Ammalu’s Kitchen

Stir fry veggies in Schezwan with Brown rice- Courtesy K

I was with my girlfriend and her daughter at the pool. It was a ladies evening out!! We just got into the pool with the lovely 18 month old and were having a blast!!Never realised the time as my friend was teaching her daughter to swim. I come home and lo! K makes dinner and is ready on the table and offered to write it for me on this blog. Here’s what he has to say…

K here - This dish, I had first, when Dee was still in India and I had just landed here in the US. I used to have my lunch daily at the office cafe. One Wednesday, I went into the cafe to find the chef frying some veggies and a long queue waiting in front of her. Curiosity got the better of me, and I too joined the queue with a tray in my hand. When I reached the front this was what the chef cooked for me.

Ingredients:
2 cups of sliced or thickly chopped onions
1 cup pf sliced carrots
1 cup of thinly sliced cabbage
1 cup of sliced bell peppers
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 cup of broccoli florets 3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp Chili flakes
2 cups of cooked brown rice
2 pods of garlic
3 tbsp Schezwan sauce
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
Dee likes to add sprouts too to this dish.

Firstly cook the brown rice . I prefer to cook it in an electric rice cooker as it takes about 40 minutes for 2 cups of uncooked rice to cook.Heat oil in a wok and add all the chopped onions, carrots, cabbage, bell peppers, mushrooms and broccoli florets. Keep stirring the veggies every half a minute. Stir fry for 3 minutes on hi-medium heat. Add the chili flakes and fry again for a minute. Now add the Schezwan sauce and fry for another 2 minutes while stirring the veggies all the while. This will allow the schezwan to mix well with the veggies. Add the salt and take the wok off heat. For serving, layer brown rice into a bowl. Add the veggies on top and allow the schezwan to be soaked up by the rice. NOTE: One can add Chicken cubes in addition to the veggies. Also one can use Thai Peanut Sauce or Teriyaki Sauce instead of the Schezwan, and white rice instead of the brown rice.Personally, Schezwan and Thai Peanut are best liked in that order.