This Thai Fried rice is extremely fragrant, delicious, and so much better than takeout! It's super versitile and can be paired with any protein of your choice.
In a bowl, add peeled and deveined shrimp and marinate with soy sauce, salt, white pepper, neutral oil, baking soda and cornstarch for 15 minutes.
In a mortar and pestle, combine garlic and thai chili peppers into a paste and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together oyster sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar, white pepper, and msg.
In 3 tbsp of neutral oil over high heat, saute shrimp for 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan, fry the garlic/chili paste for 15 seconds until fragrant, then immediately add shallots and onion. Stir fry for 1 minute.
Push the ingredients to the side, then add eggs and scramble (add 1 tbsp more oil if needed to cook the eggs). Mix together.
Add the day old rice and mix together over high heat, stir frying until the rice is toasted and relatively dry. Add the premixed sauce and combine.
Add shrimp and basil and stir fry for another 1-2 minutes over high heat. Garnish with limes and more basil and enjoy!
Notes
KEY TIPS:
Rice - Do NOT use freshly steamed rice. Freshly steamed rice has too much moisture and will make your Thai Basil Fried Rice soggy and mushy. The rice needs to be at least one day old. I like to make my rice in advance and lay it out on a baking sheet to dry out overnight in the refrigerator.
Crumble Your Rice - When cooking with dried out, day old rice straight from the refrigerator, you'll notice that your rice may be clumpy and dried together. You want to make sure to crumble your rice as you're cooking it so each rice grain gets cooked and coated in all of the delicious aromatics and flavors.
Success is in the Prep -
This recipe comes together very quickly once you start cooking in your hot wok or pan. You don't want to waste any precious time DURING the cooking to prep your ingredients - this will lead to the ingredients in your hot wok or pan getting overcooked or even burned.
The key to pulling off a quick-cooking recipe is to have everything prepped and available before you begin cooking. I like to have my sauce premixed, and all ingredients portioned and prepped in bowls next to my cooking station. Having all of your ingredients readily available and within arm's reach will make this the most seamless cooking process.
Storage and Reheating your Thai Fried Rice
You can store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. I don't like to freeze Fried Rice but if you want, you can freeze in an airtight container or freezer safe bag for 2-3 weeks.I like to reheat fried rice in a hot wok or pan; I heat up 2-3 tablespoons of oil and give it a quick stir fry over high heat. You can also reheat it in the microwave with a damp paper towel to help steam the rice and properly reheat it.