Thai Fried Rice

Food, more posts about food. I probably shouldn't post about food while I'm hungry, I probably sound like I'm desperate for a snack. Oh well.

You know, I've often thought I should have been born somewhere in Asia as I like just about every type of Asian cuisine, but I guess you can't have everything. However, I do consider myself fortunate to be born in a very diverse city. There is just a ton of ethnic restaurants in the Metro Detroit area, and I like them all. Within just a few miles of my house, there are something like a dozen Chinese restaurants, a couple Korean restaurants, a Japanese steakhouse, three or four Thai joints, four Vietnamese restaurants and even one Laotian place. That's a lot of Asian food, and me likey!

Just a couple of things about Thai food though. First of all, just about everything can be eaten spicy. That's cool with me, but I have a problem with a dish when all you taste is spicy. The heat factor of a dish should complement a dish, not be the only discernible flavor. So I generally stay at about medium heat for most dishes, because whenever I've ordered hot, it was to the determent to the overall flavor of the dish.

This said, there's nothing much I like more than going to a Thai place and sitting down for some fried rice. First off, the meal begins with some soup. Normally the soup is either hot and sour soup, or sizzling rice. At most places, you also get some shrimp chips, and these will dissolve in the soup in a most gratifying way. It's a good time to mention that if you have a cold, there is no better cure than a bowl of Thai soup.

The soup is just about the right amount of time for your food to reach you, so it hardly seems like you are waiting. Then comes a large portion of excellent tasting fried rice. Now I'm a little jaded by the house fried rice at Bangkok 96 (Dearborn, MI). It has chicken and shrimp, with carrots, snow peas, broccoli, onions, and cashews. This might just be my favorite dish of all time.