Having some leftover rice always comes so handy on weekdays. I love making Kimchi fried rice or the Bengali fried rice that I love pairing with mutton curry. Rice can be transformed to so many delicious dishes. Fried rice has been my go to for ages now.
What is Burnt Garlic Fried Rice?
If you are unaware of Indo-Chinese Cuisine, this dish might sound bizarre to you. How can anything burnt taste good? Let me clarify by saying that burnt garlic in this dish is not burnt-black-bitter-garlic! Burnt garlic in this dish is basically cooking the garlic a tad bit longer than usual, so it gets caramelized and crispy. The aroma is robust and anybody who loves garlic will love this dish. The dish pairs best with Gobi Manchurian
Ingredient Notes:
Left over cold rice: Fried Rice should always be prepared with cooked cold rice. Left over rice from last night works best. If you use hot or warm rice, it will get soggy or mushy as you toss it in the wok. Cold rice will create the crispy, fluffy texture to the fried rice. Fresh Garlic: You need a lot of fresh garlic cloves. You could thinly slice or finely chop the garlic. Assorted Vegetables: Although adding veggies are not mandate, but I like to add some as it makes a complete meal on its own. You could either use fresh veggies or frozen veggies. Soya Sauce: To keep the fried rice simple, I used only soy sauce for that umami flavor. Green Onion: In my opinion, no Indo Chinese recipe will be complete with adding green onion in it. These are just the key ingredients for the simple burnt garlic fried rice recipe. You can definitely switch it up by adding some proteins to it like egg or shrimp or chicken.
Steps to prepare:
- Add most of the green onions along with the garlic. Save some to garnish at the end.
- Don’t fry the green onions for too long. You can also add shallots if you like.
- Add assorted veggies. I used frozen veggies, you can use fresh veggies too.
- Add soy sauce. I kept it very simple with just soy sauce, but you can add white vinegar too and chili sauce for some heat.
- Add the cold rice and toss it around to mix everything.
- Freshly cracked black pepper at the end adds a lovely pungent flavor and heat to the fried rice.
- Scatter extra garlic chips, few green onions and serve.
Recipe Video:
Variations you can add:
You can toss some air fried tofu and veggies at the end to make it more filling. The dish goes very with shrimp or any other choice of protein. I kept this dish very mildly spiced, but you can add more heat by adding your choice of spicy sauce. For extra heat, try Bird’s Eye Chili Hot Sauce or mild but super flavorful, drizzle some Chili Oil on top. Add more vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli and edamame. Other rice dishes you can try: Kimchi Fried Rice Bengali Fried Rice Kala Chana Pulao Tomato Rice Basanti Pulao
