Chinese Fried Rice and Healthy Veg Manchurian Dumpling Gravy

The most awesome Indo-Chinese combo! Let it be a road side van kitchen or some Chinese wok restaurant, this dish is always there on the menu and it every time tastes so damn good! Well, its one of those dishes which is quick and easy to make and yet there are high chances of you going wrong. If you follow the recipe right, believe me, they are real easy to make.Please do cook the rice by the draining method and not the absorption method.
Let us go to the Chinese Fried Rice first,

Ingredients:-
2 cups basmati/any long grain rice
3 tbsp Oil
1 medium sized red onion sliced thin
1/2 a cup of chopped Bell Peppers (I have used green and red)
Around 10-12 Beans Finely Chopped
1 Carrot Finely Chopped
1/2 cup of Cabbage Finely Chopped
2 Green Onions Finely Chopped (for garnishing)
2-3 Green Chilies cut lenghtwise
1 tsp Garlic Chopped Finely
1 tbl spn Ginger-Garlic paste
2 tbsp Soya Sauce
1 tbl spn of vinegar
pinch of ajinomoto
2-3 tbsp tomato-red chilli sauce (depending on how much spicy you want it)
1/2 tsp of fresh white/black pepper
Salt to taste

Method:- (Rice cooked by draining method)

Wash and soak the rice in enough water for half hour and drain. wash the rice again. This repeated washing takes out the extra starch out and avoids the rice from being sticky when cooked.

Boil 4 1/2 glasses of water and boil. Add rice and little salt.
Cook uncovered on low heat till rice is tender.
Do not to overcook the rice. Each grain of rice should be separate.
When rice is done (cooked and separate), drain the rice using a sieve and and wash the rice with cold water. Wait till all the water seeps through.

Heat oil in a wok/large pan and add chopped garlic.
Add the onions, ginger-garlic paste and green chillies, Fry well til onions get transparent.
Then add all the chopped vegetables and stir fry. They need to be cook and yet crisp. Do not cover and cook. They become soggy. Stir continuously so that the veggies do not burn.
Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the cooked rice and mix well.
Mix the soya sauce, vinegar and chilli sauce to it. Mix well but do it carefully so that the rice doesn't break.
Add salt, ajinomoto and pepper.
Cook the chinese fried rice for 2 minutes.
Garnish with green onions and serve hot.



Veg Manchurian:-
Ingredients:-

1. For the veg balls/dumplings:-

2 cups of cabbage finely chopped

1 grated Carrot

1" of ginger chopped finely

2 garlic pods chopped finely

2 green chillies

2 spring onions(scallions) chopped finely

3 tbl spns of cornstarch

1 tsp of red chilli powder

oil for deep frying or use appe pan/kuzhi panniyaram pan/puff pancake pan and 1 tsp of oil for each ball.

salt to taste

2. For the manchurian sauce:-

2 spring/green onions chopped finely

1 tbl spn of fresh ginger-garlic paste

2 pods of garlic chopped finely

1 green chilli chopped finely

1/2 tsp of chilli powder

3 tbl spn tomato sauce

2 tbl spns of Soya sauce
1 tsp of vinegar

1 tbl spn of cornstarch ,mix with water to make a paste.

water- 1 cup

3-4 tsp of oil

salt to taste

Method:-
1. Frying the veg manchurian balls:-
I used the healthy way of frying these. Use a paniyaaram/appe/puff pan cake pan with 1 tsp of oil for each ball.
Mix all of the ingredients for the balls and keep aside for half hour.
Sprinkle some water to bind the ingredients for the balls. The veggies give out some water themselves, so add as little water as possible.
Fry them on both sides with 1 tsp of oil for each ball in an appe pan.

These can be served as an appetizer too. They are nice and crisp.

2. Make the sauce:-

Heat oil in a pan and add ginger, garlic and the chopped white portion of the spring onions.
Saute for a minute and add salt, chilli powder, tomato sauce, vinegar and soya sauce.
Add 1 cup of water to it and when it starts to boil, add the cornstarch paste.

When the sauce starts to thicken, take the pan off the stove.
10 minutes before serving, add the manchurian balls.
Add the top green portion of the spring onions (green onions) on top.
Serve hot with Fried Rice.