Szechuan Rice (with Homemade Sauce).

SZECHUAN SAUCE.

(Szechuan cuisine is famous for bold flavors, particularly the spiciness resulting from liberal use of chilies . This condiment can be used for stir fry , with rice/nooodles , as a dip and in many other ways.)

Ingredients :

20 Dry red chillies , 6 cloves of garlic ,

1 inch ginger finely chopped , 2 tbspn finely chopped onion ,

1 green chilly , salt to taste , 1 tbspn white vinegar ,

2 tbspn sugar , 1/4 tspn all purpose flour.

Procedure :

Soak dry red chillies for minimum 8 hours.

Grind he chillies with ginger , garlic and green chilly to form fine paste.

Heat oil in a pan cook the onion on medium heat. Add the all purpose flour and stir well till the flour looses its raw flavor. Flour is used as a thickening agent in this sauce. Then add red chilly paste , salt , sugar let it come to a boil. (You may add water to get required consistency). Add white vinegar. The sauce is ready to use or to be frozen for future use.

SZECHUAN RICE.

Heat oil in a pan and add coarsely chopped veggies as you may like (e.g carrot , green beans , cabbage , green peas) . Once the veggies are half cooked add well cooked rice and stir well. (Cooking the veggies half way through gets the crunch to the dish which many enjoy) . Add the szechuan sauce , salt to taste , a tspn vinegar. Cover the pan so that rice can absorb all the flavors. Rice is ready to serve hot.

Variation : You may use noodles instead of rice. You may also add chicken or shrimps.