Hijiki Fried Rice

Photo by Katherine J. Zhang | @theplexitarian

Hijiki Fried Rice

I recall as a kid impatiently waiting with excitement to the sound of my mom walking in through the door knowing that she had a to-go box of fried rice from our local Chinese restaurant. Once again, it would be broccoli and fried rice for dinner, a meal that would never disappoint. In grad school, I felt like I practically lived off of fried rice. Living on a tight budget, fried rice takeout could last me a couple days, or when times were really tough, the cheap frozen fried rice from my local market would do. Yet after a while, curiosity got the better of me like it always seems to. I really wanted to nail down a vegan fried rice recipe of my own. You know…in case my favorite joint down the street decides to close.

It took some time, research, and trial and error, but now I have a recipe that I make regularly. There’s something special about making it at home too, maybe it’s that crispy rice that I find at the bottom of my wok. This iteration is inspired by Namiko Chen’s recipe: Japanese Fried Rice with Edamame, Tofu, and Hijiki Seaweed 枝豆とひじきのチャーハン, Mandy Fu’s recipe: Egg Fried Rice, and Hiroyuki Terada’s recipe: The World’s Best Chicken Fried Rice.

Ingredients

Rice:

  • 1 & 1/2 cups Uncooked Japanese short grain rice

  • 1 & 1/2 cups Vegan dashi

Vegan Dashi:

  • 8-10 Dried shiitake mushrooms

  • 8 inch Rishiri Kombu

  • 4 cups Water

Seaweed, Vegetables, and Plant-based Protein:

  • 1 tbsp Hijiki seaweed

  • 1/2 cup Edamame

  • 1/4 cup Carrots, julienne cut

  • 3 oz Atsuage tofu

  • 5 pieces Inari age

  • 1 tbsp Garlic, minced

  • 1/4 cup White parts of green onion, minced

  • 2 tbsp Green parts of green onion, chopped

Dry seasoning mix:

Wet mix: 

  • 1/2 tbsp Sake

  • 1/2 tbsp White sugar

  • 1/2 tbsp Mirin

  • 2 tbsp Shoyu

Oil:

  • 2 tbsp Neutral cooking oil

  • 1/2 tbsp Sesame oil (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat 3 cups of water to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and pour the water into a midsize bowl. Add 8-10 dried shiitake mushrooms into the bowl of hot water. Cover the the bowl and let the mushrooms rehydrate for 30 minutes to an hour.

  2. Remove the rehydrated mushrooms and be sure to gently squeeze the mushrooms over the bowl to remove any excess liquid.

  3. Add 1 cup of water and an 8 inch piece of Rishiri kombu to a pot. I like to cut my kombu into 3 pieces to ensure that it is all submerged under the water. Place the pot on your stove under medium heat until the water is about to boil. Then remove the pot from the heat and let the kombu rest in the warm water for 30 minutes to an hour.

  4. Remove the pieces of kombu and add the shiitake liquid to the pot. Whisk the two liquids to create the dashi.

  5. Rinse 1 & 1/2 cups of uncooked rice several times to remove excess starch. In a rice cooker, add the rinsed rice and 1 & 1/2 cups of vegan dashi. Cook the rice in a rice cooker.

  6. Prep the seaweed, vegetables and plant-based protein by julienne carrots, rehydrating the hijiki seaweed in a bowl with cold water for thirty minutes, removing the roots from the green onion, mince the white parts, cut the green parts into thin rounds, mince the garlic, and cut the atsuage tofu and inari age into thin strips.

  7. In a hot wok, add 1 tbsp of neutral cooking oil and add the hijiki seaweed, the vegetables, and plant-based protein. Stir-fry the ingredients for about 3-5 minutes and then place them in a bowl and set aside for later.

  8. In the same hot wok, add 1 tbsp of neutral cooking oil and add two cups of the cooked rice. Break apart the clumps of cooked rice so that it is evenly distributed among the base of the wok. Stir-fry for about two minutes.

  9. Add the hijiki seaweed, vegetables, and plant-based protein back into the wok and mix it evenly with the rice. Add the dry seasoning mix and mix all the ingredients again. Stir-fry for an additional 2 minutes.

  10. Move the ingredients to one side of the wok and add the wet mix to the opposite side. Wait until the wet mix starts to bubble and then mix evenly with the rest of the ingredients. Stir-fry for an additional 3 -5 minutes. If you choose to add sesame oil, add it to the wok during the last minute of cooking. Serve the hijiki fried rice in a bowl and add green onion rounds to the top as a garnish.