This works brilliantly with some leftover roast chicken, or with the not-quite-one-portion odds and sods from the freezer. It’s literally translation is fried rice, and once the prep is done, it’s super fast (especially if you’re using that leftover roast chicken). It’s also brilliant for making a little protein go a long way.

Prep is the longest bit of this. A good rummage in the fridge and freezer turned up this evening’s combo.

One shallot, one carrot, two mushrooms that needed eating, and the tail end of a bag of peas for the veg. I had some broccoli I could have added too, but didn’t fancy it at the time. Not pictured is a very sad little baggie of coriander that I picked through for adding at the end.

For protein, I had two small chicken fillets – the runts of two big packs of chicken that were like large mini fillets in size. I also grabbed a fistful of prawns from the bag in the freezer.

Quick note on prawns – I always get raw, which you can spot as they’re grey in colour. Even if they say “deveined” on the pack, I guarantee at least a percentage will have been missed or only partially deveined. It takes a few minutes of fiddling, and the point of a sharp knife, to complete the process. Please do take the time to do this. There are YouTube videos showing the process. “Vein” is an overly polite term here, as it’s food-related. It’s poo, people! It’s part of the digestive tract, and it’s black cos it’s prawn poo. Now you know!

I fry off my veg first, in a little sunflower oil, then when it’s almost done, transfer to a bowl.

Next is the chicken. This should run through the entire dish in little bites, so cut quite small when prepping. Get it frying off, then add in some of this beastie!

This is a big packet, but it does come in smaller ones too. Every Asian market here has this, or another brand. I’m sure I’ve seen it in one of the bigger supermarket chains from time to time as well. I use a good tablespoons for us – the directions on the pack are for the whole sachet, and far too much for us! If you’ve ever used curry paste, this is a similar idea, though with very different flavours.

Smells awesome! Once it’s cooked, I add the veg back in along with a few shakes of fish sauce to boost the umami.

This is my favourite brand, and again about €2 from the Asian market, or quite a bit more in a smaller bottle in the supermarket. It lasts a very long time, as it’s used a teaspoon at a time.

Next up is rice. I used to specifically make too much rice at one dinner so that we’d have leftovers for this the next night. Temp kitchen makes things a little more complicated, plus I’ve a couple of sachets of “emergency rice” in the pantry. One is plenty for 2.5 of us.

In with the rice and coriander, and a good stir. Almost there!

In with the prawns – they take just a couple of minutes to cook, just make sure they get flipped over as you go. As soon as they’re pink, they’re cooked.

Last bit is one well-beaten egg. In a kids bowl as all the other bowls are in use or in the sink…I miss my dishwasher.

Pour all over, allow to start setting, then give a stir. Check seasoning. I usually add some soy sauce at this stage.

Into bowls, and for the adults, a wedge of lime. It makes the whole thing really come together!

We love this dish. It’s super flexible, a great way to use up bits and pieces, and it’s just pure comfort in a bowl. Yum!

While the paste has fish in it and this can’t be made veggie as a result (though maybe that’s a future experiment) for flexitarians it would be very simple to have this with just veg, or adding some seitan or smoked tofu.

It’s also regularly served with a runny fried egg on top, which is very delicious, but I only have one pan so didn’t. It’s still good without!