Thai-Style Crab Fried Rice
Courtesy of Serious Eats
Serves: 2 to 3 servings
Prep Time: 40 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Ingredients
2 cups cooked jasmine rice (12 ounces; 350 g) (see notes)
1 1/2 tablespoons (20 ml) vegetable or high-smoke point oil, divided
1 to 3 Thai bird chiles (according to your heat tolerance), finely sliced, plus more for serving
2 medium cloves garlic (about 2 teaspoons; 5 g), minced
1 large egg
Kosher salt
4 ounces (115 g) picked cooked crabmeat
2 scallions (1 ounce; 30 g), thinly sliced
2 teaspoons (10 ml) fish sauce, plus more for serving
Ground white pepper
1/4 cup (8 g) fresh cilantro leaves, minced
1 Japanese cucumber, thinly sliced, for serving
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges, for serving
Direction
If using day-old rice, transfer to a medium bowl and break rice up with your hands into individual grains before proceeding. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a large wok over high heat until lightly smoking. Add chiles and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Immediately add half of the rice and cook, stirring and tossing, until the rice is pale brown, toasted, and has a lightly chewy texture, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Heat another 1/2 tablespoon of oil until smoking, add the remaining rice, and cook, stirring, until it has the same texture as the first batch. Return first batch of rice to wok and toss to combine.
Push rice to side of wok and add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil. Break egg into oil and season with a little salt. Use a spatula to scramble egg, breaking it up into small bits. Toss egg and rice together.
Add crabmeat, scallions, and fish sauce. Toss to combine and cook, tossing and stirring constantly, until crab is heated through and scallions are lightly softened, about 1 minute. Season to taste with white pepper and salt. Stir in cilantro.
Serve immediately with sliced cucumber, lime wedges, additional fish sauce, and sliced Thai chiles at the table.
Notes
For best results, use jasmine rice. Chinese medium-grain rice or Japanese sushi rice can also be used. Rice should either be cooked fresh, spread on a tray, and allowed to cool for 5 minutes, or, alternatively, transferred to a loosely covered container and refrigerated for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days.
