Thai Omelette (Kai Jeow)

Thompson identifies kai jeow in Thai Street Food as the preparation that most completely expresses the Thai kitchen's relationship with very hot oil. The eggs are not scrambled, not gently cooked — they are thrown into oil of such temperature that they swell, puff, and turn golden within seconds. The technique is dramatic and fast, and the result is unlike any Western omelette preparation.

Three eggs beaten with fish sauce and a small quantity of water, fried in a generous pool of very hot oil until the edges are deeply golden, lacy, and puffed — the interior still slightly soft, the whole arriving at the table crisp on the exterior and yielding within. Kai jeow is the everyday egg preparation of the Thai kitchen — the preparation most frequently eaten with rice, most quickly made, and most subject to the single technique that defines it: the temperature of the oil and the angle of the wok.

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