My favorite meal genre is Big Bowl of Carbs. Of all the options this offers, one I rarely turn to is fried rice. When ordering Chinese I always get a tofu entree and then also sesame noodles and then also vegetable dumplings. My order is as predictable as Miranda’s from Sex and the City, and as a result I never eat fried rice. For whatever reason, it called out to me last week. While I can’t replicate the stuff you get delivered, I figured I would give it my best shot.
A note on peas. Peas are just okay. You can fight me on this, but they have to be pretty low on the list of good vegetables. If you’re lucky, they are basically one crunch and then mush. Despite my hesitation, I’ve heard they are imperative for a legitimate fried rice, so they were included in the mix.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups of cooked white rice
- Vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onions
- 1 cup cubed tofu
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
- 3 eggs
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
The internet says to use day old rice, but I don’t have piles of rice just lying around. I cooked my rice and then let it cool on a tray.
I cut the tofu into little cubes. I didn’t end up using all of it and sent the leftovers home with my boyfriend for him to choke down.
This is not the same wok as I used in previous posts. My old roommate left with a wok, and my new roommate came with a wok. The circles of life continue to turn.
After the oil heated in the wok, I added the rice. This was the most time consuming aspect of the dish because I wanted the rice to truly be fried, to its core. I added more oil as I thought necessary, and let the rice cook until it turned a light brown.
Once I was mostly happy with the rice I cleared a spot, added oil, and then the chopped onion.
Next up was the tofu. I didn’t spend a lot of time frying the tofu, I generally only do that when pairing it with something healthy. I figured the oily deliciousness of the rice would make up for the soft tofu.
Next went the frozen vegetables which I cooked until they were defrosted.
My favorite part, the eggs. I ended up adding another after this. Crack them in there and then scramble them up quickly.
Let the eggs cook before integrating them in the rice.
The final touches are the soy sauce and sesame oil. Add them to taste, along with salt and pepper, and you’re done!
Enjoy!
