10 April 2016

4.11 Vegan Fried Rice – Low-Fuss – Rice & Pasta



Don’t be scared away by the name! I know that vegan food is largely sneered at by most people, but that doesn’t necessarily make it bad food. Whilst I’m far from a vegan myself, I have to acknowledge that there is a group of people out there who want food without any animal products in them, and that’s their choice.

But you know what? I made this dish, I ate this dish, and I darn well enjoyed it!

This recipe is based on a request from a crazy girl named Ling Ling. Well, she’s not so much a crazy girl as in she’s a crazy alter ego of a reasonably sane girl (it depends who you ask) named Damielou. If you’veread my previous blog posts, you’ll know that Damie is a vlogger. Ling Ling is a party girl who speaks her mind (which appears to function in gibberish) and goes for what she wants (which for the most part appears to be money and alcohol). Either way, she has fun!

This dish is great for a girl on the go as it only takes around 10 minutes from start to finish. It’s fine as a meal all on its own, or you can use it as a side dish with a stirfry.

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups cooked rice
2 spring onions, sliced
200g shitake mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup peas
¼ cup corn kernels
¼ cup coriander, roughly chopped
⅓ cup bean sprouts
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp vegan stirfry sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp cooking oil

Okay, so this looks like a lot of ingredients, but that’s because I’ve tried to make this dish interesting by adding lots of different flavours and textures.

The cooked rice should be either boiled or steamed (preferably be Jasmine rice, although regular long grain rice will suffice). As bacteria can form on rice very quickly, it’s best that you use rice that was cooked less than 36 hours before you make this recipe (or 24 just to be safe). It’s recommended that the rice be cold, however.

The peas and corn I used were frozen vegetables that I just thawed out in some warm water and then drained. You could probably also use tinned peas or corn that you’ve drained and rinsed.

The vegan stirfry sauce was a premade bottled product, but – if you prefer – from a bit of messing around I’ve come up with a sauce you can make yourself using 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp cornflour/cornstarch. Or, if you aren’t restricting yourself to a vegan diet, you could just use some oyster sauce and it should taste fine.

By cooking oil, I would suggest either vegetable oil, rice bran oil, or peanut oil. Olive oil would be a bit overpowering in a recipe like this.

Method:

1. Heat the cooking oil in a pan over medium-high heat, then add the sliced spring onions and fry for a minute or so, stirring frequently, until slightly softened.

2. Add the minced ginger and garlic and stirfry for a further 30-60 seconds.


3. Add in the mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft.

4. Add the peas, corn, and beansprouts and stirfry for a further 30-60 seconds.


5. Add the rice and stir until any clumps have broken up into the individual grains, then continue to stirfry for a further 1-2 minutes.

6. Stir in the sauce (whichever type you end up using) and cook off for another minute.


7. Remove from the heat and stir through the sesame oil and coriander, then serve! (TIP: You can scatter over some toasted cashews or peanuts for an extra hint of texture and flavour.)

Serves 2-4 (depending on whether it’s a main or a side.

A video of this recipe is also available at - https://youtu.be/1z257gCW6OU.

If you have a recipe to request, it's not too late! Please send me an email and I'll see what I can do.

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