Recipe from Amanda Cohen
Adapted by Jeff Gordinier
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- 4(231)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Amanda Cohen, the chef at Dirt Candy in Manhattan, loves how easy it is to make fried rice. “If you’re a chef, the idea of cooking at home on your one night off is like some kind of terrible nightmare,” she said. “Takeout becomes your best friend. but before long half your fridge is taken up by those little white cartons of rice.” At home, she digs into those cartons to make fast batches of vegetable fried rice, and she combats the threat of blandness by stocking her freezer in advance with her Secret-Weapon Stir-Fry Sauce: small, dark green ice blocks of puréed garlic, ginger, cilantro, parsley and other ingredients, which she freezes in ice-cube trays (they can be slipped directly into the hot pan). She uses brussels sprouts, fennel, chard and mushrooms, but this dish is the definition of flexibility. “As long as you maintain the proportions, this recipe can take any vegetable you throw at it,” she said. “Think of it as a chance to clean out your crisper drawer.” —Jeff Gordinier
Featured in: Little Sprout Grows Up
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Ingredients
Yield:2 main course servings
- 1tablespoon sesame oil
- 4tablespoons canola oil
- 1cup of trimmed and quartered brussels sprouts
- 1cup diced fennel
- 2cups chopped chard
- 1cup chopped cremini mushrooms
- 4loosely packed cups of leftover rice (about 1 large, quart-size carton, or 2 small pint-size cartons)
- Rice wine vinegar, to taste
- 4frozen cubes (or 4 tablespoons fresh) Secret Weapon Stir-Fry Sauce (see recipe)
- Soy sauce, to taste
- Fish sauce, to taste
- Hot sauce, to taste
Preparation
Step
1
Heat sesame oil and canola oil in a large pan or a wok over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Add the vegetables and stir constantly until they have started to soften and brown, about 4 minutes.
Step
2
Toss in the rice, and use a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the clumps. Some of the rice will stick to the pan, but don’t panic. The older and drier the rice, the longer this takes. If it starts sticking a lot, add a dash of rice wine vinegar or water. Keep stirring until the rice softens and becomes slightly translucent.
Step
3
Add the frozen Stir-Fry Sauce cubes, and keep stirring as they melt and coat the rice. Transfer the rice into a bowl and season to taste with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce or hot sauce, or all four.
Ratings
4
out of 5
231
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Cooking Notes
Laurie Dickerson
Delicious, and you really can add whatever vegetables you have on hand. Having the frozen cubes of "Secret Weapon Stir-Fry Sauce" ready makes it easy. Definitely use cold leftover rice. One time I had none, so used freshly cooked rice, and although still very good, the rice texture was more mushy.
Jazzavid
What a lot of work. And oh how delicious. I prepared the cubes the night before for freezing (highly recommended to make the cubes anytime so they're in the freezer waiting, i.e. don't attempt on the same day of making the recipe.) There was a lot to do to make this dish the first time, but it turned out to be healthy, delicious, and an absolute keeper. The size of the recipe gave the two of us enough rice to use as a side dish for another meal or two. Re-heats well. Bravo.
Lisa
I used half the amount of rice and half the oil and made this last night with beet greens, mushrooms, fennel, broccoli, leeks, and an egg. Terrific! -- lower in calories, while still a good balance of rice: veggies and very filling. I think the leeks really helped. Though it does need added soy, fish sauce and hot sauce at the end to brighten up the taste. Can't wait to try to secret sauce cubes sitting in my freezer on some other combinations in the future.
vanessa
2 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos2 tbsp Fish Sauce2 tbsp Rice VinegarTop with egg and crispy onions
Deenie
The little sauce cubes sound an awful lot like the frozen cubes you can buy at Trader Joe's and keep in the freezer. I have their trays of basil and garlic, and I'll have to check to see if they don't also make a ginger. SO good and such a time-saver!
Louisa718
Alas, I found that despite making the "flavor cubes", this recipe doesn't really have any compelling seasoning. The flavors are mild, the dish lacks "heat" meaning chili peppers and the only items with any oomph - soy sauce, fish sauce, hot sauce - are framed as extras for seasoning. It's healthy, mildly flavorful, lite, bland. I've been to Dirt Candy (chef behind the "flavor cubes") and everything they make has 10x the flavor of this...so pretty odd.
Anna
Made the rice and cubes the day before and froze the cubes, and wondered if I should have just saved the stir fry sauce in the fridge for next day use. Cubes took quite a while to melt and all that extra cooking time made the rice more mushy than needed. Next time I will melt the cubes with the veggies in step one. Definitely packed with flavor, and worth the work.
Quilty
Delicious, and you really can add whatever vegetables you have on hand. Having the frozen cubes of "Secret Weapon Stir-Fry Sauce" ready makes it easy. Definitely use cold leftover rice. One time I had none, so used freshly cooked rice, and although still very good, the rice texture was more mushy.
Ben Roazen
Cleared the whole fridge out and used purple kale instead of chard, but otherwise followed this to the letter. Needed a little salt, but the combination of kimchi hot sauce, tamari and a drizzle of fish sauce took this all the way over the top. The sauces really do a lot of the heavy lifting here: the frozen stir-fry sauce is a Swiss Army knife — that recipe’s comment section is a goldmine in its own rite, btw.
vanessa
2 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos2 tbsp Fish Sauce2 tbsp Rice VinegarTop with egg and crispy onions
Deenie
The little sauce cubes sound an awful lot like the frozen cubes you can buy at Trader Joe's and keep in the freezer. I have their trays of basil and garlic, and I'll have to check to see if they don't also make a ginger. SO good and such a time-saver!
CarolC
TJs has frozen ginger cubes now!
Weslie
first time ever a thumbs down. i followed the recipe pretty closely and found it very bland. even after extensive "doctoring" it was just not worth all the efforts. i have the green cubes and think that they may turn out to be the jewel of this disappointing effort.
Lisa
I used half the amount of rice and half the oil and made this last night with beet greens, mushrooms, fennel, broccoli, leeks, and an egg. Terrific! -- lower in calories, while still a good balance of rice: veggies and very filling. I think the leeks really helped. Though it does need added soy, fish sauce and hot sauce at the end to brighten up the taste. Can't wait to try to secret sauce cubes sitting in my freezer on some other combinations in the future.
Jazzavid
What a lot of work. And oh how delicious. I prepared the cubes the night before for freezing (highly recommended to make the cubes anytime so they're in the freezer waiting, i.e. don't attempt on the same day of making the recipe.) There was a lot to do to make this dish the first time, but it turned out to be healthy, delicious, and an absolute keeper. The size of the recipe gave the two of us enough rice to use as a side dish for another meal or two. Re-heats well. Bravo.
Susan J.
This is delicious, especially if you use the cubes recommended in the recipe. Definitely use cold, leftover rice. But even though the rice should be leftover, this dish, at least for me, was much better the first day. We didn't like it as much reheated.
Laurie Dickerson
Delicious, and you really can add whatever vegetables you have on hand. Having the frozen cubes of "Secret Weapon Stir-Fry Sauce" ready makes it easy. Definitely use cold leftover rice. One time I had none, so used freshly cooked rice, and although still very good, the rice texture was more mushy.
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