Homemade schezwan sauce

                                                                             

Schezwan is a style of Chinese cuisine originating from Sichuan province in southwestern China.Schezwan Sauce has bold flavours,especially the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chillies.

Schezwan Sauce is one such flavorful sauce which you can prepare at home.
Schezwan Sauce is used to prepare many Indo Chinese dishes like Schezwan Fried rice, Schezwan noodles, side dish for momos and other schezwan dishes.
This sauce comes very handy and you can make schezwan fried rice, noodles within 10-15 minutes.The schezwan sauce prepared at home is healthy as it's without preservatives etc.Taste and appearance of this sauce is almost like the one we eat in reastaurants.
 
         Ingredients

• 1/3 cup oil
• 15 Cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 1/2 inch ginger (finely chopped)
• 4-5 onion shallots/1 medium size onion(minced)
• 20 Kashmiri Red Chilies (soaked in water for half an hour)
• 5 Bedgi Chillies (soaked in water for half an hour)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 tsp pepper powder
• 2-3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• salt (as per taste)

          Method of preparation 

• Remove the stem part of red chillies, cut open and remove the seeds and soak them in hot water.
• Deseeding is optional, but chose to remove them to reduce the spicyness a bit.
• Soak red chillies atleast for 30mins with water till immersing level.
• Then drain red chillies and transfer it to a mixer.Add the drained water to the mixer.
• Grind it to a fine paste.Add water little by little and keep grinding till you get a smooth paste,Set aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add garlic and ginger.
• Saute on a low flame till the raw aroma goes.(Be careful not to brown or burn the ginger garlic.)
• Add the minced onions and let them cook on a low flame. 
• Once the onions look like they are almost melting, add ground chillies, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, pepper powder,salt and 1/4 cup water.
• Bring this to a boil and simmer till the sauce thickens.
• Oil should have separated from the sides,and there should be some oil floating on top.
• Switch off the flame and let it cool.
• Once the sauce has completely cooled down, transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.
• Use when required.

          Notes

• Adding more oil is mandatory, the oil should float on top as a layer.This increases the shelf life of the sauce.
• Cook till oil separates and starts to leave the sides of the pan.
• You can even remove the seeds of  red chillies to make it less spicy.
• The sauce should stay good atleast for 3-4 weeks if refrigerated.

          Happy cooking !

Chicken fried rice..

                                                                               

Who doesn’t like chicken fried rice? But normally we have the tendency to have this Chinese dish in the restaurants. As this dish is my husband’s favorite one and easy to make at home. I tried it this time at home as he was craving for it ever since!

I learned a few awesome tricks on how to get the perfect fried rice in my recipe here.  I really couldn’t believe how good it turned out to be. 

I promise that you can prepare chicken fried rice at home better than take out chicken fried rice. You will really be impressed with yourself. Do try this out…

Frying marinated chicken

                                                                                                                                                  

Cooked rice

  

        Ingredients

• Rice 1 cup (soak for 1 hr)
• Oil (3-4 tablespoon)
• Lemon juice (1 tsp)
• Salt (as per need)
• Chicken (1 cup shredded/minced/chunks)
• Pepper powder (1 tsp)
• Corn flour (1 tsp)
• Soya sauce (2 tsp)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• Ginger garlic (1 tablespoon each finely chopped)
• Spring onion white (1 tablespoon)
• Carrot (1 tablespoon)
• Capsicum (1 tablespoon)
• Chili garlic sauce (1 tsp)
• White vinegar (1 tsp)
• Spring onion greens (2 tablespoons) 

       Serves ( 2-3)                                                                                                                                          

Scramble the egg in frying pan

Chicken ,veggies and egg

                                                          

        
        Method of preparation

• Take the chicken and marinate it with salt (around 1 tsp), corn flour, 1 tsp soya sauce and ½ tsp    pepper powder for about 15 minutes.
• Wash and soak long grain rice for an hour. Boil 4 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. Once it starts boiling vigorously, add the rice. Add lemon juice, salt (around 1 tsp) and 1 tablespoons of oil when the rice is cooking. 
• Simmer the rice on a low flame uncovered. Cook till soft yet grains separated. Drain water immediately and spread the rice it in a plate and let it cool down.
• Now take the marinated chicken in a frying pan containing 1 tablespoon of oil. Cover and cook on a low flame. Keep stirring to prevent burning. This is the perfect way to get tender chicken. Once the color of the chicken changes and it’s cooked turn off the flame and keep it aside.
• Beat one egg in a bowl and keep aside.
• In the same pan take 1 tablespoon of oil and saute chopped ginger and garlic for a while the add spring onion whites, carrot, capsicum and saute for some time.
• Now move the veggies in one side and pour the beaten egg. Wait for a while, then scramble the egg in the pan and mix with veggies.
• Now it’s the time to add Soya sauce (1 tsp) and chili garlic sauce (1 tsp), mix properly.
• Then add cooked rice, ½ tsp of pepper powder and vinegar. Saute for some time. Finally add spring onion greens. Adjust salt as per need.
• Fried rice is ready.Serve hot.

      

        Note

• Some people add ajinamoto (MSG) for extra flavor but it’s optional. I avoid using it in my recipes considering health point of view.
• To make chicken fried rice, i have used minced chicken but you can even use cubed boneless fillets or shredded chicken as per choice and availability
• You can add veggies as per your taste and availability.

          

          Happy Cooking !