Seafood Fried Rice

Our theme this month is The Beach. So when it came to food we really had no choice – it had to be seafood. Here’s a nice simple recipe for Thai fried rice with seafood, given that special treatment by Chef Nara Suttichanond of the Holiday Inn Phuket Resort.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 3-4 minutes
Serves: 2 portions

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 5 g diced onion
• 1 beaten egg
• 30 g white prawns, de-veined and peeled.
• 30 g scallop meat
• 20 g finely chopped squid meat
• 10 g chopped crab meat
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 cups steamed rice
• 5 g finely chopped spring onion
• 5 g julienned carrot

To accompany the meal:

• Small cucumbers, sliced
• Cherry tomatoes
• Lime wedges
• Fresh spring onion

Directions:

1. Steam the rice, then spoon it out onto a plate and let it cool.
2. Prepare the seafood. Peel the prawns, removing the heads and legs, and de-vein them. Blanch all the seafood briefly in boiling water, then drain well.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Add the onion and stir until golden brown.
4. Add the beaten egg and stir for half a minute, then add the seafood.
5. Add the soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper, and stir for a minute to allow the seasoning to flavour the meat, then add the steamed rice. Stir well on low heat for just long enough to make everything good and hot. At the last moment, stir in the chopped spring onion.
6. Spoon out onto serving plate or into any serving vessel that your imagination suggests – a cup or a banana leaf, perhaps. Top it off with the julienned carrot.
7. Serve with crispy sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, spring onion and lime wedge. Note, when cutting a lime, don’t cut vertically through the core. Cut vertically a couple of millimetres to one side of the core, otherwise you won’t be able to squeeze juice from it.

Tips from the chef:

• It is essential that the seafood be fresh.
• While cooking, always use gentle heat – don’t let the temperature get too high.
• Traditionally, Khao Pad is made with fish sauce, but some people find the flavour overpowering, which is why this recipe uses soy sauce instead

Meet the chef

Nara Suttichanond, Executive Chef of the Holiday Inn Phuket Resort, took a break from his work running the hotel’s kitchens to show us how to make Khao Pad Talay with style.

Kao Pad – Thai for “fried rice” – is a dish you can find all over Thailand, and which anyone can cook, but an artist such as Chef Nara can make it look and taste extra-special. We’re sure you will enjoy it at home with family and friends.

But before you rush off to the kitchen, let’s get to know the chef a bit. Chef Nara is from Krabi, just across the bay from Phuket. He has always worked in kitchens, including those in top-name hotels such as Novotel, the Dusit Laguna Phuket, and the Balikpapan in Indonesia. He also had a Thai restaurant in Cairns, Australia, which he started with friends.

When did you join the Holiday Inn Phuket Resort?
I was here for the first time in 1987 when the Holiday Inn had just opened in Patong. I worked here for four years before moving on to look for new experiences. I came back in 1998 and I’ve been here ever since.

When did you first start cooking?
I don't know...when I was young, I guess. I had to help out in my family kitchen. I was not really cooking anything; more preparing ingredients for my mother to cook. I found out early on that cooking was not a difficult thing at all. It actually became second nature later.

When did cooking become your career?
I started in 1977 in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, at the Ramada. I remember, at the beginning, that I didn’t really understand much about the job. It took about four years before I really started to enjoy my work – I also got promoted. Being a chef is a fascinating job, so I’ve carried on doing it ever since. While working at the Ramada, I also had the chance to get more valuable training abroad, including stints at the Metropole Hotel in London and a hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany. I was there in Bahrain for total 10 years.

What is the best part of being a chef?
I think being a chef is an honourable profession. You get many chances to meet world travellers, to make new local and international friends, and plenty of chances to travel. These opportunities, together, have broadened my mind.

What do you most like to eat, and why?
When it comes to food, I’m quite easy to please; I can eat just about anything. But my favourite cuisine must be E-san food [the style of food that originates from the northeast of Thailand]. It is so full of flavour, and it’s not fattening.

What are your top priorities at work?
There are four things that I always pay attention to while working; teamwork, customer focus (knowing about customers’ need), business know-how (knowing about profit margins) and knowing the product well (recognizing which dishes will sell and which dishes resort guests do not care for.)

If you weren’t a chef, what other career would you choose?
I would like to own my own business. I want to open my own restaurant again. I already have the know-how and I really like to work with food.