We’ve harvested quite a few zucchinis from our garden by now, and thoroughly enjoyed each one. I’m LOVING the fact that I can go out into the back yard and pluck dinner off of a plant we’ve nurtured since it was a seedling.
The first garden-zucchini-laden meal we’ve had this summer was a vegetable fried rice. I read a bunch of different techniques for making fried rice online, watched some videos, and branched off with my own mix of methods.
First though, Let me show you my gorgeous zucchini.
Such creamy dense flesh…
Now, for the fried rice, you need some leftover white rice… it needs to be leftover, evidently, because hot just-cooked rice is too moist or something, and your fried rice will turn out mushy and gross.
But we’re going to start by cooking/heating the veggies over medium high heat. I used my zucchini, chopped up, a can of mung bean sprouts (rinsed and drained), a can of bamboo (also rinsed and drained), and baby corn (rinsed and drained as well).
Stir fry them in a couple tablespoons of veggie oil. Then, sprinkle in some oyster sauce and soy sauce. Don’t smell/taste the oyster sauce though… it’ll make you not want to use it, but if you want “authentic” flavor, you need to (and it’ll taste good once everything is finished.)
Pour in some beaten eggs (I used three).
And stir with a spatula, moving constantly, until the egg is cooked.
Now add in your rice, lower the heat to medium or medium-low, and stir until heated through. Add more soy sauce and oyster sauce, too.
Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds, and you’re done!
Yum! We enjoyed it with Chinese chopsticks I bought in TaiZhou (Shanghai shops were full of highly decorated pointy Japanese chopsticks for the tourists. hehe).
We had extra rice, so the next day for lunch, I whipped up another version, this time using a peas-carrots-greenbeans-corn frozen veggie mix. Also very tasty.
The next zucchini we harvested wasn’t cooked at all… we enjoyed it raw, on a veggie platter with carrots, radishes, and blanched asparagus.
This was the perfect dinner for munching while watching Lost. We’re in the middle of the third season now, and when a new DVD comes in our mailbox, we look at each other and say, “Are you curious?” “Yes, I’m curious.” “Me too.” and then we go watch… we can’t help it! Please, no spoilers.
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
Those veggie look great! Yummy rice!!
I didn’t try to grow zucchini this year. Maybe next year!
Note to self: grow zucchini next year! This looks wonderful. I’m a bit jealous. Only grew tomatoes & sinflowers this year.
Maybe that’s the ticket to making it taste right!
I know mine never tasted “right” before I used oyster sauce either… it sounds SO GROSS. When my Thai friend pulled it out, I was like, “er, is that like… juice squeezed out of oysters?” I don’t even think there’s actual oyster “juice” in it at all though. It’s “oyster flavored” sauce so that makes me feel a little better.
It DOES taste better when it’s cooked in the dish. I probably used 2T of oyster sauce and 1T of soy sauce in the veggie stage, and then when I added the rice, I sprinkled more soy sauce and oozed some more oyster sauce on it… it’s about the consistency of molasses.
I’m glad you said that about the oyster sauce. I can never get my fried rice to taste right, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to use oyster sauce, either. So it tastes better than it smells when it’s in the dish?