Special Chinese Fried rice with variety Dry Chilli Fish

Eid Mubarak to all dear viewers...


First of all a big Sorry dear friends for such along delay of posts.We were busy with shifting and moving to a new place as part of my husband's project.By this month onwards you can expect post from me as well..Thank you so much for the nice co - operation.Please give me comments,then only i can improve the cooking and writing styles..Expecting more from you all.

:-):-)Ok Lets talk about today's dish.  Aromatic Fried Rice and  Dry Chilli fish

We all are familiar with Fried rice and Chilli Chicken combination.The most tasty Chinese food which we almost all Indians love to have in restaurants and even at home.Personally I like Chinese noodles,fried rice and chilli chicken.So this time i think about fish instead of chicken...Why all are preparing Chilli chicken????Shall we try fish for a variety....Yes,I tried fish for preparing this variety dish.Cooking methods are same like chilli chicken only exception is fish instead of chicken.Here comes the snap of my fried rice and Chilli fish.

                                       
                                           
                                            Fried rice with Chilli fish and Raita

So let's begin with rice preparation...Almost every cook or food lovers who like to make different dishes tries different Biriyani or fried rice varieties.Since we malayalis believe or consider biriyani or fired rice as a delicious food for all celebrations and spend time for learning this authentic spicy item for home made preparation.So explaining the preparation method of rice,is not so important.But i'm explaining each step one by one for beginners.

Usually we use long aromatic Basmati Rice for preparing Fried rice or biriyani. Try to buy long grains with some aroma since lots of brands in Basmati rice are available in market.In the rice packet itself, you can see a note for preparation of rice.Since all rice varieties have different cooking time and we should follow that for proper cooking of the rice...So in my rice packets they have written for 1 cup of rice you should add 1 1/2(1.5) cups of water.So if you are using for example, 2 cups of rice you need to add 3 cups of water.

Ingredients needed for Fried rice

1.Basmati rice - 3 cups
2.Water - 6.5 cups
3.Salt- to taste
4.Aromatic spice list
    Cardamom - 2
    Cloves  5-7
    Cinnamon - 2 sticks
    Bay leaves - 2
    Pepper Corns -  10

   Note: If you want more aroma,you can increase spices quantity
5. Ghee/Oil - 1 Tb sp
6.Con.Lemon juice - 1-2 Tsp
7.Eggs - 3 nos.
8.Soya sauce - 1-2 Tb sp
9.Cilantro and Mint - cut into small pieces for decoration and flavour

Preparation method of Fried Rice

1.Soak the required  rice for 30 minutes.
2.Wash and clean the rice and keep it in vessel with holes for removing extra water.

3.Keep a large heavy bottom pan in flame with reduced flame.Add  2-3 Tb sps of Ghee when the pan becomes hot.First,add all the spices in the ingredient list to the pan.Then add rice to the spices and saute it well.By this time the rice becomes crispy and get a glazing look.Remember don't burn the rice with high flame.Always use low flame while sauting. After 2-3 minutes add the measured quantity of water to the rice.Add salt to taste and cover it for cooking.

4.If you are not familiar or a beginner don't try to attempt the 3rd step.You won't success..

5    :-)IT happens for me even..That"s my mother's method.But don't worry we have another easy way of cooking.

6.Take a large heavy bottom pan and keep it in a medium flame.Add the required quantity of water with all spices in the list.If you crush the spices slightly it gives more taste and aroma to the rice.
7.Add 1 Tb sp of oil,1-2 ts sp of Con lemon juice(Squeeze half lemon) and the most important thing SALT -( to taste) to the water.

Note:

• Taste some water and if its salty,the salt level of rice will be ok. Remember don't add too much salt.
• Oil and lime juice helps  to avoid the thickening of  rice.
• Don't cook the rice over time,it will turn into pongal.

7.So when the water starts boiling,add the cleaned rice and cover it for cooking.When the lid starts dancing with bubbles stop the flame and allow the rice to cook.Within 10 minutes rice will be ready.

Note:If the rice cooks correctly,rice grains should look like a boat shape or as a curve.That is the correct consistency for Basmati rice for making fried rice,biriyani or pulave.

                                                             Cooked Rice

8.Vegetables needed
   Carrot- 1 big
   Beans - 5-6
   Green Peas - 1 cup
   Cabbage - 1/2 cup(optional)
   Green Onions(Scallions) - a few,cut into small pieces.

     
                   For fried rice we should cut all vegetables in length wise for a good look.Try to cut as thin long pieces.Unfortunately,I don't have peas and cabbage while preparing this fried rice.So i only used carrot,beans and scallions.

Clean and cut the vegetables length wise and cook it with little water in another pan.
Add scallions at the end,since it don't need much time to cook.Or else you can use scallions as fresh.

                                                Cooked Vegetables

9.Scrambled eggs
     There is no need of description for this method.Prepare scrambled egg using 2- 3 eggs and mix it along with rice.Add 1/2 tsp pepper powder and 1/2 tsp salt while scrambling.

                                                        Scrambled Egg

10.Final Step

• Take a large heavy bottom pan and keep it in medium flame.Add  1-2 Tb sp of Ghee or butter.If you are health conscious,you can avoid  this ghee or butter.It only gives extra taste.
•  Add 1-2 Tb sps of Soya souce to the hot pan.Add half portion of the cooked rice and fry it along with soya sauce by sauting. REMEMBER don't saute too much,it could break the rice.
• Add all cooked vegetables, scrambled eggs with little more soya sauce  and the remaining rice and fry it for 3-5 minutes.
• Remove from flame and decorate with cilantro(coriander) and mint(puthina)[Since i don't have leaves,i didn't use it for decoration.]
• Serve hot with curries................Wait for my chilli fish recipe..I'm sure you all love it.

                                                         Fried Rice

I know all are waiting for the chilli fish recipe and you might think why she is spending more time for easy fried rice preparation.Actually i prepared this and took photos for posting this  recipe nicely 1 month ago.Since my husband was busy with interview preparations i can't use the lap top for a long time.That is the reason for this late posts...please give me excuses..


                                                  Chilli Fish

Ingredients list

1.Fish fillets - 1/2 Kg(1 lb)
2.Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
3.Chilly Powder - 1 Tb sp
4.Fish Masala - 1 Tsp
5.Salt -1/2 tsp
6.Garlic - 1no
7.Oil - for frying
8.Scallions - a few

Here comes the recipe.For preparing chilli fish,you can use tilapia or salmon, i choose Tilapia fillets(which is available in abroad grocery shops).Fillets are flesh bone less part of fish which is easy to handle.For those who are staying in Kerala,fillets won't be available in all stores or markets.So you can use any fish with strong flesh without any bones..So cut the fish into small pieces without any bones or skin.You can use King fish(Neyymeen), Vatta etc which have strong flesh.

                                             
                                                      Fish -step by step
From the above pic,you might be very clear with the steps for making Chilli fish.
1.Clean and cut the fish fillets into pieces(length wise).Don't make it too short since while frying the fish becomes small.
2.Marinate the fish with regular masala powders like Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp,Chilli powder 1 Tb sp,Fish masala- 1 ts sp and 1/2 Tsp salt.Here i used 1 lb Fish(approximately 1/2 Kg)
3.Fry the marinated fish in hot oil and keep it in a tissue paper.
4.By this time,while frying the fish itself,we can prepare the gravy for chilli fish.
5.For gravy,you need,1 medium sized garlic,1 big Onion and 1 tomato.Cut it into small pieces.Try to cut onion in square shape(like in restaurant chilli chicken).
6.Cook the garlic first in a pan with 1-2 Tb sp oil and then add onion.Once the onion becomes transluscent add the diced tomato to the pan(or you can use tomato pulp,by simply grinding tomato in a mixie) for a thick gravy.
7.If you like Capscicum you can add green one.Use 1/2 of the Capscicum and cut into square shape. Capscicum takes more time to cook, so add along with tomato and cover it with a lid.

                                               Chilli gravy - cooking stage


8.When it is half done,add 1/2 tsp Fish masala,saute it and add 1/2 cup water and cook again with lid.
9.When the gravy is done,add all fried fish pieces to the gravy and mix well.Remove the dish  from flame for some time for setting all the masalas to the fish.
10.Decorate the dry Chilli fish with Green scallions pieces and serve hot with Fried rice.

                                                   Dry Chilli Fish
Note:

• Prepare some Raita(curd salad )with onion,tomato and green chillies for extra taste and flavour.
• Add the required amount of masalas and salt before frying the fish.Since after frying, the fish pieces won't get any salt even when it is mixed with gravy.
• If you want semi gravy dish add little more water for the gravy,otherwise after some settling time the gravy becomes dry.Here i prepared dry chilli fish.
• Also you can add pappad(pappadam) and fresh vegetable salads.

Enjoy this delicious  dry Chilli fish with fried rice and raita.I hope its a variety for you.Please try this out and leave me your valuable comments.

                                                       Yummy Yummy Combo

Enjoy Cooking

Wishing you all the good memories of Eid Mubarak..

...Stay tuned for yet another variety of dishes..until then Bye...

Kottayam Kitchen

Happy Cooking

:-):-):-)