Stir-Fried Brown Rice With Red Chard and Carrots

Stir-Fried Brown Rice With Red Chard and Carrots
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
About 15 minutes
Rating
4(203)
Notes
Read community notes

A lush bunch of red Swiss chard that I got at the farmers’ market was the inspiration for this stir-fry. The stems, which stay nice and crunchy, are an important ingredient in the stir-fry, so look for chard with nice wide ribs.

Featured in: Stir-Fried Brown Rice With Red Chard and Carrots

Learn: How to Make Rice

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
  • Print Options


Advertisement


Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1generous bunch of red chard (1 to 1¼ pounds), stemmed and washed well in 2 changes of water (retain the stems)
  • 2 to 3teaspoons minced garlic (to taste)
  • 2 to 3teaspoons minced fresh ginger (to taste)
  • 2eggs
  • Salt to taste
  • 2teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons peanut, canola, rice bran or grape seed oil
  • 1medium carrot, cut in 2-inch julienne
  • 1bunch scallions, sliced, dark green parts separated
  • 4cups cooked brown rice, either chilled or at room temperature
  • 1 to 2tablespoons soy sauce (to taste)
  • ¼teaspoon ground pepper
  • ½cup chopped cilantro
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

331 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 12 grams protein; 941 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Dice the thick part of the red chard stems (discard the stringier, tapering part of the stems); you should have 1 to 1½ cups diced stems. Stack leaves and cut in slivers, or coarsely chop. You should have about 8 cups (the leaves will lose a lot of volume when they wilt in the stir-fry).

  2. Step 2

    Combine garlic and ginger in a small bowl or ramekin and place near your wok. Beat eggs in a bowl and season with a pinch of salt. Prepare the other ingredients and place in separate bowls within arm’s reach of your wok.

  3. Step 3

    Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or a 12-inch skillet over high heat until a drop of water evaporates within a second or two when added to the pan. Swirl in 2 teaspoons of oil by adding it to the sides of the wok and swirling the wok. Make sure that the bottom of the wok or pan is coated with oil and add eggs, swirling the wok or pan so that the eggs form a thin pancake. Cook 30 – 60 seconds, until set. Using a spatula, turn pancake over and cook for 5 to 10 more seconds, until thoroughly set, then transfer to a plate or cutting board and quickly cut into strips, using the edge of your spatula or a knife.

  4. Step 4

    Swirl in remaining oil and add garlic and ginger. Stir-fry no more than 10 seconds and add chard stems and carrots. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, until crisp-tender, and add light part of the scallions and chard leaves. Stir-fry until leaves wilt, 1 to 2 minutes, and add rice. Stir-fry, scooping up the rice with your spatula then pressing it into the hot wok or pan and scooping it up again, for about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, dark green part of the scallions, eggs and cilantro, stir-fry for about 30 seconds, remove from heat and serve.

Tip
  • Cooked rice will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. The stir-fry is a last-minute dish but the ingredients can be prepped hours ahead and refrigerated, and the leftovers are delicious; they will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator.

Ratings

4 out of 5
203 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

I found that a sprinkling of coarse sea salt at the end turned this from an okay meal into a delicious one. I also upped the garlic and added a habanero pepper for extra flavor.

I had red chard in the refrigerator, so this was the perfect thing to make as a side for my meat-eating husband and as a main dish for vegetarian me. I confess I made it a much simpler way, without carrots, although I'm sure they would have been fine, and simply adding the egg to the bare center of the pan (after cooking rice, onion, garlic, ginger, and chard stems), and swirling the egg into the rice as it set. Last step was the chard leaves and soy sauce. Very good!

Wow, where's all that sodium coming from? Even if you use 2 T of regular soy sauce, you split it 4 ways, if shouldn't be over 400 mg. The person who did the nutritional analysis must be pretty liberal with their salt shaker. I used 1 T of reduced sodium soy & no extra salt & that brought it from 1146 mg of Na to around 130 mg of Na/serving. Add red pepper flakes place of salt. It was delicious.

I found a sprinkling of coarse sea salt at the end turned this dish from okay to delicious. I also upped the garlic and added a habanero for extra flavor.

Loved this recipe, although I'm glad I cut it in half to fit my wok. I haven't done much wok cooking, but the fun of the egg strips and crunchy chard stems really converted me to try more stir-fries! 5 stars!!

Made as written. I need to perfect my fried rice technique, but the ingredients and flavors here are really good!

Love the use of the chard stems and scallion bulbs! The 15 minute cooking time must refer to the actual cooking and not the prep. Plan on 45 minutes or so to prep and cook the rice.

I think you could almost double the ginger, also use some sesame oil to replace some of the oil for more flavor.

Never cooked with chard ever. This was an unusual, but delicious recipe. I skipped cilantro. Maybe next time but it was fine without.

Cilantro is disgusting. What's a good substitute?

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly and thought the dish needed some acid so I squeezed a large lemon wedge on top at the end and it definitely took the dish to the next level and tasted delicious - no longer a sort of flat umami bomb.

excellent recipe for my father. he has kidney failure and cannot eat food with very much flavor.

I topped it with chopped peanuts which added a nice bit of crunch and salt.

This made me sad. All that endless washing, patting dry and chopping, and it tasted just ok.

This recipe works pretty, and the rice did not get gloppy. I think chilling the rice in the refrigerator really helps. I did not add any salt beyond what was in the low-sodium soy sauce, and it tasted fine.

A bit bland and more raw than crunchy- not again

Excellent veggie stir-fry. This was our first time having chard & even my picky husband loved it. He thought he'd end up with last night's Carne Asada. Only change I made was to halve all the ingredients & add a bit of chili oil & sesame oil to the peanut oil.I was able to cook this in 10 minutes, since I had all the ingredients in set dishes in the order for adding them. It was all in the prep which I do at my leisure. I will definitely prepare this again.

Outstanding recipe. I would errr on the side of cooking the chard stems larger, they lost the crunchiness this recipe needs.

Whoops. those are egg strips. My bad.

Why does it look like there are noodles on top of this dish? Reviewed the recipe and can't figure it out? Can anyone help me here?
Clueless in Seattle

Private notes are only visible to you.

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.