Vegetable fried rice - this easy vegan fried rice is a great quick meal or side dish. It's simple to make, loaded with vegetables and full of flavour.
You can swap the vegetables to suit you, and add tofu or vegan chicken for an all in one meal.
This vegetable fried rice is a super quick and simple dish that tastes great and is easy to make.
It is brilliant as a side dish, but it can also easily be adapted to a main course by adding some protein in the form of tofu or vegan chicken pieces.
It is full of flavour thanks to the addition of soy sauce, sesame oil, shaoxing wine and the king of flavour; MSG.
A Word About MSG:
MSG (monosodium glutamate) has a bit of an undeserved controversial reputation, in the west at least. The thing is, you likely eat it all the time without realising.
Glutamate is found naturally in many foods, such as seaweed, tomatoes, mushrooms, soy beans and even human breast milk. It is also added to a huge portion of prepared foods, under the guise of several different names. Our bodies even produce it naturally, at the rate of about 40 grams a day.
To produce MSG, the glutamate chemical is mixed with salt and water, to produce a white crystal that is soluble and easy to store. It looks very much like table salt.
The glutamate found in artificially produced MSG is chemically identical to naturally occuring glutamate, and our bodies process it in the same way; so there is really no reason to avoid eating it (As I said, you are likely already consuming it regularly without realising).
MSG is used as a flavour enhancer as it has an umami, or savoury flavour. On it's own it doesn't taste great, but when added to other foods it helps to really bring out the flavours and adds a delicious, savoury note.
I don't cook with it all that often, but I do love to add it to things like this vegetable fried rice, where I think it vastly improves the flavour.
You can find it in Chinese supermarkets or online.
How To Make Vegetable Fried Rice:
This vegetable fried rice is very quick. To start, mix together your seasoning ingredients - soy sauce, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, msg, white pepper and salt.
Next fry diced onion in a wok on medium heat for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat up to high and add the rest of the diced vegetables and the garlic.
Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often, then add the cooked rice and cook for another couple of minutes.
Add the seasoning, cook for a minute then stir in the spring onions and serve.
Top Tips:
For the best results you need to use cold (cooked) rice, not hot rice. I either cook the rice the day beforehand or in the morning, allow it to cool slightly then fridge it until needed. (Get it in the fridge as soon as possible to avoid bacteria growing).
That's not to say that you can't cook the rice and use it right away, but it may end up with a more mushy texture. Old rice is drier so doesn't clump together as much, giving you perfectly fried grains.
Make sure that you have everything ready to go - all your vegetables chopped, seasonings to hand etc. before you start frying. This vegetable fried rice cooks very quickly and you don't want to end up burning it because you are trying to prepare things as you go.
You can vary the vegetables to suit you, or what you have in the fridge. Pretty much anything goes, as long as it can be fried.
If you used precooked and chilled rice to make this vegetable fried rice then I don't recommend storing and reheating any leftovers. The more times that rice is reheated and chilled, the more likely that bacteria will grow and cause food poisoning.
If however, you cooked the rice and fried it right away, then any leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days. Reheat thoroughly to serve.
Add Some Tofu:
If you want to make a vegan egg fried rice, you can cook some scrambled tofu separately before you fry your rice, then add it in at the end of cooking. (Tofoo make a pre-scrambled tofu now if you are feeling lazy).
Alternatively, you can fry or bake cubes of tofu and stir them through once the fried rice is cooked.
It would also work really well with vegan chicken style pieces, cooked separately then stirred through.
Or you could mix the tofu/chick'n with my chip shop style vegan Chinese curry sauce and have this vegetable fried rice on the side.
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Vegetable Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 300 g (1 ½ cups) uncooked white rice (long grain or basmati)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp MSG
- ¼ tsp salt
- a good pinch white pepper
- 2 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
- 1 onion peeled and finely chopped
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 red bell pepper deseeded and diced
- 160 g (5 ½ oz) sugarsnap peas sliced
- 130 g (1 cup) frozen peas
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
- 3 spring onions (scallions) thinly sliced
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet. Ideally you should do this in advance, allow the rice to cool slightly and then refrigerate it in until needed. You can use it right away if you are short on time or will want to store any leftover fried rice however.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, MSG, salt and white pepper.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes.
- Turn the heat up to high and add the carrot, pepper, sugarsnaps, peas and garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until the vegetables are just tender.
- Add the cooked rice. If you are using cold rice then break it up with your hands before adding it to the wok.
- Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the soy sauce mixture and stir well to coat the rice. Cook for another minute then stir in the spring onions, taste and add more soy sauce/salt/pepper/MSG as needed and serve right away.
Notes
- For the best textured fried rice you need to use cold (cooked) rice, not hot rice. I either cook the rice the day beforehand or in the morning, allow it to cool slightly then fridge it until needed (get it in the fridge as soon as possible to avoid bacteria growing). That's not to say that you can't cook the rice and use it right away, but it may end up with a more mushy texture. Old rice is drier so doesn't clump together as much, giving you perfectly fried grains.
- If you used precooked and chilled rice to make this vegetable fried rice then I don't recommend storing and reheating any leftovers. The more times that rice is reheated and chilled, the more likely that bacteria will grow and cause food poisoning.
- If however, you cooked the rice and fried it right away, then any leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days. Reheat thoroughly to serve.
- Make sure that you have everything ready to go - all your vegetables chopped, seasonings to hand etc. before you start frying. This vegetable fried rice cooks very quickly and you don't want to end up burning it because you are trying to prepare things as you go.
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