Vegan "Egg" Fried Rice

Chinese cuisine consists of the use of cooking techniques rather than ingredients or spices, per say. They take the most generic ingredients and cook it with the minimum amount of ingredients, but with a certain style that leaves us all asking for more. Vegetarian Chinese food used to be the most difficult to find, but with the growth in the number of vegetarians and vegans, and more demand for health foods and environmentally friendly meals, it is now popular in every country.

In some views, eggs are considered vegetarian like dairy. However, some people believe that there exists potential life in some; this is called 'jiva' in Sanskrit. I personally do not consume eggs for this reason, however, I know that I have always wanted to try dishes like egg fried rice. Fried rice is a simple and flavourful dish. It is substantial as it has all the vegetables and rice in one dish. This one is a vegan fried rice which uses tofu instead of eggs to mimic the effect. I have also kept this simple dish vegan not only for my fellow vegans, but also in loving memory of my beloved Dada JP Vaswani, who left us recently. Please view the recipe below and try it yourself...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ssmq53_sE

Ingredients:
For Vegan "Egg":
100g extra firm tofu, crumbled
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (also known in Hindi as 'haldi' or in Indonesian as 'kunyit')
1 tbsp chickpea flour (besan: Hindi)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp cooking oil (I use rice bran)
1/4 tsp black salt
Dash of black pepper
Water or soy milk if you need to mix

For Fried Rice:
1 1/2 cups rice, washed, soaked for 1/2 hr & cooked for about 1/2 hr till done
3/4 white onion or yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup (125g) frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, corn and French beans), thawed
2 tbsp cooking oil 
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt to taste
Dash of black pepper
1/4 tsp mushroom seasoning

Spring onions for garnishing


METHOD
For Vegan "Egg":
1. Heat oil, add tofu and chickpea flour. Cook until chickpea flour is slightly roasted.
2. Add turmeric and all seasonings. Mix well.
3. If you want your "eggs" a bit runny, then add a very tiny bit of water or soy milk.
4. Take off heat and keep aside.

For Fried Rice:
1. Heat oil; add onion and garlic. Let them slightly brown.
2. Add cooked rice and vegetables. Mix well.
3. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper and seasoning. Mix well again.
4. When you are ready to serve, add "eggs" and mix very gently.
5. Garnish with spring onions and serve hot with your favourite Chinese stir fry.

TIPS
1. You do not want your rice too soft; so you might need to cook it for less time if using Thai rice or similar short grained rice.

2. Type of rice is important. Any brown rice is great if deciding to go for a healthy option. Longer grain rice is great if you want it a bit Indian style. Personally, I do not recommend South Indian idli rice, ponni rice (parboiled South Indian rice) or poha (puffed rice), as they are too soft and it will spoil the texture of the fried rice.