The Art of Making Thai Omelet
No. 158 'EGG-CELLENT'
Thai Style Minced Prawn Omelet
Date Made 22/6/2018
No time for cooking on Monday? No problem. Meet Monday friendly dish (or actually any day), Thai style minced prawn omelette.
As a Thai, I dare to say we love our omelet. We love it so much that the famous Thai Pop band 'Cha-leang' or เฉลียง (means Balcony) once released the song named 'Mr. Omelet' by Cha Leang (นายไข่เจียว โดย เฉลียง) and it went to the top of the charts! Why do we like our omelet? Well, what's not to like? It's simple, quick, cheap, delicious, and basically, need only 3 key ingredients - oil, fish sauce, and eggs. Literally, it's one of the Thai fast foods. The ideal omelet for Thai has to be crispy outside, soft and fluffy inside. It's considered an easy dish to cook but it doesn't mean you can't go wrong. My husband's omelet is one good example of a bad omelette (sorry Love. Don't mean to embarrass you but just because it is a real example). I will tell you later what happened. So here I am to tell you all the tips and tricks I know so far about 'The art of making Thai omelet'. Now let's travel to Thailand together.
No. 158 'EGG-CELLENT'
Thai Style Minced Prawn Omelet
Date Made 22/6/2018
No time for cooking on Monday? No problem. Meet Monday friendly dish (or actually any day), Thai style minced prawn omelette.
As a Thai, I dare to say we love our omelet. We love it so much that the famous Thai Pop band 'Cha-leang' or เฉลียง (means Balcony) once released the song named 'Mr. Omelet' by Cha Leang (นายไข่เจียว โดย เฉลียง) and it went to the top of the charts! Why do we like our omelet? Well, what's not to like? It's simple, quick, cheap, delicious, and basically, need only 3 key ingredients - oil, fish sauce, and eggs. Literally, it's one of the Thai fast foods. The ideal omelet for Thai has to be crispy outside, soft and fluffy inside. It's considered an easy dish to cook but it doesn't mean you can't go wrong. My husband's omelet is one good example of a bad omelette (sorry Love. Don't mean to embarrass you but just because it is a real example). I will tell you later what happened. So here I am to tell you all the tips and tricks I know so far about 'The art of making Thai omelet'. Now let's travel to Thailand together.
© Dee Allinson
Ingredients :
1. 4 Eggs (Fresh* and at room temperature**)
You can add or reduce eggs.
2. Prawn meat 60 g
You can swop prawn to minced pork, pork sausage, crab meat, sliced onions, sweet basil leaves, holy basil leaves, or choose to use just eggs.
3. Fish sauce*** 2 Tsp
4. Soy sauce 2 Tsp
5. A sprinkle of ground white pepper
6. Lime juice**** 1/4 Tsp
7. Rice bran oil or Canola oil***** 1 and 1/2 cup
7. Rice bran oil or Canola oil***** 1 and 1/2 cup
For Serving
8. Coriander leaves for garnish
9. Chilli sauce (Prefer our Thai Sriracha sauce)
You will need :
A deep round wok******
(Made from iron with 14" diameter would be ideal)
To Make an Omlete :
1. Chop prawn meat (60 g) into roughly 1-centimeter thickness pieces.
2. Crack the eggs (4 eggs) on the flat surface such as your bench top and put the eggs in a bowl. If you crack the eggs on the edge of the bowl, the eggshell could fall into the bowl and that could be an annoyance start. Add fish sauce (2 Tsp) and soy sauce (2 Tsp) in the bowl
3. Whisk the egg mix with a fork to get the air in until bubbles cover the surface of the egg mix.
4. Pour the oil in a deep round wok on medium heat.
5. Put chopped prawn meat (60 g) in the bowl. Add lime juice (1/4 Tsp) into the mixture and spring in ground white pepper. Stir with a fork until mix well. Bubbles suppose to still be there.
6. Wait until the oil gets really hot. Test if the oil is ready by simply dip a fork in the egg mix and drop the egg in the oil. If the egg drop floats and bubbles big time straight away, it means the oil is ready. If it sinks or moves dully, means the oil is still too cold.
7. When the oil is ready, Gently pour the egg mix in at the middle of the wog from around 30-40 centimeter high******* (But also beware, you are dealing with hot oil). At this stage in the wog, your egg mixture should expand like a nuclear bomb. Once the omelet starts to form use an Asian style turner scrape the edge of the egg so it floats, won't stick on the wok, and absorb the heat fluently.
8. Wait until the bottom side turns golden brown then flip it over. Mastering this flipping can be tricky, I recommend you to use a pancake turner together with an Asian style turner. It works for me.
9. Wait until the bottom side is slightly cooked through (egg mixture starts to form, no liquid) and turns to light yellow. Now turn the heat up up up to high heat******** and keep checking until the bottom side turns golden brown.
10. Turn the heat off and lift your omelet up with a pancake turner and a strainer. Wait until the oil stops dripping. Do not press the omelet.
11. Gently put the omelet on a plate. Garnish with coriander leaves on top and serves with chilli sauce. The size will reduce as it gets cold.*********
The art of making Thai omelet :
* Eggs using in this recipes should be fresh, if possible.
** At room temperature will make the eggs rise better.
*** Prefer good quality Thai fish sauce. I like Tiparos or Megachef.
**** Lime juice helps make an omelet crispy but if put too much it will make the texture of an omelet gets hard.
***** We need high smoke point oil here. I find these two types of oil are good for frying.
****** Deep round wok will help the omelet maintain it's thickness, not flatten.
******* Poring the egg mix from the height will help the omelet fluffier since more air is captured into the mixture.
******** Turning the heat up high at the end of the frying process will make the omelet less oily.
********* Since the omelet will reduce in size when gets cold you might want to try my trick so it still has a little height there.
We need another egg for this trick. Follow the steps above except this time we will not add any meat in the egg mix. Better if you prepare this second egg mix at the same time you prepare the first one. After finish frying the main omelet, instead of turning the heat off straight away keep it on. Slowly pour the second egg mix into the wog from a high spot. This time while pouring move the bowl around a little bit so we will get a lace-like omelet in a wok. Fry until the color turns golden brown. Put it on top of the prawn omelet.
What happened to my husband's omelet?
From all the information I've got (I wasn't with him that day), obviously because of 1. Wrong types of oil and 2. The oil is NOT hot. He ate it anyway and felt very sick afterwards, poor hubby.
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