Foolproof British-Indian-Restaurant-style onion fried rice, that can be ready in 15 minutes, while your favourite curry is simmering away on the hob.
Really step-up curry night with this delicious fried rice side dish!
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Chicken Madras is our favourite curry and we often just serve it with plain boiled rice, but if we want something extra special, this is where this onion fried rice comes in.
So long as you have some boiled rice already cooked (we always keep some stashed in the freezer), it can be made really quickly - while your curry is simmering away.
📋 What do we need?
A full list of ingredients including the quantities is available in the recipe card at the end of the post.
You can swap out the ghee for sunflower oil if you haven't got any in but I find the ghee adds to the overall flavour of the onion fried rice.
Unlike Chinese-style Egg Fried Rice we're going to be using basmati rice rather than long-grain white rice. Basmati rice is more traditional in Indian cooking, and I find it to be more flavourful.
👩🍳PRO TIP You HAVE to use cooked and cooled rice when making any fried rice dish. The rice will dry a little as it cools, and this helps stop the fried rice from going sticky and claggy when frying. It also helps the rice to absorb more flavour when frying it up.
🧑🍳 How to make onion fried rice
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- First of all, we're going to slowly fry the onions in a little ghee until they start to go soft.
- Add in the cooked and cooled basmati rice and stir continuously until its heated through
- Next in goes the egg and the seasoning (salt, garlic salt and white pepper), plus a good sprinkling of Nigella seeds.
- Stir it all together, then serve topped with a sprinkling of fresh coriander (cilantro) alongside your favourite curry.
🍽️ What to serve it with
This onion fried rice goes perfectly with any curry. Here are some of our personal favourites:
This is another one from Chris's repertoire. He first made this for a New Years eve banquet we did along with some Homemade Onion Bhaji, Chicken Tikka Masala, Garlic Naan and Chicken Pakora. I've been mithering him to make it for the blog ever since!!
🍚 More fantastic Indian sides
We LOVE cooking curries and the sides to go with them. Along with this Indian-style fried rice, here are some of our other favourites:
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🗂 Onion Fried Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ghee - (use other oil if you can't get hold of ghee)
- 2 medium onions - finely diced
- 600 g (3 cups) cooked and cooled basmati rice - (Not the easy cook type)
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp nigella seeds
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce
To Serve:
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) - optional
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the ghee in a wok over a medium heat.
- Add the diced onion and cook for 4-6 minutes, stirring often until the onion softens.
- Add the boiled rice and stir until the rice has heated through.
- Add the salt, garlic salt, white pepper and stir.
- Move the rice to one side of the wok and add the egg and soy sauce, stir quickly and often until the egg turns to cooked scrambled egg.
- Stir in the nigella seeds and heat through for a final minute.
- Serve topped with fresh coriander (cilantro).
✎ Notes
- Refrigerate it as quickly as possible
- Don't store for more than 24 hours in the fridge, and
- Thoroughly reheat it.
- Freeze it as quickly as possible
- Defrost in the refrigerator overnight (and don't store for more than 24 hours)
- Thoroughly reheat it, as per the make-ahead instructions above.
Nutrition
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Mariela says
Very easy
Gwyn Jenkins says
After frying the onions add a little soy sauce and fry for 1 min. Then the rice. Cook egg in micro. on plate for 30 secs and mash with fork. Then stir into rice. Season well. Toasted sesame oil can be added now as a condiment. Always stir over gently with a spatula if you can’t toss in a wok. ( be careful not to overcook the rice, rinse in cold water and leave to cool for at least 1 hr)
Steve says
Made this last night to go with butter chicken, a delicious alternative to my usual plain rice, will definitely be making this again.