Minty Fried Rice

Today I had a lot of veggies in my refrigerator. Was in a mood to eat fried rice. Had a few chicken pieces and shrimps also. I was fully determined to prepare mixed fired rice. Then there was a bunch of mint leaves and coriander leaves which made me drift from Fried Rice to Biriyani for a moment. But I was determined to prepare the former. Hence tried it with a twist. The tangy taste of mint and coriander gave a new dimension to this dish.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 2 cups
Chopped veggies (carrot, beans, capsicum, onions) - 1 cup
Shrimps - 15-20, deshelled, deveined and cleaned (optional)
Shredded chicken pieces - 15-20 (optional)
Eggs - 2 (optional for vegetarians, but I don't like my fried rice w/o eggs)
Mint leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp
Maggi Cube - 1
Pepper powder - to tase
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
vinegar - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice in sufficient water for 30 mins.
2. Boil 4 cups water in a vessel. Add soaked rice, salt, few drops of oil and vinegar. Let it cook. Keep checking to make sure the rice doesn't get fully cooked. Remove from flame when the rice 'almost' cooked. Drain the water away. Spread rice on a flat surface. Do not cover it. Keep aside.
3. In a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil. Add eggs, salt. Scramble the eggs and keep aside.
4. In the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil, fry chicken pieces and shrimp with some salt. Remove and keep aside till the rice cools down.
5. In the same pan take rest of the oil, add all the veggies.
6. Once the veggies are sauted, add soya sauce, shrimp, chicken, scrambled eggs, chopped mint and coriander leaves and rice. Sprinkle maggi cube powder. Mix well.
7. Check salt at this stage. If less, add a bit more of soya sauce or maggi cube (both are salty and mix well with rice instead of raw salt) and mix.