Thai Fried Rice

My first post of 2017! I hope you all had a lovely time over the Christmas holidays. I know I did. Plenty of time to unwind, switch off and eat and drink far too much. I was a little unwell for a few days – nothing to do with overindulgence – and that’s where this recipe for Thai Fried Rice comes from.

Having a bit of a head cold I wanted to cook something with chilli, garlic and ginger to try to shake off the sniffles. While flicking through Gizzi Erskine’s Gizzi’s Healthy Appetite I came across her recipe for Thai Chicken Fried Rice. I didn’t have chicken, I didn’t want meat anyway but I did have a bowl of leftover basmati rice from a curry a couple of nights earlier. Usually I freeze leftover rice to use to bulk up soups and stews but thought this would be the perfect way to use it.

I didn’t have many of the ingredients needed to make Gizzi’s version, to be honest I have never seem Thai basil for sale here. So I made do with what I had and I loved the result. So much so that I had both portions myself. I was a bit sceptical about tomato in this but I checked the fried rice recipes in Saba: The Cookbook and they also include tomatoes so I went with it.

Useful tips & links:

• I have seen that people are nervous about keeping leftover rice. I always keep it and the trick to using it is to make sure it goes into the fridge or freezer as soon as it has cooled and then when reheating make sure it is piping hot. If you are anxious you can cook rice specifically to make this dish but allow it to cool before frying.
• There are many different methods for incorporating the eggs into the rice. Gizzi’s recipe calls for scrambling the egg first and then removing it from the pan before adding back in at the end. I use Ken Hom’s method of cooking the eggs in the middle of the rice and gradually drawing the rice in from the side. This way means all of the rice is evenly coated and there are no large chunks of egg which I am not a fan of.
• I have made this a veggie dish but feel free to add leftover chicken or some prawns. If it needs to be vegetarian leave out the fish sauce.
• You can make a simple Nam Pla dipping sauce to serve along side by mixing together a few tablespoons of fish sauce with finely diced red chillis.
• To make this even easier, use a spoon of Thai Red Curry paste to flavour it. Use it from a jar or if you are making the Thai Red Chicken Curry keep some of the paste back for this.
• For more inspiration for fried rice recipes have a look at this Chinese Style Chicken Fried Rice from Pikalily or Japanese Style Fried Rice from Fiona’s Japanese Cooking.

 

Thai Fried Rice

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of sunflower or vegetable oil
• 2 cups – approx. 300g – of cooked basmati or jasmine rice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2cm piece of ginger
• 1 red chilli
• 1 red pepper, finely sliced
• 80g of sugar snap peas, sliced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• The juice of ½ a lime
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 4 spring onions
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Coriander leaves, lime wedges and cucumber to garnish

Method:

• Heat the oil in a wok or stir fry pan over a medium-high heat.
• Finely dice the garlic, ginger and chilli and then pound to a paste in a mortar and pestle.
• Fry the paste in the oil until fragrant, it will only take a couple of minutes and you need to be careful not to burn the paste. Add the peppers and sugar snap peas.
• After frying the veg for a few minutes and the cold rice and break it up so that there are no lumps.
• Make a well in the middle of the pan and pour in the beaten eggs. Stir quickly and when the eggs start to cook draw in the rice from the sides and keep stirring until all the rice is coated evenly with the egg.
• In a small bowl make the dressing by mixing together the fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.
• Add in the tomatoes, spring onions and the dressing. Fry for another minute or two until everything is well combined and taste for seasoning.
• Serve immediately with sliced cucumber and lime wedges, and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.