Occasionally I wander through other food blogs, although I try not to spend too long because it can become endless. More often than not, the opening paragraphs of a post wander into whimsical asides or limp observations that have little to do with the food itself. As a reader looking for a recipe, it can feel like a distraction: a gentle drift away from the practical and delicious thing I’m trying to find.
Those digressions remind me of long, uninspired sermons or stand-up routines that stretch analogies until they are threadbare. You can almost see the energy being squeezed out of a sentence as it attempts to make some clever or meaningful point — sometimes comparing the sacred to the mundane, like a carrier bag — and yet it often adds nothing useful to the subject. In food writing the consequence is the same: we spend a few paragraphs on life, then finally arrive at the recipe. Which is fair enough — an emotional context can be lovely — but brevity and relevance are virtues when the reader is hungry for the method.
So, without further digression — and with a little irony — here is a recipe that gets straight to the point while offering flavour and balance: Thai fried rice with the option of tofu or prawns. It’s an approachable dish that delivers fragrant, bright, and savoury notes, and it’s one I enjoy making both for weeknight dinners and for batch cooking. No carrier bags, I promise.
Thai fried rice with Tofu or Prawns
By Gavin Wren
0/50
Serves 4
Ingredients
250g brown rice
2 lemongrass stalks, bashed
2 kaffir lime leaves
2 tablespoons groundnut oil (or vegetable oil)
200g tofu, cut into chunks, or raw prawns — or a mixture of both
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 eggs, beaten
100g green beans, cut into 2.5cm (1″) sections
2 small pak choi, leaves separated and washed
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Juice of 1 lime
2 red chillies
To serve:
2 spring onions, chopped
4 lime wedges
1 red chilli, chopped
Directions
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat. Fry the tofu or prawns for about 6 minutes until golden and cooked through, then remove and set aside. Add a second tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes over high heat. Add the green beans and pak choi and continue to fry for another 2 minutes so the veg remain crisp-tender.
Add the cooled rice and the cooked tofu or prawns back into the wok. Stir and heat through for a minute, then make a well in the centre and pour in the beaten eggs. Break the eggs up and quickly stir them into the rice until they are fully incorporated and set, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and finish by stirring in the fish sauce and lime juice to taste.
Serve the fried rice in bowls and garnish with chopped chilli, lime wedges and spring onion. This dish freezes well — portion it for work lunches and reheat, sprinkling with crushed chilli flakes for added heat if you like.
Fried rice tip
Whenever you make fried rice, cooking the rice in advance and allowing it to cool thoroughly (ideally overnight in the fridge) gives the best texture. Leftover rice dries out slightly and separates, which helps it fry up light and non-clumpy. Preparing the rice ahead also speeds up the final cooking, making this a perfect dish for busy evenings.
Rice storage
Badly stored cooked rice can cause foodborne illness because heat-resistant spores may survive cooking and then grow if rice is left at room temperature. To reduce risk, follow these simple steps:
- Cool the rice quickly after cooking
- Store in the refrigerator for up to three days
- Freeze in airtight containers for longer storage
- Do not leave cooked rice sitting at room temperature