Best Vegan Chinese Fried Rice
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With as little as 8 ingredients, you can prepare, hands down, the best vegan Chinese fried rice of your life. Discover how now!
One of the dishes that I would ALWAYS order from Chinese restaurants back in my home country was indeed Fried Rice aka Cantonese Rice.
I remember that nailing the perfect balance of it, back in the 90s, was tricky for me. With no internet, nor access to translated Chinese cookbooks.
I had to experiment myself.
This is the recipe that I ended up with, that I adapted first to a vegetarian diet and now to vegan.
It is super simple and calls for just a few ingredients.
Also, It's packed with fresh veggies and (obviously) completely egg-free, meaning you can enjoy all the savoury goodness without worrying about your cholesterol!
Over the years I have tried different vegan egg alternatives, including store bought egg mixtures or homemade ones, like this I showed for my take on a Vegan Pad Thai.
They all work great, however, to date, I found that the alternative that works the absolute best is a fruit that is super popular in the Caribbean cuisine and its name is: Ackee.
Also known with the names of achee, akee, and ackee apple, the pulp of this fruit happens to actually look like scrambled eggs, and even if the taste doesn't really recall scrambled eggs, I assure you that, properly prepped, you'll end up with it!
I had it the first time in a restaurant in Sloane Square, London, and my mind was literally blown away!
Since that day it features in my cupboard, and I cannot see myself using any other vegan egg alternatives.
Alternatively, Ackee can be replaced with any vegan egg mix or scrambled tofu.
How to prepare Ackee
Although it is very hard to buy fresh ackee, it is also a blessing as it can be, if not properly prepped, quite poisonous! Instead we get it canned in both large supermarkets, Caribbean shops or online, easy peasy and safe to use!
To make ackee taste like scrambled eggs (or fried eggs, in this case) all we need to do is to bring to a boil some water and salted with black salt aka Kala Namak.
Next add the ackee pieces previously drained and rinsed under cold water, turn off the heat, pop the lid on and allow to sit in the hot water pot for 5 to 10 minutes.
DO NOT try to stir fry it in oil - been there, tried that - as it will break into tiny little pieces and splash everywhere in your kitchen, due to its large water content.
That being said, are you ready to prepare the best vegan fried rice of your life?
Best Vegan Chinese Fried Rice
Ingredients:
190 g Long Grain White Rice (1 cup, uncooked)
160 g Ackee (1 can, drained)
100 g Carrot (1 large, cubed)
80 g Peas
3 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
½ teaspoon Kala Namak
2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
White Pepper to taste
Method:
1. Cook the rice according to package directions. This recipe works even better with leftover rice, so if you can, cook it the day before.
2. Drain Ackee, rinse well. Bring around 300 ml water to a boil (1.5 cups), add ½ teaspoon black salt. Add drained ackee, cover with lid, boil for 1 minute, then turn the heat off and rest for 5 mins. Drain again and set aside.
3. Add the vegetable oil to the pan stir fry the carrots for about 2 minutes, or until slightly soft. Add the peas and stir-fry for an additional minute.
4. Add rice. Stir-fry to warm everything through.
5. Season with white pepper and soy sauce, then stir in the drained ackee.
6. Stir fry for the last 3 minutes. Do not stir the rice for the first minute and half to allow it to go crispy and caramelized.
7. Serve straight away.
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