Egg Fried Rice Recipe (Indian)
Today we are making an Indian Egg Fried Rice Recipe! You’ve probably had rice before. And probably even tried scrambled eggs before, unless you’ve been vegan your whole life. They’re tasty in their own right, right? But have you ever tried to mix them together – I mean, scrambled eggs in your rice? I bet you not. I can also tell you that an entire group of people did – and it was a hit! Drumroll … yup, I’m talking about this easy rice recipe, a dish from Indo Chinese cuisine that combines egg + rice. This is something I would not have thought to do myself had it not already been a popular recipe. A Chinese restaurant style egg-fried rice recipe also uses a seasoning with soya sauce. I’ve used tamari here for a gluten-free and low sodium version.
There are different ways to flavor this recipe. One way is that this recipe is also a street food in India. It uses ginger, garlic, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander leaves, fresh green chillies and/or curry leaves. I didn’t use these in the recipe today, but these can optionally be added!
How do you make a “vegan egg?”
Nobody had really invented a packaged “vegan egg” or a vegan way to make a scrambled egg mixture that was commercialized in the past. In the light of the plant-based movement, we now have companies like JustEgg bottles now. Nowadays, with the vegan movement growing, I thought it would be a good idea to take comfort recipes and veganize them! The ones you’d eat at home growing up, the same ones we run to on a rainy day when we want mom’s cooking. A certain dish pops into mind, right?
We will be making a simple egg for this recipe, and it’s a lot easier than you may think! You’ll want to use besan (gram flour – available in most Indian stores, or the Asian section of your grocery store). Add some salt and pepper, whisk it with water and olive oil, and BAM! Add it to a stovetop pan and make an awesome scrambled egg or omelette. This is a go-to recipe I recommend for home cooks! Aside from cooking the rice (which can be done in advance), it only takes 20 minutes to prepare!
Why You’ll Love This Indian Egg Fried Rice Recipe
Versatile Recipe: This simple recipe is a great option for a meal, where you can easily swap different grains out for this brown rice, or change up the veggies! This recipe uses stir fry bell peppers, black pepper powder, little salt, green onions and small pieces of an easy egg using besan. Add green beans! It’s like using up all your leftovers to prep for lunch or dinner, without necessarily only needing super strict ingredients.
Indo-Chinese Dish: I enjoy recipes that are versatile enough for me to add in! For example, sesame oil into an Indian recipe, or garam masala into a recipe from Chinese cuisine. There is an egg fried rice recipe in both cuisines. You can adapt this to add more flavors as you desire!
High Protein Vegan Egg: We use chickpea flour to make scrambled egg for this recipe. This flour is commonly used in Indian cuisine, and is also high protein because it’s made of chickpeas!
Substitutions
Rice: I used regular grain brown rice. You can use any cooked rice grains, from basmati rice (which comes from India) to jasmine rice (which comes from Thailand). Additionally, even quinoa, couscous or other healthy grains can make great substitutes for a main course meal, but it wouldn’t egg rice. Also, for those staying gluten-free, note that if you used couscous it would not be gluten-free.
Besan: This is chickpea gram flour is usually at Indian grocery stores. If you have a vegan egg substitute such as JustEgg, you can also use that. Chickpea gram flour is also known as garbanzo bean flour and is made by grinding dried chickpeas into a powder.
Tamari: Use soy sauce as a higher sodium substitute – which is not gluten-free. For a soy-free and lower sodium version (even lower than tamari), use coconut aminos. These contain so much less sodium that the sauce is not going to be as strong using it, albeit saving on the salt.
Vegetables: I used a mix of zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, onions and green onions (spring onions). This is the best combination for the rice, but feel free to swap out the veggies!
Indian Egg Fried Rice Recipe Notes
- For more flavour, drizzle tomato ketchup, sesame oil or schezwan sauce (for a bit of schezwan fried rice, which is used in Chinese cuisine fried rice!) , a spicy sauce like green chilli sauce or garam masala powder.
- Serve this with green beans, french beans, steamed broccoli or other vegetables with a soup or another side dish for a more complete meal!
- Some ideas to use up any cooked leftover rice can be adding it to soup (such as the Hot N’ Sour Soup recipe below)! If you have extra uncooked rice, I recommend to check out the Rice Cooker Taco Rice below for another delicious rice recipe!
More Easy Recipes You’ll Love
Hot n’ Sour Soup: This soup is a Chinese dish with a tangy base full of veggies and rice vinegar, tamari, chili garlic sauce, toasted sesame oil and tofu for vegan protein.
Garlic Butter Noodles: These noodles are based on garlic, vegan butter and noodles. The best and easiest three ingredients to make a meal!
Yaki Udon: This is a stir fry Japanese noodle recipe that uses udon noodles with a savory sauce of tamari, coconut sugar, white wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar!
Rice Cooker Taco Rice: A rice cooker recipe full of flavour that requires dumping all ingredients in one pot and setting it to cook. Topped with cilantro, vegan yogurt and avocado!
Vegan Butter Tofu: Full of Indian spice, a tomato-onion base and creamy coconut milk, this Vegan Butter Tofu recipe is a vegan version of Indian Butter Chicken!
If you make this Indian Egg Fried Rice dish, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Egg Fried Rice Recipe (Indian)
Equipment
- Stovetop Pan
Ingredients
For the Rice
- 1½ cups cooked brown rice (medium grain). Rinse it before you cook – this helps it to not stick together and removes the starch. Prep time of 1 hour above is for making this rice in advance. Sub: white rice
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil or sesame oil
- 1 tbsp tamari sub: soy sauce
- 1 cup equal amount of mixed vegetables: zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, onions, green onions diced
- ½ tsp salt add more salt as desired
For the "Egg"
- ½ cup besan (gram flour)
- ⅛ + ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- For the "egg", whisk together the egg ingredients until smooth.
- Turn on the stove to medium heat. Once the stovetop is hot, add the 1 tbsp olive oil from the rice ingredients in. Then add this egg mixture on top, and stir it around for a few minutes until it forms a sort of "scrambled" egg.
- Once this is done, add the cooked rice to the pan and stir to incorporate.
- Remove these items from the pan (or if your pan is large, move them to one side), and add the remaining ½ tbsp olive oil in.
- Add in the 1 cup of veggies, salt and tamari and stir them around for a minute, then stir to incorporate with the egg + rice mixture. After 2 minutes, turn off the heat.
- Serve it hot! Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
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Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
