King Prawn Pancetta Fried Rice

I know it’s not cool to post about mundane things or unremarkable dishes. And this isn’t just an excuse to post but after surfing the net and bouncing through foodblogs, I realized that there are a number of people who’ve created fantastic fried rice dishes and yet a number who are quite troubled when it comes to finding the perfect fried rice recipe.

As boring as fried rice may sound, it is quintessential ‘fast food’ and also therefore, sometimes lacking in flavour if not cooked right. Born in Singapore - the land of fried rice - I suppose you can say I was exposed to some of the best plates of rice ever. But equipped with a rather dead tongue, I have no idea how to recreate those flavours and it is also unfortunate that I haven’t got a wonder cook somewhere in the family (ok I do, but you know what I mean by wonder cook when I say wonder cook) to pass down a secret recipe. I bring good tidings, however, and that is that I’ve come close to the ultimate plate of fried rice I used to have in school.

I must have spoken about this briefly once in my Chahan with Shiitake Mushrooms, Greens & Chives post; mainly, about the use of preserved salted fish to flavour the rice, often cooked with a range of vegetables and a combination of cha siew or Chinese roast pork and crispy roasted pork belly. This plate of meaty wonder is then served with loads of fresh, crisp lettuce slices and a fried egg, with the yoke just cooked so its still molten and melty in the middle.

Using the same concept of a flavour booster (the salted fish) and a main meat (pork) and a topping of lettuce, I’ve come close in areas of taste to the hawker fried rice of my childhood. It may not compare in terms of authenticity or ratings but it’s pretty damn good if I can say so myself. What I’ve done, however, is switch around the booster and the main meat, using seafood as the main meat and pork as the flavour booster.

Intrigued?

Smoked pancetta or smoked bacon bits can be used but I find pancetta, cooked alongside chopped garlic in a pan of mild-flavoured oil, such as sunflower oil, infuses more un-overpowering flavour into it than bacon. You may think otherwise, and choose to stick with bacon, that’s fine really. I can never be made to choose which is better anyway because I love pancetta with equal fervour as I do bacon. :) The prawns act as great absorbers of grease as well if you find pork too oily a meat. Prawns add a great sweetness to the dish and I would highly recommend it over other seafood like squid and fish.

Although the key ingredient here is pancetta, the fish sauce I believe was the second star of the day. Having a beautiful flavour and completely different taste to Chinese soy sauce or Japanese shoyu, it melts wonderfully into the rice, marries the king prawns and gives this fried rice a backbone!

King Prawn Pancetta Fried Rice
Ingredients

    1/4 cup long grain white rice/basmati rice
    1/2 cup water, for cooking the rice
    1/3 cup lettuce, sliced
    1/3 cup king prawns, shelled and deveined
    2 slices smoked pancetta
    1 garlic clove, finely chopped
    1 tsp fish sauce
    sprinkling of dried oregano
    pepper, for seasoning
    mild tasting vegetable oil, for frying

In a saucepan, cook the rice in measured amount of water.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil. Add chopped garlic and pancetta and fry together to flavour the oil. Next add the king prawns and fry till it gets a lovely golden brown near crisp outer layer.
Once the rice is cooked, add to the frying pan with the lettuce. Fry till the rice loses most of its moistness. Toss rice with fish sauce, seasoning and oregano as you fry.

Once done, serve on its own or with your favourite vegetable dishes.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 15th, 2008 at 1:28 pmand is filed under Chinese, Thai, fish, pork, rice, savoury, seafood, vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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