This year I have discovered many things…but, when it comes to cooking, I’ve found that I can cook more than pasta. Asian food at home isn’t too hard, and fried rice has been a fun new dish that I’ve added to my repertoire. For me, there are a lot of similarities with this dish and a pasta meal: carb base, veggies, protein and stock seasonings that always seem to work.
After spending almost a week in the Midwest over Thanksgiving, I had my fill of green beans, potatoes, rolls, more potatoes and some fantastic mac and cheese. I knew that for my recipe this week I wanted to shake my palette up. After only a short time browsing the posts of my favorite food blogs, I came across this recipe from Playing House for Veggie Fried Rice. I was shocked, not by the recipe, but that I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I loved making my crab fried rice, but finding lump crab meat can be challenging (especially the price!). So, adding more veggies and tofu instead of crab seemed like the perfect low, low budget version.
When I actually prepared the meal, I didn’t even reference a recipe. But, I did use Amy’s blog to help find the right ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup uncooked white rice (yields about 3 cups prepared)
- 1 package firm tofu, drained, towel dry, diced in cubes
- Vegetable oil
- Sesame oil
- Soy sauce
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 2 tbs chopped pickled ginger
- 1 package mixed frozen veggies (corn, carrots, peas, etc.)
- 1 red bell pepper
- green onions (both green and white parts)
Directions:
- Cook the rice according to the directions on the box, and set aside to cool. Also, prepare the frozen veggies according to the directions on the bag.
- Warm 2-3 tbs. vegetable oil and 1tbs. sesame oil in a large saucepan. Once heated, add in half of the tofu to fry. Sprinkle soy sauce on tofu to flavor and be sure to fry each side. Once done, place cooked tofu on a paper towel. Repeat for the other half.
- Add another 2-3tbs. of vegetable oil to the same pan and warm with the garlic and ginger. Add the rice and soy sauce and fry for 3-4 minutes.
- Incorporate the cooked veggies and diced red bell pepper, adding soy sauce as needed. Then add the fried tofu to heat up the entire dish. Right before serving, top with green onions.












