Fried Rice with Fermented Tofu
Fried rice is one of those dishes that I think everyone should know how to make. It is delicious and versatile. A great way to use up leftovers and random things you may have in your pantry. The key is not to overload the flavors. Here’s a simple, fast, and cheap recipe for a delicious vegan fried rice to get you started.
A delicious fried rice packed with vegetable and umami flavor.
A few quick tips on the ingredients listed:
Day-old rice is key to making any fried rice. It just means rather than freshly cooked rice, you use rice that you cooked earlier and allowed to cool completely, preferably in the fridge. This is highly recommended because freshly cooked rice could have a lot of moisture and when you add more heat to it with stir-frying, the moisture could turn the rice into porridge.
Fermented Tofu is the highlight of this dish. It’s sometimes nicknamed, Chinese Cheese. It may not look very appealing but I urge you to give it a try. Especially if you are into vegan cheese because the Chinese has perfected this for thousands of years. Warning: it is addictively delicious! If you don’t have it, you could substitute with Japanese Miso. Learn more about this ingredient on my post: Fermented Tofu.
Fermented Tofu provides a unique and subtle umami flavor to this dish.
This recipe calls for Chinese Light Soy Sauce. If the bottle is unspecified, it is usually light soy. Otherwise, it will say dark. You could use tamari if you are sensitive to gluten.
Szechuan Preserved Vegetable adds a spicy and savory crunch to the fried rice that is entirely optional. This is a delicious topping for congee and steamed tofu too. If you don’t have it, just skip it.
Szechuan Preserved Vegetable is made out of mustard stems and adds a nice savory crunch to the dish.
If you don’t have Chinese Rice Wine, I find gin to be a great substitute. Otherwise, you could skip it too.
Vegan Fried Rice with Fermented Tofu
(Same recipe but in text)
Prep to Serve: 20 min
Cleanup: easy
Vegan
Freezes well
Serves 2-3
Must have ingredients:
Day-old Cooked Rice, 2 cups
Frozen Vegetable Medley, 1 cup
Fresh Ginger Root, 1 inch
Fermented Tofu, 2 tsp
Sugar, 2 tsp
Light Soy Sauce, 1 tsp
Water, 2 tsp
Salt, a pinch
Good to have ingredients:
Szechuan Preserved Vegetable, 1/4 cup (for texture & flavor)
Sugar, 1 tsp
Sesame Oil, a dash (for nutty flavor)
Rice Wine, 1 TBSP (for fragrance)
Steps:
Rinse frozen vegetable medley (carrot, corn, peas) under cold tap water to remove ice. Drain well and set aside.
Wash and smash ginger root with flat side of the knife to release juice. Set aside. Rinse and chop preserved vegetable. Mix with 1 tsp of sugar. Set aside.
TIP: No need to peel ginger for this dish
Make sauce by mixing tofu, sugar (2 tsp), soy, water, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large wok or pan, heat ~4 TBSP of cooking oil on medium-high heat. Stir fry ginger, vegetable medley, rice wine, with a pinch of salt for ~1 min.
TIP: Be careful of oil splashes if vegetable is too wet
Add rice and preserved vegetable. Stir fry for ~2 min or until rice is broken up and heated through.
Add sauce and quickly stir fry to mix well, about 1 min. Serve hot.
It's okay
To use fresh carrot, corn, and peas but make sure they are chopped in small cubes and steam-cook (with a dash of water and covered) for a few minutes in Step 4.
To add other ingredients like chopped pineapple, dried tofu, or peanuts according to taste.
To replace soy sauce with tamari to make this gluten-free.
It's not okay
To use freshly cooked rice for fried rice because it could turn mushy.
To not have everything ready (mise en place) before Step 4 because you need to move quickly with stir-fry.
Hope you find this recipe helpful and would give it a try at home. If you would like to support Dash of Soy, send a gift below, or use Venmo. 100% of your contribution goes into recipe curation, testing, and artwork that makes Dash of Soy a special place. Thank you!
