Schezuan Rice

We both (I and my hubby) are lovers of authentic Indian Chinese food (Let me clarify that there is no mistake and I was perfectly in my senses when I wrote that we love Indian Chinese food which is a variation to suit the Indian taste buds. Authentic Chinese food is very bland and we don’t like it as we both love spicy food) .My husband’s all time favorite Indian Chinese food involves schezuan sauce. Any Chinese preparation made out of schezuan sauce he enjoys it like there is no tomorrow ( just to emphasize his love for schezuan food). Both of us have been lucky to try out the Indian Chinese food at various places in the city. It occurred to me that why not prepare the Authentic Indian Chinese food at home as both of us enjoy this cuisine? The first step was learning to prepare the schezuan sauce. So I searched the recipe for it online and I got numerous recipes. I, being a smart alec (or a lazy bum you can choose the terminology) chose the recipe with the least ingredients and tried it out and in the haste of preparing it I ended up boiling the red chilies more than required(instructed) resulting in the red chilies losing all of its spicy flavor and retaining only its colour.

That was not the end of the disaster for the day.  The rice was also not up to the mark as it was also a bit over boiled. To sum it up, it was a total flop (mild term for want of a better term for the disaster). I thought of giving the recipe one more try. This time I did not cut corners and browsed through 3 – 4 online schezuan recipes and chose the good bits of each recipe for the schezuan sauce which I felt would be able to deliver the required flavor by preparing a customized recipe as per our requirements and palate. (Best of both the worlds or in this case best of 4 worlds). This time the end result was more or less similar to the taste of the schezuan sauce available in the restaurants.

This time around I preferred to follow the old school method and prepared the Chinese rice the way my mom taught me and it turned out to be great………….. Hats off to her……….

Schezuan sauce

Ingredients

·         1 cup or about 25 no. red chilies

·         4 tbspoon oil

·         1 ½ tbspoon finely chopped garlic

·         1 Tbspoon  ginger paste

·         1 onion finely chopped

·         1 tbspoon  soy sauces

·         1 tbspoon chill sauces

·         1 tb spoon vineger

·         3 tb spoon Tomato ketchup

·         1 tb spoon sugar

·         1 ts spoon black pepper powder

·         1 ts corn flour

·         ½ cup water

·         Salt

1.       Boil about 2 cups of water.

2.       Once the water starts boiling add red chilies and then boil it for about 50 seconds     to a minute.

3.       Drain out the water. Cool it. Grind into a smooth paste in a blender using a little water.

4.       Heat about 3 tbspoon oil in a wok or non-stick pan and sauté garlic, onions and ginger for a minute  or till the onions become a bit soft.

5.       Add the Chili paste and sauté for about a minute or 2.

6.       Add 1 tbspoon of oil again and mix well.

7.       Add vinegar, all the sauces, sugar and salt and mix well.

8.       Dissolve the corn flour in the water ( about 30 ml water) and add to it.

9.       Add water and mix well and bring it to boil.

10.   Add pepper powder and mix well.

This sauce becomes a thick paste. You can store it in the refrigerator for nearly a month

Chinese rice

Ingredients

·         2 tb spoon oil

·         ½ cup onion and spring onion white

·         1 cup rice

·         1 ¾ cup water

1.        Heat oil and fry onions and white of spring onion.

2.       Add rice and fry and then add hot water. Mix well and then keep it on low flame till the rice is done

Schezuan rice

  

1.      Heat oil in a pan add about 2 tb spoon of oil

2.      Add about 1/4 cup of Schezuan sauce and also add about 1/4 cup of water so as to get the consistency like any other sauce (as the sauce prepared is bit thick). fry for about 1 min

3.      Add the rice and mix well and garnish with spring onion green

4.      Toss for a few second till it is mixed well