3-Chili Fried Rice with Thai Basil
Kao pad nam prik pao is a Thai fried rice that features our Thai chili paste as the main seasoning, but also has dried chili flakes and fresh chilies. It sounds spicy, but you can adjust and make it as spicy as you can handle. The Thai basil add freshness and fragrance that completes the dish. Pair it with chicken, tofu, shrimp or any kind of meat. Quick to prepare, and gluten-free!
Ingredients
Marinated chicken
- 8 oz chicken breast, boneless skinless, bite-size pieces about 1 cm thick
- 2 teaspoon soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Fried Rice
- 1 ½ tablespoon Thai chili paste , plus about 1 teaspoon of the oil, if desired
- 2-3 teaspoon fish sauce
- 3 tablespoon neutral oil, or as needed
- 2 eggs
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- ½ - 1 teaspoon roasted chili flakes, see note 1
- 12.5 oz cooked jasmine rice
- ½ cup diced onion
- 3 tablespoon sliced fresh chilies, see note 2
- 1 cup Thai basil leaves
- Lime wedges for serving
- Cucumber slices for serving
Notes
- You can buy store bought chili flakes and toast them over low heat in a dry skillet until they darken in colour and smell a bit smoky. I make my own from whole dried chilies which I toast in a dry skillet over medium high heat until they are charred and smoky, then grind in a coffee grinder.
- Use any fresh chilies whose heat you can handle, given the two other chilies you've added. Jalapenos or fresnos are great, and you can remove the seeds a pith to reduce the heat. Bell pepper also works really well if you don't want to add any more heat.
Instructions
- Combine the chicken with all marinade ingredients and mix well. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes, stirring halfway through, and until most of the water has been absorbed into the chicken and is no longer pooling.8 oz chicken breast, 2 teaspoon soy sauce, ¼ teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon water
- Mix the chili paste with 2 teaspoon of fish sauce to loosen it up and allow it to mix more easily into the fried rice.1 ½ tablespoon Thai chili paste, 2-3 teaspoon fish sauce
- Sear the chicken: Heat a wok or a large nonstick skillet over high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is very hot, add the chicken and spread it out into one layer. Allow the chicken to sear until the underside is browned, then toss and keep cooking until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the pan, leaving the oil behind.3 tablespoon neutral oil
- Scramble the eggs: In the same pan, add a little more oil if needed (if using a nonstick pan you may not need any oil at all) and heat at medium high until it's hot and ready to go. Add the eggs and scramble them, keeping the yolks and whites slightly marbled. Once the eggs are done, remove from the pan. At this point if the pan has some bits of eggs stuck on it you can wipe or scrape them off, but there's no need to clean the pan.(PS. The egg is cooked separately and added back in in order to keep its colour vibrant. Otherwise it will get coated in the chili paste and everything looks the same colour.)2 eggs
- Fry the rice: Add about a tablespoon of oil to the wok and heat it over medium heat. Add the garlic and dried chilies and saute until the chilies start to smell a bit smokey, about 1 minute.4 cloves garlic, ½ - 1 teaspoon roasted chili flakes
- Add the rice and toss with the garlic briefly, then turn the heat up to high. Add the onion and the sauce and toss until the rice grains are separated and evenly coated in the sauce. If there are clumps, use your spatula to push them down to break them apart.12.5 oz cooked jasmine rice, ½ cup diced onion
- Add the eggs and the chicken back in along with any collected chicken juices in the bowl. (*If for some reason your rice is looking too moist and it doesn't look like it can handle more liquid without getting mushy, hold back on the chicken juices.)
- Turn off the heat then taste and add more fish sauce if needed. Add the fresh chilies and Thai basil and toss just until the basil is wilted.3 tablespoon sliced fresh chilies, 1 cup Thai basil leaves
- Serve with lime wedge and fresh cucumber slices, be sure to squeeze the lime over the rice before eating!Lime wedges for serving, Cucumber slices for serving
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