Brussels Sprouts Vegan Fried Rice

Today I’m sharing Brussels Sprouts Vegan Fried Rice from the 10th anniversary edition of Vegan with a Vengeance. This vegan & gluten-free dish can be served on its own as a main dish or as a side.

In the same way that I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ takes me back to my honeymoon or Tubthumping conjures memories of my early days as an actress working nights as a cater waiter, cookbooks have a transportive quality.

They whisk me away to a space in time when I was cooking particular dishes, and those dishes were the background to my every day life.

Vegan with a Vengeance

One of the cookbooks that rockets me back to my early days learning the ropes of a vegan kitchen is Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Along with Veganomicon, they were my guides in discovering a whole new way of eating.

After many years of heating frozen Trader Joe’s meals and “cooking from scratch” by adding a jar of curry sauce, when I went vegan I learned how to navigate the produce aisle and cook things like kale and collard greens.

(Up until that point, kale was just what I used to decorate the catering buffet line.)

I figured out what it meant to deglaze a pan and why that means more flavor in your dishes. I cooked tofu for the first time and fell in love with tempeh.

(I have since fallen out of love with tempeh, but I still eat it on occasion.)

The scrambled tofu in VWAV was the first scramble I ever made. I remember long Saturday mornings making tofu tossed in nutritional yeast, which was a brand new ingredient to me. I’d have tempeh and white bean sausage patties on the side.

The whole breakfast section of my tattered, 10 year old copy of VWAV is crinkled with signs of use.

It was also in VWAV that I first learned how to make gnocchi from scratch. And I often turned to the tempeh reuben recipe to satisfy my sauerkraut desires.

10th anniversary edition

Well, this month marks my 8th year being vegan. And it’s been 10 years since Vegan with a Vengeance came on the scene.

Since then Isa Chandra Moskowitz has gone on to become the biggest name in vegan cookbooks and the owner of an awesome restaurant in Nebraska.

(I visited Modern Love last year, and I also had the joy of returning last month.)

To celebrate the book’s ten year anniversary, it has been updated with a fierce new cover and lots more pretty color photos by Kate Lewis.

The directions have been simplified and the ingredients have been streamlined.

There are also some new recipes in the book, many of which are taken from the Post Punk Kitchen blog or the dessert trilogy Isa co-wrote with Terry Hope Romero.

I was excited to see my favorite soup ever made the book – Chickpea and Rice Soup with a Little Kale. It’s probably the recipe of Isa’s that I’ve made more than any other. It’s so warming and homey, I eat it all winter long with crusty bread for dunking.

Now that I have it in book form, I can jot all kinds of notes around it with my particular preferences – white beans instead of chickpeas and barley instead of rice.

Since I received the updated version, here are some things I’ve made:

Asparagus season is winding down now, but while it was still going, I made Potato-Asparagus Soup. The soup is nice and springy with blended asparagus and potatoes and a generous handful of fresh dill.

I served it with grilled garlic sourdough.

Like I mentioned earlier, when I first went vegan, kale was new to me, but now I eat it daily and often multiple times a day. Most of the time I massage it with garlicky cashew dressing for a raw salad, or I sauté it with garlic as a side.

This Garlicky Kale with Tahini Dressing dresses up my usual with a creamy tahini and lemon sauce. It was a simple addition that added a lot.

I served it with baked tofu and a baguette.

Brussels Sprouts Vegan Fried Rice

This Brussels Sprout Vegan Fried Rice recipe is packed with flavor and includes fresh cilantro, basil, scallions, garlic, and ginger.

Unlike most vegan fried rice recipes, it is dotted with pine nuts, which is a fun change of pace, and of course, lightly charred Brussels sprouts.

To fill out the meal, I added baked lemon tofu and potstickers.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Da Capo Press have generously offered to share the Brussels Sprout Vegan Fried Rice recipe. You’re definitely going to want to make this one!

Brussels Sprout Vegan Fried Rice

I put Brussels sprouts in everything. Even fried rice is not safe from that little cruciferous flavor bomb! And until someone invents an even more awesome vegetable, I will continue to overuse them. Not that anyone is complaining. This version of fried rice is wonderfully aromatic with the addition of fresh herbs and scallions. And a small handful of pine nuts goes a long way to adding another decadent layer of flavor. You can top the dish with some gingery tofu, or toss in some browned tofu, if you’d like it to be an entrée. Or simply serve in addition to a bigger Thai-inspired spread. Or just be like, “It’s fried rice for dinner/breakfast/elevenses!” and eat the whole darn thing.

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian, Vegan

Keyword: brussels sprouts, fried rice, gluten free, side, vegetable

Prep Time: 14 minutes

Cook Time: 16 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 522kcal

Author: Isa Moskowitz

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons refined coconut oil
• 12 ounces Brussels sprouts trimmed and quartered
• 1 large carrot peeled and sliced into thin half-moons
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro chopped
• 1 cup finely chopped scallion
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 cups cooked and cooled jasmine rice see note below
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari (Use gluten-free tamari for GF option.)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon agave syrup
• Sriracha to serve

Instructions

• Heat a large, heavy-bottomed pan (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat. Sauté the Brussels sprouts and carrots in 1 tablespoon of the oil for about 5 minutes, until the Brussels sprouts are lightly charred. Toss in the pine nuts and cook for 2 minutes, tossing often, until toasted. Transfer everything to a large plate and set aside.
• Lower the heat to medium and add another teaspoon of oil. Sauté the basil, cilantro, scallions, garlic, and ginger for about a minute, until the herbs wilt slightly and everything smells aromatic and wonderful. Then, add the rice, red pepper flakes, and the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil and cook for about 5 minutes, tossing often.
• Add the Brussels mixture back to the pan, and drizzle in the soy sauce, lime juice, and agave. Cook for 3 more minutes or so, until the rice is lightly browned. Taste for salt and adjust, if necessary. Serve with plenty of sriracha!

Notes

The rice has to be cold for this recipe to work correctly, otherwise it will get mushy and sticky. Many supermarkets carry frozen bags of rice for reasonable prices, and you can make this recipe with a standard 20-ounce bag of rice in mind (Whole Foods has frozen jasmine rice, even).

But you can certainly save your pennies and freeze your own ahead of time! Just steam enough to make 4 cups of cooked rice, fluff it, and place in a mesh strainer. Stick the strainer in the fridge to cool completely before freezing—that way, the rice will cook quickly and evenly. Then transfer the rice to a freezer bag and freeze until ready to use.

Always keep a bag at the ready for quick weeknight meals, veggie burgers, what have you. For this recipe, you can just toss the rice into the pan frozen.

Nutrition

Calories: 522kcal | Carbohydrates: 88g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 548mg | Potassium: 645mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 76.5% | Vitamin C: 98% | Calcium: 9.3% | Iron: 17.5%

Tried this recipe?Tag @cadryskitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #cadryskitchen!

Disclosure: This cookbook was sent to me for review.  The thoughts and opinions are totally my own.  Post contains Amazon affiliate links.