Give eggs a rest and try this meat-free olive vegetable fried rice, which uses olive vegetables and mustard greens contained in jars (not the pickled fruits), French beans and celery. The result is a distinctive and savoury one-dish meal that comes together with minimal ingredients, and the best part? It is wholly make-it-when-you-want-it, with no need for overnight rice.
Ingredients
- 3 rice cups of long-grain rice (450 g), rinsed
- 405 ml water
- 4 tbsps cooking oil
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 300 g French beans, sliced diagonally, 0.5 cm in width
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsps light soya sauce
- 2 celery stalks (100 g), peeled and sliced
- 180 g olive vegetable
Steps
Place the washed rice and water into the rice cooker to cook. Once the rice is cooked, set aside.
Heat the cooking oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat.
Add the chopped garlic, fry for 15 seconds and add the French beans. Season with the sugar and salt.
Stir-fry the French beans for four minutes until they are almost translucent.
Add the celery and rice. Add the light soya sauce.
Stir-fry for one minute, using a frying slice to mix the rice and ingredients together.
Add the olive vegetable. Stir-fry thoroughly for five minutes to distribute it throughout the dish as evenly as possible.
To get a layer of scorched rice at the bottom of the pan, stop stir-frying and allow the rice to cook undisturbed in the pan for five minutes. Once you hear a crackling sound, turn off the heat and serve immediately.
TIP To cook in smaller or larger portions, follow the ratio of one rice cup of long-grain rice (150 g) to three-quarters of a rice cup of water (135 ml) when using the rice cooker. This ratio results in dry cooked rice, which makes it possible to fry the freshly cooked rice without it turning out mushy or overcooked.
Photo: Hedy Khoo
Text: Straits Times