Tofu zucchini fried rice

Fried rice is underrated. Or, at least I don’t think of it nearly enough for easy weeknight meals. It’s forgiving. You can literally throw whatever veggies or protein you have on hand in it and chances are it will still turn out delicious. And, it produces a lot of leftovers with no extra effort. Score.

The first night of my back injury Ulysses made dinner with limited guidance from me as I laid on the couch. I love my husband and all but, let’s just say one night was enough. Since I’m kind of house bound and just thinking about lifting a heavy grocery bag is making my back hurt, I had to work with what was on hand in our fridge. A zucchini, a bag of carrots, frozen peas and a block of tofu that was nearing expiration. Sounds like a good mixture for fried rice to me!

Can you cook rice?

Can you sauté veggies?

Can you crack an egg?

If so, you can make this. It’s that simple.

Speaking of all those leftovers, wrapping them in raw chard leaves is an excellent idea. I’ve seen the recent collard and chard wraps going around and sat there behind the computer screen raising an eyebrow thinking “there’s no way raw chard can taste good.” Wrong. I tried this yesterday and was blown away by how much I like the taste. I actually think it tastes less earthy raw than it does cooked. Many people say chard tastes like dirt and I can see where they’re coming from with that statement. In it’s raw form though it’s definitely less dirt-like.

In case you need a reminder to wash your greens really well, I found the most disgusting bug in the actual bunch of chard when I laid it down for this picture. See, I’m lazy and only washed the leaves I was actually eating. I’m impressed though, that little guy lived for 3 days in a plastic bag, in the refrigerator only for me to find him and subsequently flush him down the toilet. I don’t save bugs. Especially ones that have been eating my food.

And with that, enjoy!

Tofu zucchini fried rice

Makes 6-8 servings

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• 1 block of extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 inch section of fresh ginger, grated
• 2 eggs, beaten
• soy sauce
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in medium sauce pain. Once boiling, add rice, turn heat to low and simmer until rice is fully cooked. While rice cooks, prepare vegetables. Sauté onions, garlic and ginger until onions soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add zucchini, carrots and a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce and continue to sauté until vegetables soften, approximately 5-7 more minutes. Transfer cooked vegetables to bowl and set aside. Add more olive oil to the sauté pan and sauté tofu for a couple of minutes on each side with more soy sauce and salt & pepper. Once cooked, add tofu to cooked vegetables in bowl. When rice is fully cooked, add  it to the sauté pan with olive oil and “fry” for a couple of minutes. Add beaten eggs and break up to scramble. Once eggs are cooked, add vegetables and tofu back to pan, combine and garnish with peas, salt & pepper.

What’s your favorite go-to meal for quick, easy weeknight dinners?

Tagged as: dinner, rice, tofu