Sometimes you just want something simple for dinner – an easy and quick dish like stir fried rice with vegetables and cashews. Whenever I have cold, left over rice I make this recipe. This is a crunchy, vegetable packed dish that’s filling but still light. There are no fancy sauces – just a little soy sauce. Cashews are added at the end to give the dish a boost of protein.
This dish is based around cold, left over rice. I’ve added snow peas, red bell peppers, mushrooms, scallions and baby bok choy. All the vegetables are sliced thinly so they cook quickly over high heat. High heat is an important factor in this dish. You want the vegetables to be seared but still fresh and crunchy.
Basmati rice is the way to go with this dish. It has a lovely nutty taste that compliments the cashews and veggies.
Let’s talk about cooking rice for a bit. I always see people comment on food sites that they have a hard time cooking rice – it is either undercooked or burned. To cook rice you want a 1:2 formula of rice to water. So 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water. Put the rice and the water in a tall sided sauce pan (use a tall sided sauce pan to prevent the rice from boiling over). Bring the water to a boil and quickly, as soon as it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Cover the sauce pan with a lid. Set the timer for 17 minutes and let the rice cook. Do not lift the lid off to check on the rice – just let it be until the timer goes off. Then remove the pan from the burner. Do not lift off the pan lid (even to peek). Just let the cooked rice sit (with the lid on) for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes (set the timer) carefully lift the lid off – lift it off levelly – otherwise water/condensation on the bottom of the lid will drip onto the rice. Fluff the rice and you’re done. You should get perfect rice every time.
A lot of people have a rice cooker – and if you do and like the results then please ignore the notes above. I don’t have a rice cooker and the method above always works for me. So give it a try and let me know what you think.
A couple of notes:
Stir fries are all about cooking vegetables quickly over high heat. You are searing the vegetables in order to lock in flavor. In order for them to cook quickly, they need to be cut into small slices or dices – you want all the vegetables to be cut roughly the same size so they cook quickly and evenly. Have all the vegetables sliced and ready to go before you put the wok/skillet over the flame. You want to have everything prepped and ready to toss into the pan.
The pan that you cook in is very important for this dish. It needs to be big enough to fit all the ingredients and have enough room so that you can stir them over high heat. If you have a wok then great. If not, you want to use a really large skillet. I tend to shy away from non-stick pans when stir frying since you’re not supposed to use non-stick pans with really high heat.
If you can’t find baby bok choy, then celery is a great alternative.
PrintStir Fried Rice with Vegetables and Cashews
A quick and easy stir fry with vegetables, rice and cashews.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 cups of cold, cooked basmati rice.
- 8 white mushrooms – thinly sliced.
- 1 small red bell pepper – finely diced.
- 4 thin scallions – thinly sliced.
- 12 snow peas – thinly sliced.
- 2 baby bok choys – thinly sliced.
- 2 gloves of garlic – minced.
- 1/2 cup of halved cashews.
- 2 tbs olive oil.
- 8 twists of black pepper.
- 2 tbs light soy sauce.
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat.
- Have all your veggies chopped and ready to add to the pan.
- Add 1 tbs olive oil to the pan over high heat.
- Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes. Don’t stir for the 2 minutes so mushrooms begin to brown. After 2 minutes, stir mushrooms continually until they are evenly brown.
- Add scallions, red bell peppers and snow peas to mushrooms and stir over high heat until they begin to brown – about one to two minutes.
- Add last tbs of olive oil to the veggie mixture.
- Add bok choy, minced garlic and black pepper to the skillet with veggies and stir continually for 2 minutes over high heat.
- Add rice and stir until rice is warmed through about a minute or so.
- Add soy sauce and cashews. Stir for 1 minute until all ingredients are combined and serve.
Kavitha
Hi Geraldine!
Awesome recipes and so simple! I am always hesitant to try new stuffs off the internet because of all the complicated ingredients but I have tried 4/5 recipes of yours already in 2-3 days! Loved this one and one question – what can i add for a spice here?
Geraldine
Hi Kavitha – Yes, you can add any spices that you like – red pepper flakes would be good or maybe ginger. Glad you’re enjoying so many of the recipes!
Evi @ greenevi
Looks amazingly tasty!
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Evi!
Sheila
Loved this dish, made soo much food. Seemed almost a shame to cook those lovely sliced and diced vegetables.
Geraldine
Hi Mom – You’ll have leftovers for tomorrow!
Raquel @ My California Roots
This looks so good, Geraldine! I love love fried rice- especially when it’s homemade! Cooking rice has always come easy to me, but maybe I’m just lucky 😉
Geraldine
Thanks, Raquel. I’m a big fan of fried rice, too – love that you can add whatever you have in the fridge crisper! Have a great day.
Katie (The Muffin Myth)
Such a great way to use up leftover rice for a quick and easy meal! I also like to use leftover quinoa or brown rice in stir fries if I’ve got it lying around. Usually when I cook rice I use a 1:1.5 or 1:1.75 ration rather than 1:2 as I find 1:2 I end up with mushier rice. I guess lots of people have a tried and true rice technique. Thanks for a great recipe, time to find some cashews!
Geraldine
Hi Katie – I haven’t tried using a smaller ratio of water when cooking rice – maybe next time I’ll try it. My rice hasn’t had any mushy problems – but I usually use basmati rice so I don’t know if that has something to do with it. Have a good one!
Arpita@ The Gastronomic Bong
I love love rice dishes… this looks super delicious.. love that you added cashews in this. . so good!! 🙂
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Arpita. Have a great day!
Julia | Orchard Street Kitchen
This looks great, Geraldine! I love adding cashews to Asian recipes, too – they are so sweet and versatile. I bet this would be great for lunch at work the next day!
Geraldine
Thanks, Julia. You’re right – cashews do work really well in Asian recipes!
Traci | Vanilla And Bean
I love fried rice! This is a beautiful version of it, Geraldine! The cashews and bok choy are delicious additions and give this dish a nice texture. Stunning photos, too! Thank you, Geraldine!
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Traci – love having a little left over rice because you know the next day you can make fried rice! Have a good one.
Olivia
I love using leftover rice to make fried rice! As the good Brazilian that I am, I always have rice in my fridge. In Brazil we cook rice differently. We add a Tbsp or two of olive oil to the pan, then we sauté an onion and some garlic. We then fry the dry rice in it and then add boiling water (the 1/2 proportion) and let it cook until all the water is gone. We then proceed to eat rice with everything, even with things that americans think its weird, like mashed potatoes! lol Anyway, beautiful pictures! 🙂 Pinning to try this later!
Geraldine
Hi Olivia – I make rice your way as well sometimes but I usually add broth instead of water – definitely using onion and garlic and sautéing the rice gives it a lot of flavor. I’ve never tried rice with potatoes!! Have a great one!
Rachel @ Bakerita
This looks delicious and I love the cashews – too yummy! Pinned!
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Rachel – I love cashews too!
Crystal | Apples & Sparkle
I love fried rice! And I especially love your recipe with the addition of cashews! So good!
Geraldine
Hi Crystal – I love fried rice too – so easy and healthy. Have a good one!