Indian Spiced Masala Fried Rice with Turmeric Onion Raita. Use up the leftover rice or grains to make this quick spiced fried rice and serve with a simple warm Golden non dairy yogurt raita that is spiced with turmeric and mustard seeds. Ready in 30 Minutes! Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Indian Recipe
This simple spiced rice works well for weekends or for quick weeknight meals. Use up the leftover rice or grains and the assorted vegetables in the fridge. I serve these with spiced turmeric raita. Raita is a kind of a dip made with yogurt which is salted and spiced with cumin or cayenne. Cucumber, onion, tomato or zucchini can be mixed into the yogurt for a fresh cool dip. For this raita, I added a tempering of mustard seeds and turmeric and thinly sliced onion. It tastes a bit like kadhi and is a warm version that works well in the still chilly weather.
For the Masala rice, chop up the veggies, toss in with spices like garam masala, and smoked paprika, ginger, garlic, and cook until just about done, fold in the rice or other grains, salt, lemon. Serve as a side with dals or curries or with this Golden non dairy yogurt dressing. Add some chickpeas with the veggies for heavier meal or serve with lentil or chickpea patties.
Make this with your favorite spices and let me know in the comments how it worked out!
More 1 pot meals from the blog
- Mushroom Matar Masala
- Bombay Potato and Peas
- Aloo Baingan – Potato Eggplant Curry
- Tofu Matar Masala
- Kolhapuri veggies in sesame coconut sauce
To make your own non dairy yogurt: If using higher fat non dairy milks like soy milk and cashew milk, boil the non dairy milk, cool to warm, add yogurt starter or probiotics and mix in. Cover and let it sit for 8 hours in a warm place. For thinner non dairy milks like almond, you will have to thicken it with a bit of starch and cashews blended in. Then boil, cool and add starter.
If you make this or other recipe from the blog, please do comment and rate the recipe!
Masala Fried Rice with Turmeric Onion Raita
Ingredients
Masala Veggie Rice:
- 3 cups (474 g) of cooked rice white or brown or mixed, preferably basmati rice (1 cup dry rice will make 3 cups cooked)
- 1 tsp organic safflower oil or other neutral oil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) cumin seeds
- 1/2 cup (60 g) chopped red onion or white onion
- 4 cloves of garlic minced or 1 Tbsp paste
- 1 inch ginger minced or 1 Tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) smoked paprika or regular
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne / red chili powder
- 1.5 to 2 cups (150 to 200 g) chopped veggies like cauliflower, green beans, broccoli
- 1/2 cup (64 g) thinly sliced or chopped carrot
- 1 cup (149 g) finely chopped peppers red, green other
- 1/2 cup (72.5 g) green peas fresh or thawed if frozen
- lemon juice to taste
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) salt depends on if the rice was already salted
Turmeric Onion Raita:
- 1 cup (8.64 oz) non dairy yogurt plain, unsweetened (see notes to make your own)
- 1/4 cup (62.5 ml) water
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) mustard seeds
- 6 curry leaves optional
- 1/4 cup (30 g) thinly sliced red or white onion
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) turmeric
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cayenne
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
Instructions
Masala Veggie Fried Rice:
- Heat oil in a large skillet at medium heat. Add cumin seeds and cook for a minute. Add garlic, ginger and onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add coriander, garam masala, cayenne, smoked paprika and mix well.
- Add longer cooking veggies (cauliflower, green beans), 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 cup water. Mix and cook for 8 to 9 minutes. Fold in quick cookies or veggies that want to have a crunch in and cover and cook until the veggies are al dente.
- Add peas, salt and cooked rice, a splash of water and lemon juice and toss well. At this point you can fold in some baby spinach. Cover and cook for 2 minutes let sit for another 2 minutes to heat and steam well. Garnish with lemon and cilantro.
Turmeric Onion Raita:
- Whisk the yogurt with a bit of water until smooth and set aside. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and let then start to pop. Add curry leaves and after few seconds, add sliced onion and pinch of salt. Cook for 3 minutes, stir occasionally. Add turmeric and cayenne and mix in. Cook for a few seconds. Add the whisked yogurt and salt and mix in. Cook for 2 minutes. Fold in chopped cilantro or mint.
Notes
Add 1 cup chickpeas or other cooked beans with the vegetables. To make your own non dairy yogurt: If using higher fat non dairy milks like soy milk and cashew milk, boil the non dairy milk, cool to warm, add yogurt starter or probiotics and mix in. Cover and let it sit for 8 hours in a warm place. For thinner non dairy milks like almond, you will have to thicken it with a bit of starch and cashews blended in. Then boil, cool and add starter. Nutrition is approx for 1 of 4 Serves
Nutrition
VR says
April 8, 2017 at 7:03 pmThis is what I call Indian comfort food so good for my soul! <3 thank you!! 🙂
Richa says
April 9, 2017 at 10:25 amThanks! It definitely is
Emily says
April 9, 2017 at 10:21 amWe had the rice for dinner yesterday with Palak Tofu from your book. It was amazing!
Richa says
April 9, 2017 at 10:25 amyay!
Sarah says
April 10, 2017 at 7:13 amI’ve been on a fried rice kick myself recently (actually have a recipe scheduled for next week!) but I love this Indian twist on it. Gonna have to try this soon! Thanks, Richa 🙂
Richa says
April 10, 2017 at 10:44 amThanks Sarah. Yep. Spiced up rice is such and easy meal to put together!
Ayaka says
June 9, 2017 at 10:40 amDo you chill the dressing or serve it warm?
Michel Smith says
August 4, 2017 at 10:35 pmThis is the thing that I call Indian solace nourishment so useful for my spirit.
Leslie says
August 10, 2017 at 12:03 pmWhat brand of vegan yogurt is unsweetened?
Richa says
August 10, 2017 at 10:15 pmSo Delicious and Kite Hill both have unsweetened options
Kylie Reynolds says
September 2, 2017 at 6:04 pmI used Kite Hill it was great.
Kylie Reynolds says
September 2, 2017 at 6:03 pmOMG This was fantastic. Husband and I finally made tonight and I couldn’t get enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have the best recipes 🙂
Richa says
September 2, 2017 at 8:01 pmAwesome!!
Lauren says
March 14, 2019 at 11:28 amThe fried rice was good, but what really stood out was the turmeric raita! I actually just used unsweetened almond milk alone instead of the yogurt-whisked-with-water combination. It came out soo flavorful and delicious, I nearly started eating the raita by itself with a spoon 🙂
Richa says
March 14, 2019 at 11:54 amawesome! thanks!
Reena Vyas says
March 25, 2019 at 10:34 pmHi, I am Reena from veggiefoodrecipes.com. I am going to start some collection kind of posts in my blog. One of them, I want to create collection of Fried Rice recipes.
So I want to use Masala Fried Rice With Turmeric Onion Raita in my collection, I will give you back-link and totally credit to you for that recipe.
https://veggiefoodrecipes.com/4-ways-to-make-vegetable-fried-rice-recipe/
Terri says
May 5, 2019 at 3:15 pmMade just the fried rice and it was SO GOOD!! Using it for meal prep for the week and can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!
Akanksha Patnaik says
January 13, 2020 at 5:23 pmExcellent comfort food.
Priyanka says
January 13, 2020 at 5:59 pmDo you have an insta pot recipe for this fried rice? Looks yum
And wanna try soon. Thank you 🙏🏼
Richa says
January 13, 2020 at 8:35 pmi dont. i’ll prob put it in my upcoming book or maybe on the blog 🙂
Sabena says
June 11, 2020 at 9:36 pmI had leftover basmati and arrived at your blog looking for ways to use it up. Looove the exotic flavor of this healthy fried rice. Will be having it with last night leftover chicken tikka masala. Thank you for posting this superb and easy recipe
Vegan Richa Support says
June 12, 2020 at 8:20 pmperfect thank YOU