MY VERY OWN FRIED RICE PARADISE!

I remember when I was schooling, I dread eating fried rice. Unless it has an extra ZING to it, like fried with tom yam or tomato paste, I would rather eat maggi mee! Sounds like a spoil brat blogging I know but seriously, every other day eating dry fried rice with egg and diced veggies can be very uninspiring okay.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a meeting at Ivy's and did not have anything to eat before that. Ivy then offered me a bowl of what she called Ceylonese fried rice. It was yellow in color and looked like some ordinary briyani rice. The moment I had the spoon of fried rice in my mouth, all the spices and taste just burst and I quickly asked her with my mouth full, "Oh my gosh, this is so tasty! What did you put inside the fried rice? I need the recipe! (ngom ngom ngom)"

That whole yummlicious experience turned into something educational. But before that, allow me to explain that the term Ceylonese were popularly used by the Sri Lankan Tamils to differentiate themselves from the larger Malaysian Indian population who were predominantly of Tamil origin. Thank you wikipedia!

Ivy giggled and said the next round would definitely be different. See, in Ceylonese culture, women do not like to waste food. So whatever leftovers they had, they would eventually dump everything into the wok and fry into a new dish. The one I had the pleasure of tasting had dill, spicy long beans, curry tofu and tandoori chicken fried with gee rice. The burst of flavors finally made sense to me but of course I was disappointed I won't get to taste it again unless one of us purposely buy the same leftovers she had for dinner!

Just last week, we celebrated Mark Teh's farewell party at Ivy's and she catered the most amazing Indian dishes. Of course like any other party, there were leftovers! I was quickly reminded of the tasty fried rice experience and packed these 4 ingredients; fried chicken and onion fritters with spice, spicy brinjal, thick curry fish and fried tofu in spice. Just by itself, these dishes are good on its own.

The next day, never in history I was so excited to cook lunch for the entire family. And this was my salivating version of Ceylonese Fried Rice fried with sesame oil! Who knows what the next fried rice gonna taste like! Now don't you agree this is so much more inspiring? ;D