One of our guests asked our new Chef of 'NORMAN'S at The Ritz Carlton, Grande Lakes, Orlando' for a recipe for our Thai Fried Rice and if I would email it to him. I said to Chef Brandon. "I'll go you one further and share it will all of the nice folks who get my blog!". Here it is folks.
THAI FRIED RICE
Norman Van Aken © 2002
This is served at our restaurant with a wildly popular "Mongolian BBQ Veal Chop". That is what you see in the picture.
Yield: 8 Cups (4 dinner sized portions)
1 Cup raw converted rice, rinsed well
2 Cups of chicken stock
2 Tablespoons canola oil
3 Tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tablespoon chopped ginger
½ of a red onion, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, julienne and then cut in half again.
12 Shiitake mushroom caps, sliced
2 ½ Tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ Tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
3 eggs, beaten
2 Cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tomato, concassé
3 scallions, sliced thinly
1 Cup bean sprouts
1 Tablespoon loosely packed chopped cilantro leaves
Prepare the rice by rinsing it well under cold running water until the water runs clear. Combine the chicken stock and rice in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to low. Cover the rice and let simmer for about twenty minutes or until all the water is absorbed uncover fluff and reserve in a warm place.
Combine Thai fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, crushed red pepper and black pepper in a small bowl. Set aside until needed.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil and butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the garlic and ginger and Stir. Add the onion, shiitake mushrooms, red peppers and cook until the mushroom are done. Add the cooked rice and stir.
Stir in the fish sauce, brown sugar mixture to coat the rice. You can do this ahead of time and reserve.
When you are ready to finish the rice, cook the beaten eggs in a nonstick pan with enough butter to coat the pan over medium high heat as if you were making scrambled eggs. Break them up with a spoon.
Get the remaining 1 Tablespoon of canola oil hot in a very large pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage and cook until it starts to wilt, about 3 minutes. Now add the tomato, scallions, bean sprouts, cilantro and scrambled egg, season with salt and pepper as necessary, stir and cook another minute. Stir in the reserved rice mixture. Serve or reserve as desired.
