Name: Schezwan Fried Rice
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 600 g cooked long-grain rice, cold; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 ½ cm ginger, finely chopped; 1 onion, finely diced; 1 carrot, finely diced; 100 g green beans, finely sliced; 1 green pepper, finely diced; 3 tbsp schezwan sauce, or 8 dried chillies blitzed with 4 garlic cloves and 2 tbsp oil; 2 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp rice vinegar; 1 tsp caster sugar; 1 tsp fine sea salt; 4 spring onions, sliced

Schezwan Fried Rice

Fried rice with a spoonful of red schezwan sauce through it. Nothing to do with Sichuan, everything to do with the Indian Chinese menu.

30 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Storing and Planning Ahead

Keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat in a very hot pan.

Making Schezwan Fried Rice

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

Break up the cold rice with wet fingers so no lumps remain.
Heat the oil in a wok until it just smokes.
Fry the garlic and ginger for 20 seconds.
Add the onion, carrot, beans and pepper and stir-fry over the highest heat for 3 minutes.
Push the vegetables to one side, add the schezwan sauce to the clear space and let it fry for 30 seconds.
Tip in the rice and toss for 3 minutes, pressing it against the hot metal and lifting.
Add the soy, vinegar, sugar and salt and toss for 1 minute more.
Fold through half the spring onions.
Scatter the rest over and serve straight from the wok.

Related guide: Choosing rice.

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

A Few Pointers

Day-old rice, or an hour uncovered in the fridge.
Fry the schezwan sauce for half a minute before the rice goes in.
Press and lift rather than stir, so the grains catch.

Behind the Recipe

The rice must be cold and at least a few hours old. Fresh rice is still full of surface moisture and steams into a sticky mass the moment it meets a hot wok; refrigerated overnight, the grains dry and firm and they fry into separate pieces. If you have only fresh rice, spread it on a tray and refrigerate it uncovered for an hour.

Serving Ideas

Chilli paneer · Gobi manchurian · Sweetcorn soup

Common Substitutions & Variations

Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.