Chilli Garlic Fried Rice/ Spicy Garlic Fried Rice

Chilli Garlic Fried Rice is a fantastic Indo-Chinese rice recipe- a vibrant and healthy rice dish with the goodness of garlic and crunchy vegetables. This popular Indian street food, is extremely appealing with spicy chilli flakes and dominant garlic flavours. You will love this restaurant style Chilli garlic fried rice, which is pleasingly spicy with a hint of sweet and sour flavours as well. In this recipe, I have combined rice with stir fried garlic, chilli and vegetables along with some flavourful Chinese sauces. Add scrambled egg or stir-fried chicken pieces or prawn to serve it as main dish or for a healthy school lunch pack. If you are planning it for special occasions, serve it with any Chinese or Indo-chinese gravy dishes like Honey chilli chicken, Soya Manchurian, Paneer chilli, Szechwan chilli chicken, Chilly Fish, Chilly Pork, Mushroom pepper fry, Beef and Mushroom, Gobi Manchurian etc. You can also serve it with some starters or soups like Chicken Manchow Soup or Sweet Corn Chicken Soup. 

Restaurant style perfect fried rice is possible to make at home too. Check my Vegetable fried rice recipe to make simple fried rice or Spicy Chicken and Prawn fried rice for fried rice varieties. You can prepare the rice beforehand to get rid of the stickiness. For perfect fried rice, make sure the rice is cold enough before mixing in the veggies. Check the link for fried rice to get that perfect rice that does not stick together. Once you have the rice ready, rest is cake walk! Oh! I almost forgot the Chilli garlic sauce which boosts our chilli garlic fried rice with zesty flavours. Well, you can use store brought chilli garlic sauce, but it won’t give you the color or the flavor as homemade ones. You may prepare this in advance and it can be used in other Chinese preparations or curries. It tastes good with Momos as well. Alternately, if you have Szechuan sauce (see recipe), you can add it instead of Chilli Garlic sauce, but make sure you add more garlic while stir frying. Also, try American chopsuey with sweet and spicy flavours.

Garlic has many health and medicinal properties. The Sulphur compounds found in Garlic is proved to be beneficial to overall health and it is rich in Vitamin C, manganese and vitamin B6. If you love garlic, check my Lebanese Garlic Sauce/ Toum, stuffed Garlic Bread, Crescent rolls, Garlic Mayonnaise recipes. So, Chilli Garlic Fried rice makes a great lunch option for kids; as it contains enough Carbohydrates, vegetables and Garlic to help them retain their energy and immunity. Also check my other lunch box rice dishes like Tomato Rice, Paneer Pulao, Corn Pulao, Vegetable Pulao, Kerala Fish Biryani, Hyderabad Chicken Dum Biryani,  Pressure cooker Biriyani and other exotic Biriyani dishes.

I have not used any flavor enhancers like Ajinomotto, but the chili and garlic flavoured rice is greatly satisfying and will leave you yearning for more. The spice factor is quite appealing and not overpowering as it is perfectly balanced with a touch of sweet and sour flavours. You can also try roasting the garlic to a slight brown color to get that smoky burnt garlic flavor. Hope you will enjoy this fantastic recipe for hot Chilli garlic fried rice. Have a great weekday dinner!

Ingredients for Chilli Garlic sauce:

Ingredients for Chilli Garlic Fried Rice:

Step by step recipe for Chilli Garlic sauce:

1. Boil dried red chilies in water for 2 minutes. Drain and let it cool.
2. Grind the chilies coarsely along with garlic, vinegar, salt and sugar.
3. Heat a pan and pour oil (preferably sesame oil).
4. Pour the chili garlic paste to this and sauté for a minute till it starts boiling.
5. Mix the corn flour in half cup water and combine with the paste and let it simmer and thicken.

Keep aside for cooling and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Step by step recipe for Chili Garlic Fried rice:

1. Wash, soak and cook the rice, with double measure of water, pepper powder, star anise and crushed garlic. (Check how to make vegetable fried rice, for exact cooking instructions for perfect fried rice). Transfer the cooked rice to a tray, spread well and allow to cool well.
2. Chop the garlic and vegetables finely.
3. Cut red chilies into fine rounds or crush red chillies and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a thick wok/ pan and add finely chopped garlic. If you like burnt garlic, let it brown slightly (or fry for half a minute) then add red chilies cut into rounds.
5. Next, add chopped beans and fry for a minute, then add chopped carrot and continue to stir fry for another minute, followed by cabbage, onion and capsicum, enough salt and stir fry on high flame for a minute.
6. Add the spring onion whites and stir fry for few seconds.

7.  Add the chilli garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and Tomato sauce.
8. Combine well and mix in the cooked rice in batches to ensure proper mixing and add the celery and Spring onion greens. Adjust the salt.

Mix well and once it is well combined and dry, transfer to a serving plate. Serve with any Indo-Chinese dish of your choice.

Tips:

• Medium grain white basmati rice or pulao rice is good for Fried rice. Jeera rice can also be used.
• Please check the link “how to make vegetable fried rice” for instructions to make perfect rice without sticking. Follow the tips closely.
• Only cold rice should be mixed with vegetables. Hot rice will be sticky and would form lumps while mixing.
• You may use Sunflower oil or Sesame/ Gingely oil for Chili Garlic fried rice. Since we stir fry vegetables on high flame, Olive oil is not encouraged.
• I have used very mild brewed vinegar for this recipe. If your vinegar is strong, dilute before adding. It provides a tanginess which balances the other flavours.
• Mix fried rice and vegetables in batches to mix well and to ensure well separated rice.
• Use Non-stick pans to avoid breakage of rice.
• The vegetables should not be over cooked. It should remain crunchy.
• Chilli Garlic sauce can be prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
• Mix fried rice just before serving to retain freshness.
• You may add seafood, scrambled egg or stir-fried chicken to Chilli Garlic Fried rice to make it a wholesome meal.
• It is a great lunch box option for kids and adults.

If you found this Hot Garlic Fried Rice recipe tasty and useful, please let me know or share it with your friends. It will keep me motivated. Thank you, God Bless!!