thai fried rice

Like many cities, the Thai restaurant craze began in Toronto in the early '90s, however our very first Thai restaurant opened back in the late 70's. A woman by the name of Wandee Young arrived from Thailand and, after a short stint working in a Chinatown eatery and saving her hard-earned money, opened the first Young Thailand restaurant. She operated several restaurants under that name over the ensuing years, sadly closing her fanciest location after a sea of Thai restaurants had saturated the scene and left her lost in the glut. Happily, the story ends well. Over the past couple of years she has resurrected the Young Thailand name with two new restaurants in more modest (read: affordable) neighbourhoods, where she's pretty much the only game in town. We live in one of those neighbourhoods, and boy, are we grateful to have her here.

During her heyday, she wrote a cookbook fittingly named 'The Young Thailand Cookbook'. When it was first released, I was living in the suburbs with my parents where it wasn't easy to find a lot of the ingredients. Things have changed dramatically, and you can find almost anything at even the most generic grocery store. While I had already begun my obsession with food, I was still a relatively novice cook at the time. I would take on anything (the mad technique of puff pastry; the challenging timing of paella), but the dishes didn't necessarily turn out as they should. So my pad thai was flavourful, but the noodles were gummy. My green curry chicken was tasty, yet the chicken was overcooked. Nevermind, practice makes perfect.

My mom also purchased the book - between the two of us we have doubles of a lot of cookbooks - and she soon decided to take on the Thai Chicken Fried Rice. It is a pretty simple recipe, the only kink being that you have to cook your rice ahead of time and allow it to cool before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. Otherwise, the standard rule of Asian cooking applies: prep all of your ingredients before firing up the wok. The dish's components are added in rapid succession, leaving you no time to chop carrots when the garlic starts to burn after 15 seconds in a pool of searing hot oil.

Anyway. We all loved this dish. It became a staple in my mom's repertoire, and mine as well. With so few ingredients it's hard to believe something so flavourful could be created, but wow. Whenever I make it, I always have a hard time setting my fork (or chopsticks) down. I could keep going back for more...and more. So Wandee will always get my business on those nights when I just can't lift a wooden spoon, but the fried rice recipe is now one of my own.

thai chicken fried rice

Adapted from The Young Thailand Cookbook

Serves 2-4 (depending on your appetite)

Note: You can eliminate any or all of the vegetables or chicken to suit your taste. It will still be delicious! Also, a little more or a little less rice than what is called for is no big deal. Just adjust your sauce quantities (i.e. fish, soya, oyster) slightly.

2 1/2 cups cooked long grain white or jasmine rice

6 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast

6 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp chopped garlic

1/4 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (1/4")

1/4 cup finely cubed carrot (1/4")

1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli florets (1/4")

2 eggs

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

3 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp green peas (frozen) 

Prepare 2 1/2 cups cooked rice (requires approximately 1 to 1 1/4 cups uncooked rice). Allow to cool.

Slice the chicken into 1/4-inch strips. Reserve.

Heat oil in a work or large frying pan over medium-high heat until it is just about to smoke. Add garlic and stir-fry for 10-20 seconds, until light golden in colour. Add chicken and stir-fry for 1 minute. Turn heat down to medium and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes more, until the chicken has warmed through and turned white. Scoop out onto a plate, leaving oil in wok, and set aside. 

If pan is dry, add a little more oil and heat to almost smoking. Add mushrooms, carrots and broccoli, and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until they have begun to warm through. Break eggs directly into the wok and fry them without breaking them up for 1-2 minutes, until they are partially set. (Be sure the yolk does not cook through.)

Push the eggs and vegetables to one side of the wok and add rice to the other side. Add fish sauce, soya sauce and oyster sauce on the rice and then, using a shoveling motion, combine the two sides of the wok, tossing-stirring for 2 minutes, mixing the rice with the eggs and vegetables, working from the bottom up so that all the rice has a chance to fry in the oil and everything is integrated.

Sprinkle black pepper on the rice and add green peas. Toss-stir for another minute, folding the peas into the rice and then remove from heat. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with hot sauce, if desired.

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