Egg Fried Rice Recipe-Indian-Chinese Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Learn how to make restaurant-style Indian-Chinese Egg Fried Rice using this easy recipe from my Amma.

Egg Fried Rice is a standard order of ours when we go to Indian-Chinese restaurants. TH is an eggetarian and Egg Fried Rice is his idea of living it up. Paired with a good Gobi Manchurian, our dinner is usually set and thoroughly enjoyed.

Amma generally makes Egg Fried Rice with leftover Vegetable Fried Rice so her version of Egg Fried Rice also has vegetables in it. Since I am so used to that from my childhood, I add vegetables to my Egg Fried Rice too. Erm... and yes, the lazy part of me doesn't make any side dish and adding vegetables also helps with balancing the meal a bit better *sheepish grin* :D

I have already shared the step by step pictures on how to make Vegetable Fried Rice which is pretty much the same for Egg Fried Rice too. I have also added the couple ofextra steps below to make it easier for you.

Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients for Fried Rice:
4 cups of cooked rice (here's how to cook rice for fried rice)
1 cup of mixed vegetables, chopped fine (use carrots, French beans and capsicum), optional
1 small bunch of celery stalks, chopped fine (discard the leaves)
1 small bunch of spring onions, chopped fine
2 tsp of soya sauce
1 tsp of green chilli sauce (this is my favourite brand)
2 tsp of tomato sauce or ketchup
1 tbsp of freshly minced ginger + garlic
2 onions, sliced
1 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper
1-2 tbsp of oil
3 eggs

How to Make Egg Fried Rice:

1. Heat oil and add the onions. Let them fry on medium heat until light golden brown, don't let them brown too much. Then, add the ginger + garlic and saute for another 2 mins.

2. Add the finely chopped vegetables (if using) and celery and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins until they wilt just a bit. Then add the soya sauce, tomato sauce, and green chilli sauce. Fry on high heat until the sauces bubble and reduce flame to medium-high, stirring constantly. Continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 mins. The vegetables should be cooked yet crunchy and not mushy or soft. If you are not using vegetables, you can skip to the next step after adding the sauces but I do recommend adding atleast some capsicum to your egg fried rice to add some extra punch.

3. Add the cooked rice and stir well to combine. Remove from fire, check for salt and add more if required. Add the pepper powder and spring onions and set aside.

4. In a bowl, beat the eggs + some salt + some pepper with a fork. 

5. Scramble in a small pan with about 1 tsp oil and gently fold into the prepared rice. Don't break down the egg pieces too much while scrambling or over cook the eggs. Stop when they are a bit moist, they will cook a bit more with the heat from the pan and from the rice. Dried up bits of eggs are not fun, trust me!

That's it! Delicious Indo-Chinese Egg Fried Rice is ready.

 

Here are some great side dish recipe ideas for Egg Fried Rice you may like:

- Gobi Manchurian
- Chilli Soya Chunks
- Chilli Paneer
- Schezwan Vegetables
- Chilli Chicken

Okra Stew Recipe-How to Make Vendakka Stew Recipe

Learn how to make Okra or Vendakka Stew using this simple and easy recipe from my mom's kitchen through step by step pictures

As I have proclaimed loud and clear many times before, I am not a fan of vendakka or okra and pretty much any recipe with it doesn't push me to the other side. Amma, however, cooks a lot of vendakka recipes and this Vendakka Stew is a particular favourite of hers because it gets done so easy and quick with a minimum of ingredients. Like mom, like daughter, eh? ;)

The beauty of this vendakka stew, or pretty much any Kerala-style stew recipe is that is the list of ingredients are very small and the dish is almost exclusively with coconut milk and the main vegetable - in this case, Okra. So let's check out how to make this easy Okra or Vendakka stew.

Also check out:
Fish moilee (Kerala fish stew)
Bhindi masala
Okra avial

Okra Stew Recipe-How to Make Vendakka Stew Recipe

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:
2 cups of okra (vendakka) cut into 1" pieces
1 cup of thin coconut milk (check notes)
1 cup of thick coconut milk
2-3 green chillies, slit lengthwise (adjust to taste)
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 tsp of minced ginger
1 strand of curry leaves
3/4 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
1 tbsp of oil (preferably coconut oil)
1/4 tsp of black mustard seeds

How to Make Okra Stew:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onions and ginger. Saute until the onions turn pink and transparent. Don't let them brown.

2. Next, add the chopped okra and green chillies along with some salt. Mix well and add the thin coconut milk to this. Mix again and cook covered for around 15 mins until the okra turns soft. Keep the fire on low and check a few times in between to make sure there's enough liquid to cook the okra (there should be, for the measurements I have given).

3. Once the okra is cooked, add the thick coconut milk and mix well. Heat through (do NOT bring to boil) and remove from fire. Adjust salt at this stage if required and add the curry leaves.

That's it! Okra stew is now ready.

Notes:

- To make coconut milk: take 1 cup grated coconut and add 1 cup warm water to it. Grind well together and squeeze out the milk, pressing the grated coconut against a sieve. This is your thick coconut milk or onnaam paal. Repeat with more water and this time you will get thinner coconut milk or rendaam paal. Remember that coconut milk should never be boiled or it will curdle.

- If you have good attention to detail, you will notice that we changed the pan used for cooking in step 3. This is because the usual iron kadai that amma uses was changing the colour of the coconut milk to a shade of grey. So our Okra Stew is not the perfect ivory white colour that it should be - bear with us.

- You can serve this Okra Stew with rice and vatha kuzhambu. Another good combination is Okra Stew with Appam.

Tamil Coconut Chutney Recipe-Thengai Chutney Recipe (for Idli-Dosa)

There are so many different variations to South Indian Coconut Chutney Recipes. However, this basic Tamil-Style Coconut Chutney that's my easiest chutney recipe for idli or dosa keeps us all grounded in its simplicity and maybe I can say authenticity too?

In Kerala, Coconut Chutneys are made with just coconut as the main ingredient but in Tamil Nadu, Pottukadalai or Roasted Bengal Gram is almost always added to coconut chutney. This gives more body and thickness to the chutney, not to mention makes it a bit more economic for hotels to serve generously (In Kerala, they just add water to the chutney generously, making it even more economic for them!). So let's check out how to make this easy Tamil Thengai Chutney to serve with idli, dosa, pongal, upma, etc.

During our annual visits to Salem to my athamma's place, we'd always eat this Tamil Nadu style coconut chutney which was such a welcome break to us because it was so different from what we were used to back home and also because it somehow felt right having it with idli or dosa for breakfast in a different place when you are on vacation.

Tamil Coconut Chutney-Thengai Chutney Recipe (for Idli-Dosa)

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 cup of grated coconut
1/3 cup of pottukadalai or roasted Bengal gram
2-3 green chillies (adjust to your heat levels)
3/4 tsp of salt
2 tsp of oil
1/4 tsp of musard seeds
1/4 tsp of ulutham paruppu or urad dal
5-6 curry leaves
1 fat pinch of perungaayam or hing

How to make Hotel-Style Thengai Chutney:

1. Grind the coconut, pottukadalai, green chillies, and salt with enough water into a smooth chutney base. You can make the consistency as loose or as thick as you prefer. We prefer chutney on the thicker side.

2. Heat the oil in a tadka pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the urad dal and fry until golden, followed by the hing, and curry leaves. Remove from fire and drunk into the prepared chutney. Mix well. Adjust salt if you need to.

That's it! Hotel-style Thengai Chutney for your Idli or Dosa is ready.

Notes:

- Amma sometimes adds the chutney into the tadka pan, heats it a bit (don't boil) and then transfers back to a bowl. You can follow that method too.

- You can add a small piece of ginger or a couple of cloves of garlic to the coconut chutney while grinding if you prefer. I have also seen a small piece of tamarind being ground with the chutney for some sourness.

- Garnishing with chopped coriander leaves gives a nice flavour to the chutney.

- You can add 1-2 dry red chillies, torn into halves, while tempering the chutney.

- Adding curd to the chutney is another way to make it thick and sour. Amma used to do this but we don't like the flavour that much so I think she stopped. (Thanks to some awesome readers for reminding me of this tip for coconut chutney in the comments).

Vegetable Fried Rice Recipe-Indian-Chinese Veg Fried Rice Recipe

I can't believe I haven't shared this Vegetable Fried Rice recipe yet. Amma makes the best vegetable fried rice. In fact, in my opinion, she makes the best Indo-Chinese food. She cooks it effortlessly and fried rice is often made when she's lazy or doesn't want to cook anything elaborate. The good thing about her vegetable fried rice is that it has all the vegetables and lots of flavour so you don't really need a side dish for it. We usually have it with a light salad or an onion-tomato raita. So let's check out how to make Vegetable Fried Rice using her recipe.

Oh wait, before I get into the recipe, an important thing. I waited to go back and share amma's exact  recipe with you because there's an essential ingredient that makes it truly like restaurant-style Vegetable Fried Rice. The flavour and aroma is unmatchable and you have to use this if you want your fried rice to shine. Ok, I'll tell you already. It's celery! Spring onions are important too but the most important ingredient to give flavour to fried rice is ***drumrolls*** celery.

Chinese Celery

In Singapore we gets two kinds of celery - one is the Chinese celery which is leaner and smaller and the other is the American celery which has thick stalks, usually used to snack on or make smoothies with. In India I have mostly seen the Chinese celery since that's what we use to make vegetable fried rice but if you live in a place where you get both, choose the smaller kind for the best flavour.

Generally, one-day-old rice works best for making fried rice since the grains are drier and stay separate, easy for you to toss with the vegetables and sauces. However, here's how to make rice for fried rice so you don't have to use old rice, necessarily.

Vegetable Fried Rice Recipe (Indian Chinese Recipe)

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients for Fried Rice:
4 cups of cooked rice (here's how to cook rice for fried rice)
2 cups of mixed vegetables, chopped fine (use carrots, French beans, cabbage, capsicum)
1 small bunch of celery stalks, chopped fine (discard the leaves)
1 small bunch of spring onions, chopped fine
2 tsp of soya sauce
1 tsp of green chilli sauce (this is my favourite brand)
2 tsp of tomato sauce or ketchup
1 tbsp of freshly minced ginger + garlic
2 onions, sliced
1 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper
1-2 tbsp of oil

How to make Vegetable Fried Rice:

1. Heat oil and add the onions. Let them fry on medium heat until light golden brown, don't let them brown too much. Then, add the ginger + garlic and saute for another 2 mins.

2. Add the finely chopped vegetables and celery and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins until they wilt just a bit. Then add the soya sauce, tomato sauce, and green chilli sauce. Fry on high heat until the sauces bubble and reduce flame to medium-high, stirring constantly. Continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 mins. The vegetables should be cooked yet crunchy and not mushy or soft.

3. Add the cooked rice and stir well to combine. Switch off flame, check for salt and add more if required. Finally add the pepper powder and spring onions (we used coriander leaves that day since we couldn't find spring onions in the market). Stir well and pat down and keep partially covered for the flavours to combine.

That's it. Delicious Indo-Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice is ready.

Here are some great side dish recipe ideas for Vegetable Fried Rice you may like:

- Gobi Manchurian
- Chilli Soya Chunks
- Chilli Paneer
- Schezwan Vegetables
- Chilli Chicken

Notes:

- Basmati tastes best for vegetable fried rice; we have used seeraga samba here

- Chop the vegetables fine otherwise the stir-frying won't cook them through and they will taste raw

- We used dark soya sauce here which is the reason for the darker colour of the vegetable fried rice. If you use the regular kind, your fried rice will be lighter in colour

- Be careful when adding salt since the sauces we add all have salt in it already

- If you want to make Egg Fried Rice, add 2-3 scrambled eggs to this rice towards the end and you have easy Egg Fried Rice ready!