Veggie Fried Brown Rice

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I once read this cute book called The Gastronomy of Marriage: A Memoir of Food and Love, and there is one particular passage about fried rice that stuck with me for some reason. A little background on the book… a couple who come from very different backgrounds, one from a traditional Chinese family and the other from a traditional American family, fall in love and experience their lives together over the dinner table. I do really recommend the book, but I don’t want to go into too much detail because I just wanted to set the stage for this exchange:

“Sitting back now, he asks, “Do white people know that fried rice is made with leftover rice?”
“I don’t know,” I answer on behalf of all white people. “It’s not really something you think about until you try to make it.”
“White people order fried rice as an entrée,” he continues, explanatorily. “It’s only on the menu for them. Chinese people order white rice with their entrée – a real entrée – and then take home the leftovers and make fried rice.”

So I’m not sure which side of the fence I fall on with this one since I made brown rice specifically because I have been loving making fried rice for a quick, easy, and healthy dinner lately. But since I’m not really sure where I stand with it, let’s just get right into the recipe, shall we?

This dish comes together in less than 10 minutes if you have your rice cooked ahead of time. It’s an awesome weekday meal when you want to get dinner on the table fast and is such an easy meal to change around based on what’s in your kitchen. I use brown rice here because it’s healthier, but you can easily experiment with white rice or any other grain. You can also certainly go traditional and just use anything you have leftover in the fridge, including cooked veggies, meats, beans, tofu, etc. It is seriously delicious and filling, and is so simple it’s barely considered a recipe!

Veggie Fried Brown Rice

Entire recipe yields 12 pts+. 2 servings at 6 pts+ each.

Ingredients:
- 1 bag of mixed frozen veggies (or fresh)
- 1.5 cups of cooked brown rice
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp chopped fresh ginger (or a sprinkle of ginger powder if you don’t have fresh!)

To start, heat up a pan and spray it with nonstick spray. Once it’s hot, add in your frozen veggies.

Cover and cook for about 4 minutes, until they are defrosted and warm. Next up, add in your cooked brown rice and stir into the veggies.

Now, crack your eggs directly on top of the rice and veggie mixture.

Stir with a wooden spoon constantly until eggs are cooked and spread evenly throughout the rice. Make sure you use your spoon to mix in the rice around the edge of the pan so it all gets equally delicious.

Last step – add in your soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chopped or powdered ginger. Stir to combine, and you’re done!

That’s it! This dish is so delicious that I ended up making it again last night after writing this post! It’s a great staple meal for me during the week, and also CHEAP and good for using up things in your fridge/pantry! I usually divide it into two servings immediately, saving half for lunch the next day and eating half right then and there.

Are you a fan of Chinese food? What’s your favorite thing to order off the menu?

I loooooove dumplings, egg drop soup, and sesame tofu if I’m feeling frisky. If I’m behaving myself, I usually order the steamed jumbo shrimp with veggies, which is actually completely delicious, if a little boring!