A really hearty vegan Tom Yum Fried Rice packed sweet, savoury, sour, and spicy notes. This fried rice recipe is easily adjustable to your taste and is a great way to pack in vegetables or protein of your choice.
This recipe is inspired by my love for Tom Yum Soup, which is Thai Hot and Sour Soup that I love to make at home.
INGREDIENTS FOR THIS FRIED RICE
Here i have some chopped onions, minced garlic, bell peppers, chopped chili (optional), and some tomatoes.
LEFTOVER RICE
The best kind of rice for fried rice, is leftover cooked & cooled rice! This is day old rice that I cooked the day prior and just stored in the fridge. If you’re using freshly cooked rice, you can leave this to cool in front of a fan. You don’t want a mushy fried rice–you’ll want to see those whole grains.
PROTEIN OF CHOICE
I used fresh oyster mushrooms and extra firm tofu (that I sliced into cubes and actually baked until light brown. You can opt to just pan-fry these later on!)
TO SEASON THE FRIED RICE
Tom Yum Paste, salt, pepper, and sugar (I used coconut sugar) help create an amazing blend of sweet, savoury, and a little tanginess.
AN ALTERNATIVE TO TOM YUM PASTE: If you don’t have tom yum paste, you can use Nam Prik Pao, or Thai Chili Paste, and adjust the seasoning to your taste–you will most probably need to add more sugar and even some more lime juice since Tom Yum Paste already has that sweetness and tang from the kaffir lime leaves.
IMPORTANT: Make sure your paste doesn’t contain any shrimp/fish!
Vegan Fish Sauce
I also added some of my homemade vegan fish sauce. You can also just season the fried rice with more salt, sugar, and tom yum paste (to taste).
COOKING THE TOM YUM FRIED RICE
Heat a large pan or wok over medium high heat.
Add in the oil. Once hot, pan-fry the tofu and mushrooms until cooked. Season with a bit of salt.
- Once the tofu and mushrooms are cooked, removed from the pan and then set aside.
- Add more oil to the pan.
- Saute the onion, garlic, and chili (if using) over medium high heat for 1 minute.
Add in the bell pepper and sauté as well, until tender.
Move the vegetables to the side and then stir-fry the tom yum paste until aromatic. Mix everything together.
Add in the rice. Stir-fry over medium high heat and mix until the rice is well coated into the tom yum paste.
Add back in the protein that you set aside earlier.
Turn up the heat to high then add in the tomatoes. I like to add the tomatoes last so they don’t release their liquid as much.
SEASON THE FRIED RICE
Season the rice with some vegan fish sauce, salt, pepper, and some sugar.
Feel free to adjust the taste according to your preference. This will also depend on your tom yum pasta on whether you want it sweeter or a bit more on the sour side.
SQUEEZE OF LIME JUICE
Serve your fried rice hot and finish off with some lime juice.
Garnish with some cilantro and chopped scallions, if desired. Enjoy!
You’ll find the full recipe below!
You might enjoy these vegan recipes:
- Cha Gio Chay (Vietnamese Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls)
- Thai Tom Yum Soup
- Japanese Chahan or Fried Rice
- Chinese Sweet and Sour “Pork”
- Crispy Wontons
- Vegetable Dumplings
Vegan Tom Yum Fried Rice
Ingredients
Rice
- 5 cups cooked and cooled rice , leftover is the best! I used medium grain white rice
Protein
- 1-2 tbsp neutral oil
- 200 g extra firm tofu see notes
- 100 g fresh mushrooms I used oyster mushrooms
- Salt to season
Fried Rice
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 small red onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Thai or bird’s eye chili sliced (optional for heat)
- 1/2 small red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1/2 small green bell pepper seeded and diced
- 4 tbsp Tom Yum Paste (make sure it doesn't contain any fish/shrimp), see notes for sub
- 3 small tomatoes sliced into chunks/diced
To Season
- 2 tbsp vegan fish sauce see homemade recipe here
- Salt to taste
- Ground black pepper to taste
- coconut sugar or palm sugar, to taste
To Serve
- Fresh lime juice
- Chopped cilantro
- Chopped scallions or spring onions
Instructions
- For the rice, carefully separate these if there are any large chunks.
- Heat a large pan or wok over medium high heat. Add in the oil. Once hot, pan-fry the tofu and mushrooms until cooked. Season with a bit of salt.
- Once the tofu and mushrooms are cooked, removed from the pan and then set aside.
Fried Rice
- Add more oil to the pan. Saute the onion, garlic, and chili (if using) over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add in the bell pepper and sauté as well, until tender. Move the vegetables to the side and then stir-fry the tom yum paste until aromatic. Mix everything together.
- Add in the rice. Stir-fry over medium high heat and mix until the rice is well coated into the tom yum paste.
- Add back in the protein that you set aside earlier.
- Turn up the heat to high and leave the rice to cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add in the tomatoes. I like to add the tomatoes last so they don’t release their liquid as much.
- Season the rice with some vegan fish sauce, salt, pepper, and some sugar. Feel free to adjust the taste according to your preference. This will also depend on your tom yum paste on whether you want it sweeter or a bit more on the sour side.
- Serve your fried rice hot and finish off with some lime juice, cilantro, and chopped scallions/spring onions. Enjoy!!
WATCH Video
Notes
TOFU
- For the tofu, I actually quickly baked mine so they’re firmer when stir-fried. You can also just directly pan-fry these on the pan before mixing into the fried rice.
- Feel free to use other protein of choice. 🙂
AN ALTERNATIVE TO TOM YUM PASTE
- If you don’t have tom yum paste, you can use Nam Prik Pao, or Thai Chili Paste, and adjust the seasoning to your taste–you will most probably need to add more sugar and even some more lime juice since Tom Yum Paste already has that sweetness and tang from the kaffir lime leaves.
- Make sure it has no shrimp/fish!
NUTRITIONAL INFO
You can pin these images:
