Fried rice (or khao pad) is basic Thai comfort food – simple but wonderful. In Thailand, you’ll find it in almost every restaurant and at every single food stall with a wok. No matter where you are, this staple dish is always served with a squeeze of lime juice and some young spring onions sprinkled over the top. The trick is to eat a spoonful of rice, quickly followed by a few bits of spring onion to give the palate a subtle kick, ready for your next spoonful. You can get fried rice with vegetables and chicken too, but I like mine with shrimp or prawns.
Ingredients
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4 tablespoons vegetable oil
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2 teaspoon chopped garlic
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400g (14oz) shrimp or prawns, peeled and deveined
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2 tablespoons soy sauce
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2 tablespoons oyster sauce
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2 teaspoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
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2 tablespoons water
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Pinch of ground white pepper
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2 carrots, sliced diagonally
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100g (4oz) button mushrooms, sliced
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1 onion, sliced
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4 spring onions, sliced
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550g (18oz) cooked rice (leftovers are fine)
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Juice of 1 lime
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Sliced spring onion, to garnish
Method
- Heat the oil in a wok set over a high heat.
- When smoking hot, add the garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Next, add the shrimp or prawns. Keep stirring, then pour in the soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce and season with the pepper.
- Add the carrot, mushrooms, onion and spring onions and stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
- When everything else is cooked just right, add the cooked rice and stir-fry for 1 last minute, just to heat the rice through.
- Squeeze over some lime juice and serve immediately, garnished with spring onion slices.
