Thai Fried Rice

THAI FRIED RICE

I want to pay homage to my dear Thai friend and mentor Senuan (See – new- wan) who passed away quite a few years ago.  She lived with us for three years, and she’s the one who taught me everything I know about Thai cooking.  She also helped me learn to speak the Thai language…. because at that time she couldn’t speak any English. We were living in a town called Phanat Nikom, two  hours drive, south of Bangkok.  We were volunteering in a refugee camp for Cambodian, Vietnamese and Lao. We had about 12 others with us, and our team grew to 25 over the years. During those years I did my best to recreate meals for our fellow team members that would remind them of home.   So, I learned to make bread, mayonnaise, yogurt, pickles, jam, tortillas and many other familiar things.  There was no supermarket, just an open market with meat hanging on hooks. No beef, just water buffalo (don’t get me started), whole river fish, pork and whole chickens (with the head and feet still on). Vegetables that I’d never seen before, and plenty of mangos in April and Pineapple all year round.

However Thai cuisine, in my opinion, is the best flavored food in the world… right up there with Mexican food and Italian.   The first day we arrived in Thailand was Christmas day, 1979.  Our meal was Kao Phad (that’s Thai for Fried Rice).  We bought it from a street vendor.  It was delicious, and became our main stay for lunch through the years we lived there.  Bread was very hard to come by, so sandwiches were a rare thing.  If you’ve only ever had take out Fried Rice from an American/Chinese restaurant, you’re missing out.  Here’s what we became addicted to, and have never liked Fried Rice any other way since.  The secret to Thai cooking is something sweet, sour, salty and spicy. 

Start by steaming some Jasmine rice.  I used Jasmine brown rice, from Trader Joes.  I cup of rice yields about 3 cups cooked rice.  Takes 45 mins to cook.  Its key to have warm or hot rice.  If you have leftover rice, reheat it in the microwave first.

Next wisk 2 eggs and fry in a little oil like an omelet.  Turn onto a plate and cut into small chunks.



I had some leftover cooked pork that I cubed, you can use shrimp, chicken, tofu or beef as well.

You'll need some Fish sauce (Nam-Pla), 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 generous tsp of chopped garlic.

Next cut up an onion in half moons, some carrots and whatever other vegetables you like. I happened to have some pea pods.











  The rice should be ready to go .

Heat up some oil in a wok and start frying the onion for about 2 minutes before adding the other vegetables.

 Now add the carrots, pea pods and garlic and cook until bright in color.

Now its time to add the eggs, meat,  2 Tbsp fish sauce and 2 Tbsp sugar.

 Mix all together and take off the heat.

 Put in a serving dish and garnish with cilantro, green onions, cucumber slices and fresh lemon juice.

                                     

Feel free to add hot spicy peppers to this.  That's something the Thai people can't live without.

THAI FRIED RICE

3- 4 cups cooked  Jasmine  (brown or white) rice

2 eggs, mixed and fried

1 - 2 cups of cooked pork, chicken, shrimp, beef, or tofu

1 onion, sliced into half moons

oil

1 tsp garlic chopped

carrots, pea pods or any other vegetable

 2 Tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)

2 Tbsp sugar

lemon

cilantro

cucumber

green onion

hot peppers

 Again, you don't even need a wok if you use hot rice.  Just fry up the eggs, meat and vegatables, and combine with the hot rice.  You won't need to use that much oil.  The secret to making this taste really Thai, is the sugar, fish sauce and lemon.  Don't even think about using soy sauce!!!!

Let me know how it goes for you.  I've made all kinds of variations of this recipe over the years.
You can add curry powder, pineapple, cranberries, pecans, tomatoes..........the ideas are limitless.
Have fun!!!