Jessica Nguyen's Vegetarian Egg Fried Rice

September 06, 2024 by Juna Xu

Welcome to Put on a Spread, a recipe series that takes you inside the kitchens – and dining rooms – of some of our favourite home cooks. For this instalment, The Makers alumni and CEO of 'chilli oil on everything', Jessica Nguyen, shares her delicious vegetarian egg fried rice recipe.

Did you know rice is a symbol of nourishment, health and life? So, there's actually no better dish to serve your dinner guests than comforting, veggie-loaded, tasty fried rice.

It's amazing how you can turn day-old rice, a few simple kitchen staples and any leftovers you have lying in the fridge into something so plentiful and delicious. Jessica Nguyen's recipe only calls for 11 ingredients and is filled with nutritious fibre (hello, gut health) and protein thanks to the variety of vegetables and egg.

If you're carb-conscious, you can also swap out the white rice for cauliflower rice, which will triple the veg content of the dish, or use brown rice for a dose of wholegrains. #health.

Serve it alone as a main or as part of a feast with Jessica's prawn and ginger wontons (which represent wealth and good luck), and you and your guests can cheers to a life filled with prosperity and health.

Serves: 4 as a main, 6 as a starter

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Skill level: Easy

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 stalks spring onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp homemade chilli oil, optional
1 cup vegetables, finely diced (I’ve used Chinese broccoli)
2 cups cooked day old rice. Jasmine is preferred but you can use any rice you wish: brown, long-grain, or even cauliflower rice.
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp fried shallots, for garnishing
2 sprigs coriander, for garnishing

Method

Prepare all of your ingredients beforehand and make sure they are all finely diced. As it only takes 5 minutes to cook in the pan, everything needs to be small enough so they can cook quickly.

Combine the soy sauce and sesame oil together into a bowl.

Heat a large pan with 1 tbsp vegetable oil and, once hot, add half your spring onions and cook for 10 seconds. Add the garlic and cook for another 20 seconds before adding your vegetables from longest to shortest to cook. Chinese broccoli takes about 2 minutes to soften.

Next, add your rice and soy sauce mixture, and stir-fry to combine. Use your spatula to break up any clumps in the rice and make sure it is all separated and coated in the sauce. If you like chilli, spoon over some chilli oil and continue to stir fry for 1 minute.

Push your rice to one half of the pan and place the empty half of your pan over the heat. Pour in your eggs and allow to cook for about 15 seconds before scrambling into small pieces. Once the egg is cooked, stir fry with the rice to combine.