Vegetarian fried rice

As seen in the picture above, this recipe is right out of Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking. It's a fantastic fried rice recipe that cooks up in a couple minutes and is everything that fried rice should be, not too greasy or salty, has a confetti like mix of ingredients, and is a comfort food without feeling heavy. I do need to mention though, that while this recipe is vegetarian it contains eggs so it can't be called vegan. To create a vegan version I would replace the scrambled egg with firm tofu or, if you can find it, fried bean curd or "tofu puffs" which have a texture much closer to scrambled egg.

To make this you will need:

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups steamed rice
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/3 finely shredded Chinese (Napa) cabbage leaves
• 1 small carrot, peeled
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1 small red onion, finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (cilantro) root and stems*
• 1 tablespoon finely diced ginger
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 100g fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps finely sliced
• 2/3 cup finely sliced spring (green) onions
• 2 teaspoons sea salt

Heat half the oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly, Pour Beaten eggs into wok and leave to cook on the base of the wok for 10 seconds before folding egg mixture over onto itself with a spatula and lightly scrambling for about 1 minute or until almost cooked through. Carefully remove omelette from wok with a spatula and drain on kitchen paper. Set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler, finely slice carrot lengthways into ribbons and then into a fine julienne.

Heat remaining oil in a hot wok and stir-fry onion, ginger, mushrooms, and salt for 1 minute. Add carrot, rice, cabbage, bean sprouts, coriander, soy sauce, and reserved omelette and stir fry for about 1 1/2 minutes. Use a spatula to break up the egg into smaller pieces while cooking. Lastly, toss in spring onions and stir fry for 30 seconds or until well combined and rice is heated through.

Transfer rice into a bowl and serve immediately.

*I leave out the cilantro due to my, previously mentioned, inability to enjoy it's taste.