Burnt Garlic Vegetable Fried Rice, a quick and easy one-pot vegetable fried rice with delightful bits of flavorful crispy, browned garlic and infused with simple Asian sauces.
A perfect one-pot Asian meal to enjoy any time!
We Indians love our Indo-Chinese dishes like Manchow Soup, Hot and Sour soup, spicy Schezwan Hakka Noodles or even a divine Vegetable ChopSuey with lots of crispy deep fried noodles on top!
I got my first taste of this simple but amazingly flavorful “Burnt Garlic” fried rice in one of the many restaurants in India which serve a myriad of fusion Indian-Chinese dishes! The flavor of burnt garlic had permeated the whole dish but was not too overpowering.
What is Burnt Garlic Rice?
I have always learnt that burning garlic would lend a bitter taste to any dish, but in this one, I beg to differ! Bits of finely chopped or sliced garlic are gently fried in oil until golden brown and crispy. But once mixed with the vegetables and rice, none of the bitterness or burnt taste here.
This aromatic garlicky whiff of yumminess from crispy browned garlic forms the flavor base of this rice dish. Once this is done, all you need to do is to toss in other ingredients like onions, celery, vegetables and rice in quick succession on high heat.
How do you add more crunch and nutrition to this amazing fried rice?
The texture and flavor of any fried rice is elevated by adding healthy bits of crunchy and colorful vegetables.
We love our fried rice with loads of colorful vegetables like broccoli, snap peas, carrots, sprouts, celery etc. Cabbage, mushrooms, bell peppers/capsicum etc. would be good too! Use as much or as little vegetables as you like.
The best rice to use:
Any long grain rice is perfect to use. Make it fresh or better yet, use leftover day-old rice.
The key to perfect fried rice is a rice with each grain separate yet well cooked. I love to use Basmati rice when making fried rice as you are ensured perfectly cooked long grains every time! Leftover day-old rice is also good and this Burnt Garlic Fried Rice is the perfect way to use them up!
To make it fresh, cook a batch of rice until just cooked but not too soft and spread it on a large sheet or plates. Let the rice dry out before using it for fried rice.
Basic flavors and sauces:
Not to take away from the aromatic garlicky hue of the dish, I have added only a bit of soy sauce and vinegar, just to add a depth of Asian taste. Keep tossing on high heat, taking care to stir continuously to marry all the flavors yet keep the vegetables crispy and crunchy and the grains of rice whole.
Once it all comes to together, a shower of chopped green onions and time to dig in! Serve it with another favorite Indo-Chinese favorite, Vegetable Chop suey or a simple Indo-Chinese soup like Hot and Sour Spinach Soup.
A one-pot meal ready in less than 30 minutes, lunch or dinner could not be easier!
SCHEZWAN FLAVORED BURNT GARLIC VEGETABLE FRIED RICE (Updated July 2021):
Our local Indian restaurant serves extra containers of cooked Basmati rice whenever we order takeout. Although we order Biryani too, plain rice end up not being used.
So what better than to make another batch of Burnt Garlic Fried Rice but with a spicy twist....addition of hot Schezwan Chutney/Sauce and my favorite is Ching's Secret Schezwan Chutney. This is one condiment I always have to use up in my sandwiches, Asian dishes, in soups etc.
This time, I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of this uber delicious chutney in my burnt garlic fried rice and the whole family was devouring this spicy delight in no time!
If you cannot find it, feel free to stir in your favorite hot sauce like Sriracha, Hot chili sauce, Sambal Olek etc. for more of the spicy bite!
Make this delicious Asian Fried Rice with or without Schezwan sauce or chutney, you are going to love it either way!
Enjoy and Happy Cooking!
Here are some similar Indo-Chinese dishes you may love:
- Quick and Spicy Vegetable Fried Rice
- Schezwan Vegetable Chop Suey
- Mushroom Fried Rice
- Vegetable Manchow Soup
So, what are you waiting for?
Let’s burn some garlic!
How to make Burnt Garlic Vegetable Fried Rice:
Prepare all the vegetables and cook the rice ahead of heating up the wok or kadai.
Keep all the ingredients ready.
Heat a large deep saucepan, wok or kadai until very hot and add the oil.
Once the oil heats up, stir in the finely chopped garlic and sauté on medium heat, stirring often until each bit is crispy and golden brown.
Remove a couple of teaspoons and keep aside for garnishing at the end.
Throw in the chopped green onions, green chilies and celery and sauté on high for about a minute until the onions are slightly soft.
Toss in the chopped vegetables; broccoli, snap peas, carrots, a bit of salt to taste and black pepper powder; keep tossing on high heat until heated through for a minute. While adding salt, remember, you will be adding soy sauce later which also has salt in it.
Do not overcook the vegetables.
Add the cooked rice and sprouts along with soy sauce; mix again gently to avoid breaking the long grains of rice and keep stir frying until heated through.
Remove from heat, sprinkle vinegar, give it a good mix and serve hot, garnished with chopped green onions and fried garlic!
Serve aromatic garlic flavored Indo-Chinese Burnt Garlic Vegetable Fried Rice with any Chinese flavored gravy dish or a simple soup.
Happy Cooking!
Let's get cooking!
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Burnt Garlic Vegetable Fried Rice; fluffy grains of long grain rice, kissed with garlicky oil, accented by crisp bits of gently fried garlic and packed with healthy bits of crunchy vegetables.
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked rice; Basmati or any long-grained rice (each grain should be separate)
- 4 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped (about ¼ cup)
- ½ cup green onions, white portion, chopped (or regular onions)
- 2 green chilies/jalapenos, sliced or chopped/minced
- ¼ cup finely chopped celery (optional)
- 1 cup broccoli, cut into small florets
- ½ cup sprouts
- ½ cup snap peas, sliced or left whole
- 1 cup carrot, finely chopped
- 2 to 3 tbsp soy sauce (light)
- 1 to 1 ½ tsp vinegar
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp any cooking oil/sesame oil
- Chopped green onions/Scallions for garnish
- Wok
- Kadai
Instructions
- Prepare all the vegetables and cook the rice ahead of heating up the wok or kadai.
- Keep all the ingredients ready.
- Heat a large deep saucepan, wok or kadai until very hot and add the oil.
- Once the oil heats up, stir in the finely chopped garlic and sauté on medium heat, stirring often until each bit is crispy and golden brown.
- Remove a couple of teaspoons and keep aside for garnishing at the end.
- Throw in the chopped green onions, green chilies and celery and sauté on high for about a minute until the onions are slightly soft.
- Toss in the chopped vegetables; broccoli, snap peas, carrots, a bit of salt to taste and black pepper powder; keep tossing on high heat until heated through for a minute. While adding salt, remember, you will be adding soy sauce later which also has salt in it.
- Do not overcook the vegetables.
- Add the cooked rice and sprouts along with soy sauce; mix again gently to avoid breaking the long grains of rice and keep stir frying until heated through.
- Remove from heat, sprinkle vinegar, give it a good mix and serve hot, garnished with chopped green onions and fried garlic!
- Serve aromatic garlic flavored Indo-Chinese Burnt Garlic Vegetable Fried Rice with any Chinese flavored gravy dish or a simple soup.
- Enjoy and Happy Cooking!
Notes
Adjust the amount of vegetables to your liking. Seasoning and amount of soy, vinegar etc can be according to personal taste.
Other vegetables you can add are chopped bell pepper/capsicum, green beans, shredded cabbage, sliced mushrooms etc.
For added protein, vegetarians can add tofu or paneer. Other options are eggs (scrambled), cooked chicken, seafood etc.
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It looks absolutely delicious. I can feel the taste of burnt garlic.
Thanks so much dear 🙂
I love the intense flavor and smell of burnt garlic. The rice looks so tempting ?
Me too!!! Thanks Sapna 🙂
Burnt garlic veg rice is a great dish to serve with manchurian. It is our favourite rice recipe at home. Can smell this garlic rice so tempting bowl. Loved it.
Thanks so much dear!!!
Perfect rice dish to serve with any Ind0-Chinese dish, aromatic and colourful.
Absolutely!!! Thanks a bunch dear 🙂 🙂
We love the burnt garlic flavor and the aroma it lends to the dish..this colorful vegetable fried rice with burnt garlic taste looks very inviting !
Thanks so much Poonam 🙂
Omg! So much garlic...I do use garlic on fried rice but never used it this way or in this large quantity. Must have tasted wonderful. Will surely give it a try
Thank you dear 🙂 Even I was wary about adding this much garlic, but the final dish was so flavorful and aromatic, my family loved it!
What a vibrant meal in a bowl! I love burnt garlic flavour. Usually I let garlic go a bit towards crispy brown side even in my tarkas.
Thanks so much Maria 🙂 I know, the brown, slightly burnt bits are heavenly!
Such a flavor packed fried rice with the burnt garlic flavor! Yumm!
Thanks so much dear 🙂 🙂
I can smell it through my screen...love this burnt garlic fried rice...am sure it will tastes amazing
Thanks so much Lathiya!! It tasted amazing and so flavorful!
My mouth is literally watering reading ur recipe . Beautiful pics. Very well written . Thanks for sharing
Thank you so much 🙂
What a colourful plate of rice and vegetables. It's healthy too. I can feel the taste of burnt garlic as I remember my grandmother serving us this garlic burnt directly in chulla. Lovely clicks.
Thank you Nivedita 🙂 Even our grandparents knew the awesome flavor and taste of burnt garlic 🙂 🙂
Wow. Looks super yummy. I can't say no to Chinese cuisines. I loved your description and metaphors. Keep rocking 🙂
Thank you so much Malini for your sweet appreciative words 🙂 🙂 I guess we all love our Chinese, especially Indo-Chinese flavors!
My favourite .. I love the burnt garlic flavour in the fried rice. We can just enjoy it even without any accompaniment.
Thanks Shobha 🙂
Thanks Sandhya 🙂 🙂 You must try this!! I was wary of making my rice bitter but the crispy brown bits of burnt garlic actually blew my mind away by lending a lovely garlicky hue to the whole dish! We all loved it in our family 🙂 🙂
Which rice did you use and how did you cook the rice?? My rice always comes out sticky
I can smell the aroma of this rice Vanitha!