Chili garlic fried rice with crispy air fried spinach

Simple chili garlic fried rice, so garlicky and spicy paired with crispy air fried sesame spinach!

I can eat fried rice literally EVERYDAY, specially when it is Indo-Chinese style! Chili garlic fried rice is one of the simplest fried rice recipes. Since I like it so much I have to add something healthy and fun to it to make myself feel good about eating it more than normal ;). So I played around with air frying spinach since deep fried spinach is also an Indo-Chinese item and paring it with chili-garlic fried rice makes it a great meal! I did fail at air frying spinach few times but I did not give up and finally got it figured out. I topped the rice and spinach with fried rice which is completely option if you wish to make this dish vegan!

This is definitely a goto meal in my household, since I always keep pre-washed organic baby spinach in my fridge and who does not have leftover white rice just lying around in their fridge?!?!
Happy and Healthy Eating!

Instant Pot Vortex Air Fryer

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Chili garlic fried rice with crispy air fried sesame spinach

Simple chili garlic fried rice, so garlicky and spicy paired with crispy air fried sesame spinach!

Servings 2

Ingredients

Air Fried Spinach

• 3 cup Organic Baby Spinach pre-washed, ready to use as dry as possible
• 3 tbsp Sesame Oil
• 2 tbsp Corn Starch
• ½ tsp Minced Garlic
• ½ tsp Grated Ginger
• 1 tsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds

Chili Garlic Fried Rice

• 1 tsp Chopped Hot Red Chili
• 1 tsp Sliced Garlic
• 2 cup Plain Steamed Rice leftover white rice works the best for this recipe
• 2 tbsp Oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Black Pepper Powder
• 1 tsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Tomato Ketchup

Other Ingredients

• 1 Fried Egg Optional for vegan option

Instructions

Prepare Crispy Spinach

• Pre-washed and ready to use organic baby spinach is the best for making air fried crispy spinach.
• Remove stems from the spinach and cut them in ribbons. DO NOT massage or play around with the cut spinach too much, it seems to leave the moisture out of spinach and that will not help with making it crispy.
  
• Mix 3 cups of spinach ribbons, 2 tbsp of cornstarch and 2 tbsp of sesame oil. If the cornstarch seems to be little less, add 1 more tbsp of cornstarch and mix it.
  
• You might have to air fry the prepared spinach in 2 batches depending on the size of your air fryer. Do not over crowd the air fryer. Air fry the spinach on 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Shaking the spinach every 3 minutes or so. Keep aside air fried spinach.
  
• Do the same again for the rest of the spinach if making in two batches. Keep it aside.
• If you prefer to deep fry prepared spinach, do that and keep the crispy spinach aside.
• Once the spinach is air fried, heat up 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a wide shallow pan. Saute ½ tsp of grated ginger and ½ tsp of minced garlic on low to medium heat.
  
• Once the raw smell of garlic disappears, add 1 tsp of soy sauce, mix it well.
  
• Add in crispy spinach and 1 tsp of sesame seeds. Mix it/toss it very carefully making sure you do no break the spinach.
  
• Keep it off the heat and keep it aside while you prepare the rice.

Prepare Chili Garlic Rice

• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add sliced garlic and chopped hot red chilis and saute for a minute or so, or until the raw smell of garlic disappears, making sure it does not burn.
  
• Add steamed rice to it (best if using leftover rice), add salt, pepper, soy sauce and mix it well.
  
• Add tomato ketchup and mix it well.
  

Assembly

• Place chili garlic fried rice and crispy spinach in a bowl. Top it with fried egg (egg is optional). Sprinkle everything with black and/or white sesame seeds and serve it while rice and egg are hot/warm!