Thai Fried Rice

When we were in Bangkok recently we wanted to go to David Thompson's restaurant, but the food at our hotel was so fabulous we never went out to eat. We have his giant Thai Cookbook: Thai Street Food, and made Fried Rice with Crab from it. (we substituted Shrimp and Scallops for the Crab. This recipe is a keeper!

Fried Rice with Crab

Thai Street Food

David Thompson

SERVES 2

2-3         garlic cloves, peeled

good pinch of salt

3-4         tablespoons vegetable oil - peanut is a good choice

2 eggs - ideally 1 duck and 1 chicken

2         cups cooked rice - freshly cooked and warm but not steaming hot

2-3         tablespoons light soy sauce

pinch of white sugar

pinch of ground white pepper

approximately 100 g (3 oz) cooked crabmeat - more, if feeling generous

3         spring (green) onions, trimmed and finely

chopped coriander leaves, lime wedges and cucumber slices, to serve

chillies in fish sauce (see below), to serve

+ CHILLIES IN FISH SAUCE

¼         cup fish sauce

5-10         bird's eye chillies (scuds), finely sliced

1         garlic clove, finely sliced – optional but desirable good squeeze of lime juice – optional

good pinch of chopped coriander

Combine the fish sauce, chillies and garlic in a bowl and set aside. It keeps for some time - in fact it becomes richer and milder as it settles for a day. Make sure it is covered if you are making it in advance - and if the fish sauce evaporates, add an equivalent amount of water to refresh it. Just before serving, stir through the lime juice and coriander.

FRIED RICE WITH CRAB

This is a classic version of fried rice and one of the best. Fried rice made its debut on the streets of Thailand about 80 years ago. In the Chinese community, where fried rice has been eaten for much longer than this, it is traditionally one of the last dishes to be served at a celebratory banquet - say, for a wedding or to mark Chinese New Year - and so it has to be good to entice diners to take some.

Most authorities advocate allowing the cooked rice to cool completely, but I have found that if the rice is too cold it clumps - and forcing the clumps apart during frying breaks the rice grains. I actually prefer rice that is still slightly warm, ideally freshly cooked then left to cool for an hour or two. If it is too hot, the fried rice will be sticky; too cold, and it will be slightly tough and possibly marred by broken grains.

Some cooks say the best fried rice is made with an equal amount of duck and chicken eggs, and here's where the controversy begins: should the egg go in before the rice or afterwards? Each cook will have their own stance, but I believe the egg should go first. If the egg is added after the rice, I find it can make the fried rice gluey, sticky and heavy - especially if using a duck egg or two.

Blue swimmer crab has the sweetest meat so is the perfect choice for fried rice, but naturally almost any crabmeat will do. If you want the freshest most succulent crabmeat then you must cook and shell the crab yourself - it really does make a difference. Almost any other meat can be used, including fresh pork, chicken, prawns, Chinese barbeque pork or duck; if using raw meat or seafood, add them to the wok along with the garlic to ensure both are ready at the same time.

In Thailand, fried rice always comes with a few slices of cucumber and tomato as well as a few wedges of lime to squeeze over the rice. I like the refreshing crunch of the cucumber, and I think the lime is de rigueur, but I am not so convinced about the tomato.

·      Crush the garlic to a somewhat coarse paste with the salt - either by pounding it using a pestle and mortar or finely chopping it with a knife.

·      Heat a well-seasoned wok over a low-medium heat and add about 2 tablespoons of the oil, then stir in the garlic paste and fry until it has lost its sharp raw aroma, has become nutty, and is just beginning to color. Take care not to burn the garlic, as this would taint the fried rice and ruin it. Crack in the egg and allow them to set slightly before stirring and scrambling, trying to keep them in quite large, soft curds. Be careful not to overcook the egg and so make it dry.

·      Add the rice, turn down the heat to low and mix and toss the rice, frying it gently and ensuring that all the grains are lightly coated with egg and oil. If it seems too dry, dribble a little extra oil down the side of the wok, but don't overdo it - the oil should just coat the rice, not swamp it.

·      Season with the soy sauce, sugar and pepper and continue to fry until the soy sauce is absorbed. Taste the rice: it should be gently seasoned, nicely but not overly salty and pleasingly rounded in flavour. Under-seasoning the rice will make it taste spare and hollow - add a little more soy sauce, if necessary. Now stir through most of the crabmeat and spring onions but reserve a little of both to sprinkle over the fried rice when serving.

·      Divide the rice between two plates and sprinkle with the reserved crabmeat and spring onions. Serve with coriander leaves, some slices of cucumber and a wedge or two of lime, and accompany with a small bowl of chillies in fish sauce.