Crispy Rice & Tomato Salad
I recently was reintroduced to one of my favorite Thai dishes, Nam Khao. It’s a crispy rice salad often made with fermented pork or ground meats, lots of herbs, and lime. I absolutely love it, and I had nearly forgotten about it until my brother Mitch came to stay with us. He has a severe dairy allergy, so most of the dishes I was making leaned towards Asia (his preference as well). After a fairly typical stir fry night, I ended up with a ton of extra rice. I was entertaining the following day and had plans to make a tomato salad with peaches. Instead, I decided to make my own version of a crispy rice salad featuring these summer tomatoes. The result was magnificent!
Crispy Rice & Tomato Salad (serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup avocado oil or other high heat oil
5 cups jasmine rice, cooked and cooled (preferably day old)
6 cups tomatoes
1/4 cup fish sauce (optional) - or substitute vegan fish sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon mirin
1/2 jar chili crisp
handful Thai basil leaves, torn
4 scallions, sliced thin
Salt, to taste
Method:
Heat a 12 inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Once heated, add the oil and heat for 2-3 minutes before adding the rice. Spread the rice evenly across the skillet and leave to cook for about 5 minutes. Use a metal spatula to scrape up the rice from the bottom of the skillet and flip to crisp the other side. The rice should be crispy with spots of pale golden brown. If it is still pale, you can flip it back over once the other side cooks. Repeat this process until both sides of the rice are crisp and starting to brown. Remove the rice from the pan and place on paper towels to cool slightly.
Next, cut the tomatoes. Use a variety for best results - some large heirlooms, some midsize such as early girls, and cherry tomatoes. Slice the large heirlooms into 1/4 inch thick slices, cut the midsize tomatoes into wedges, and either halve the cherry tomatoes or keep them whole if they’re small.
Next, prepare a dressing. with the fish sauce (if using), sugar, rice vinegar, and mirin. Stir to combine and taste for salt. Most likely, you will need to add a pinch of salt as tomatoes tend to need quite a bit.
To assemble, lay half of the heirloom tomatoes flat on a serving platter, then add some of the tomato wedges. Drizzle with half of the dressing and then top with 1/2 of the rice and 1/4 of the container of chili crisp. Then repeat the process to make another layer, finishing with the chili crisp. Garnish with the Thai basil and scallions.