Thai Basil Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 3 TBLS Oyster Sauce
• 2 TSP Light Soy Sauce (preferably a Thai one or a low sodium light soy sauce)
• 1 TSP Sweet Dark Soy Sauce (note 1)
• 1 TSP Fish Sauce
• 1 TSP White Sugar
• 1 TBLS Water (or chicken broth or stock)
• 6 Garlic cloves – peeled, roughly chopped
• 6 – 10 fresh Red Chilies (Thai Bird’s Eye or any other small hot red chilies), to taste – de-stemmed, roughly chopped
• 2 – 6 fresh Green chilies (Thai Bird’s Eye, Prik Kee Nu chilies or other hot green chilies – note 2), to taste – destemmed, roughly chopped
• 1 Large Red Chili (mild) – destemmed, deseeded if desired, thinly sliced at an angle (reserve a few slices for garnish)
• 1 small Yellow Onion – sliced into 1/4-inch wide pieces
• 1.5 cups Thai Holy Basil Leaves (substitute with Italian basil or Thai sweet basil leaves if unavailable – note 3)
• 200 grams / 7 ounces peeled and deveined Shrimp (or prawns) – rinsed well, pat-dried
• 3 cups cooked Long Grain Brown Rice (such as Thai jasmine brown rice, chilled day-old rice works best – note 4)
• 2 TBLS Canola Oil (or any other neutral cooking oil with a high smoke point)
• To Serve: Reserved slices of large red chili, sliced cucumber, chopped fresh chilies in fish sauce (prik nam pla)

Instructions

1. 1

   --- Prep: ---

2. 2

   Make the sauce: Whisk together the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sweet dark soy sauce, fish sauce, white sugar and water in a small measuring cup or bowl until combined well.

3. 3

   Prepare the fresh ingredients: Prepare the garlic, fresh red and green chilies, large red chili and yellow onion as indicated in the ‘ingredients’ section. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and fresh red and green chilies (not the sliced large red chili) into a coarse paste (note 5). Pick the holy basil leaves off the stems, then rinse and pat-dry with paper towels. Rinse the shrimp thoroughly and pat-dry.

4. 4

   --- For the Thai Basil Shrimp Fried Rice: ---

5. 5

   Stir-fry the onion and aromatics: Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in a large wok over high heat. Once hot, add the onion and stir-fry for 20 seconds. Add the smashed garlic chili paste and large red chili (reserve a few slices for garnish) and stir-fry for 30 seconds to combine. (Note: Open a window or switch on the exhaust fan if needed. Stir-frying chilies over high heat can produce a lot of smoke and pungent fumes.)

6. 6

   Cook the shrimp: Add the shrimp and stir-fry for 1 minute until they start to develop color and are almost cooked.

7. 7

   Add the rice and sauce: Add the cooked brown rice and pour the sauce on top. Stir-fry until combined well and every grain of rice is evenly coated with the sauce – about 1 minute.

8. 8

   Toss through the basil: Add the holy basil leaves and toss briefly to combine until wilted – about 30 seconds. Switch off the heat.

9. 9

   To Serve: Transfer to a serving plate or divide evenly into bowls and garnish with the reserved sliced large red chili pieces. Or for fancier plating, place 2 pieces of the reserved sliced large red chili into a bowl and spoon the fried rice on top. Press down with the back of a spoon until the rice is in an even layer. Tip out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining servings of fried rice. Serve with sliced cucumber and chopped fresh chilies mixed with fish sauce (prik nam pla) in a small bowl or sauce dish on the side if desired.