Spusht: Szechwan Fried Rice: Indo

What I like most about Indo-Chinese dishes is that they use quite a lot of similar items, especially vegetables. So if I’m making a Hot & Sour Soup, Manchurian, or any other dish, I chop extra/save some of those ingredients & use them to make fried rice. You know, I love everything that’s 2-in-1 :-)

Szechwan Noodles, Szechwan Fried Rice, and Szechwan Vegetables are some very common vegetarian items in Indian-Chinese cuisine. Szechwan (aka Sichuan or Schezuan) sauce is also available in the market, making it easier to add that Indo-Chinese flavor to a dish. But when you cook this fried rice you’ll realize you don’t really need the readymade bottle of sauce because it needs quite minimal ingredients. This recipe for Veg Szechwan Fried Rice is from Shobha Indani & serves about 4-6 persons.

What you'll need:

2 cup cooked rice*

2 Tbsp oil

½ cup spring onion whites, chopped

2 tsp garlic, chopped

2 Tbsp celery, chopped (optional)

1 cup carrot, grated

¼ cup capsicum, thinly sliced

1 cup cabbage, shredded

2 Tbsp chili-garlic paste

1 Tbsp tomato sauce/ketchup

½ cup spring onion greens, chopped

2 Tbsp vinegar

½ cup tofu or paneer, grated or chopped

Salt, sugar, pepper powder to taste

Let's Begin!

1. Heat oil in pan; add onion + garlic + celery & sauté few seconds on high flame.

2. Add carrot + capsicum + cabbage & stir-fry till little tender.

3. Add chili-garlic paste + tomato sauce + salt, sugar, pepper & mix well.

4. Add tofu + spring onion greens + vinegar + cooked rice & mix gently, cook just about a minute. Serve hot.

* Boil, steam, or cook rice as you normally do, but just until about 90% – you don’t want mushy rice when adding to the vegetables & cooking further. Fluff it up with a fork & keep aside till it cools down, then use it to make Schezuan Fried Rice, or for any fried rice dish for that matter.

And you do know that you're not limited to the vegetables listed here, right? You can add any other veggies of your choice, like baby corn, mushroom, etc to this Schezuan Fried Rice.

Enjoy.