Nigerian fried rice is one of the delicacies you get to see in parties, weddings, and other ceremonies. To make it taste well, you need a mixture of fried rice ingredients.
Apart from preparing fried rice for functions, it can also be prepared at home as there are no rules that say it is only ideal for special occasions. Fried rice has its own recipe. It tastes nice and this makes it one of the favourites in social events.
The ingredients for fried rice is completely different from other Nigerian rice recipes. Just by its name, the Nigerian fried rice ingredients involves frying all the ingredients and mixing it with the precooked rice.
Although it is called fried rice, it can actually be prepared without frying. Therefore, it is pertinent to note that this process does not mean deep-frying your rice and vegetables.
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Fried rice ingredients
The ingredients to use include the following:
- Rice (Parboiled rice)
- Vegetable oil
- Meat (chicken, or beef)
- Liver
- Curry powder
- Green bean
- Green bell pepper
- Carrots
- Salt
- Stock cubes(Maggi) preferably, knorr Maggi)
- Onions
- Thyme/rosemary
- Sweet corn
Fried rice ingredients: How to prepare Nigerian Fried Rice
To make your fried rice come out great, you must be mindful of the water you add. When the fried rice is too soft, you might lose interest in cooking it again.
So, here are tips to have tasty Nigerian fried rice.
STEPS
- Place the chicken in the pot and add the ingredients for seasoning the meat.
- The ingredients to add are 1 tablespoon of thyme or rosemary. Stock cube is also known as Maggi, onion, a pinch of salt.
- It is better to allow the water in the chicken or whatever meat you intend to use to boil before you now add a little water and cook for 15 minutes to make sure the chicken is well cooked.
- When the chicken is ready, pour the stock into a strainer to remove particles. Pour the chicken stock into a sieve to remove all traces of onions and thyme and tiny bones. Do not pour away the liquid or stock, you will use it later. The stock is the liquid left after cooking the chicken.
- Wash all the vegetables properly.
- Scrape and cut the carrots into tiny cubes
- Cut the green beans into small pieces
- Remove the seeds of the green bell peppers and cut into small pieces
- Parboil the rice. Do note that well-parboiled rice ensures that the grains of the rice will not stick together when the rice is done.
- Now rinse the parboiled rice with cold water and put in a sieve or bowl.
- Pour the stock into a pot and set to boil. Once the water boils, add the parboiled rice.
- Also, add 1 tablespoon of yellow curry powder, then add salt to taste. The curry powder gives the fried rice that unique colour. It is strictly for colouring.
- Add little water. It should be slightly less than the level of the rice. This will prevent the rice from becoming too soft/tender.
- When you are done with that, you can now transfer the rice to a casserole dish or another pot to help cool it down. It helps keep the grains from sticking to each other.
- Heat up the vegetable oil. Add the carrots, peas, diced liver, green bell pepper, sweet corn (optional), seasoning cube.
- Fry for 1-2minutes and pour into a bowl.
- Divide the vegetables and the rice fried in batches. This is to make sure that all the grains heat up properly and allows the vegetables/ingredients to mix up with the grains properly.
- Pour a small amount of vegetable oil into your frying pan, add the cooked rice and the vegetables and stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes.
- Repeat this process for the remaining portion. Make sure you are using a sizable frying pan to allow the rice and ingredients mix properly.
Your fried rice is ready. The taste should be nice! The process is also simple. It is also important you know that fried rice can go bad quickly. However, you can still help in preserving it. To still enjoy that sumptuous Nigerian fried rice for some long hours, there are tips to follow
Fried rice ingredients: Tips on how to preserve Nigerian fried rice
- Don’t over boil your rice
- Don’t overcook your vegetables
- After frying the rice, make sure you leave the pot or container open for a few minutes. By allowing the steam to evaporate, your fried rice wouldn’t go bad quickly.
- You can also store your fried rice in the refrigerator. Put it in an air-tight container and store in the fridge. With this, your Nigerian fried rice can last longer.
- Very importantly, how you serve your fried rice matters. To prevent it from going bad quickly, make sure you dish the food from one side of the warmer or pot
- To prepare Nigerian fried rice is not time-consuming. If you are serving the fried rice for a wedding or party, it is advisable, you prepare the fried rice close to the serving time. This will make it stay fresh.
- In case you do not have a refrigerator, it will be ideal to prepare a smaller portion that you can finish.
Conclusion
Making the Nigerian fried rice is simple, but it can get messy if not cooked properly. Cooking fried rice may not take all the ingredients listed here. You can do without sweet corn for instance.
Basically, ensuring that the rice does not go soaked and avoiding the vegetables becoming so tender is the main thing to focus on. Having the vegetables crunchy is quite okay.
Nigerian fried rice is a great meal. If you tried cooking it before, and things didn’t come out perfect. Do try again. This time, follow the steps bit by bit and make sure you prepare a small portion and divide the fried rice ingredients, depending on the quantity of rice. With this, the taste of your fried rice will be wow!
