Thai Tom Yum Fried Rice
I did not grow up with this dish. I figured it out a few years ago, leftover rice on the counter, Tom Yum paste in the fridge, an ordinary evening with twenty minutes and nothing decided about dinner. I looked at both of them and understood what I was looking at. That is the whole story. My mother taught me to cook. This is one of the things I taught myself. It has become the dish I reach for when the rice is already made, and the evening does not have much time in it.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked jasmine rice preferably cold
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 Thai bird's eye chilies (optional) sliced (adjust to taste)
- 1 stalk lemongrass finely chopped
- 3 kaffir lime leaves thinly sliced
- 1 cup shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 green onions sliced
- Fresh cilantro for garnish
- Lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Prepare the Ingredients: Heat vegetable oil in a large pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and minced garlic, and sauté until they become translucent and aromatic for about 2 minutes. Add the bird's eye chilies, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves, stirring frequently for another minute to release their flavors.
- Cook the Shrimp: Increase the heat to high and add the shrimp to the pan. Stir-fry until they turn pink and opaque, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan.
- Add the Rice: Add the cold jasmine rice to the pan. Break up any clumps. Stir in the fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and ground white pepper. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes until everything is well combined and heated through.
- Incorporate the Eggs: Push the rice mixture to one side of the pan. Pour the beaten eggs into the empty side and scramble until fully cooked. Once cooked, mix the eggs into the rice. Add the cooked shrimp and tomatoes.
- Finish and Serve: Add the sliced green onions and toss everything together. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve with lime wedges on the side.
Video
Notes
The rice must be cold. This is the one instruction that cannot be adjusted or worked around. Freshly cooked jasmine rice contains too much moisture and too much softness for a wok stir-fry, it will clump around the paste and steam rather than fry, and the result will be dense and wet rather than the separate, slightly charred grains that fried rice should be. Refrigerate the rice overnight. If you do not have overnight rice, cook it hours ahead and spread it on a baking sheet to dry. Cold and dry is correct. Warm and wet is not.
( If using) Fry the Tom Yum paste before anything else goes in. Thirty seconds in hot oil is all it needs, enough for the lemongrass and galangal aromatics to release into the oil and for the paste to become fragrant rather than raw. A paste that goes directly into the rice without frying will taste sharp and unintegrated. Thirty seconds changes this entirely. Do not skip it.
The lime juice goes in last and off the heat. This is the same rule as Tom Yum soup, heat applied to fresh lime juice after it is added flattens its brightness into something merely acidic. Take the wok off the flame. Squeeze the lime. Toss once. Plate immediately. The sourness should arrive sharp and clear, the way it does in the soup that gave this dish its name.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cupCalories: 320kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 18gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 180mgSodium: 900mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4g
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