Cooking & Meal Prep Session 3
Every Day Veg Fried Rice + Express 1-Hour Meal Prep Session With Odd & Edd Ingredients
After a weekend of celebrating our 20th anniversary with long lunches at two fabulous Sydney restaurants, I am back in my kitchen, apron on and cooking with gusto! This week, I am finally sharing one of my most requested recipes - the humble Everyday Veg Fried Rice. Every time I share this on Insta Stories, I get so many requests for the recipe. I have finally shared it with all my tried and tested tips and tricks to achieving Fried Rice perfection .. just like the one at a Chinese Restaurant.
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NEW ON THE BLOG THIS WEEK
EVERYDAY VEG FRIED RICE
This is a really good fried rice! The kind you have at the Chinese restaurant and wonder why yours never tastes like that. Well, this one does! And the secret lies in five very simple things as you will find out soon. So, let me show you how to make a really delicious batch of Everyday Veg Fried Rice in just 18 minutes!
The Secret To Restaurant Style Chinese Veg Fried Rice
Over the years, I have made countless batches of wok-fried rice. My fried rice is usually always vegetarian with an occasional batch that has prawns in it. And so after years of cooking Veg Fried Rice, I am going to share my tips and tricks to achieving that authentic Chinese restaurant-style fried rice. Both in the look and taste.
Use medium or long-grain white rice like jasmine or Basmati.
For this recipe, use day-old cooked rice that is cold and has been refrigerated.
Do not use dark soy sauce. Dark soy sauce (Mushroom-flavoured dark soy sauce or the sweet Kecap Manis both have a very distinct flavour that can be overpowering in a simple fried rice recipe. They also render the fried rice a very dark shade of brown which is the exact opposite of authentic Chinese restaurant-style fried rice which is usually very light and bright. Almost a pale yellow colour.)
Do not use butter or sesame oil to stir-fry your fried rice. You want to use peanut or some vegetable oil. Peanut oil is the best and gives a fantastic result.
And lastly, you will need a large thin carbon-steel/metal wok that can reach super high temperatures. It doesn’t matter if you have an induction cooktop (like I do). The thin metal wok is vital to achieving that beautiful smokey flavour in your fried rice and to ensure perfectly cooked grains of rice.
How To Pack Maximum Flavour In Veg Fried Rice?
Chinese restaurants often use chicken stock or chicken powder along with bacon bits in their standard fried rice recipes that go by the names “Special Fried Rice” or “Yangzhou Fried Rice”. Their seafood fried rice most likely has seafood stock. And if they have a special Vegetarian Fried Rice on the menu, chances are it might have MSG added to it. All of these are flavour enhancers. So how do you go about adding maximum flavour in a Veg Fried Rice without using stock powders, MSG or other flavour enhancers?
Flavouring your stir-frying oil – This involves frying and caramelizing your onion and garlic in the oil.
Cooking your veggies perfectly – The carrots, peas and mushroom only need a minute to cook. The spring onion only needs a few seconds to soften and become sweet.
Creamy eggs – The egg is a great flavour enhancer in a basic Veg Fried Rice recipe. There are two ways to cook the egg. The first is ....
What's In My Market Bag ?
Nothing! Quite Literally. Only stray veggies and bits of bobs left in my basket and fridge from the previous week.
With work and multiple school runs (up to 4 times a day, shared between Nick and me because we are still not letting the boys take public transport, instead driving them to and back from school at different times) and the 20th anniversary celebrations, I didn't do a big shop. And I didn't meal prep in the weekend.
But yesterday (on Monday) after work, I allocated myself ONE HOUR to prepare a few things that would make my life easier. Let me show you what I did.
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EXPRESS MEAL PREP SESSION
I have big fat book of hand-scribbled recipes that gets thicker every time I add a new one or keep rifling through the old ones to cook on a regular basis. In this treasure trove, I have a special section of ideas and recipes that take 2 -5 minutes but go a long way. I started there for this Meal Prep Power Hour.
1. Pre-heated oven
2. Put on a pot of potatoes to boil on the hob
2. Mixed a batch of my Coconut Caramel Chia Pudding
3. Washed and chopped leeks
Active Time - 5 minutes
4. Mixed and prepared two loaf tins with batter for my Chocolate Marmalade Loaf. Put them in to bake.
5. Washed, rinsed, drained and put on a big pot of jasmine rice to cook.
6. Mixed ingredients and rolled them to make my Almond Lemon Coconut Bliss Balls
Active Time - 20 minutes
7. Cooked my Vegan Mushroom Lentil Bolognese Sauce
8. Washed, trimmed and chopped spring onions.
Active Time - 15 minutes
9. Chopped lots of tomatoes and put them in a rimmed oven tray with lots of garlic cloves, a bay leaf or two, salt, pepper and olive oil. Put them in the oven to roast as my Chocolate Marmalade Loaves came out. When done, I puree the contents of the tray to make soup.
10. Chopped a small head of cauliflower and pan-fried it on high with some salt, pepper and olive oil.
11. Made my Chimichurri Sauce in the processor.
12. Made Nasi Goreng paste in the processor
Active Time - 20 minutes
THINGS PREPPED & COOKED - Total Time 60 Minutes (5 Mains, 1 Cake, 1 Healthy Snack, 1 Dessert + Extras for lunch)
1. Chocolate Marmalade Loaf
2. Coconut Caramel Chia Pudding
3. Almond Lemon Coconut Bliss Balls
4. Vegan Mushroom Lentil Bolognese Sauce for weeknight pasta
5. Chimichurri Sauce
6. Nasi Goreng Paste
7. Cream Of Tomato Soup
8. Jasmine Rice to make Thai Pineapple Rice and Nasi Goreng in the week.
9. Roast Cauliflower to snack on or top on dishes
10. Boiled Potatoes for Bombay Potatoes, or mashed with spices for toasted sandwiches in lunchboxes.
" The secret of food lies in memory – of thinking and then knowing what the taste of cinnamon or steak is.
~ Jerry Saltz
I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!
