Ok, if you’re confused with the excerpt at the beginning, you have to check out the video down below! But first, you might be here for the recipe and let’s approach that. So, this is not a 100% Ricesome original; this recipe is heavily “inspired” by a Korean-American chef, Roy Choi’s fried rice recipe. I repeatedly binge-watch this Netflix series, “The Chef Show” a LOT, and in it, he shows how to make a really good marinade for a pork belly that can very handily be used as a sauce for fried rice. Also, many people might not have access to this garlic-infused chilli powder, which we call “Kura Kaaram” where I’m from. You might call it differently or have a different style of specialty chilli powder. If it’s available, use that or use a mix of normal and Kashmiri red chilli powder.
I’ve actually never been able to get any sort of fried rice to have the right umami. But, until I saw the recipe for probably the 50th time, and then it hit me! (gasp) Ingredients can be blended up ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. Fried rice is one of those dishes, like pasta, that should not take a lot of time. No, I don’t mean sacrilegiously, I mean it’s a dish that achieves its peak on high heat. So, it requires ingredients to be cooked beforehand or blended up, so that they can be added quickly. Also, who has time to chop up 10+ ingredients when you want to eat fried rice EVERY SINGLE TIME? Too inefficient. That’s why make it ahead of time and store it.
Spoiler alert: This sauce, which we’re gonna make, has all the ingredients in its raw state, so it needs to be cooked out when you add it to anything. But, apart from that, customise it, change it, add new stuff to it, and go nuts!
Ingredients
For the “Fire” Sauce:
- One Onion diced
- 6-7 cloves of Garlic
- 1 inch of Ginger (peeled and washed, ofc)
- 3-4 Green chillies halved (add more or less, depending on your taste/medical conditions)
- 1-2 tbsp Gochujang paste (can be subbed with chilli paste, but add some honey to balance it)
- 1-2 tsp of Red chilli powder (Use a combo of normal and Kashmiri Red chilli)
- A glug of Soy sauce
- Salt & Pepper
- 2-3 Tbps of Groundnut/Sesame Oil (or any oil)
For the Fried Rice:
- 1 1/2 cups of cooked Rice
- 4-5 cloves of finely chopped Garlic
- 1-2 finely chopped Green onions
- 1/2 inch finely chopped Ginger
- (optional) finely chopped Green Chilli
- One thinly julienned Carrot
- One cup of shredded Cabbage
- One tbsp of Butter
- 2-3 tbsp of Fire sauce
- 1 tbsp of Chilli oil
- 1-2 tbsp of Soy Sauce
- Salt & Pepper
- 2-3 tbsp of Peanut oil/Sesame oil
- Chopped green onions for garnish
- One egg
- (Optional) Extremely Hot- Hot sauce
Procedure
- Throw all the ingredients for the fire sauce in a blender and blend until everything is smooth and uniform. Check for seasoning before you store it. (Pro tip: Add the dry ingredients first, followed by the wet stuff, which ensures that the sauce blends smoothly.)
- In a frying pan, heat it to a high temperature, almost to the point when the pan begins to smoke. Add the oil, and the cooked rice and let the rice fry in the oil for a minute. This step is completely OPTIONAL. But, in case your cooked rice is a bit wet or clumped together, this step removes that.
- Wipe the pan clean, and heat it up again similarly. Be ready ‘coz it goes really quick.
- Add the oil followed by the aromatics (garlic, ginger, green onions, green chillies), give it a quick stir and add a touch of salt and pepper. We don’t want to brown the garlic, so cook it until the raw smell is gone.
- Next, add the carrots and the cabbage and fry until the cabbage loses all of its moisture and wilts down. Add the butter, and fry for another 30 seconds.
- Now, add the rice, and mix everything evenly.
- Add the fire sauce, chilli oil, and the soy sauce. Mix everything on high heat, and keep listening to the frying pan to make sure that the sizzling sounds are not too high. (Indication that it might burn)
- After it’s all mixed evenly, check for taste. Season to taste if it needs any.
- Transfer the fried rice to a bowl.
- (Optional) In a pan, add a touch of oil and butter. Crack an egg and fry it to your desired doneness (My preference: Sunny side up for fried rice). Season to taste.
- Transfer it to the top of the rice and garnish with green onions.
- If you like to scream on the toilet the next day, add some extremely hot sauce on top that burns every orifice.