First time when I had Chinese fried rice I was totally surprised by its taste. The rice was white, light and fluffy and tasted delicious. I always used to wonder how it’s made, until I started preparing. I didn’t know that white pepper and ajinomoto were the secret ingredients.

I’ve always consider fried rice as the best of all comfort foods. Just imagine of it – a bowl of perfectly cooked steaming white rice, (just to the right consistency), filled with vegetables and simple seasonings where you can get all the healthy ingredients in one pot. What could be more perfect than this easy breezy dish?

Ideally, fried rice should be light, fluffy, and easy to pick up with chopsticks/ fork. There is always a debate over which way of using rice is better – fresh cooked rice or leftovers from last night’s meal. It depends on individuals. I prefer to use cold leftover rice, but most of the time I end up making with fresh cooked rice as it’s always last minute decision.

There are dozens of varieties of fried rice, each with their own specific list of ingredients and also tastes differently.

Ingredients

1 cup Basmati rice (cooked)
½ cup shredded cabbage
1 carrot (peeled & diced)
1/4th cup frozen peas
1/2-1 tsp white pepper powder

1/2 tsp ajinomoto (optional)
3 tbsp peanut oil
Salt to taste
3-4 spring onions (finely chopped)

Procedure

Spread the cooked rice on a wide plate. Add a teaspoon of cooking oil, sprinkle couple of pinches of white pepper and salt, mix lightly and let cool completely. Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan/ wok, once the oil is smoky hot, add carrots, peas, spring onions and stir fry for 2-3minutes on high heat. Add shredded cabbage, ajinomoto and remaining white pepper. Stir fry for 2 more minutes on high heat. Add a little of salt to taste. Then add the rice, and mix lightly taking care not to break or crush the rice. Add the spring onion
leaves and let it cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve hot with any Chinese gravy or wet Manchurian.

Notes and tips

Leftover rice works well for this dish. You can add soy sauce for extra flavor. Quick and easy way to get cold rice is, cool down the fresh cooked rice to room temperature and spread it on a plate and keep in fridge for ½ hr (or until done with ur preparation and stir fry).

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