Thai Fried Jasmine Rice with Vegetables and Egg Recipe
Fried jasmine rice with vegetables and egg is the Thai answer to “what to do with yesterday’s rice”. In Thailand, this dish is often served as a quick breakfast or lunch. It’s simple, colourful, and lets you use up leftover vegetables from the fridge.
In Thailand, this kind of fried rice is a typical breakfast and late-night street-food supper, often made from whatever is left over from the previous day.
This is a home-style version of Thai “khao pad” that faithfully recreates the balance of salty sauce, jasmine rice and fresh vegetables without hard-to-find ingredients. Using a regular large frying pan instead of a wok has been tested, so the dish works even on an average stovetop.
Why this version works
- Day-old rice guarantees a loose texture instead of a sticky mush.
- Cooking the eggs separately gives you soft, noticeable pieces instead of dry shreds.
- Stronger heat dries the rice slightly and adds a light, wok-like toasted aroma.
- The vegetables are simple, easy to find and keep their colour and slight crunch.
Chef's tips
I always separate the rice with my hand while it’s still in the bowl – if you throw clumped rice straight into the pan, you’ll be breaking it up with a spatula forever. Watch the eggs closely: take them off the heat while they’re still slightly moist and glossy, because they’ll finish cooking quickly in the hot rice. If the dish turns out too salty, add an extra portion of unsalted rice or serve more cucumber and lime instead of diluting the flavour with water.
How to serve
Serve with a lime wedge and cucumber slices, just like in Thai street stalls. For a bigger meal, add a simple salad of napa cabbage, cilantro and peanuts, or a small bowl of pickled vegetables to cut through the richness of the dish.
Watch out for
- Warm, freshly cooked rice will stick together – cool it completely and loosen the grains well.
- Don’t pour the soy sauce in one spot at the end, or the rice there will burn easily and turn too salty.
- If the pan isn’t hot enough, the rice will start to steam and turn wet instead of fried.
Substitutions
- You can replace fish sauce with light soy sauce to make a vegetarian version.
- Swap frozen peas for corn or finely chopped green beans.
- If needed, substitute jasmine rice with another long-grain rice that has been cooked and thoroughly cooled.
Ingredients
- cooked and cooled jasmine rice - 450 g
- eggs - 3 piece
- carrot - 1 piece
- frozen peas - 80 g
- onion - 0.5 piece
- garlic - 2 cloves
- soy sauce sojowy - 2.5 tablespoons
- fish sauce rybny - 1 tablespoon
- oil roślinny - 3 tablespoons
- spring onion dymka - 2 piece
- lime juice - 1 tablespoon
- black pepper biały lub czarny mielony
Preparation
- If using freshly cooked rice, spread it out in a thin layer on a plate and cool completely until the grains feel dry to the touch. Rice cooked the day before and chilled in the fridge is best.
- Just before frying, crumble all the rice clumps with your hand or a fork until every grain is separate. The rice should rustle when you stir it, rather than stick together in chunks.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt. Heat a large pan or wok over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil and swirl it into a thin layer over the whole surface.
- Pour the eggs into the hot pan. Cook, gently scraping the set edges towards the centre, until you get soft, moist curds of scrambled egg without brown spots. Remove while they are still slightly creamy and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the same pan. Add the finely chopped onion and fry for 3–4 minutes, until it softens and turns translucent and the edges start to lightly golden, but not brown.
- Add the chopped garlic and fry for about 1 minute, stirring, until you smell a clear, slightly sweet aroma and the slices at the edges just start to turn golden. If they begin to darken, immediately lower the heat.
- Add the carrot cut into small dice and fry for 3–4 minutes, until a knife goes through it with slight resistance. Add the frozen peas and fry for another 2 minutes, until fully thawed and bright green.
- Increase the heat to fairly high. Add the rice, breaking up any clumps with a spatula, and fry for 3–4 minutes, stirring often, until the grains are hot, loose and slightly dry on the edges rather than wet and compact.
- Drizzle the rice with the soy sauce and fish sauce, pouring them evenly over the surface. Fry for 1–2 minutes, until every grain is evenly coloured, the sauce has evaporated and you can hear light, dry scraping sounds from the bottom of the pan. Season with pepper.
- Add the cooked eggs and the spring onion cut on the diagonal. Gently fold everything together just until combined, so the egg stays in discernible pieces. Serve immediately, squeezing lime juice over each portion on the plate.
Storage
No storage information available for this dish.
I most often make this rice on Sunday evenings, when there’s half a carrot, a handful of peas and a lone onion left in the fridge. It’s also my emergency meal after coming back from a trip, when there’s only rice in the cupboard and I have no energy left for shopping.
