Fried rice in Thai is Khao pad (ข้าวผัด). It is an easy to cook dish, and also nutritious. Moreover, it’s not spicy so anyone can eat it. I think that’s also the reason why it’s quite common to see Thai fried rice in big parties or buffet lines in Thailand. Today I am going to share how to cook fried rice in Thailand and how to call fried rice in Thai language properly.
Ps. I named my fried rice in the picture above as #hotchick fried rice ;P
Table of Content
Thai Fried Rice Ingredients:
- 2 cups vegetable like carrot, bean, kale
- 3 cups steamed rice
- 1 cup minced beef/pork
- 1/4 cup minced garlic
- 1 tbsp. oil
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. curry powder (optional)
- 1/2 tbsp. cumin powder (optional)
*Tips: Try to cook rice a little bit dry or use left over rice. It would be easier to mix the rice with other ingredients without destroying rice grains.
Recipe of fried rice in Thailand with pictures and videos:
- Prepare the steamed rice.
- Wash your vegetable.
- Stir fry the garlic.
- Add the meat, cook until well done.
- Add soy sauce, curry powder and cumin powder.
- Put all veggies and rice, stir fry until all ingredients mix well.
**“Thai Fried Rice” in Thai (Thai Language Nerd Corner)**
How to spell / read / pronounce “Thai Fried Rice” in Thai? Is it “Khao Pad” or “Khao phat”? If you’ve ever founded that Thai transliteration spelling is so confusing. You are not ALONE!! Transliteration is also confusing for Thai people too. We can discuss about this in depth later. Anyway today I prepare all information to crack “How to read Thai words?” and “How to pronounce Thai dish names properly?” for you already, as follows:
- Thai language: ข้าวผัด
- Phonetics: /kʰaːw˥˩.pʰat̚˨˩/
- Transliteration (Thai Royin National Standard): khao phat
- Another Transliteration (Paiboon publishing): kâao pàt
- Popular Transliteration: khao pad
All literate Thai people understand “ข้าวผัด” from the first bullet point (Thai language). Then you can use the phonetics as reference for the most accurate pronunciation. However, there are too many versions of transliteration, because the central standard from government authorities is not so popular. And it’s not popular because most Thai people do not know how to apply that standard system accurately. Therefore, many people create their “own system”. As a result, no wonder why there are so many versions of transliteration.
To order khao phat or khao pad, you can add a kind of meat/seafood that you like after the word “khao pad”. For example:
| Fried rice in Thai (Transliteration) | Fried rice in Thai (Translation) | English |
| Khao Pad Gai | ข้าวผัดไก่ | Chicken Fried Rice |
| Khao Pad Moo | ข้าวผัดหมู | Pork Fried Rice |
| Khao Pad Goong | ข้าวผัดกุ้ง | Shrimp Fried Rice |
| Khao Pad Poo (Yes, pronounce like p**, but in lower tone) | ข้าวผัดปู | Crab Fried Rice |
Please feel free to email me to discuss about this “fun and interesting” part of learning Thai language.
