Ingredients
- ½ quantity of steamed white rice
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- 1¾ oz/2/3 cup (50 g) coconut flakes, or unsweetened desiccated (shredded) coconut
- 3½oz/¾ cup (100 g) cashew nuts (or any other nut of your choice)
- 1 hot red chilli, thinly sliced (do not remove the seeds)
- few fresh curry leaves
- 1 tbsp hot Japanese curry, very finely chopped
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
How to Make It
- Cook the white rice.
- Preheat the oven to 120°C/240°F/gas mark ¼–½. Line a baking tray (sheet) with baking (parchment) paper and spread the rice out on it. Bake (dehydrate) in the oven for 2 hours, turning the rice over halfway through. If you have a dehydrator, dehydrate the rice overnight. The rice should be dry at the end of either method, if not, leave it for a little longer, checking every 15 minutes or so. Do not over dry the rice, it should be completely white and not coloured. Remove from the oven and let it cool down completely for about an hour. If the rice is in clusters, break these up with your hand.
- In a medium-sized pan, heat enough sunflower oil for deep-frying to around 220°C 428°F), but do not fill the pan more than a third full. Add around a quarter of the dehydrated rice to the pan, fry for 10-20 seconds until it puffs up and comes to the surface, then quickly remove with a slotted spoon and place in a metal sieve (strainer) over a bowl. Repeat until all the rice is fried. Let the popped rice drain for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients. Using a non-stick frying pan (skillet), dry-fry the coconut flakes for a few minutes stirring constantly until lightly toasted and coloured, then remove from the pan and set aside. Add the cashew nuts to the pan and dry-fry them until lightly browned, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of the hot sunflower oil to the frying pan (skillet), and, on a medium heat, fry the red chilli and curry leaves for 10 seconds. Add the toasted coconut flakes, cashew nuts, popped rice and Japanese curry and stir vigorously until well combined. Finally season with salt and black pepper.
- Serve immediately or it will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
