Quick Fried Rice - A Lifesaver, literally!

Chinese Cooking is an art (At least for me). So attempts of Chinese cuisine at home are few and far between. We do visit the fancy Chinese restaurant for a nice meal, but nothing beats ordering greasy Chinese food from the neighborhood restaurant and settling blissfully on the couch to watch reruns of ‘How I met your Mother’ (Or CSI Miami, if that’s your scene :P). At the end of the meal however there’s always a faint feeling of regret. And regret tastes like a swollen tongue because of the amount of MSG/ Ajinomoto that the local guys use, to kick up the taste of the food. Not nice… not nice at all!

When such derailing urges strike these days, thankfully I don’t need to call the Ajinomoto joint anymore. (No, I don’t have a Chinese chef at home.) But I recently found this brand called Blue Dragon, which makes some amazing stir fry sauces. All I need to do is cut up some chicken and veggies and stir fry them quickly and toss the sauce in to finish! It tastes brilliant :) and even though I know there is some MSG in it, the level is not as high as leaving my mouth feeling like a barren wasteland! The only problem with this situation is that I only have the main course bit covered. Now if I order the noodles or rice from Ajinomoto Joint (that’s not their real name!), it defeats the purpose. That’s when I came across this fantabulous (yes, it’s that satisfying) Quick Fried Rice recipe. It looks and tastes like the real deal and helps complete the meal! Win win! Feels as good as Superman saving the day… well almost!

Singapore Black Pepper Prawns

Singapore’s most famous dish is undoubtedly the Chili Crab and the Black Pepper Prawns. When you walk down Clark Quay or Boat Quay you will find innumerable restaurants and street café’s serving up these super fiery dishes. The Chili crab is generally made with huge Sri Lankan crabs. If you put both your palms together, the crab will probably be larger than that! I’ve spent quite a bit of money on many many nights in Singapore digging into these critters! Another one of my favorites is the Black Pepper Prawns – buttery, peppery, hot awesomeness! They generally use Tiger Prawns for this with the tails (and sometimes the head on.) You yank the head off and start slurping down the sauce and the prawn meat, then finish by digging out whatever else in left in the tail. At the end of the night you have steam coming out of your ears and are sticking your tongue out and downing litres of beer but you can’t stop smiling, because it was so awesome! So here’s my little imitation black pepper prawns. I used medium prawns with the head and tail off. I cooked them skewered on a bamboo stick. This way it makes for an excellent appetizer or cocktail snack. Don’t expect your guests to behave themselves and eat just one skewer… they are irresistible!

Garlic Pepper Sliced Pork

The story started when I decided to take a ride on the Metro from Indiranagar to MG Road. I had already used the metro the day it opened, but that was purely on a touristy whim. This time I wanted to be a commuter with a purpose. The purpose - taking me to the holy grail at the end of the boulevard – The Bangalore Ham shop. After picking up the usual, the owner suggested I try the sliced pork. And there begins my dilemma. The sliced pork looked fantastic – meat and fat in thin slices, almost bacon-ey. I wanted to do something different with it, something special. I combed through the internet but nothing impressed me. I posted a ‘Help me’ on the Foodies in Bangalore page and waited …waited… waited. Finally, I met chef and restaurateur Madhu Menon on Saturday for lunch.  He asked me if it was Korean style sliced pork. I say yes. He asked me if I wanted an authentic recipe? I said I wanted it to taste like the indianized chilly pork in restaurants. Stunned Silence! Considering he is a pan-asian chef, this was tantamount to blasphemy. After sheepishly apologizing for my lack of refinement, he relented with his Garlic Pepper Pork recipe. It needed Oyster Sauce. I din’t have any. I was contemplating to just wing it without, when Madhu’s “tsk tsk” face appeared in my head. So I went and bought some and the rest as they say is history! I am now harboring the most intense love for it! To sum it up - Best oriental Pork recipe ever! All hail Madhu Menon!

Garlic Pepper Pork

(Recipe Courtesy: Madhu Menon)

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 12 mins

Serves: 4

What you need:

250 gms Sliced Pork

1 Tbsp Coriander root

1 Tbsp/ 2 tsp White Pepper powder (Or lower, depending on taste)

1 Tbsp Garlic, minced

2 Green Chilli, chopped

2 Tbsp Oil (peanut/vegetable)

2 Tbsp Dark Soy

2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

3 Tbsp Water/ Stock

What to do:

Buy the sliced pork. Because slicing it at home is a pain and you won’t get the right amount of fat and meat in each slice. Cut up the slices into 2 inch strips. (I use a scissor). Get all your prep done. Wash the coriander root (it has the most flavor, followed by the stems). Mince it up finely or whizz in a chopper for a few seconds. Keep all your ingredients at hand, cause timing is critical in a stir fry.

Heat a wok till smoking and add the oil. Toss in the coriander root, garlic and white pepper powder and fry for a minute. The pepper will stick to the bottom of the wok, just scrape and stir. Add the pork and green chili and stir-fry for 3 minutes. You can see the pork releasing the fat and the meat getting opaque. Now add the soy and oyster sauce and the sugar. Stir for another minute. Add the water and incorporate so that the dish dosen’t burn. Stir for 3 more minutes. Serve hot!

P.S. Actual cooking time depends on the thickness of the slices and the temperature of the wok. So make sure you check a slice for doneness, before taking it off the heat.