Bolly Good Sauce & Easy Egg-Fried Pilau Rice

You know those kind of Saturday afternoons… not much going on, rainy and horrible outside… you can get a little, well, bored. In my world, boredem is pretty much synonymous with ‘peckish’. As I found myself in this situation last week, I thought a great way to spice-up this otherwise-boring afternoon, is to get a little creative in the kitchen. So here’s what I came up with… Egg Fried Pilau Rice with some super tasty hot-sauce from the wonderful Chilli Drops!

Chilli Drops sauce is just one of the 8 artisan goodies in my Artisan Selection box from Compare Your Artisan. If you’re a foodie like me and you fancy picking up an Artisan Selection box for yourself, visit their website for all the details (you wont be disappointed, as the service is fantastic): compareyourartisan.com.

This meal is a super-easy throw together, a kind of ‘cheats’ recipe if you like. It would be a great accompaniment to almost any Indian curry, or as a meal for one when you’re in a rush and are just looking to use up random items in the fridge. For a veggie option – just skip the ham.

Serves 1 as a whole meal, or 2 as a side dish. Takes about 10 minutes.

what you need:

• a generous dollop of Chilli Drops, ‘Bolly Good’ hot sauce: www.chillidrops.co.uk
• 1 pack of Veetee’s Heat & Eat Pilau Rice: www.veetee.com (available in most super-markets)
• 1 free range egg (any size will do), gently beaten
• 2 handfuls of frozen petits pois or garden peas
• splash of ground-nut oil (or any other flavourless cooking oil)
• splash of light soy sauce
• handful of ham, chopped into small chunks
• half an orange pepper, diced into small cubes
• 1 shallot, diced into small cubes

what to do:

1. heat the oil in a frying pan or wok over a medium heat, add the shallots and stir for about 1 minute.
2. whilst the shallots are cooking, heat the rice in the microwave as per the packet instructions (but for 1 minute only, because we will cook it for the remaining minute later in the wok).
3. add the diced pepper to the shallots, and continue stirring for about another minute.
4. add the half-cooked rice, peas and strips of ham to the wok and give it all a good stir, season well with black pepper and add a dash of soy sauce, keep stirring to ensure everything heats up.
5. after 2 minutes or so, use a wooden spatula to move all of the rice mixture to one side of the wok (this is to make room for the egg).
6. tip the beaten egg into the space in the wok, and allow this to gently cook for a minute or so.
7. as the egg begins to cook, use your spatula to break it up into pieces, then gradually combine it with the rice mixture.
8. add a little extra soy-sauce to taste, and  little more black pepper if needed.
9. serve in a warm bowl and with a generous dollop of Bolly Good chili sauce, to really give it an extra kick. YUMMY!