Have you ever made fried rice at home and felt that it somehow lacked that flavor you get from take-out? I have many times. Somehow the fried rice tasted like simple vegetable rice. It just didn’t have the oomph factor that would get my brother nodding his head in approval until recently when I cooked up this ridiculous 5-min dish! Oh you bet my brother told me that my fried rice needed to be on a restaurant menu!
This spicy shrimp fried rice comes from… you’ve guessed it! That same Thai restaurant whose portly, bearded chef taught me how to make this Pad Thai and this Thai Beef Chili. The trick is simple: use 2-day old cold rice and fry up with a lug of peanut oil on a high heat until you feel that the grains of rice crisp up just a tad. And BOOM! You’re done even before you begun.
Be sure to tag me on Instagram if you make this shrimp fried rice!
- Peanut oil (or any veg oil would work)
- ¼ lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 egg
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup peas
- 4 cups white rice (must be a day or two day old rice)
- 1 tsp garlic chilli paste
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce + 1 tbsp water
- Chilli flakes, optional
- Green onions or Scallions for garnish
- Sesame oil (just a drizzle for flavor)
- In a pan add a bit of peanut oil and cook shrimps one minute on each side until golden brown. Remove to a clean plate. (We will add the shrimps back and fully cook them with the rice.)
- In the same pan, add about 2 tbsp more of oil. Crack a fresh egg and scramble it.
- Next, add in the carrots and peas and sautee for a 2-3 minutes on high heat. Add a bit more oil if necessary.
- Next, add in the rice, along with the shrimps and stir to combine.
- To spice up the rice, add in garlic chilli paste along with oyster sauce mixed with a tbsp of water.
- Stir the rice really well on high heat for a 5 mins but be sure to be gentle so as not to break up the grains.
- Add chilli flakes if you like spicy fried rice. I DO!
- Garnish with scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil. Sesame oil will give it that take-out flavor instantly.
- Stir and serve!