Khao Phad (Thai Fried Rice)

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice, refrigerated overnight, minimum 8 hours; brought to room temperature before cooking
• 8 eggs
• 12 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 8 shallots, thinly sliced
• 400 g protein, prawns, crab, chicken, pork, or tofu — cut to uniform size
• 60 ml fish sauce
• 30 ml light soy sauce
• 30 ml neutral oil, high smoke-point
• 2 tomatoes, small; diced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 cucumber cucumber, sliced; served alongside
• 2 tsp white vinegar, added at plating

Method

1. 1
   Set a wok over the highest available heat, then add the oil and allow it to reach smoking point, so the rice and aromatics hit an environment hot enough to colour and dry rather than steam. A cool wok produces grey, limp grains with no life in them. Watch for the first wisps of smoke rising from the oil before you add anything.
2. 2
   Add the garlic and shallot and stir constantly for 15 seconds, so the fierce heat toasts them through rather than burning the exterior while leaving the centre raw and acrid. Stop the moment the edges of the garlic are just turning gold and the raw smell gives way to a sharp, sweet fragrance. Move quickly — at this temperature, ten seconds past that point is the difference between fragrant and bitter.
3. 3
   Add the protein and toss it, spreading it across the wok surface, so every piece has direct contact with the hot metal rather than stewing in its own released liquid. Cook for 45 seconds, until the exterior is just opaque or lightly coloured. It will carry over as the rice goes in, so do not push it further here.
4. 4
   Add the day-old rice directly over the protein and do not stir — allow the grains to sit undisturbed for 30 seconds, so the cold, dry rice makes direct contact with the hot wok surface long enough to char individually rather than steam in the rising heat. This is where the dish lives or dies: the correct signal is an audible dry crackle from the wok and a toasty, slightly smoky smell reminiscent of the base of a rice cooker, telling you grain-surface caramelisation has begun. Resist the impulse to toss immediately.
5. 5
   Crack all eight eggs directly over the rice and fold them through immediately and continuously, so the egg coats each grain as a binder rather than pooling and setting in a mass at the base of the wok. If egg remains visible as distinct pieces rather than as a thin film on the grains, the folding has been insufficient or the rice carried too much moisture. Keep the wok moving until every grain is coated and the egg is no longer wet.
6. 6
   Pour in the fish sauce and light soy sauce and toss thoroughly, so the seasoning reaches every grain while the liquid flash-evaporates against the hot wok rather than softening the rice you have worked to dry out. Toss until every grain is evenly coloured — the rice should deepen to a uniform pale amber. Taste at this point and trust the colour as your guide.
7. 7
   Add the diced tomato and spring onion at the last moment and toss once or twice, so they warm through and release their fragrance without the tomato collapsing and flooding the rice with liquid. The tomato should hold its shape and still have a little resistance. Any more tossing and the wok will undo the dryness of the grain.
8. 8
   Plate immediately, then add ½ tsp white vinegar per portion at the moment of plating, so the acid brightens the fish sauce without cooking off into the hot rice and losing its edge. Press a spoonful gently against the plate with the back of a spoon: each grain must be visible, separate, and coated in egg — clumped or fused grains indicate the rice was insufficiently dried or the wok was not hot enough. Serve with sliced cucumber alongside.