallots. Cook on medium high flame for 5 minutes. Keep stirring in between so that the veggies do not burn.
- Add salt to the veggies as per taste. Cook till the veggies are done.
- Add chilli sauce, soy sauce, basmati rice, pepper powder, spring onion greens and scrambled eggs. Mix well.
- Cook for 1 – 2 minutes on medium high heat and switch off the flame.
Tips & Tricks
- Do not forget to add salt and oil while cooking the rice. Salt will season the rice perfectly. Oil will prevent the rice grains from sticking to each other.
- Do not over cook the rice. Else the fried rice will be mushy and will lose its taste and texture.
- Allow the cooked rice sufficient time to cool down and dry. If not the fried rice will be sticky.
- The veggies need to be cooked perfectly. The veggies should not be hard and raw nor should they be soft and overcooked. Veggies need to retain their crunch.