Vegan Fried Rice

Before this quarantine business, I used to order Thai food 3+ times a week (not even kidding).

With leftover rice taking up permanent residence in my fridge, I had everything to make fried rice in my kitchen already, but of course, I kept wasting money ordering it in my next takeout.

Don’t pull a me. Make this fried rice.

Fried Rice

• *4 cups cooked jasmine rice, 1+ days old

• 1 carrot, chopped

• 1 cup peas

• *1 cup onion, chopped

• 1 crown broccoli, cut into florets

• 1 large handful brown mushrooms, sliced

• *1 batch crispy tofu, optional

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil

• 2 teaspoons lime juice

• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

• 1/2 cup soy sauce

• 2 teaspoons pepper

Process

1. Heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan over high heat.

2. When the oil is hot, add the carrots and onion. Cook for 5 minutes, until the veggies have softened and have a nice brown on them.

3. *Add the garlic, peas and mushrooms. Allow to cook for 2 minutes, or until all the moisture from the mushrooms cooks off.

4. Add the old rice to the frying pan and break it apart.

5. Pour the soy sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice into the pan. Stir and mix the liquids thoroughly into the rice and veggies. The rice should be a light-brown color from the soy sauce.

6. *Add more sesame oil, if needed.

7. Cook for 5-10 minutes on a high heat. The rice should start to brown a little and you should hear the oil sizzling in the pan.

8. *Add the tofu, broccoli and pepper and mix in. Cook until the broccoli is bright green and still sturdy.

Notes

• Old rice - The older, the better. Freshly cooked rice is moist and soft, and you want to use rice that is dry and stiff. It helps the oil and flavor soak in. My leftover rice usually ranged anywhere from 2 to 5 days old. Now, if I know I want to make fried rice in a week, I’ll cook some rice whenever I remember to, leave it in my fridge, and then promptly forget about it until I’m starving a on a later night.

• Onion - You can use any kind of onion for this - red, sweet, white, green, I’ve even made shallot-fried rice before and it was bomb!

• Tofu optional - Though I’m definitely not into eating meat, I make recipes that are open to everyone. So if you want meat or you’re just not a fan of tofu, go for whatever protein is calling you.

• Cooking mushrooms - Mushrooms are packed with water, and they release it as they start to cook. You want to cook them until the moisture has cooked off, but mushrooms are finicky little buggers and can go from delightful to rubbery quickly. I’ll be honest that I still kind of wing it when I cook mushrooms, so this part of the process is just what I did. If you’re a shroom pro and know better, do it (and comment below to share the knowledge!).

• Adding more oil - Depending on how old your rice is, you may need to add more oil than I recommended above. Don’t skimp on the oil here. This is not a healthy recipe and it is not trying to be, so lay it on.

• Adding broccoli last - Like shrooms, broccoli is fantastic when cooked well and terrible when overcooked - limp, sickly green and foot-y tasting. I add broccoli last to dishes because while everything will survive cooking a little longer, broccoli has a quick turning point. As soon as it’s at the right color/texture, I take the whole pan off the heat to spare the broccoli from withering.

I still intend to get Thai takeout at least once a week when society reopens, but at least I don’t have to pay other people to make fried rice anymore!