I’m jet lagged from my trip to Greece, so I made one of my old favorites to share again! It’s comforting and packed with nutrients, which is just what I need right now. In fact, I enjoy this recipe so much that it inspired a recipe in my cookbook, the colorful coconut fried rice with edamame on page 182. If you haven’t tried that one yet, you’ve really missed out.
This dish is a relatively quick weeknight meal and a fun alternative to my go-to extra vegetable fried rice. This recipe has some Thai flavors, including sriracha, lime and cilantro. I added coconut flakes, too. The big, toasted coconut flakes are savory and remind me of bacon. We all know that bacon and eggs belong together, so today, I present to you a healthier, vegetarian option. For some reason, when I shared this recipe four years ago, I called it a stir-fry. It’s fried rice, not a stir fry! This is a stir fry. Moving on.
Feel free to throw in any thinly sliced vegetables that you might have in the fridge, too. Red bell pepper is lovely, as are chopped Brussels sprouts. I bet thinly sliced carrots would be great, too. I found the base recipe for this stir fry in an awesome cookbook that landed on my doorstep, courtesy of a PR rep. It is appropriately titled, Brassicas: Cooking the World’s Healthiest Vegetables. Brassicas are the cruciferous family of vegetables that include kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and other less trendy ingredients, like bok choy and turnips. Did you know that arugula is a brassica? That was news to me. Brassicas help prevent cancer, reduce inflammation and promote liver detoxification, so needless to say, they are a worthy (and delicious) addition to your plate.
The book’s original recipe for spicy kale fried rice was really tasty, but I couldn’t help adding some complementary flavors. While I was savoring my first test run, I remembered how great lime and cilantro go with kale in my burritos. Then I recalled Heidi Swanson’s amazing kale and coconut flake salad. I added all of the above to my second try and loved it even more. Hope you’ll take my word for it and try it! Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments.
Watch How to Make Spicy Kale and Coconut Fried Rice
