Once upon a time I tried to make fried rice.  It should be easy enough, right?  Veggies, rice, a scrambled egg…

Turns out the order of operations is kinda important.  If you add the beaten egg after the rice is already in the pan, you don’t really get bits of scrambled egg, you get weird egg-caked riced. Ashamed, I tossed aside my aspirations for fried rice.

Until the day when a bowl of leftover rice in the fridge started whispering too me.

“I’d look great with some of those carrots.”

“Drizzle me with that tamari.”

“You know you want to heat me up into some fried rice.”

Maybe it’s all those commercials for the 50 Shades of Grey movie making the rice seduce me.  Maybe Baby J has been robbing me of sleep and causing some delirium.  Either way, I took another stab.  This time, I got it right!

I used carrots and frozen peas because they were handy, but I’m sure you could toss in whatever veggies need to be used up in the fridge–broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, edamame…  Even with stopping to take photos, I still managed to pull this together in under 30 minutes, while also caring for Baby J (using leftover rice).  Basically, this recipe makes me feel like supermom.

Easy Vegetable Fried Rice

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive or sesame oil
• 3/4 cup diced carrots (about 15 baby carrots)
• 1/2 onion
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic, or 1 clove, minced
• 1/8 tsp minced ginger*
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. If you don’t have leftover rice, start cooking your rice right away according to package instructions.

2. Dice your carrots and onion while you heat your oil over medium heat in a large skillet or a wok, if you have one (I don’t).

3. Toss in the carrots and let them cook for 3-4 minutes. Use this time to arrange the rest of your ingredients.

4. Add the onion, cashews, garlic, and ginger and cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are starting to brown. Beat the egg in a small bowl with a little bit of cold water (about 1/2 tbsp). Move the vegetables and cashews to one side of the pan and scramble the egg in the other side of the pan.

5. Stir in the peas, tamari, and rice. Cover and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until everything is hot. Season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy!

*I highly recommend grating an entire nub of ginger at once (with a food processor if available) and keeping it all in the freezer.  It stays pungent and saves so much time.  Who wants to get a grater out for 1/8 of a teaspoon?  Not me!

You could sub in ground ginger, but it won’t have quite the same flavor.  If you aren’t a huge fan of ginger, that could be a good thing!