A vibrant and easy fried rice with the goodness of turmeric, ginger and garlic, perfect for a healthy weeknight dinner.
Lately, I am finding that more often than not I am craving something super healthy for dinner that kind of doesn’t feel like something super healthy. I think my brain thinks healthy food is boring.
I want the food I make to be full of flavour, comforting, yet hearty enough to not leave me hungry an hour after I eat. I also don’t want to be left over-full and bloated.
It’s all about finding a balance.
This turmeric fried rice ticks all my boxes. It’s rice, so we know it’s comforting and easy to make on a weeknight. It’s also full of the goodness of turmeric, garlic and ginger so basically it will heal your body from the inside out. Perfect for this time of year when it feels like everyone is getting sick.
A few simple veggies add even more yum/healthy-ness to this dish. I have had a real obsession with fresh shiitake mushrooms lately. I’ll put them in just about anything as I love the flavour. Regular white mushrooms will do though, or you could rehydrate the dried ones if you are wanting a cheaper option. That would bring the total cost of this meal down to next to nothing.
Healthy and budget friendly? Yes please!
I also like to eat a couple of vegetarian dinners in a week so the protein I use for this meal is tofu. I use the medium classic style, just chop it up and stirfry it in some oil. It scrambles a little and kind of acts like an egg would in a classic fried rice and I really like that. If you’re not into tofu, you can definitely throw in some chicken, and maybe an egg which would be just as delicious.
I am still learning how to cook tofu as I struggle with knowing what to do, but I really like that with this meal it doesn’t matter if the tofu breaks apart as it adds to the texture of the dish. Just make sure to get some golden bits before adding in the rest of the ingredients.
Turmeric is something I have started to use more and more in my cooking. Until the last 12 months or so, I had never really used it as a main spice within a dish, rather just adding little bits to enhance other flavours. We keep hearing more and more about the health benefits of turmeric such as its anti-inflammatory properties but give it a Google to understand why it can’t be a bad this to increase the amount of this spice in our lives.
I do feel like this is one of those ‘throw together’ type meals using whatever you have in the house. I heard the idea when I was reading an interview with a health and fitness personality (can’t remember her name) in Women’s Health. She mentioned that one of her go-to dinners was turmeric fried rice and I thought that sounded amazing. Unable to find a recipe, I put together a few things that I thought would make it yummy and hey, it worked!
Like any fried rice, the main work is in the prep. Cook the rice, chop your veggies and make sure you have everything ready for the hot wok. Yes you need a wok as that is key to getting the brown ‘fried’ bits which equals flavour.
In this recipe, the first step is to cook the rice in a rice cooker. If you don’t have one, just cook the rice the way you usually would. I just can’t imagine life without my rice cooker. It cost me about $15 from Kmart many years ago and is one of the most used appliances in my kitchen. One time I miss-placed the lid and therefore decided to try and cook the rice in the microwave like my mum used to do when I was a kid. Total disaster. The rice cooker is the only way.
I’ve made this a couple of times now and I find it is great for meal prep meal as it heats really well for lunches through the week.
Healthy, quick, and just as good for lunch the next day, this recipe is going to be on regular rotation in my house, particularly as we move through the cooler months and I find myself looking for healthier comfort food.
Turmeric Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups white rice
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 300 grams medium classic tofu
- 1 large carrot
- 100 grams shiitake mushrooms
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 2 cloves garlic , crushed
- 1 teaspoon crushed ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2-3 teaspoons sriracha chilli sauce
Instructions
- Cook rice in a rice-cooker according to directions. Grate carrot and slice mushrooms,and dice tofu.
- In a large wok, heat oil. Add diced tofu and stir fry for 5 minutes until it starts to get golden. The tofu will start to break up.
- Add in carrot, mushrooms and peas and stir fry until soft. Add in garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt and mix all together. Add in cooked rice and mix through, scraping the bottom of the wok to ensure it doesn’t stick. Add in sriracha to taste and stir fry for 2 minutes breaking up rice until there are no more white grains of rice. Serve and enjoy!
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
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Easy Chicken Fried Rice
Healthy & Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup
Quick & Healthy Superfood Salad
My Favourite Green Smoothie
Jenn Sutton
My meat-loving husband even said this was a vegan dish he would “happily eat again.” So good! I used about 2 3/4 tsp of Siracha. It was just the right amount of heat.
Sally
Such a big compliment! Thanks Jenn 🙂