Tofu fried rice

Vietnamese version (bản tiếng Việt): click here!

After the PhD-style kimchi fried rice, another vegetarian fried rice recipe is back! For vegetarian and vegan friends, besides mushrooms, tofu is an important source of protein and appears in so many delicious vegetarian dishes. My Indian friend once said that the tofu was like chicken to her, and we joked around that soy milk was the “chicken stock” when I made her some homemade soy milk. Also, one of the first tofu recipes that I have posted on this blog was to celebrate at her house: the sweet & spicy tofu, which can be served as snacks, wrap with lettuce or served with hot rice. Or the soft tofu soup that is popular in daily meals of Vietnamese family, it’s another delicious recipe from tofu. Not just that, you can even make vegan poke bowl with tofu or just simple stir-fried dishes. I remembered my grandmother used to make vegetarian stir-fried noodles with tofu and it was so delicious that I still memorized the taste till now. However, she hasn’t made fried rice with tofu yet, so with that, let’s give the tofu a try with fried rice this time.

Ingredients: (for 1 serving)

• Tofu: 1/2 of tofu block, Firm or Extra firm (~ 200 g)
• Diced carrot: 1/4 cup
• Leftover cooked rice: 1 cup (~ 237 g)
• Cooking oil: 1/2 cup for frying the tofu + 1/2 tablespoon for fry rice
• Garlic: 1-2 cloves
• Shallot: 1 small shallot or 1/3 of a big shallot
• Soy sauce: 1/2 tablespoon (~ 8 mL)
• Seasoning powder (or M.S.G): 1 teaspoon
• Black/White pepper: 1/4 teaspoon
• Garnish: fresh spring onion, cilantro and parsley, red and green cabbage (optional)
  (If you can have egg, it is highly recommend to add eggs in the fried rice.)

Preparation:

• Cut the tofu into thick slices or long strips or cubes (2 x 2 x 2 cm) and deep fry them (with 1/2 cup of cooking oil, in a frying pan preheat at medium-high heat) until golden brown on the outside. Take out the tofu and dry on paper towel to remove excess oil. Save the oil from frying tofu for further use.
• Cool down the fried tofu and cut the fried tofu slices or strips into cubes to stir-fry with the rice. If you cut the tofu into cubes at the beginning, skip this step.
• Finely chop the garlic and shallot then add to the preheat pan with cooking oil at medium heat and stir until fragrant.
• If you want egg in the fried rice, this is the step that you whisk the egg till homogenized then pour to the hot pan and stir around until the egg becomes solid.
• Add the diced carrots and tofu, stir fry for about 5 minutes.
• Add the leftover cooked rice to the pan and mix well to break the rice clumps.
• Season with soy sauce, black/white pepper and seasoning powder. Stir well for few minutes and it is ready to be served.
• Topped with freshly chopped cilantro, spring onion and parsley. Sliced red and green cabbage are optional but highly recommended if you want to add more vegetables to your fried rice. However, green cabbage has high water content, while red cabbage discolors the rice so they are not suitable to stir-fry but okay to be served with.

Total time: 45-60 minutes (again, frying tofu takes time!)

Hope you enjoy the recipe!