Thai fried rice

Yes, here I am again reporting on something that could be a Thai version of a Chinese classic. "Thai Fried Rice" comes from Quick and Easy Thai; there is also a version in Real Thai. Nancie McDermott comments that fried rice is what a Thai might throw together in a situation where an American might put together a sandwich; it's a simple way of making a meal out of whatever is on hand. Besides, there's usually spare rice available in a Thai household.

Spare rice, in fact, was what got me started on this recipe. After that, it was just a matter of adding some chicken thigh meat and some seasonings. As usual, I forgot about the garnishes and optional additions like sliced cucumbers and lime juice; if I really want to cook Thai, I will have to change that outlook.

The recipe in a nutshell: stir-fry some garlic and half a cup of chopped onion in oil for a minute, then add your meat of choice and stir-fry for two more minutes. Add one beaten egg, let it start setting, then stir to scramble it. Then add the rice, two tablespoons of fish sauce, a teaspoon of sugar and two chopped scallions. Heat through.

On a side note, getting more than one cookbook at once is an exercise in applied indecision. Suddenly there are all these wonderful new dishes to try. There may be new ingredients or tools to acquire. So many possibilities, so little time! At times like these, it's hard for me to sit down and just pick one of the many tempting options. To make matters worse, now I am reading my new Korean cookbook, and that is giving me more tempting ideas. I know it's popular to bemoan the glut of cookbooks and the equivalent drop in home-cooking, as cooking becomes a spectator sport. But I only get cookbooks I want to cook from and then I cook from them. I guess I thought that was how it was supposed to work.