Name: Numbing Pepper Rice
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 2 tbsp chilli sauce; 3 garlic cloves, peeled; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 3 spring onions/scallions, finely sliced, greens and whites kept separate; 100 g/3½ oz green beans, finely chopped; 100 g/3½ oz baby corn, roughly chopped; 1 red chilli, stalk removed; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped; 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, crushed to a powder (optional); 5 tbsp tomato ketchup; 1 tbsp white wine vinegar; 2.5 cm/1 in piece of fresh ginger, peeled; salt, to taste; 1 kg/2 lb 4 oz pre-cooked basmati rice (those store-bought pouches are ideal); ½ tsp sugar; 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Meat Free Mowgli

By Nisha Katona

Published 2022

About

Szechuan-style cooking is famous in India. Also known as Indo-Chinese cuisine, it is very popular, particularly in Kolkata, where it began with the combining of both cuisines after Chinese migration to the city. Sichuan peppercorns will give this fried rice dish an authentic flavour and that classic numbing/tingly effect on your palate, but you can leave them out if you can’t find them. This makes a perfect supper or lunch dish on its own.