Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice

Maybe I’ve been watching too many documentaries lately, but I was intrigued that the introduction to Night + Market: Delicious Thai Food to Facilitate Drinking and Fun-Having Amongst Friends started with a Werner Herzog reference regarding the difference between objective truth and ecstatic truth. The filmmaker defines objective truth as a record of facts while poetic, ecstatic truth is reached through “fabrication and imagination and stylization.” Kris Yenbamroong, the author of the book of which I received a review copy and founder of the LA restaurants, explains that his cooking is the ecstatic truth of Thai food. The recipes are definitely Thai in origin, but they are translated with his preferences. They don’t necessarily fit a strict definition of traditional Thai cuisine. You’ll find classics like Pad Thai and several variations of Larb, but the particular way they’re presented here are the author’s own style. The other intriguing aspect of these dishes is that they are intended to be paired with alcohol. There are no hard and fast rules, just lots of tips for which dishes to serve together as a meal and ideas for drinks to go with them including several wine suggestions. But mostly, the book encourages the cook to try these recipes and discover your own favorite ways to serve them for family and friends. One dish I can’t wait to try and that I will alter slightly is the Jungle Curry Clams. Jungle curries are hotter and more intensely flavored than others that include coconut milk. And, typically they’re made with water fowl, fish, or pork. Here, clams are used along with ground pork which I would skip or replace with chicken. The Hot and Sour Soups all sound great with lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves. The Banana Blossom Salad is something I’ve wanted to try for ages but have never located banana blossoms to use. Throughout the book, there are practical substitution hints, and here endive is mentioned as a good alternative to banana blossoms. With all the suggestions for various ways to serve each dish, the condiments and the included recipes for those condiments, and the encouragement to find out how you prefer to enjoy each recipe, this book inspires creative freedom with this food. 

Fried rice is one of my all-time favorite things, and I had to try the Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice. For all the fried rice recipes, a homemade Stir-Fry Sauce is recommended. It’s a simple sauce that’s sweet and savory with oyster sauce and sugar. I took a short cut when I found a bottled Stir-Fry Sauce that’s made with those same ingredients. The other condiment to make in advance for this is the Prik Nam Pla which is a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, minced bird’s eye chiles, and minced garlic. And, of course, you want to have all the ingredients chopped and ready before you start heating the wok. With hot oil in a very hot wok, you start with onion and garlic before briefly cooking the shrimp. Next, egg is added and scrambled into the onion and garlic. Then, leftover jasmine rice is added with the stir-fry sauce, and you cook while tossing everything together until the rice is dry and browned from the wok if you like. Off the heat, pineapple chunks and toasted cashews were added with sliced green onions and ground white pepper. In the book, this fried rice is shown being served in a hollowed-out pineapple, but I went for a simpler presentation on a platter. The Prik Nam Pla was served on the side to add to each plate as desired. 

I was already a fan of fruity and spicy things mixed with seafood, so this fried rice was a winner for me. There are some distinct flavors here with the sweet-savory stir-fry sauce and white pepper, but my favorite element was the Prik Nam Pla that I generously spooned on top. There’s so much more I want to try from this book, and I love that it not only gives license to but encourages a bit of a break from complete authenticity. 

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Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken

I’m going to file this dish under couldn’t believe how good this was or how quickly it was made. This meal was on the table faster than ever even by weeknight meal standards, even with chicken that needed to be cut into cubes, even though I was reading and following a recipe instead of cooking from memory, and even with the time spent taking photos. Seriously, the rice took longer to simmer than the chicken and sauce to be made. This was one of the 30 Best, Fast Recipes Ever in Food and Wine last September, and it definitely qualifies. It’s from Charles Phan of San Francisco’s Slanted Door.

The dish is an easy combination of fairly common ingredients. The sauce is made with brown sugar, fish sauce, water, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and Thai chiles. As I almost always do in savory applications, I chose to reduce the amount of sugar by a tablespoon or so. I usually also increase the amount of chiles, but I played by the rules in that regard this time. The recipe suggests two, halved Thai chiles, but I could go for three or four next time I make this. Once the sauce ingredients were combined, it was set aside while minced shallots were sauteed. Then, the sauce was added to the pan followed by the cubed chicken. That was left to simmer until the chicken was cooked through which took less than 15 minutes. It was served with jasmine rice and was garnished with cilantro.

I used chicken breast instead of the suggested thigh meat because of Kurt’s preference, and it cooked into a lovely tender state in the sauce. The balance of sweetness and chile heat was just right even though I wouldn’t have minded more spiciness, and all the other savory flavors from garlic, ginger, and fish sauce rounded out the sauce nicely. Kurt noted that it was ‘actually’ good. He’s well aware of my track record with Asian cuisine and tasted cautiously at first but then happily. I served the chicken and rice with some sauteed spinach and shitakes, and the roaming sauce on the plate was a welcome taste with the vegetables too. I love finding dishes like this that can become a part of our mid-week routine instead of being saved only for occasions when there’s plenty of time.

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Thai Lemongrass Rice Salad

We all have our food phobias, preferences, and various other issues. Kurt doesn’t have very many food issues, but every once in a while he surprises me with a new one. For instance, sometime in the last year, he decided rice salads should always be avoided. I don’t know what a rice salad ever did to him, but he made the decision and stuck with it until last night. When presenting this dish, I slyly called it a Thai salad and left the rice word out of the title. That worked well enough for him to taste it before pointing out that he could see that it was a rice salad. But, one taste managed to change his mind. That’s how good this salad is. This bright, freshly-flavored, mind-changing salad is from none other than Donna Hay and is found in Off the Shelf. I wasn’t kidding about the proliferation of salads and recipes from that book this week.

So, if you were wondering what would be a great make-ahead item that you could leave in the refrigerator, that would have incredible flavor even in its chilled state, and that you could enjoy for a few meals, well you found it. Make a big bowl of this salad and enjoy. The recipe is very quick and simple, and if you have some leftover chicken it’s even faster. I used leftover grilled chicken, but any cooked and shredded chicken would work. Then, cook some rice. I went with jasmine rice, and I always follow the process I learned from Saveur years ago. That process involves swishing the rice in water, draining, and repeating until the water remains clear. Then, the rice is boiled in a saucepan for a few minutes before the heat is turned to low and the pan is covered for 20 minutes. Last, the pan is removed from the heat and left to sit, covered for 10 minutes. The ratio from that article, from so long ago I don’t remember what year, was two cups of rice boiled in two and three-quarters cups water. It always turns out great. So, with cooked chicken and cooked rice, all that was needed to be cooked for this salad was some briefly sauteed green onions, chopped red chiles, and finely chopped lemongrass. Once sauteed, those items were combined with the cooked and cooled rice, the shredded chicken, some shredded mint, cilantro leaves, and shredded kaffir lime leaves which I actually found at the grocery store even though I usually don’t. Then, a dressing including lime juice, a little sugar, and fish sauce was poured over the salad. It was tossed to combine, and the salad was left in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

I tasted the salad as I made it, and the lime and lemongrass flavors were front and center, but I wondered if it would become a little dull after being chilled. It did not. The lime leaves, lime juice, lemongrass, fish sauce, mint, and cilantro all contributed to the flavor burst that was still there after the time spent in the refrigerator. I was very happy with the salad and surprised that Kurt not only tolerated it but found it to be quite good. I don’t know that this has opened the door for other rice salads, but I do know this one will be welcomed when I make it again.

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