Purple Rice Bowl – Chinese Style

I love vegetable markets. The kind where hawkers lure you with freshest produce, holler and vie for your attention, call out with all zest and confidence to take a quick ‘dekko’ at their treasures. I love to shop here.

Purple Rice Bowl – Chinese Style

And in contrast we have the big uber cool fancy supermarkets which would get me all excited but mostly turned a dampner once entered. These stores are huge, catering to everything imaginable, from a match box to a television. Not to mention, groceries, produce and exotic imported vegetables and fruits. The produce particularly makes me regret coming to the stores and not going to the nearest vegetable markets. One chance view of their godowns/storehouses and the pathetic conditions in which the extra produce is stored, left me cringing for days.

Little Rice Bowls

But of course, supermarkets versus hawker markets is a topic of debate to which we rather not get into now.
Because now is the turn of this wonderful purply rice bowl that I quickly fixed for dinner tonight. One of the many mellifluous hawkers sold this to me in spite of profuse refusals. But he insisted on the ‘freshness and quality’. So I gave in to his selling strategy but only to pleasantly discover the truth in his words.

Scallion leaves are a must

A crisp bright colored cabbage actually calls for some fresh salad. But you know my intermittent relationship with salads. So I quit thinking of raw options and ventured into my most comfortable and favorite territory. Chinese 🙂

Yes, Chinese styled rice, laced with minimal sauces, garnished with scallion leaves – made a delightful dinner!

Say it with color

The Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice, boiled so that each grain is separate
• 3/4th cup purple cabbage, chopped fine
• 1 onion, minced
• 6-7 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tiny piece of ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1-2 tbsp green chili sauce – vary according to your taste
• salt and pepper powder to taste
• 2 tbsp scallion/spring onion leaves, minced

Method

In a wok, heat oil, stir fry ginger, garlic and onions, preferably on high, stir frying all the time. Keep the chopped cabbage ready. Once the onions turn translucent, throw in the cabbage along with salt. Stir fry and saute till 3/4th done. Try to keep the cabbage a wee bit crunchy.

Add vinegar, green chili sauce, pepper and rice. Mix well. Garnish with scallion leaves.

Serve hot with pan braised veggies or simply some Schezwan Sauce.

Subtle Flavors

I made some pan braised veggies, but could not get pictures for the same.
Using vegetables like onion, bell peppers, broccoli, carrot, baby corn and bok choy, I saute them in oil along with loads of garlic and season them with little salt, pepper and vinegar. Thats it.
They made a perfect colorful accompaniment to my subtle flavored rice.

Purple Passion

This is a handy recipe if you have:

• left over rice
• a ravenous stomach
• no time
• fussy taste buds craving something yummy all the time

And oh I forgot, a nice fresh purple cabbage is also required 😉