This is the fried rice version of traditional Vietnamese red rice, a plain tomato rice made by steaming in a pot. I added ham, peas and egg to turn it into a quick and easy meal. Frying up the tomato rice with garlic adds extra flavour which is on point!
Red Vietnamese Fried Rice
Fried rice always makes for a great quick meal if you can incorporate enough “stuff” into it to fill it out from a nutrition perspective so you can justify calling it “dinner” rather than just a side dish. Today we’re turning to frozen peas, pre-chopped ham and egg for literal no-effort, no-prep add-ins to make this tasty dish I’ve called Red Vietnamese Fried Rice.
In case I wasn’t clear about it in the opening, this is not an authentic Vietnamese recipe! At least, not to my knowledge. It is based on a traditional Vietnamese dish, Red Rice, which is a tomato-flavoured rice served with meats and other mains, somewhat like Mexican Red Rice. I have always loved the flavour but I wanted to turn Vietnamese Red Rice into a more substantial, can-be-a-standalone meal. So I thought I’d spin it into a fried rice dish, and here it is!
What you need
Here’s what you need to make this quick meal.
Day-old cooked rice – Cooked rice refrigerated overnight or frozen cooked rice (thawed) is best for all fried rice recipes to get the the right texture. Freshly cooked rice is too moist and your fried rice will clump and become sticky. The taste is fine, but the texture is not ideal! Tip of the day: I always have bags of frozen cooked rice in the freezer for this purpose. I get the jitters if I’m out!
If it’s an emergency and you’re all out of day-old cooked rice (it happens): Cook rice of choice, spread out on a tray to rapid cool on counter. Then refrigerate for as long as you can until cooled.
Rice type: I’ve used jasmine rice which is popular in Vietnamese cooking. However, any plain cooked rice can be used (white, brown, basmati).
Tomato paste – For the tomato flavour and red colour.
Ham (or bacon) – I use pre-chopped ham bits for convenience (being that this is a quick meal) and also because I like that they are chunkier than chopped sliced deli ham.
Fish sauce – The soy sauce of Vietnam! It has a more complex, deep flavour than soy sauce. It smells pungent on its own but when cooked out what remains is a delicious and incomparable savoury flavour. Having said that, I did find that using just fish sauce for the seasoning was a bit fishy even for my taste so I’ve used a combination of half fish sauce, half soy sauce.
Soy sauce – As mentioned above, I found using a combination of fish sauce and soy sauce works best for this dish. Use light soy sauce or all-purpose soy sauce, not dark soy sauce, which is too intense and will overwhelm the dish. More on different soy sauces and when to use which here.
Butter – My fat of choice; more flavour than using plain ol’ boring oil! If you’re thinking, “butter isn’t an authentic ingredient in Asian cooking!!!”, don’t forget Vietnam was once colonised by France, the land of bread and butter! (Banh Mi is another tasty legacy of the French occupation)
Garlic – I doubt you’ll ever see a fried rice recipe on my website that doesn’t include garlic!
Eggs – To get some extra protein into this dish, and because soft golden curds of scrambled egg littered through red rice both looks and tastes great.
Frozen peas – Some veg and colour! Feel free to substitute with any chopped vegetables you like (eg. carrot, corn, zucchini) or throw in a handful of quick-cooking leafy greens (baby spinach, kale, cabbage).
How to make Red Vietnamese Fried Rice
Use a nice big pan to give yourself plenty of space for tossing the rice with abandon so you can get nice caramelisation on the rice. It also makes it easier to shove the rice to one side to make room for scrambling the eggs in the pan without interference.
Aromatics and ham – Melt the butter and start by sautéing the garlic for just 10 seconds to flavour the butter, but don’t let the garlic go golden yet. Next, add the ham and cook for 30 seconds. Now add the peas (still frozen is fine) and cook for another 30 seconds. By this time, the garlic should have turned almost golden and the ham will also be on its way to getting some nice colour on it.
Rice and tomato – Next add the tomato paste and rice. Cook them for 2 minutes to cook out the raw flavour from the tomato paste. Meanwhile your ham will have nicely bronzed.
Seasonings – Add the fish sauce, soy and sugar and cook for a further 1 minute until the rice starts to caramelise. Don’t shortcut this step – caramelisation = extra flavour!
Scramble eggs – Scrape the rice to one side of the pan. Melt a bit of extra butter (literally just 1 teaspoon is enough) in the cleared space, pour in the eggs and scramble them. With the heat of the pan this will take just 1 minute or so.
Toss the cooked eggs through the rice.
Done! That’s it, you’re done. Time to eat!
Serve as a meal – or a side
I’ve been making this for myself as a quick lunch but it would also make a great side for a Vietnamese or Asian spread. Sometimes I also throw in a handful of bean sprouts and finely sliced cabbage to freshen things and kick up the vegetable quotient of my bowl. It’s a pretty flexible dish in this regard, though you don’t want to go overboard lest you dilute the flavours. Because we can’t have that!
I hope you give it a go. Let me know what you think if you do! And don’t forget my tip of the day: keep bags of cooked plain rice in your freezer. It’s super handy to have rice on cue to serve with all your stir fries or (more relevantly to today’s recipe) to make a quick fried rice on demand, whether this Vietnamese fried rice or any of my other ones! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Red Vietnamese Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1/2 cup diced ham (I use pre-chopped, Note 1)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 1/2 cups day-old cooked jasmine rice (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp fish sauce (Note 3)
- 2 tsp soy sauce (all purpose or light, not dark soy, Note 4)
- 1/4 tsp white sugar
- 2 eggs , whisked
Instructions
- Melt most of the butter in a large non-stick skillet over high heat (save a dab for scrambling eggs).
- Add garlic, cook for 10 seconds.
- Add ham, stir for 30 seconds.
- Add peas, stir for 30 seconds.
- Rice and tomato paste – Add rice and tomato paste, cook for 2 minutes.
- Sauces – Add fish sauce, soy and sugar, cook 1 minute to get a bit of nice caramelisation on the tomatoey rice.
- Scramble eggs – Push rice to one side of the pan. In the cleared space, melt reserved butter then pour in the egg and scramble until just set.
- Serve – Toss cooked egg through the rice. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Love fried rice? Me too!
Life of Dozer
When my foot warmer fell asleep on my feet warmers!
Fish sauce…….not sure what to buy, can you give me a brand to buy? I go to walmart for all my sauces as they carry most anything. Thanks
I’m assuming you are in the US. I use either Kame or Thai Kitchen as these seem to be similar in taste. If you buy a different brand, use half the amount in the recipe to start, some of the brands are stronger than others and can ruin the dish. You can always add more.
How do you freeze the rice where it doesn’t come out mushy and all broken up or dry?
Dry is what you want for fried rice!! Follow the links in the recipe for how I cook rice, and it won’t be mushy OR broken 🙂 N x
Thanks for the heads I’ll try it.
Back in the 1970s I was a food and wine waiter at a usually busy Italian restaurant in Hobart. Occasionally we’d have a quiet night when we’d cook for each other and when I cooked this very dish it was declared a winner by everyone on staff. As Nagi writes, you can vary the ingredients with what you have to hand: canned salmon instead of ham for example. The essential ingredient is the fish sauce. It’s stinky when first added, but the end result isn’t; it’s delicious! There have been long periods in my life when I was “too busy to cook”, but I managed to cook some variant of this dish more than once a week. You can sub Maggi for soy sauce, but the essential ingredients are rice and Vietnamese fish sauce.
Dead right Jonathan! You know your stuff 🙂 N x
great meal for a quick dinner when running short of time. just love Vietnamese food.
ME TOO Barbara, me too 🙂 N x
Do you think this would work with just soy sauce? Fish sauce is the only ingredient I don’t have on hand.
Absolutely Kathleen, just read the recipe notes 🙂 N x
Made it tonight. Perfect.
YAY! So glad you loved it Sandra! N x
I Love that you have a “Jump to Dozer” feature!!
Also, I’m wondering if your fabulous Rogan Josh recipe can be frozen?
Sara is correct! Freezing notes are in the recipe notes 🙂 N x
Nagi mentions in the recipe notes that the rogan josh can be frozen for up to 3 months, hope that helps 👍
Thanks very much, SaraB! (Duh, I didn’t think to go read the recipe online. I use a printed-out form when I make it.)
You’re very welcome 👍
I cooked up the Mex red rice of yours for the family a few years back Nagi.
So delicious, that the rest of the mob didn’t get a look in 😵💫
I’ll try this Viet one out to compare. Hope the rest of the family have some as well.
If you liked the Mexican Red Rice you’ll love this one! Hope you get a chance to give it a go 🙂 N x
Nagi, I thought there were some bacterial issues around freezing rice? Do you have any thoughts on this?
Hi Miranda! Those concerns come about if you are cooking large vats of rice because it takes hours for it to cool during which time bacteria can taint. For home cooks, even multiple batches of rice are fine. They will cool fast enough such that the temperature is too low for bacteria to grow. There are freezing notes in each of the rice recipes I’ve linked to the recipe! N x
I have frozen cooked rice for years as has my mother and never been a problem. I wrap it really tight in a roll with gladwrap then heat in microwave.
Exactly what my Japanese grandmother did 🙂 N x
Nagi my mother who taught me this way of freezing rice is Japanese and probably about the same age as your grandmother 😍
Yes, you can freeze cooked rice if you take the necessary steps to safe guard against bacterial growth. It’s at temps between 4C to 48 C that the toxins are produced, which is why rapid cooling by spreading it on a tray and getting it into the refrigerator or freezer is so important as both of these methods inhibit growth. If you were to make rice for dinner and left it sit awhile at room temperature before serving, you run the risk of bacterial growth and getting sick so it important to cook and eat or cook, rapid cool, and refrigerate or freeze.
Have not made this yet, but loved your 1 pot sausage- Risotto and your beef and mushroom stir fry
Mmmm YES! I love those too! Hope you get a chance to try this one too Nell – N x
Yes methinks a numbat of SE Asian countries prepare a dish similar perchance for the ‘second; meal of the day. As I do not use processed meats or cheeses for my health’s sake leftovers from previous meat meals probably fill in for ham . . . fried rice always being enjoyable . . . 🙂 !!!
Right on Eha! As always – N x
I learnt this dish from a chap who was raised in Sri Lanka and was told by a Singaporean that it made him feel at home. A young Japanese told me it was the first time he enjoyed a meal after 3 months in Australia.
Love your recipes and tips. Must get cook book when it comes out. How do you make NON MELTING ICING SUGAR?
Can’t get it in Perth. Only sold to catering places. My only contact place has closed.
I need to find this out myself!!!
I didn’t know about the tip to freeze cooked rice, so you’ll always have it available😃. One question: do I use it frozen or should I defrost it?
Defrost! Takes 1 minute in the microwave 🙂 N x
I have plane white rice in my freezer at all times. Before I use it I let deforst or microwave it until it’s defrosted but not hot to use in recipes. Great time saver and taste the same to me.
Cooling rice and re-heating the next day also changes the starch in rice to resistant starch which has much less of an effect on blood sugar, especially important for diabetics. I might as well eat sugar as rice. But cooled and reheated rice doesn’t have that effect. You can also do this with potatoes, pasta, starchy veggies like corn. Has made a tremendous difference in my life.
Thank you very much Pat C. Back when I was 1st diagnosed with diabetes, I remember hearing about something like this. Thanks for this very important message for diabetics. (I ended up with the D word due to Pancreatic Cancer and now only having a partial pancreas). Thank you again.
Thank you!.