Thai basil fried rice
Spicy, garlicky fried rice with blistered green beans and a big handful of basil wilted in at the end, ready in 25 minutes.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.28 a serving
- 530 calories
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup jasmine rice, cooked and chilled, about 3 cups (leftover rice is perfect)
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 serrano pepper, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp gluten-free tamari
- ¾ cup fresh basil, leaves, loosely packed
- ½ lime, cut into wedges (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 530 calories, 11 g protein, 88 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $3.28 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No green beans? Frozen green beans work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Break up the cold rice with your fingers. the shallot and serrano, the garlic, cut the green beans into 1-inch pieces and slice the pepper.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Dolly’s tip: Scrape out the serrano seeds for less heat, and wash your hands after touching it.Stir the tamari and brown sugar together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves.
Heat the oil in a large over high heat until it . Add the shallot, garlic and serrano and about 1 minute, .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
High heatTimer: 1 min
Add the green beans and pepper and 3 minutes, until the beans are bright green and blistered in spots.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
High heatTimer: 3 min
Add the rice and spread it out. Let it sit 1 minute, then 3 minutes, until every grain is steaming hot.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
High heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: Use rice that went into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking. Rice left out overnight isn’t safe, even once it’s fried.Food safety: Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot, 165°F.
Pour the sauce around the edge of the pan and about 1 minute, until the rice is evenly and a few grains are .
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
High heatTimer: 1 min
Turn off the heat, add the basil and until it just . Serve with lime wedges.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Dolly’s tip: Thai basil tastes a little like licorice and is traditional here, but regular basil is lovely too.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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