You’ve probably heard it a thousand times. Time flies by!! And it does. You have probably said it a thousand times yourself! We have already entered the 2nd ashraa of Ramadan and in no time we will be preparing for Eid.
Despite my best efforts at ignoring it, Ramadan is all about food (it’s not! it’s just how we have made it look like). I have especially used the excuse of concentrating on Ibadah more than cooking and “what’s for iftar”, but then sometimes you feel pity for your family (puppy faced hubby I am talking about you) and decide to actually treat them. Then comes the decision of what to make, because honestly, when you are fasting even spinach looks pretty appetizing.
I do have a few quick go-to’s for such times, unhealthy chats and samosas being a few of them. But what if I told you that you could serve a delicious, yet wholesome dish to your family and it really doesn’t take that long to make.
Enter my recipe for Singaporean Rice. Now to clarify a few things here, this is not the “original” Singaporean rice that I am talking about. It is very much a Pakistani version of it (We sometimes even call it Singaporean Biryani jokingly!), and the ingredients might seem very very unhealthy at first glance but it is very much modifiable without compromising the taste too much, plus it is an excellent example of a complete meal (vegies, meat, carbs all in one!).
So without further ado, I will give you the basic recipe to toy with!
Ingredients
- 1/2 kg boneless chicken cubes
- 2 cups rice
- 1 packets instant noodles, boiled
- 1 bell pepper, cut into cubes
- 1 carrot sliced
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1/2 small cabbage, chopped
- 4 green chilies, chopped
- 2 tbsp crushed red chili
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- Salt to taste
- Oil as required
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 8 tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp corn flour and water mixture (to thicken gravy)
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
Method:
- In a pan heat 2tbsp oil and sauté garlic and green chilies in it. Now add chicken and fry it for 2-3 minutes. Add all vegetables and salt, black and white pepper, Worchestershire sauce, soy sauce, 4 Tbsps chili garlic sauce and crushed red chilies. Mix it well and cook it for 2-3 minutes on high flame. Now add 1/2 cup water and cover it for 2-3 minutes. Now thicken it with corn flour and water paste. Gravy should be thick.
- Now mix boiled noodles in chicken and vegetable gravy. Set this noodles gravy aside.
- In a pot heat 2 tbsp oil and sauté cumin seeds in it. Add water and salt according to your rice quantity. Boil the rice.
- In a bowl take mayonnaise and add 4 tbsp chili garlic sauce and 1/2 tsp crushed red chili in it. Mix it well and set it aside.
- Take a deep serving dish and make the first layer of 1/2 the rice, then a layer of 1/2 of the noodles chicken gravy. Repeat the layers with the remaining rice and gravy. Now spread the mayonnaise sauce over the last layer of gravy. Serve warm and enjoy!!
How to make it healthier –
- Brown rice instead of white
- Whole wheat noodles or pasta instead of instant noodles
- Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise
- More variety of vegetables
- Skip adding cornflour to thicken the gravy
The best part about it is that you could just serve it as one main dish at a dinner party along with 1-2 appetizers (think chicken wings and/or salad) and you are done. But considering our desi tradition of serving a thousand and one dishes at a dinner party, that’s never gonna happen at my home at least. If you can get away with it, lucky you!!!
P.S – you can adjust the spiciness according to your family’s preference.
Mama In Scrubs 