‘Dirty’ vegan fried rice

Ingredients

• 250g flavoured TVP (I use Suma brand) or soya mince

• 100g vegan soya pieces

• 3 medium closed cup mushrooms

• Handful of oyster mushrooms

• 1 medium onion

• 80-100g sweetcorn

• 80-100g petit pois peas

• 1 cup (250g ish) of rice (I use basmati)

• 2 peppers (yellow and red work best)

• 1-1.5 teaspoon smoked paprika (I use South Devon chilli farm)

• Soy sauce (kikkoman is best)

• Chilli (use to taste)

• 1 tsp linseed orflaxseed

• 50-100g cashew nuts

Method

1. Measure the rice and rinse thoroughly with several changes of cold water to remove surface starch etc.

2. Then cook the rice fully: I use 1.5 times the volume of cold water added to the rice with pinch of salt and oil, then bring to boil in a covered pan; once boiling reduce heat to continue boiling for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and steam for further 5 minutes with lid on.

3. In a large frying pan, add oil (sunflower or olive oil) and pinch of salt and fry chopped onion until translucent.

4. Rehydrate 250g TVP soya using boiling water and 1 teaspoon of oil.

5. After 5 minutes of rehydration, then add to the onions and fry together to improve texture of the TVP. Further oil may need to be added but not too much, and only enough to sufficiently fry and not saturate the dish. I use Tesco brand vegan soya pieces and tend to defrost using microwave and then add to the pan to fry (Quorn vegan pieces are ok, if slightly more likely to crumble, smoked tofu also works really well (see previous recipe for prep of these but they can be fried much more in this dish to harden surface).

6. Then add chopped mushrooms (I used closed cup and oyster this time, chopped or sliced) and peppers and add 1 to 1.5 teaspoon of smoked paprika, chilli according to preference and soy sauce (to taste but 5-10ml at least) and continue to heat on medium heat, again carefully adding a little more oil if needed to gently fry.

7. I use frozen peas and sweetcorn and these can be added now but only need warming and not frying and the same with the linseed (for omega 3 mostly) and cashew nuts.

8. Then add the rice to the existing mixture and add enough additional oil to allow the rice to fry (but again not too much as there is a risk of making the dish too oily). The key skill is in keeping the heat reasonably high and circulating the rice and other ingredients continually to fry evenly but avoid over-frying any area.

9. Serve immediately but can be reheated easily. Always good to taste to check the amount of paprika, soy and chilli and depending on preference, a little more of any of these can be added even at the end as long as they are mixed fully (the paprika needs more time and heat though).