Long popular in Chinese restaurants, Fried Rice is a marvel of a recipe for kids to learn to make.

There are endless variations. It can include fresh or old vegetables, cooked ones or raw, fresh meats — or no meats at all. It can use leftovers from meals you have made yourself or those you ordered as takeout (and not just Chinese!).

It’s thrifty and nutritious and a great addition to anyone’s cooking.

In Week 5 of cooking class, the young chefs at Bayard Taylor got a chance to make Fried Rice from scratch. But the recipe had a big difference from the kind served at restaurants.

This Fried Rice didn’t use rice!

Instead, the rice part was replaced by the white vegetable cauliflower, grated small to LOOK like rice.

The change kept the color and texture of rice but eliminated the starch and carbohydrates contained in real rice.

There were still lots of vitamins from carrots and snow peas, and protein from scrambled eggs that we substituted for meat.

This vegetarian rice recipe had plenty of natural flavor with fresh garlic, ginger and scallions, but the addition of low-salt soy sauce made it extra flavorful for the young chefs.

“It was good, but it was more yummy with the soy sauce,” Genevieve Brush said.

“Yep, I liked it,” Austin Caballero said. “I got some more, and I’m going to take some home to my mom and my dad.”

“Má bueno. Very good,” Isaiah Viera said. “I’m going to take some home to my mom and my brother and my sister.”

Isaiah liked the Fried Rice so much, in fact, that he was still eating a second bowlful, while his classmates were getting ready to go.

THAT was a big thumbs-up for this all-vegetable recipe.

And there were even more vegetables in the cucumber salad students made to go with the rice.

Cucumbers, of course, were featured in the salad, sliced thin and seasoned with salt.

Fresh garlic, ginger and scallions were minced, grated and sliced to add to the mix, and students got their first taste of the herb cilantro, chopped into small bits. With a dressing of vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and red pepper flakes, the salad had a lot of kick — to the delight of our spice-loving students.

“I liked the cucumber best,” Austin said. “Oh yeah.”

That could be the last word on this unusual meal.

It was an “Oh yeah” all around.