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Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯) is a traditional, popular Taiwanese comfort food made of braised pork and white rice. As a Taiwanese and a vegan, I really want to share this delicious, umami, vegan version that satisfies my craving for the taste of my hometown.
If you ask me what’s the iconic comfort food in Taiwan, my first answer will definitely be Lu Rou Fan (Lǔ ròu fàn 滷肉飯). Before I turned vegan, Lu Rou Fan is one of my favourite dish to enjoy. It’s not only because it tastes so good, but also it carries a lot of my childhood memories.
I’m from a lower-middle income family, and my parents were all working, so we usually just got the money to my our own food. One thing we had a lot is Lu Rou Fan, which was cheap and quite fulfilling. And also, delicious.
Maybe it’s because I got a bit Westernized with all the American TV shows and majoring in English, I didn’t have it that often after I became a university student. Don’t get me wrong, I was still eating most Asian food as my main course, but recipe-wise, I mostly read Western recipes, hence my passion in baking.
But, you know, life is very interesting. Soon after I graduated, I turned vegan. And then, a few years later, I came to the UK. After staying away from my hometown, Taiwan, for 1.5 year, I started missing the classic hometown food. Hence, this recipe.
What’s special about this Vegan Lu Rou Fan?
- A twist on the traditional Taiwanese dish, fragrant umami vegan ‘Lu Rou’ covering fluffy, warm white rice.
- It’s vegan, meaning no meat, no eggs, no animal products. Traditional ‘Lu Rou Fan’ literally means ‘braised pork rice’ in Chinese. This vegan version is based on tofu and mushrooms, which is healthier and more nutritious (also better for the planet).
- It’s a ONE-PAN dish, well, at least for the ‘Lu Rou’ part.
- It goes well with a lot of Asian food. Not only it’s delicious on rice, but also amazing as a stir-in or ‘dressing’ for different vegetables.
Ingredients You Need for Vegan Lu Rou Fan
- Short-grain rice, like sushi rice or risotto rice
- Vegetable oil, like sunflower oil or rapeseed oil
- Shallots
- Garlic cloves
- Spring onion
- Dried shiitake mushrooms
- Mushrooms, like oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, or common western mushrooms are all okay
- Firm tofu
- (Dark) soy sauce (in Taiwan, we just call it soy sauce)
- Rock sugar, lump sugar (bīng táng 冰糖)
- Chinese five spice powder (五香粉)
- Vegan oyester sauce
- Taiwan rice cooking wine (mǐ jiǔ 米酒)
- Pinch white pepper
- Corn flour
- Red chili, optional
For substitutions, please take a look at “Questions You Might Have” section and the recipe card.
How to Make Vegan Lu Rou Fan
- Cook the rice: Rinse the rice and then add water to cook in a rice cooker or instant pot according to the manual. (Rice usually takes about 12–15 minutes to cook). Once it’s finishing cooking, let the rice sit in the rice cooker/instant pot for 10 minutes. Then fluff the rice with a rice paddle.
- Make the vegan ‘Lu Rou’ (‘braised pork’): Stir-fry shallots first: Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add vegetable oil, minced shallots, garlics, and the white part of chopped spring onions. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes.
- Add mushrooms: Squeeze the liquid out from the shiitake mushrooms (keep the soaking water) and then add the shiitake mushrooms and chopped mushrooms to the same pan. Cook and sir until the mushrooms are soft. Add the mushroom soaking water to the pan when the pan is dry.
- Crumb the tofu: Use your fingers to crumb the firm tofu into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, stir occasionally, until the tofu crumbs are slightly brown.
- Mix the sauce: While the tofu is being cooked, mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Add the sauce: Once the tofu is slightly brown, add the sauce into the pan and stir all ingredients together to let the sauce even out.
- Add the slurry: Mix the corn flour with water in the small bowl and add it to the pan. Stir a few seconds, then turn off the heat.
- Dry out: Leave the pan on the stove for 5 minutes to let the moisture dry out slightly, so it’s not too wet.
- Assembly: Scoop the cooked rice in the serving bowls, then add the vegan ‘Lu Rou’ on top, green part of the chopped spring onion, and red chilli (if using). Serve with additional cooked Bok choy or other cooked green vegetables.
How to Store Vegan Lu Rou Fan
If you’re not going to eat it immediately, store the cooked rice and the vegan ‘Lu Rou’ separately in different containers, so the rice won’t keep absorbing the moisture of the vegan ‘Lu Rou.’ Store them in the fridge for 2–3 days.
Tips for Success
- Make sure to rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms. Soak the dried mushrooms in a small amount of cold water for at least 5 minutes.
- Don’t add the sauce too early. In order to achieve the best texture, cook and stir-fry the mushrooms and tofu first until they release most of the moisture inside before adding the sauce.
- Follow the steps. The order you put in the ingredients is very important. I will recommend reading the whole recipe first before starting.
- Leave the cooked vegan ‘Lu Rou’ in the pan on the stove for a few minutes to let the moisture dry out a bit.
Questions You Might Have
Final Words
This vegan ‘Lu Rou Fan’ recipe brings back so much of my childhood memories and also solve one of my hometown cravings. The umami vegan braised ‘pork’ (which is mainly tofu and mushrooms) taste really, really amazing.
I’m so happy to be born as a Taiwanese to know and enjoy this Vegan Lu Rou Fan. I hope you will like this recipe as much as I do, or at least discover a new taste that you’ve never tried before.
Love, — Nora
Vegan Lu Rou Fan (素滷肉飯) Braised ‘Pork’ Rice
Ingredients
Rice
- 1 cup short-grain white rice, like sushi rice or risotto rice, (240 ml)
- 1 cup water
Vegan ‘Lu Rou’ (‘braised pork’)
- 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil, I usually use sunflower oil or rapeseed oil
- 2 shallots, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 spring onion, separated into white & green parts, chopped
- 10 g dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated by soaking in 60 ml water for at least 5 minutes then sliced
- 55 g mushrooms, like oyster mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms, chopped
- 250 g firm tofu
Sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce, light soy sauce, sometimes I use reduced salt soy sauce*
- 1 Tbsp rock sugar, lump sugar (Bīng táng 冰糖)** roughly chopped
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder, (五香粉)
- 1/2 Tbsp vegan oyster sauce
- 1 tsp Taiwan rice cooking wine, (Mǐ jiǔ 米酒)***
- A pinch white pepper
Slurry
- 1 Tbsp corn flour
- 2 Tbsp water
Optioinal
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce, or black bean soy sauce, optional, for the colour*****
- 1 red chili, sliced, optional, for garnishing
Instructions
Cook the rice
- Rinse the rice and then add water to cook in a rice cooker or instant pot according to the manual. (Rice usually takes about 12–15 minutes to cook). Once it’s finishing cooking, let the rice sit in the rice cooker/instant pot for 10 minutes. Then fluff the rice with a rice paddle.****
Make the vegan ‘Lu Rou’ (‘braised pork’)
- Stir-fry shallots: Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add vegetable oil, minced shallots, garlics, and the white part of chopped spring onions. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes.
- Add mushrooms: Squeeze the liquid out from the shiitake mushrooms (keep the soaking water) and then add the shiitake mushrooms and chopped mushrooms to the same pan. Cook and sir until the mushrooms are soft. Add the mushroom soaking water to the pan when the pan is dry.
- Crumb the tofu: Use your fingers to crumb the firm tofu into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, stir occasionally, until the tofu crumbs are slightly brown.
- Mix the sauce: While the tofu is being cooked, mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Add the sauce: Once the tofu is slightly brown, add the sauce into the pan and stir all ingredients together to let the sauce even out.
- Add the slurry: Mix the corn flour with water in the small bowl and add it to the pan. Stir a few seconds, then turn off the heat.
- Dry out: Leave the pan on the stove for 5 minutes to let the moisture dry out slightly, so it’s not too wet.
Assembly
- Scoop the cooked rice in the serving bowls, then add the vegan ‘Lu Rou’ on top, green part of the chopped spring onion, and red chili (if using). Serve with additional cooked Bok choy or other cooked green vegetables. Add salt or a tiny bit more dark soy sauce to adjust to your taste bud.
Video
Notes
- I’d recommend reading the whole recipe first before starting. Check the Tips for Success section for more pro-tips.
- *Soy sauce: In Taiwan, we generally just have one kind of soy sauce, no dark or light. I’d say it’s more close to light soy sauce but slightly darker; hence I add some dark soy sauce for the colour when I was developing this recipe in the UK.
- **Rock sugar: It’s a kind of sugar called ‘Bīng táng’ (冰糖) in Chinese. We use quite often in some traditional Taiwanese dishes. It’s also called lump sugar in the UK. If you don’t have it, you can just use 1.5 tablespoon of light brown sugar.
- ***Rice cooking wine (米酒): It’s a kind of rice wine that we (Taiwanese) use mainly in cooking. If you cannot get it, you can use rice vinegar to get a similar taste.
- ****Cook the rice: If you cook the rice in the instant pot, I’d recommend release the pressure once it finishes the cooking, so the rice won’t get too soft.
- *****Dark Soy Sauce (老抽): In Taiwan, we don’t categorize soy sauce into dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. Instead, we have regular soy sauce that is similar to light soy sauce and black bean soy sauce that is more close to dark soy sauce. But I’m in the UK at this moment, and as far as I know, most western countries only have light/dark soy sauce. Hence, I wrote dark soy sauce for less confusion. But still, I want to put it out there, so you know dark soy sauce is not a thing in traditional Taiwanese dishes.
- Storage: If you’re not going to eat it immediately, store the cooked rice and the vegan ‘Lu Rou’ separately in different containers, so the rice won’t keep absorbing the moisture of the vegan ‘Lu Rou.’ Store them in the fridge for 2–3 days.
