Veggie Fried Rice

I love veggie fried rice. I love getting it at restaurants and eating the leftovers the next day after they soak in all the flavors and I love how versatile of a dish it is. I decided to try and recreate my favorite Ichibiri fried rice one night when Michael and I were almost out of groceries and it has become a regular in our dinner circuit since then.

This veggie fried rice is one of my favorite dinners to throw together when I don’t know what to make and I am running low on groceries. Vegetables are usually the last thing to get used up from my weekly grocery haul and protein is the first, so even though this is a great dish to make with chicken or shrimp or whatever you like, I like to load it with veggies and have a meatless dinner.  Rice is a pantry staple in my and Michael’s apartment and it is such a good thing to keep on hand to add more bulk to any meal. in this case, it is the base of the meal.

This veggie fried rice is great because it turns out a little different every time depending on what vegetables I have in the fridge, but one thing I always add is cornt! The corn gives the fried rice such a good texture and bite to the dish and it’s not something you find in your typical fried rice. I will list some of my favorite additions below for ingredients but as long as you have at least 3 veggies (and an egg or two) in your fridge you can totally whip this together.

We usually make a lot to have as a side over the next couple of days and when we make too many veggies, we keep them in a dish to use another time. You can even freeze the excess veggies once they are cooked in the seasoning and defrost them to have as an easy dinner side. We did this last round we made the fried rice and had the vegetables with chicken the next night.

Ingredients:

• White (or brown) Rice … 2 cups
• Eggs … 1-3 depending on how much you want
• Zucchini … 2
• Corn … 2 ears
• Green Onion … 1 bunch
• White Onion … 1 medium
• Celery … 4 stalks
• Carrot … ½ cup shredded or 2 sticks
• Fresno Chile … 1 diced
• Water Chestnuts … 1 can drained
• Coconut Oil … 2 tbsp
• Sriracha … ¼ cup
• Soy Sauce … ¼ cup
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Other Veggies to add:

• Yellow Squash
• Mushrooms
• Bell Peppers
• Peas
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower

To Make:

1. Start by cooking rice in a rice cooker, or on stovetop, according to package instructions.
2. Dice onion and finely mince the chile.
3. In a large pan or wok, heat coconut oil.
4. Saute diced onion and chile in the coconut oil until soft and add soy sauce.
5. Cut vegetables into similar size so they cook at the same rate.
6. Add diced vegetables to the pan and stir.
7. Add soy sauce and sriracha to taste.
8. Once vegetables are almost cooked through, add eggs to the pan and mix quickly to cook the eggs evenly and spread them into the veggie mixture.
9. Strain and rinse water chestnuts and add to pan.
10. Add chopped green onion to veggies.
11. Add cooked rice and combine thoroughly with the veggies and eggs.
12. Add more soy sauce and sriracha to taste.  
13. Serve with more green onion on top and enjoy!

If you want this dish to be vegan, do not use the eggs. Or, if you want to add protein besides the eggs, I recommend chicken or shrimp. You can also stir in butter for a more salty and creamy taste but I love how the coconut oil gives it a nice flavor.

Enjoy!