Chilli Garlic Lobster with Egg Fried Rice

This dish is inspired from eating all the Indo Chinese food back in the day.  Growing up in India, I would wait for every opportunity to eat Chinese!!  Going to restaurants was a like a treat, almost like an event.   I remember putting on "what I thought were" the cutest outfits (hoping some producer/director may spot me - they prolly did spot me and ran away seeing my hideous outfits), waiting eagerly for my Baba to come pick us up.  Gosh! Have I always been such a foodie?! I would hear his Maruti 800 honking its way to our apartment building while I was practically hanging out of the balcony from the 4th floor.  The next 3 hours were possibly the best memories of my life - ordering the most amazing food, splitting the soup 1 by 2 (LOL), being confused over Wonton and Lung Fung soup and Chilli Chicken and Chicken Chilli, playing the "Who can guess the 'bill'?" game, finishing off with "Icecream with Lychee" or my infamous Orange candy, and finally rushing in the car to be the first one to say "Baba Thank-you!".  Without him, my Ushama, and my darling cousins Kaustubh and Samu-tai - I would probably not have had the kind of childhood I did! And oh not have had as much of the yummy Chinese food either which I can actually make now!!

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped Lobster

3/4 cup red onions, chopped lengthwise

Vegetable oil

Few drops of sesame oil

2 small cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

2 small green chillies, cut lengthwise

Few drops of fish oil

Dash of black pepper

Sauce:

1 tbsp ketchup

1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp vinegar

Start by cleaning, cutting, and pat drying the lobster.  Season with salt and black pepper.  Make the sauce first by mixing all the sauce ingredients.  Make sure you whisk the sauce well so all the ingredients are incorporated together.  Now heat vegetable oil in a wok.  Add a few drops of sesame oil.  Add the garlic, ginger, and green chillies and sautee for about 1 minute.  Now add the onions and give it a stir.  Keep the flame on high and add a pinch of sugar so the onions carmelize.  Add the lobster pieces and turn the flame on low allowing the lobster to cook (about 3 to 4 minutes).  Now turn the flame high again and add the sauce that we made earlier.  You should hear the sauce sizzle. Give it a stir for about half a minute and then add a few tablespoons of water (so you get some sauce).  Add a few drops of fish sauce (optional).  Sautee the contents of the wok so that the sauce coats the lobster.  Chilli Garlic Lobster is ready!!!

Egg Fried Rice

Nothing fancy! Just a plain basic fried rice. I thought since the Lobster dish had the sauce, seasoning the rice too much would confuse the palate. 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup white rice
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup onions, cut lengthwise
Sesame oil
Vegetable oil
Dash of black pepper
Dash of garlic powder
1/4 tsp each vinegar and soy sauce

I cooked the rice first in a microwave by adding 2x the amount of water and also drizzling some olive oil in it.  The key to making fried rice is consistency, consistency, and oh yah consistency of the rice!!!! So start by cooking the rice at 10 minutes first and then keep checking for doneness every 5 minutes. You can add water if necessary but only a little at at time. For the last 5 minutes or so, try cooking the rice covered with a microwave lid. 

Once the rice is ready, use a fork and fluff all the steam out. I even pour my rice out at times on a flat dish so it stops cooking in its steam.  Drizzle some oil, sprinkle some salt, and black pepper and toss the rice gently with a fork. 

Now lets stir fry it!! In the same pan (after you take the lobster out that is) heat some vegetable oil.  Add a few drops of sesame oil.  Add the onions and sautee them for about 3 minutes. Keep the flame on high.  Now add the rice and sautee for a minute. Add the vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic powder.  Sautee for another minute. Move the rice to one side of the wok.  Add some oil to the empty side and when hot add the beaten egg (season it with salt and pepper if you wish).  Let it set and then flip it so that you get an omlette.  Now break the omlette into small pieces and mix it with the rice.  Sautee for another minute or two.

Adjust the seasonings as per your taste.

Note: Alternatively, you can take the rice out of the wok, work on the egg omlette pieces and then add the rice back to the wok.

Enjoy!!