In many Asian countries fried rice is the number one kids’ favourite food. When bought from a food court or a restaurant, it might have quite a bit of oil in it. And it’s hard to find out what kind of oil they are using. But when you make it at home, you can control the amount and quality of oil as well as what kind and how much of veggies to include. Today I’m going to share with you a recipe for homemade healthy fried rice that is easy to prepare and which the kids will definitely love!
I recently bought this cookbook called Asia Light from Ghillie James. I haven’t been cooking that much Asian food at home, but this book with its healthy recipes and beautiful pictures really inspires me to try Asian cooking at home. The healthy fried rice was the first recipe I tried from this book and my family was very pleased with the outcome. I’ll definitely keep this on my go-to recipe list for family dinners.
This healthy fried rice recipe is very versatile – you can add any bits and bobs you have handy in you fridge. You can prepare it as a vegetarian version or add for example some sir-fried chicken, prawns or pork to the rice mixture. I used minced chicken, which is a good option if you have small kids who are struggling with chewing bigger pieces of meat.
Ingredients
- 3 tsp coconut oil
- 300g/ 10.6 oz minced chicken breast
- 1 large carrot chopped into 1cm cubes
- 100 g/ 3.5 oz sugar snap peas sliced into 2 cm pieces
- 100 g/ 3.5 oz baby corn sliced diagonally
- 600 g/ 21.2 oz 300g/ 10.6 oz raw cooked and chilled basmati rice
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- 1-2 tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce
- 3 large spring onions finely sliced
- 4 tbsp frozen peas defrosted
- salt and white pepper
Instructions
- Heat 1 tsp of oil in a non-stick wok. Cook the minced chicken breast and set aside.
- Heat another 1 tsp of the oil in the wok and stir-fry the carrot, peas and baby corn for 3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them – they should still have a slight crunch. Transfer the vegetables to a large plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the wok and heat until smoking hot. Add the rice and toss thoroughly in the oil so that all the individual grains get a good coating.
- Push the rice aside to leave space to cook the egg in the middle of the wok. Turn down the heat slightly, season the beaten eggs, pour into the wok and let it set – it should resemble a partially cooked omelette. Break the egg up and combine it with the rice so that the egg is evenly distributed.
- Add the soy sauce and pepper to taste, followed by the cooked vegetables, spring onions and peas. Stir well to combine and ensure everything is piping hot, and let the rice just start to brown on the bottom of the pan as it will give it a delicious toasty flavour. If the rice seems too dry, add a little water towards the end but no earlier or the rice will become stodgy.
- Taste for seasoning, adding a little more soy sauce if needed.
