Thai {Shrimp} Fried Rice

Here comes another unreal Thai dish that’s been on my to-clook list for months. It’s a simple Thai fried rice that, in my opinion, is best served vegetarian-style but can easily incorporate shrimp for all you protein fiends. We came across this dish on our trip to Bangkok earlier this year. The three days there, we kept to the Mandarin Oriental’s amazing (pricey, but good) breakfast buffet. There was something really satisfying about sitting outside, overlooking the Chao Phraya River, and feasting on a buffet bar stocked with goodies like pastries, smoothies, and fruit (ordinary and exotic). My favorite parts, however, were the fried noodle and rice stations. How can you beat fried rice for breakfast? When in Rome Bangkok, right?

I’ve had many varieties of rice in my day but the dish at the Mandarin was like no other. For one, the rice was white. Every other fried rice I’d ever to that point was bathed in soy sauce and had a much darker tint. This version also had a hint of freshness, making me question if it was even fried rice. I later learned the secret behind this magical fried rice dish at a cooking class that we took at our hotel.

The only real secret behind fried rice is to use cold, long-grained rice. In this dish, the key ingredients are fish sauce, sugar and green onions. Very simple..and no soy sauce.

Try to use rice that is 1-3 days old. Did you know that fried rice originated as a way to make use of rice leftovers from dinner the night before. If you’re in a rush and don’t want to recreate the day-old rice, just freeze it for a few and let thaw.  Whatever you do, don’t use hot rice; it will be too sticky and won’t give you the restaurant-style consistency you’ve come to expect from fried rice.

There are many Thai fried rice recipes on the internet, but many thanks to this version for allowing me to replicate that authentic Bangkok culinary experience.

Recipe

Serving Size (4 people)

Estimated time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups, uncooked jasmine rice
• 8 raw shrimp peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons, canola oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic, diced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons green onion, chopped thin
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. rinse rice thoroughly (this will make it less starchy / sticky when cooked).
2. cook jasmine rice according to directions (ratio = 1 cup of rice + 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water). combine water and rice in a covered pot; bring to boil; reduce to low heat and cook for 15 minutes. remove from heat and leave covered for another 5 minutes.
3. once cooked, it’s best to leave the rice in the fridge overnight. if you’re in a rush, spread the cooked rice onto a baking sheet and place into the freezer for an hour to dry it out. thaw at room temp for 20 minutes or so before cooking.
4. heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok (using high heat) and cook shrimp until pink and opaque (3-5 minutes). remove cooked shrimp from wok.
5. add 1 tablespoon oil to wok and add onions and garlic. once aromatic (20 seconds), add rice.
6. stir rice for about 30 seconds. add fish sauce, sugar and green onions.
7. move rice to one side of the wok. crack an egg into the wok, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. once cooked, incorporate scrambled egg into the fried rice.
8. reincorporate shrimp into fried rice, stir a few times and remove from heat and serve.