Vegetable Fried Rice for One (Tomato Flavour)

I thought I wasn’t hungry for dinner one evening, and then suddenly I got super hungry later at night. All I had was leftover rice so of course I made a quick fried rice like a good hungry asian girl. The only thing was that I got it in my head to somehow incorporate these sun-dried tomatoes that have been sitting in my pantry forever. I bought them because I really loved the homemade dehydrated tomatoes I had years ago that my host in France made, and of course, the mass-market sun dried tomatoes taste NOTHING like what she made. I don’t know why! Tomato variety??? Sulphites? I have no idea but they taste NOTHING alike!

The store bought ones originate from Morocco and taste just kinda… I don’t even know how to describe it. Just overpowering and tart and clingy and kinda just all over (I even tried soaking in oil); while the ones I had in france were just this gentle concentrated sweet umami. No comparison. So I thought I’d chop these nasty babies up into little bits for the fried rice or else they would just be too overpowering. To my surprise, it kinda worked??? Reminds me of this tomato fried rice I used to eat at this Thai/Asian fusion restaurant in NYC. Though I think they used tomato paste. So feel free to use tomato paste or sun dried tomatoes or whatever concentrated tomato thingy you have! Or just whip up regular veggie fried rice.

The key is to use the holy trinity of cantonese cooking: ginger, scallions, garlic. Can’t go wrong with this base.

Holy Trinity – Scallion, ginger, garlic….. plus sun dried tomatoes

I only had carrots and zucchini so I used those. Plus it was late and I didn’t want to make too much of a fuss – carrots and zucchini easy to wash and cut! Feel free to use any assortment of vegetables you have like spinach, bak choy, french beans, asparagus, etc.

If using root vegetables that take longer to cook just slice them nice and thin and add them first. Keep all the pieces thin/small so they cook fast!

2 options for the egg:

1) Separately fry a sunny side up and keep the yolk runny (extra work but worth it for runny yolk cascading down the fried rice)

2) Or, scramble it into the rice (more convenient).

Prep time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 5-7 minutes

Ingredients

• Rice (leftover of course)
• 1 scallion (Whites and greens separately chopped)
• 1 decent wafer of ginger (Finely chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (Minced)
• Sun-dried tomatoes (Roughly snipped into bits) or tomato paste
• Egg
• 1 Small Carrot (Sliced as thin as your knife skills will allow, hehehe)
• 1/3 Zucchini (Sliced somewhat thin like 5mm)
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Dash of Tamari or Soy sauce
• Chilli Sauce (optional)

 

Other things to add if I had them around:

• Mushrooms
• Sesame Oil (I used gomashio topping instead)
• Cilantro (To garnish)
• Or fine shreds of roasted nori seaweed (To garnish)

My (partial) misc-en-place! I already tossed the scallion whites and ginger into the pan. And I have yet to snip up those dried tomatoes!

Directions

1. Heat up a pan/wok on high. Add a good amount of oil.
2. Add scallion whites and some salt and fry until fragrant.
3. Add ginger. After 30 seconds, add the garlic. Don’t let anything brown or burn.
4. Add sun-dried tomato bits, or 2 tsp of tomato paste.
5. Add carrots. Cook for a minute or 2 until 30% tender.
6. Then Add zucchini. Cook for a minute or 2.
7. Make sure your pan is still well-oiled. Then add rice.
8. Create a space in the middle of your pan. Add some oil to this empty area.
9. Crack your egg in there. Let it cook a little before scrambling it lightly. When it’s nearly cooked, you can then break it up into chunks and mix with the rest of the fried rice.
10. If you like, now is the time to add a bit more salt, drizzle a little soy sauce, sesame oil, etc
11. Plate and garnish with scallion greens. You may also garnish with cilantro or seaweed or whatever you wish.