Indo-Chinese

I love Chinese food, served in Chinese Restaurants in places like Bangalore, Bombay and Calcutta. 'Chicken Hot and Soup' followed by Chicken fried rice / Chicken Haka Noodles and a Chicken / Goby Manchrian is one of my all time favourite. Food at 'The Mandarin', 'Rice Bowl' and at 'The Continental' were exceptional. A mobile shack near the Oberoi Hotel used to serve deadly 'Manchow Soup'. Frankly, I never liked the authentic Chinese dishes served in China and in many other countries, except for the 'Peking Duck' that I had in China.

The main differece between authentic chinese food and the Indian version was the type of sauces and type of rice used for cooking. Chinese use slightly sticky, short grain rice so that it is convenient to eat with chopsticks. Most Indo-Chinese restaurants use long Basmati rice that is good for eating with a fork. I like the fried rice made with Basmati rice for the aroma and flavour. Some of the sauses used in authentic chinese dishes are a bit smelly and don't go well with my taste buds.

In resaurants, I used to order for a Fried rice, Haka noodles, and mix it myself. Later on, I found out that a 'Shanghai Rice' is exactly the same ! A pre-mixed version for Fried Rice and Fried Noodles. I tried making this at home from scratch, and it came out almost like the ones you get in restaurants.