This Thai dish has now become one of my family's perennial favourites. We will have it for dinner just about every other week. At least, whenever I serve this, my hubby will go "wahhh" and my son did not say "it's not nice". So, this is now officially my signature dish, as my hubby dubbed so.
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| The golden fried rice - flavoursome, aromatic and delicious! |
I never thought that one day I'll have my own 'signature dish', but more than 3 years down my culinary journey, it happened. And I am greatly humbled, although it's nothing like a remarkable accomplishment, but still... Today, I have a roof over my head and food in the kitchen for all those cooking experiments... I mean, there are people elsewhere who are starving and with only a few dollars to their name and I know exactly how that feels.... so how can I not be grateful for all the things that I have now?
Pardon me, while I bathe in my reflective thoughts.
Anyway, on a lighter note, the best part about this dish is, it's one of the easiest dish to churn out, in terms of ingredients used, preparation and cooking method. You just have to cut all the ingredients that you have in your fridge into bite sizes, cook all of them in one pan and serve immediately with toppings. It's actually a perfect quick-and-easy, 'clear-fridge', one-dish meal.
So, this is almost like a cooking-day off for the mummy especially when her hands are blistering from all the house chores!
As easy as it sounds, the end product will not disappoint. In three words, this dish is flavoursome, aromatic and delicious! [delicious = aroi mak mak in Thai]
Recipe
Serves 2. Adapted from here with my own changes.
2 Tbsp oil (use canola/sunflower oil for a healthier version)
2 tsp minced shallot
2 tsp minced garlic
Rice, chilled overnight (cooked from 1 cup raw rice)
1 or 2 beaten eggs
Meat/protein that you have, 100-150g in total, all cut into bite size
Vegetables, cut into bite size, about 2-3 cups in total, more, if you love veggies
Roasted cashew nuts and dried raisins/cranberries - just a handful, this is optional
100g pineapple cubes (I used canned pineapples)
Pork/chicken floss 2-3 Tbsp for each person
Chopped spring onion, 1 Tbsp for each person or as much as you can handle! (It's filled with vitamin A and C)
For the sauce (mix all well in a cup)
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Fish sauce
2 tsp Oyster sauce
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Pineapple juice (I used the syrup that comes with the canned pineapples)
1 Tbsp Concentrated liquid soup base (or replace with 1 tsp soup base in powder form)
1. In a deep pan on medium fire, scramble the beaten eggs in some heated oil. Set aside.
2. In the same pan, heat remaining oil and fry shallot and garlic till fragrant.
3. Next, fry the meats till almost cooked and then fry the vegetables follow by the pineapples.
4. Add in the rice and mix well. Then pour in the sauce and mix well. Add in nuts and dried fruits, if using.
5. Finally, mix in the scrambled eggs and dish out onto 2 serving plates. Sprinkle dish with pork/chicken floss and spring onion and serve!
*NOTE*: Lightly wash away the sweet syrup if using canned pineapples or it will be too sweet. Loosen up the chilled rice with fork before you start cooking to prevent them from sticking together - doing this makes cooking easier. Examples of meat/protein can include: marinated chicken cubes, prawn, crabmeat, luncheon meat and/or tofu. Examples of vegetables can include: caixin, spinach, frozen mixed vegetables, onion, cucumber, bell peppers, chilli and even button/shiitake mushrooms.