In her book Maae Khruaa Huaa Bpaa (MKHP) (ตำราแม่ครัวหัวป่าก์), Lady Plean Passakornrawong presents a fried rice recipe that is similar to mee graawp (หมี่กรอบ). She refers to the dish as “mee fried rice (ข้าวผัดหมี่)” in its seasoning style, and many of the ingredients are also similar. But, rather than mixing the seasoning sauce with crispy rice vermicelli noodles, the rice is fried in flavorful pork lard and includes pork, shrimp, crab, chicken, firm yellow tofu, garlic chives and bean sprouts, which Lady Plean refers to as “thuaa phaw” (ถั่วเพาะ) using an old term. To achieve a well-rounded taste, the dish is seasoned with fermented soybean paste, fish sauce, granulated sugar, and two of the three sour elements – vinegar and lime juice – resulting in a pleasant savoriness with a three-flavor profile. Ground chili is added for heat, and thinly sliced bitter orange peel is added as a topping.
To prepare the dish, Lady Plean Passakornrawong heats up pork lard in a wok and fries garlic and shallots until fragrant. Then, she adds the meats – pork, chicken, and shrimp – and fries them until they are fragrant. When the meats are cooked, she adds cooked rice and mixes all the ingredients well, ensuring there are no lumps in the rice. The ratio of rice to other ingredients is a personal preference but, to achieve a well-proportioned dish, Lady Plean Passakornrawong recommends not adding too much or too little rice.
After cooking the rice, Lady Plean Passakornrawong suggests seasoning the rice to one’s desired flavor profile. She serves it with an omelet, sprinkles ground white pepper on it, and garnishes the dish with thin slices of bitter orange peel, coriander leaves, fresh chilies, and a wedge of lime. This creates a three-flavor fried rice that is reminiscent of mee graawp (หมี่กรอบ).
When frying rice, there is a proven flavor chemistry at play. As the rice fries in the fat along with the other ingredients and seasoning, new flavor compounds emerge among the collective of rice and the other ingredients. However, in certain dishes such as mee graawp (หมี่กรอบ), it is undesirable for the fried flavor to overpower the delicate, nutty nuances of the rice vermicelli and the tangy, light and uplifting citrus aroma of the bitter orange peel. After some contemplation, I decided to mix the rice with the sauce instead of frying them together in the traditional manner. By pre-cooking the sauce and then mixing it with the cooked rice, the delicate flavor of the rice fully absorbs the seasoning, creating a lighter dish that, due to its extravagant display of ingredients, can be part of a larger samrub meal.
I suggest experimenting with both methods of preparing the dish – the traditional method of frying the rice with the sauce in pork lard, or the version (below) of mixing the pre-cooked sauce with the cooked rice (a style of dish known as khaao khlook (ข้าวคลุก)). Each method proposes a unique flavor profile and texture, and the choice ultimately comes down to your personal preference.
Khao Mee
"Seasoned Khao Mee Rice", also known as "Khaao Mee Yaang Khlook"., s a lighter alternative to the traditional "Khao Mee Fried Rice".
pinchground dried chili (พริกป่น)freshly roasted and ground
pichsea salt (เกลือทะเล)
Instructions
To make the khao mee sauce: In a bowl, mix together palm sugar, granulated sugar, tamarind paste, lime juice, white vinegar, bitter orange juice, fish sauce, sea salt, and ground dried chili.
Heat pork lard in a wok over high heat. Fry the saam gluuhr paste (coriander roots, garlic, white peppercorns) until fragrant.
Add shallots.
Once the shallots are cooked, add the sauce ingredients to the wok and allow the sauce to thicken.
Add ground chili.
Allow the sauce to thicken. Set-aside.
Prepare the ingredients:
Cook the rice according to the package instructions and set it aside.
Heat pork lard in a wok over high heat. Add firm yellow soybean tofu and fry until crispy. Remove the tofu and set it aside.
Boil duck eggs in cold water for 9 minutes; immediately transfer to cold water and peel.
Cook the pork belly and chicken breast whole. Pull the cooked chicken breast into thin threads and cut the cooked pork belly into thin elongated pieces.
Peel and devein the shrimp and then cut into bite-size pieces; blanch in hot water until cooked.
Steam and collect the meat of the crab.
Mix the rice:
Place the cooked rice in a mixing bowl and break in the soft-boiled duck eggs.
Add the cooked pork meat.
Add the cooked and shredded chicken meat.
Add the cooked shrimp.
Add the crab meat.
Season with the khao mee sauce.
Mix well with the rice.
Add the bean sprouts and garlic chives. Mix well with the rice and the sauce.
Add sliced pickled garlic.
Finally, add the bitter orange peels. Mix well.
Use a mold to shape the khao mee for a neat presentation. Garnish with the reserved fried tofu, chicken threads, sliced bitter orange peel, fresh red long chili and pickled garlic.
Keyword seasoned rice (ข้าวคลุก)
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mee graawp sohng khreuuang (หมี่กรอบทรงเครื่อง), is an exquisitely regal dish of crispy rice vermicelli. The delicate noodles strands are washed and dried, then fried to a crisp light-golden hue. They retain their brittle crunch and airy texture even after being stir-fried with a clinging sticky sauce that encases the noodles in a thin layer of sheen. This sauce, mixed into the noodles together with other ingredients such as thin slices of pickled garlic and bitter orange peel, impart the dish with a light, fresh sweet and sour, and slightly salty and citrusy glaze.
This soup dish features crispy rice vermicelli noodles, a chicken broth that has a three-flavor profile infused with the aroma of bitter orange, and a plethora of other ingredients such as crispy fried tofu, chicken, pork, crab and pickled garlic.
In Thai, the phrase mee naam baan raat thuut refers to a rice vermicelli noodle soup in the style of the Ambassador’s house. The dish was not new when it appeared in the 1956 book Snacks, Tea Nibbles, Hors D’oeuvres and Drinking Food (ตำราอาหารว่าง – เครื่องน้ำชา และ เครื่องเคี้ยว หรือ กับแกล้ม) by Jeeb Bunnag (จีบ บุนนาค), as noodle dishes were often the preferred ingredient for light meals or snacks. In Grandparents Recipes: 100 Years Old Recipes (จานอร่อยจากปู่ย่า สูตรโบราณ 100 ปี), a volume printed in 2014 that highlights recipes from the kitchens of fifteen prominent families, a similar version of the dish is referred to as mee naam baan bpaak naai leert (หมี่น้ำบ้านปาร์คนายเลิศ) and is associated with Nai Lert.
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When you design or build a new menu for an event or restaurant or even prepare for dinner with friends.
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