FRIED RICE has long been a favourite past time of mine!

It’s one of those dishes that Chinese families just love cooking, and mine did a lot. However, as you can probably imagine, fried rice usually has eggs and meat. I was going to just omit them, but I wanted to try my luck in making something similar.

A couple of weeks ago, I came up with the idea of making an “egg” with chickpea and fava bean flour, and it turned out really well. It has that look, not quite the taste, but it can seriously be a great replacement. I made some modifications to that, and brought across here.

Of course, tempeh crumbles make the best minced meat substitute!

This may look a little hard to set up, but it’s really not. The most time consuming part is actually setting up and preparing (cutting) the ingredients.

Important note, I used a Japanese type of brown rice called Sukoyaka Genmai. It’s much softer than regular, and tastes almost exactly like white rice. I bought it at my local Asian supermarket, and I urge that you try using this rice because it seriously makes everything 100x better. I always found regular brown rice to be a bit too hard.

Vegan Fried Rice with Mock Meat and Eggs

Rice
2 1/2 cup short grain brown rice (I used Sukoyaka Genmai)
2 cups & 1 tablespoon water
(If using regular brown rice, you may need to add more water and cook longer)
A sprinkle Himalayan/sea salt

Vegetables
2 tablespoons extra light olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 small red onion
1/2 cup baby carrots
1/2 russet potato
1 large mushrooms (or 2 small)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 tablespoon diced jalapeno pepper
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan/sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Tempeh Crumbles
1/4 block tempeh (I Used 3 grains), crumbled
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Chickpea Egg
1/4 cup garbanzo and fava flour
1/3 cup vegetable broth (with a light yellow/orange colour, I used Nature’s Promise)
1 tablespoon golden flaxseed meal
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan/sea salt
1 small scallion

A sprinkle Himalayan/sea salt

To cook the Rice: Combine the brown rice and water in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil, which can take 6-10 minutes, then turn it to medium low (about 3-4) and simmer for about 12-15 minutes.

Preparing and Cooking the Vegetables: Rinse and drain the peas and corn, and allow the water to drain out. Allow it to dry for a while. You can also pat them dry with paper towels.

Peel and dice the garlic and onions in fine cubes (or cube-like shapes). Dice the baby carrots, potato, mushroom and jalapeno pepper as well into similar sized little cubes.

Combine the onions and garlic together in the frying pan with the 2 tablespoons of extra light olive oil (since that will be cooked first), carrots and potato together, and the mushroom, corn and peas together. (This helps when you’re cooking it later).

Cut 1/4th of a tempeh block (I used the three grains organic type) and crumble it into mince with your hands. Put it in a small bowl and add the soy sauce, smoked paprika, sesame oil and garlic powder and stir. Set that aside.

You should already have two tablespoons of extra light olive oil in the frying pan with the onions and garlic. Turn the heat to medium high (about 5, or between 5 and 6). Add the onions and garlic and saute for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Then, add the carrots and potato and saute for another 10 minutes. Finally, add the mushroom, peas, corn and jalapeno pepper. Sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon of salt on top and stir for a minute.

Add the garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika and saute a final 5 minutes and turn the heat off. Spoon the vegetables onto a bowl for now.

To make the Chickpea Egg: Combine all the ingredients together, then chop the scallions into small pieces and add them in. Whisk it until it forms a runny batter, like how beaten eggs would look.

Spray a frying pan with non-stick cooking oil like olive oil and turn the heat to medium high (6). Drizzle the batter on, making a large, flat circle. Cook on one side for 4-6 minutes, then flip it over (if you can’t, then you need to cook it longer) and cook the other side for another 4-5 minutes until you see the surface turn sold golden.

Spoon the egg out and chop it into dice.

Cooking the Rest and Bringing it together: Still on medium high (6) in the frying pan, add the tempeh crumbles and saute for about 3-4 minutes. Add the chickpea egg, rice and a sprinkle of Himalayan/sea salt and let it cook for about 3 minutes. Be sure to stir continuously!

Finally, add the vegetables, mix it around and cook for a final 3-5 minutes.