Vegetarian Fried Rice

 

Tara is trying out a new diet.  She is also vegetarian, so we decided to make fried rice that was heavy on the vegetables.  We didn't really follow a recipe.  We just made it up as we went along and it turned out tasty.  And pretty low in fat.  Isn't it nice when those two go together?

Vegetarian Fried Rice

3 cups cooked and chilled rice, white or brown, your choice
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced vegetable slaw
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/2 can sliced water chestnuts, chopped smaller
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 beaten eggs
salt and pepper

lite soy sauce
sesame oil
rice vinegar

It is important to plan ahead for this meal.  Freshly made rice is too warm and will turn gluey when you try to fry it up.  I set up the rice cooker in the morning and took out the finished rice and set it in the  refrigerator.  It was just right when we started to cook dinner.  You could also do it the night before and have it ready to fix the next day's meal.

We had a bag of broccoli slaw, so I chopped up a handful of that.  You don't want any vegetable that is too big.  Basically you can cut up any vegetable that you have on hand and that you like.  I always like water chestnuts for the crunch.

Melt the butter in a large fry pan.  If the pan is too small you will be spilling rice all over the stove.  Use the biggest one you have.

 

Saute the yellow onions until they start to become translucent.   Then add the beaten eggs.  You can leave them out if you want to have a vegan meal, but they do add some nice and easy protein.  You want to scramble them and then chop them into small pieces, about the same size as the vegetables.

 

Add all the rest of the vegetables and continue to stir them until they are all slightly cooked.  You don't want them mushy and this doesn't take long, maybe five minutes.

 

Add the cooked and chilled rice.  You may need to add a bit of oil at this point, but I didn't need to.   It helps if the pan is non-stick. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the top and keep stirring. When everything is heated through you need to add the flavoring part.

 

I didn't measure.  First pour a few Tablespoons of soy sauce over the rice and stir it in.  This is salty and you don't want too much.  It will give the rice a nice brown color.  Then add a small amount of sesame oil.  This adds great flavor, but a little goes a long way.  Start with a 1/2 teaspoon.  You may want to add up to 1 teaspoon.  Then stir in a Tablespoon of rice vinegar.

 

At this point, get a clean spoon and taste the concoction.  Don't be gross and eat off the stirring spoon.  Pretend you are cooking for people you like and don't want to spit in their food.  You can adjust the amount of the flavorings.  Just remember that it is too late to make more rice if you over do it.  Taste again...you have a lot of clean spoons in the drawer and they are not hard to wash.

We served this with some cantaloupe and strawberries.  A dollop of Cool Whip makes it feel decadent!