Fried Rice - Kow Pad

Fried Rice

There are a few varieties of Fried Rice across Asia; Thai fried rice starts goes in a much different direction than most. In Thailand, Fried Rice is a good lunch dish, served with cucumber and a wedge of lime. The most popular fried rice is crab fried rice. But for me, fried rice is a good way to clean the refrigerator since most any vegetables and meats you have in your fridge will do. For meats, I use everything - bacon, canned crab, ham, tofu hot dogs - your name it. Any vegetables will do too. Have fun!

Thai fried rice gets much of its unique flavor from the mix of fish sauce, soy sauce, chili peppers and lime. The cilantro and a dusting of pre-ground white pepper gives the flavors a clean, rounded finish.

2 Servings

3 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tomato, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons soy sauce - mushroom
pinch ground pepper
1 teaspoons fish sauce
1 cup cooked rice
3 Thai chili pepper Optional
1/3 cup pork Optional
1/2 onion, chopped Optional
1 lime Optional
1 green onion Optional
2 cloves garlic, minced Optional
2 eggs Optional

When the pan is extremely hot (smoking hot), pour in the oil and follow with meat. Stir quickly. It can get real smoky. If you see that there is juice coming out from your meat and pooling on the bottom and not evaporating, your pan is not hot enough. When the meat is cooked, set it aside or just put it on the side of the pan if you can. Add the egg and scramble the egg until the egg is all cooked. Put the egg aside or just push it aside and make some room on the bottom of the wok. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce and stir. Keep stirring and mixing the rice with ingredients. Add all vegetables. Stir for 1 or 2 more minutes. Sprinkle ground pepper.

Some people like to add a fried egg on top of the fried rice. If you do, add 2 teaspoons of oil, crack the egg and fry until the egg white is crispy. Put the egg on top of fried rice.

Serve hot with a 1/4 wedge of lime and whole green onion.
Learn more about this and other similarly prepared Fried Rice (Kow Pud) recipes

Tips and substitutions
Making great fried rice requires a number of tricks:
- A wok - it is the best tool for fried rice. If you don't, it can be tricky but still manageable.
- High heat - you want your pan as hot as possible. That's why it frequently tastes so much better at a restaurant.
- Dry rice - Making your rice a little drier than normal or using day-old rice keeps the rice from clumping together and turning into wok-concrete.
- Ground black or white pepper and lime - You'll be surprised how much flavor the ground pepper and lime can bring to fried rice.