My kids love Chinese food, but I dislike using the ready store-bought sauces that are typically needed for making it due to their high sodium, oil and preservative content. This brown rice fried rice is made using absolutely no sauces, but is still delicious and flavorful!
Ingredients (makes 4 servings):
- Brown rice (1 1/4 cup)
- Chopped vegetables (bell peppers, carrots, celery, cabbage, spring onions) (2.5 – 3 cups)
- Freshly ground ginger-garlic paste (1 tbsp)
- Crushed dry red chilies (1 tbsp)
- Lemon juice (1 tbsp)
- Brown sugar (1 tsp)
- Freshly ground black pepper (per taste)
- Salt (to taste)
- Olive oil (2 tbsp)
Method:
- Cook the brown rice. I used the rice cooker and added 3 times the amount of water while cooking the rice. When cooked, spread it on a wide plate and let it cool.
- Using mortar and pestle, make a paste of the crushed dry red chilies with a few drops of water. Keep aside.
- Using mortar and pestle, make a paste of ginger and garlic. You may add green chilies if you like to this. I skipped the green chilies since I didn’t want to make it too spicy.
- In a wide wok, on medium heat, add olive oil.
- Add ginger garlic paste, red chili paste and whites of spring onions. Saute till the onions are transparent (1-2 minutes).
- Add finely chopped vegetable and increase the flame to high. Saute briskly for a few minutes, until the vegetables are cooked, but still retain their crunch (2-3 minutes).
- Lower the flame. Add the cooled brown rice, salt, pepper, lemon juice, sugar. Increase the flame slightly, mix well and adjust tastes as necessary.
- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (rice, oil), sour (lemon), salty (salt), bitter (coriander leaves), pungent (ginger, garlic, red chilies, pepper), astringent (celery, cabbage).
Doshic Influence:
This can easily become a pitta aggravating dish. To prevent this from happening, go easy on the oil, garlic, chilies.
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
This tends to be a slightly rajasic dish, especially if you make it too salty, pungent and/or sour.