The global concern of food is focused on health. Recipes for fried rice is a home made dish that is commonly prepared with the combination of various ingredients such as vegetables like carrots, onions, green beans, chillies, peas as well as spices such as curry powder, thyme, pepper and proteins such as chicken, eggs, beef et cetera.
As a dish, fried rice can either be eaten by itself, that is served as a main course or eaten with other small dishes such as bean cake (moi-moi), African salad (abacha), fried plantains or coleslaw. Fried rice is a universal acceptable dish and it is recognized world wide. Although, it is said to have originated from China during the Sui dynasty.
As a main course, fried rice is endowed with lots of nutritional values. It is full of good fat, good carbohydrate, protein, healthy fiber and is loaded with vitamins and minerals that keeps your body going. A plate of fried rice contains carbohydrate which supplies the body with energy, phosphor , fat, iron, vitamin A as well as vitamin C, also some additional nutrients present in the recipes for fried rice
Below are some health benefits of fried rice:
1. IT PROVIDES ENERGY TO THE BODY
The presence of carbohydrates and calories in fried rice is a great source of energy that cannot be replaced, so therefore, an average person who consumes a plate of fried rice will not only get the satisfaction he craves but also get an increase of energy in the body system. This energy is gotten from rice which is one of the major ingredients needed to make the dish.
2. IT REGULATES BLOOD PRESSURE AND KEEP IT IN CHECK
Fried rice provides the same amount of help as potassium. Potassium plays a vital role in the excretion of wastes in the body. It also plays a vital role in maintaining or regulating blood pressure. Although, it is important to note that excess fried rice is not advisable for those who are running a diet program because one of the major health benefit of fried rice is that it contains some amount of calories and calories is a substance that encourage weight gain.
3. IT HELPS IN MAINTAINING A HEALTHY SKIN
Maintaining an healthy skin is not an easy task but by eating fried rice, one can easily maintain healthy skin. Why? You may ask. Well, the answer is very simple. This is because fried rice helps the healing process of any loss of skin pigmentation.
4. IT AIDS MUSCLE FORMATION
One of the food recommended for consumption when running a program for muscle formation is fried rice. Now why is fried rice recommended? This is because fried rice has high protein compound that can help muscle development.
5. IT SERVES AS A POWERFUL ANTIOXIDANT
Antioxidants are knowns as antibacterials and antivirals. These antibacterials and antivirals makes your body healthier. Fried rice contains very powerful antioxidants due to the spices and herbs used in preparing it
6. FRIED RICE CAN BE USED FOR THE TREATMENT OF DYSENTERY
Did you know that with fried rice, you no longer need herbs and chemical drugs to treat dysentery? This is because you can now treat it in a delicious way as the food is proven to treat dysentery.
7. FRIED RICE HELPS HEAL INFECTIONS
As you already know, fried rice contains lots of vitamins. Onions are good for you. They help reduce inflammation and heal infections. Enough said!
Ingredients for fried rice recipe For 750g of Rice
1. 3¾ cups (750g) long grain parboiled rice
2. Vegetable oil (ororo)
3. Chicken (chicken drumstick or whole chicken)
4. 100g cow liver
5. 1 tablespoon thyme
6. 3 onions
7. 1 tablespoon Nigeria curry powder
8.½ cup green beans
9. Sweet corn
10. 3 pieces of carrots
11. Salt to taste
PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES (optional)
Before you cook the fried rice, be sure to chop the vegetables. Also wash all the chopped vegetables to be used in cooking the fried rice. Slice one bulb of onion into a plate and cut the green beans into small pieces of about 0.7cm long, cut the carrots into small tiny cubes. Soak the carrots and green beans separately in hot water for roughly about 5 minutes and drain. Set all these aside.
To prepare the liver and chicken, cook the cow liver till done and then cut into tiny pieces. Cut the whole chicken into pieces as well and cook for about 20 minutes with your seasoning (personally, I’d recommend knorr cubes), thyme and two bulbs of chopped onions. When done, drill in an oven or deep fry with vegetable oil. This gives it a golden look which is very attractive and more presentable.
You can start the recipes for fried rice with already parboiled rice as this helps to make the procedure a lot more easier. But should in case parboiled rice is not available at your disposal, it is okay to use a day old rice that has been refrigerated. It pose no threat to your health and the result is just as good. Be sure to use the right type of rice. Not all rice grains can give you the perfect taste.
The most preferred rice grain for preparing fried rice is the long grain parboiled rice. This type of rice is very easy to work with when making fried rice because it is firm and less sticky and it is very difficult to go wrong when cooking with it. Also note that you are to allow the freshly cooked rice (par boiled rice) to cool slightly before using it.
This is done so as to prevent the rice from getting sticky. It is also important that you wash your rice thoroughly before cooking it. This is done in order to help remove the excess starch on the rice which can cause the rice to clump together and become sticky.
Ingredients for Nigerian fried rice recipe
1. Parboil the rice by cooking till it is half done. When you parboil your rice well, it helps to ensure that the grain of rice does not become sticky when the rice is done. After the rice has been parboiled, rinse it properly with cold water and put it in a sieve till the water drains out completely
2. Pour the chicken stock into a sieve in order to separate the chicken from the chopped onions, thyme and other spices that may appear visible. Pour the stock into a clean pot and set on fire to boil.
Note that this procedure should only be carried out if the preliminary activity for cooking the chicken stock was ignored or not carried out.
3. Once the water boils, add the parboiled rice and then add salt to taste. Ensure that the salt is carefully added so as not to be too much or too little.
- Make sure that the water level is either a little bit
Sometimes we get tired of eating the same type of dish repeatedly. Most especially rice which has become almost a “must eat daily” food in Nigeria. We tend to eat it a lot at special events, breakfast, lunch, dinner, et cetera.
If you are looking for ways to stir up your appetite for rice or other better, easy, tasty and more delicious way to prepare it, why not try out this simple recipe for Chinese fried rice? It only takes roughly five minues to prepare the necessary ingredients and about ten minutes to cook. Which means it takes just fifteen minutes to give you the satisfaction you crave.
Ingredients necessary for making Chinese fried rice.
At this point, you might start to wonder: Where and how do I get the necessary ingredients to make make a foreign food in my country? Well, the answer is very simple. You can easily purchase the necessary ingredients from any local market, supermarket or grocery stores around you and it is very affordable.
The ingredients are as follows:
1. 2 cups of cooked white rice
2. 1 tablespoon butter
3. 1 tablespoon soy sauce
4. Vegetable oil
5. 1 teaspoon black pepper
6. 1 bulb of chopped onion
7. 1 egg
8. Cooked chopped chicken meat
How to prepare:
1. Use a small bowl to beat egg with water.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet using medium-low heat.
3. Add the egg and leave it flat for about one to two minutes.
4. Remove from skillet and cut into shreds.
5. Preheat oil in the same skillet, add the onion and stair gently until soft.
6. Add rice, soy sauce, pepper and chicken.
7. Stir fry together for about five minutes and then stir in egg as well.
8. Your delicious and palatable Chinese fried rice is ready to be served. Serve hot!
Note:
You can eat Chinese fried rice as a main course or you can choose to add your desired toppings! Just like Nigerian fried rice, you can decide to add coleslaw, fried plantain or even bean cake ‘moi-moi’ to give it the yummy taste you crave for.
Fried rice can be served at special events like birthdays, weddings, picnics, street parties, house warming, official gatherings et cetera. Now it is very important to note that both Nigerian and Chinese fried rice can go bad very quickly.
This can be avoided if the rice is refrigerated immediately after it cools or eaten immediately after being prepared. If refrigerated, fried rice can last 48 hours without loosing its taste! If fried rice is to be served at a party, ensure that it is cooked very close to the serving time, if not, it will lose it’s taste.
