Monday, April 20, 2009

Thai Olive Rice

Put a group of mothers together and chances are one of their favourite talking point would be their kids' eating habits. Or the lack of them. My little one is an extremely fussy eater and has nearly driven me to tears of frustration over her refusal to try different food groups.

I would fuss and fret till I learnt what most mothers are very adept at...the art of camoulflage. I no longer sweat over stuff she does not eat, I simply disguise it like I do in this thai olive fried rice.



Thai Olive Fried Rice:

Traditionally, this rice uses pork mince (find the original recipe here), however, I have substituted the mince with grated cauliflower and cabbage. Being grated, they leave no visible trace of their presence in the rice and my otherwise fussy eater eats this without any protest!!

Ingredients:

Grated Cauliflower - 3/4 cup
Grated Cabbage - 3/4 cup
Pitted black olives - 1/4 cup, cut into small bits
Garlic, finely minced - 2 tsp
Ginger, grated - 1/2 tsp
Dark soya sauce - 2 tsp
Vegetarian oyster sauce - 1 1/2 tsp
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Sambal olek or chilli flakes, optional - 1 tsp (or to taste)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Spring onion - for garnish, optional
Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp

Rice - 3/4 cup

Method:

Cook rice with a little bit of salt. Spread it on a plate to cool; mix in a bit of oil so that the grains don't stick to each other.

Heat oil in a pan - the oil has to be really hot! Fry the ginger and garlic till fragrant. Next add the grated cabbage and cauliflower and stir fry for a minute. Add the olives (reserve some for garnishing), followed by the sauces and stir fry for a further two minutes.

Next, toss in the rice and stir till the rice is evenly coated with the stir fried mince. Check for salt, the sauces have plenty of it, chances are you won't need to add any.

Garnish with the reserved olives and spring onion and serve hot with some cucumber slices.

Notes:
Cold rice does not work for this, room temperature is what is needed when making fried rice.
Heat is the key to this rice - work quickly on a very high flame for best results.



This goes out to:
AFAM: Olives guest hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes , event started by Maheshwari,
Vaishali's It's a Vegan World: Thai guest hosted by Priya of Akshayapaatram and
Cooking for Kids: Rice, event started by Sharmi guest hosted by Trupti.


As an aside, anyone wants to guess what the following picture is all about? All about it in my next post :)







36 comments:

  1. Nice delectable rice recipe... Comforting I liked the sliced Olive rings... You can also send your recipe to:

    Kadumanga's COT - Flavored Rice event
    http://kadumanga.blogspot.com/2009/03/colors-of-taste-powders-flavored-rice.html

    Side looks like cranberry or is it something else... Cant wait for your next post...

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  2. YUM!! I would pick all the Olives there first to eat and than may be eat the rest later! ;D

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  3. Hey thanks for dropping by my blog. This is a wonderful recipe with all those olives...I am mad about olives and I think like Asha I would be picking up the olives first..I am sure your little one loves this dish..will try it for sure. I loved your strawberry swirl frozen yoghurt...yummy blog served with love for sure...will be back here again and again..

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  4. Oh Wow!I have never imagined rice with olives.Looks so good!

    I think the last pic is dried hibiscus..

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  5. Healthy rice..Olives are so perfect for any time !!

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  6. My kiddos don't like veggies either,unless in flavorful disguise like this one:)

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  7. Love the rcie dish looks really yummy.
    When my daughter was small she was a real fussy eater especially when it comes to vegetable and i have to admit she is still same with the veg, there are times when she makes me cranky for not eating her veg.

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  8. Never heard of this..Healthy post..

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  9. Hi AD,
    Thai olive rice looks healthy..health packed food hmmm....
    The other snap must be kokum...or something?! will wait for the next post.

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  10. sounds great girl... i love olives. should be good in the rice.

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  11. Hi AD,
    me again gee..:) pls collect the award from my blog dear, I'd be glad if u do :)
    TC

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  12. Thats a delicious olive rice Aqua, makes me hungry, thanks a lot for sending to AFAM!

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  13. Olive in rice sounds good for me, the guess pictu is it pickle?

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  14. Nice new recipe. Will defintely try it. And the second pic looks like prunes or cranberries. Will have to wait and see:)

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  15. Thats an innovative new cuisine rice! Looks yummy! :)

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  16. nice recipe..creative idea..yummy..that looks like either cran berry/drried grated beetrot..will wait for your next post :)

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  17. yummy rice...olives never tried in rice :)..i have posted a recipe for ur event..will mail soon..

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  18. is that kokum?

    And olives is a great addition! :)

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  19. I love that olive here. & i thought only Italian cuisines had olives! my little one loves olives, & she will put it as a ring & eat them up.

    is it plum, or some flower petal?

    your rajma looks mouthwatering, some hot rice, onion & lemon is all i need with it.

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  20. Delicious recipe.. Looks inviting!!

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  21. nice delish Thai rice with olives. its my first time here and I must say u have got a wonderful blog!

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  22. Both cauliflower and cabbage are still in season here, so I will try out this recipe, it looks really good.

    Te side looks like either dried lavender flowers or hibiscus.

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  23. Great post :) Have never imagined adding olives to Thai fried rice. Healthy too :)

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  24. aah..That fried rice is true yum..True Aqua..All moms have to master this art of camouflage I guess..Poor my mom..How she suffered..:D
    ..n is that Beet fritter??

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  25. this is a yummy, different kind of fried rice to me

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  26. Ramya, thanks for the info!

    Asha, Sakshi - even I tend to pick out the olives while eating :)

    Madhumati, Mangocheeks - you are spot on, it is dried hibiscus!!

    Yasmeen, HC - it is so trying, isn't it, to get them to eat healthy stuff?

    Ann, pooja, Mahimaa - this is really one healthy rice esp with all the veggies

    Suparna, thank you so much for sharing the award with us :)

    Priya, glad you like the entry :)

    Cham, Smitha hope you try it and like it.

    Priya S, Lavanya - must admit, not very innovative, as I have just adapted the original recipe

    Ramya, thanks for the entry :)

    Soma, this actually uses chinese olive which i couldn't find - the flavour they impart is quite distinct!

    N, Deesha, Anu S,Pooja N33ma - Thanks!

    Vishali, thank you for visiting - glad you like my blog!

    Varsha, I guess it is only after we grow up that we truly appreciate what we must have put our parents through!!

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  27. I like Olives and this rice sure looks yum yum...gud one

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  28. I think its such a lottery whether you kid turns out to be a fussy eater or not.

    Mine eats mostly everything - veggies, dal, pasta rotis, rice, rasam, curd - BUT she fusses about fruits which are "slimy or slippery". I try to remember that she is not "fussy" otherwise and let it go.

    But it's difficult, as mothers, to think that they might not be eating all that they should.

    I guess eventually they will - we all did :)

    Till then, such manouevring would be the best bet I guess! ;)

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  29. What a delicious idea, this fried rice, and I love the olives in it.

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  30. What a delicious idea, this fried rice, and I love the olives in it.

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  31. Though I love olives, I've never thought about adding them to fried rice. Very tasty idea!

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  33. for authentic thai olive right, you need to use salted black chinese olive, not those pitted black olive.

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