Thai Food

Thai fried rice with shrimp (khao pad goong), is a very typical Thai street food dish, available at all stir fry restaurants. Though you can order the dish with your choice of meat, shrimp is the most popular option. What really makes Thai fried rice unique, is that it’s served with a squeeze of lime on top to give it a nice sour tinge, and always accompanied by prik nam pla, the Thai condiment of chilies and fish sauce. Enjoy this recipe for Thai fried rice!

Ingredients
Fried Rice with Shrimp (Khao Pad Goong ข้าวผัดกุ้ง)
1.5 cups of cooked rice cooled (or day old rice works well too) – Or just estimate about 1 normal bowl full
About 5 – 10 shrimp, head peeled, but tail on
¼ of a big white onion (or ½ of a very small white onion, like I used)
1 leaf of Chinese broccoli (or any crisp green leafy vegetable)
2 cloves garlic
1 egg
½ tablespoon soy sauce
½ tablespoon oyster sauce
Pinch of sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon of oil for frying
Prik Nam Pla (Chilies in Fish Sauce พริกน้ำปลา)
5 Thai chilies
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
½ of a lime
Instructions
Fried Rice
If you’re using whole fresh shrimp like I did, first pinch off the head, and peel the outer shell of the shrimp, leaving only the tail on (that’s Thai style). You can also devein them if you’d like, but for small shrimp, to me it doesn’t really matter.
Peel 2 cloves of garlic, and then just finely mince them
Slice ¼ of a sweet white onion into medium sized strips
Finely dice about 3 – 4 green onions
Take just 1 leaf of Chinese broccoli (kai-lan), slice it in half first along the spine, and then slice it into 1 centimeter sized strips
Turn on your stove to medium high, heat up your wok (or frying pan), and add about 1 tablespoon of oil
Once your oil is hot, add the garlic first, and stir fry continuously for about 15 seconds or so, until it gets nice and fragrant
Next, toss in your shrimp, and fry for about 30 seconds – your shrimp should start to turn pink and feel more firm
Add in a little less than ½ of your rice first. This is going to soak up all those delicious shrimp juices and oils and keep your rice nice and dry. Stir fry for about 10 more seconds – This is a little known trick to make good rice, so it remains nice and dry
Scoot all your rice to one side of the pan, and then crack in the egg into the empty side
Whirl the egg up, let it cook for a few seconds, and then start to mix it up with the rice and shrimp
Keep stir frying for about 20 seconds until the egg is fully cooked, and then add in the rest of your rice, and give it a quick stir
Add ½ tablespoon of soy sauce, ½ tablespoon of oyster sauce, just a pinch of sugar (optional), and continue stir frying your rice, making sure all the sauce get mixed in
Then add your chopped Chinese broccoli and onions, and stir fry for another 30 seconds until the vegetables wilt, but they can still be crisp and not fully cooked
Lastly, toss in your green onions, stir it a few more seconds, and it’s ready
Immediately dish your fried rice onto a plate
Slice off a wedge of lime, and serve it on the plate next to the rice
For the final touch, I like to sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on top to give some extra flavor
Prik Nam Pla (Chilies in Fish Sauce)
Add 3 tablespoons of fish sauce to a small bowl
Slice about 5 Thai chilies (you can add more or less, up to you), and add them to the fish sauce
Finally, I like it with a little squeeze of about ½ of a lime – but this is optional – and at many Thai restaurants it’s only fish sauce and chilies
That’s is, give it a stir, and set it aside