Crab stir-fried rice (kao pat bpuu)

This simple dish makes me happy that in Bangkok, I can live and eat on the same street. You can of course use almost anything you like instead of the crab – try cooked pork, prawn or squid. Like all stir-frying, it’s important to have all your ingredients prepared and close by as once you start cooking there’s no time for last minute preparations.

• serves

  1

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves
• large pinch of salt
• 60 ml (¼ cup) vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 185 g (1 cup) cold cooked jasmine rice
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• a large pinch of white sugar
• large pinch of ground freshly white pepper
• 3 green spring onions, cleaned and chopped
• handful of coriander
• 50 g cooked crabmeat
• Cucumber wedges, lime wedges and prik nahm plaa (see Note), to serve 

Instructions

Place the garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle and pound into a paste.

Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil and garlic and cook until the garlic just starts to colour a little. Crack the egg into the wok and stir until lightly scrambled, then push to the side of the wok. Add the cold rice, then stir until the rice is well coated in the egg. Add the soy sauce, sugar, pepper, spring onion and half of the coriander and toss until well combined and the rice is hot. Stir in the crabmeat

Serve sprinkled with the remaining coriander, cucumber and lime wedges, with the nahm prik plaa to be added separately.

Note:

• To make prik nahm plaa, simply add chopped red and green scud chillies, thinly sliced garlic and a squeeze of lime juice to a bowl of fish sauce.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.