Think Fried Rice. Think Spicy. Think Sour Tom Yam flavour. Add them all up and you have the famous Tom Yam Fried Rice or Nasi Goreng Tom Yam. What’s this you ask? It is basically a Fried Rice but with Tom Yam flavour incorporated into it. It’s simply delightful and you can find it at many hawker stalls here along with the more posh restaurants and even at hotel buffets.
This dish is very wonderful because it has spicy, sour and salty flavours within it.
I am going to give you a recipe that I got from a friend of mine. Here it is:
For the Tom Yam paste, you’ll need
5 shallots
5 big cloves of garlic
1 knob galangal
5 dry mild red chillies
1 finger length lemon grass
2 Tablespoons of tamarind paste
1 Tablespoon good quality fish sauce
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
Other ingredients include;
2 cups Jasmine rice
1 ½ cups chicken breast (or for seafood fried rice use shrimp/calamari combined) cut into bite size pieces
1 ½ cups baby spinach, loosely packed
2 eggs
½ Peanut or sunflower oil for frying the paste ingredients
1 small lime
handful of basil leaves
2-3 kaffir lime leaves
2 tsp salt
Right then! Let’s get to it. The first thing you have to do is chop all the ingredients to make the paste. Fry the dried chillies until they are not so dark, but a little soft. Similarly, lightly fry all the other ingredients separately until an aroma rises. Set aside the oil after this and don’t discard it. Blend all these ingredients to make a paste. Also add the tamarind paste, fish sauce and brown sugar and blend the mixture once again. Then, take 3 tablespoons of the oil used to fry the ingredients and use that to fry the chicken as well. Add half a teaspoon of salt and fry the chicken or chosen seafood until its well cooked on high. Beat the eggs. Put them into the middle pf the pan and wait for a minute, then scramble. Now, add the rice and toss well. Also add the spinach and let the leaves wilt. Lastly, add the basil and lime leaves and toss well. Your Tom Yam Fried Rice is ready to be served!
The seafood version is usually topped with fried anchovies for that crunchy texture. You can omit the eggs if you desire. Enjoy!
/// Written by Denise Michael, Malaysia
