Fried Rice (Nigerian Style)

As a teenager fried rice was one dish I held down with confidence. I had no doubts I would be cooking Fried rice for my SSCE food and nutrition practical as well as Efo riro, I knew the invigilators would be hooked. I didn’t want a repeat of the near disaster that happened during my GCE practicals. I had grated my right thumb on the grater whilst grating coconut for my coconut cake, I nearly ended in the ER and my barbecue grill that left me with half of my turkey half cooked. I got a C4 in GCE and got a B2 in SSCE. I knew my fried rice game was tight! So what makes my Fried rice game tight? This is it.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups long grain rice

• 1 cup Meat stock

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 3 scotch bonnet

• A couple of garlic cloves

• 2 thumb sized ginger

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.

• 3 Small green pepper

• 2 medium sized red bell peppers

• 1/2 cup blanched green peas

• 1/2 cup sweet corn

• 4 large Carrots

• Some spring onions

• Gizzard

• Hotdogs

• Poached Eggs

• Salt

• Bouillon Cubes

Procedure

– Chop, peppers, carrots, spring onions and set aside best to set it aside in a fridge

– Chop gizzard, hot dog and set aside.

– Wash rice with water till the water is clear and strain in a seive

– In a pot, heat up the oil and fry scotch bonnet, bay leaf, chopped ginger and garlic till it burns in the oil, then take it out

– Pour rice into hot oil and stir till it starts to brown up

– Add stock, 500 ml water or a little more, curry, thyme, salt , bouillon cubes. Turn the heat down

– In a wok or pan, using about 1 tsp of vegetable oil, stir fry the vegetable mix, and meats, till vegetables are slightly tender

– Add to cooked rice and stir in with sweet corn and poached eggs

*Remember if the rice is nearly cooked but still a bit hard, cover with foil or moinmoin leaves and the pot lid to trap steam and cook rice through.

My 6yr old son who doesn’t like to have any vegetables in his fried rice.
What i do is, just before adding the vegetables into the pot of rice, i separate his own add Shrimps and either kidney/ liver or heart. And he loves it.