Mint Flavored Vegetable Fried Rice

The great thing about making fried rice is that it can be easy. I have always loved fried rice.  I could probably eat an entire bowl.  The great thing about this recipe is that you can add whatever you would like!  I have added Mint.Whatever it may be it is fantastic! I always serve this amazing fried rice with all of my Chinese dishes. It is easy and goes perfectly as a side.

This recipe is incredibly versatile – just about any vegetables you have lying in the fridge will work well.  A good portion of these ingredients are things we could easily keep in our pantry and freezer too, making this dish an excellent back-up plan when dinner plans go awry for some reason or another.

Fried rice is basically staple food of American Chinese cuisine. But now available as well as popular all over world and specially in Asia you can have variety of fried rice. Chinese food is quite famous in India and has a different Indian touch to it. In most of the cities you will find a street side vendor cooking Chinese dishes on a big hot wok tossing all kinds of sauces and adding boiled rice or noodles as required. The most common dishes famous in Indo-Chinese eating joint are Manchurian both dry and in gravy, fried rice, fried noodles both egg and vegetarian and some Chinese soup. You should definitely see how these road side vendor cook Chinese dishes. They hardly take time to quickly toss vegetables and add chili sauce, soy sauce etc. So, with some Twist I am adding Mint Paste in it and trust me guys the taste was Awesome!!! Do try it and share your comments!!

Ingredients

3 cups cooked Basmati Rice,
1/4 cup minced Green Onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup Capsicum, Chopped
1/2 cup Green peas
1/4 cup Green Beans
1/4 cup Carrots
1/4 cup Cabbage
2 tbsp Soy Sauce to taste
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
1 tbsp Ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp Chilli sauce, or to taste
1/8 tsp Vinegar
Salt to taste

How to make Mint Paste

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Fresh Mint
3-4 Green chilies
Water as required

1. Take a mixi bowl and add Mint, green chilies and water as required to make a thick paste. Crush them and make thick paste. Your mint paste is ready!

Method

1. If the rice is freshly cooked, set aside to cool naturally (or refrigerate it for at least 3 hours uncovered or until completely dry and grains are easily separated). I use 1 cup raw rice that I cooked in 1-1/2 cups water with 1 tsp vegetable oil. I, at times, also add salt which is optional. Saute the rice in oil until translucent, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. Add water and salt if using. Bring it to boil, stir and then reduce the heat to low-medium. Cover and cook until liquid is absorbed - around 10-12 minutes.

2. Heat a wok (or any skillet) in high heat. Make sure to keep all the ingredients already. Add the  oil, followed by Green Onion (Spring Onion), ginger and garlic.

3. Stir for 5-6 seconds and the minute the aroma starts wafting, add rest of the vegetables.  Make sure nothing burns given that you are cooking in high heat. You want the vegetables to be cooked but still crunchy which is why it is important to chop the vegetables into small pieces (and also keep them uniform in size). Keep stirring. This whole things should take around 30-40 seconds. add Mint Paste in it. Mix them well.

4. Next add the rice. Stir until combined.

5. Next add the soy sauce. Stir for the flavors to combine. I personally like to add some chili sauce as well, you can avoid it. Make sure you don't stir it too much 'cos that might make the rice mushy.

6. Combine well. If it looks dry, you can sprinkle some water. For it to look closer to restaurant style, you would need to add more oil.