Bud & the OBayley Boys: Moomy & Her Thai-Inspired Fried Rice!

In 2005, the yacht club where I was working then hosted the annual SingSiam Regatta.

This regatta is an annual friendly sailing competition between the Club members and their friends in the Royal Thai Navy. Every alternate year, each country will take turn to host this event.

During the week our guests were in town, the working group (including me) slept over at the Clubhouse too. We prepared breakfast for our guests and helped ensure that all their needs were attended to. Tiring, but it was a lot of fun.

The Regatta was a successful event, so successful that a bunch of us decided to make a trip to Sattahip & Bangkok to visit our friends.

Thailand's a beautiful country, and its people were known for their warmth and generosity. And when we visited our Navy friends, they were always so charming and hospitable. They even picked us up at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and drove us to Sattahip, almost 2 hrs away.

The following year, I signed up as part of the working group to travel to Sattahip for the Regatta. It was such fun, attending to the needs of our Singapore sailors and working together with our Navy counterparts.

The SG contingent flying out to Sattahip for the 2006 SingSiam Regatta.

Looking back, whoa, that was a lot of people to look after. All of our younger sailors came with their families - sailing is after all, a family affair at the Club. Boy, it was a lot of hard work that trip but so much fun.

I will include more pictures at the end of this post :D

To this day, I still keep in touch with them: Capt. Bundit, Bang, Peh and his wife Mon. FB is a wonderful tool to keep friendships going, despite the years.

Anyhoo, I was figuring out what to fix for lunch one day. I had some leftover rice and I thought of a simple fried rice but why make it simple when you can elevate it to something more … exotic :D

In honor of my memorable time in Sattahip and being in the company of such wonderful friends like Capt. Bundit, Bang and Peh, here's my Thai-inspired Pineapple Fried Rice:

I've already got about 2 cups of cooked rice, cooled and ready to be fried. Its always good to use leftover rice to make your fried rice so keep that in mind whenever you're cooking some.

And here's my tip: prior to frying it, use your wooden spatula to break up the cooked rice. This will save you some time later on when you're frying the rice in the wok :D

I learnt that that Thai food plays with your taste buds - sour, sweet, salty, spicy and bitter. I can imagine a lot goes into the making of what seems like a simple bowl of tom yum goong, a spicy Thai shrimp soup but hey, that's the beauty of cooking :D

And these are the ingredients I prepped to go into the fried rice:

Half an onion: diced.
3 cloves of garlic: diced finely;
A handful of fresh cilantro: chopped finely;
1 carrot: peeled and diced finely;
1 red pepper: cored and diced finely;
A generous handful of frozen peas;
A generous handful of canned pineapple: drained of its juices and cut into small chunks. You can also use fresh pineapple.

Optional:
A handful of peanuts, shelled and roughly chopped.

One of my fave things about fried rice is you can be creative with it and add almost anything leftover from a previous meal. Like bell peppers, chunks of cooked chicken, broccoli florets, French's fried onions. For this fried rice, I had orange peppers from the night before so I added that to the lot.

Over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil into the frying wok. Once the oil has nicely warmed up, add the finely diced garlic and carrot. Stir continuously for about a minute and then throw in the onion, peppers and peas. Stir the veggies for another minute before adding the cooked rice into the wok.

By now, you would know that I like a variety of colorful veggies in my food :D

I drizzled another tablespoon of oil over the mixture, and then sprinkled 2 teaspoons of curry powder into the wok. Stir well so every bit of rice and veggies get coated with the fragrant curry powder.

Then add these into the mixture: 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce. Stir well and then add the pineapple chunks and chopped up peanuts* into the wok.

*You can also take a tablespoon of chopped peanuts and sprinkle over the fried rice just before serving.

I love pineapples! I love in on my pizzas and I love it pickled as a side to my plate of briyani rice. But pineapple fried rice … whoa! That totally elevates my humble plate of fried rice into something more :D:D:D

Make a well in the middle of the wok and break a couple of eggs into that well. Let it set for a bit before scrambling them. Mix well to incorporate the scrambled eggs into the rice and veg mixture.

Let the rice cook a bit more, then add the chopped cilantro. Stir well and the pineapple fried rice is ready to be served.

Fried rice is very versatile: pair it with a plate of spicy fried chicken wings and you have a wonderful Friday-night dinner. Its great to be packed away for a picnic lunch too. And I love that when you make fried rice, there is usually enough for leftovers the next day :D

We love the slightly spicy kick we get from the curry powder and the tangy sweetness from the pineapple chunks. And it was perfect with a bowl of the seafood tom yum soup I had made the night before.

Of course nothing beats the authentic Thai delights (my fave dessert is Khao Niaow Ma Muang, glutinous rice served with generous slices of fresh mango and sweet coconut cream drizzled all over. Aroy mak mak! That's Thai for very delicious!) I had when I was in Sattahip and Bangkok, but hey! I think this will tide us over until we venture back to the Land of White Elephants.

My partner-in-crime, Jeremy (in red, with his back to the camera), briefing the sailors prior to start of race. He handled the sea aspect of the regatta, while I covered the land aspect: food & admin. And we shared a lot of tasks in between :D

One of my fave sights on-land, prior to start of race. The wind flapping those unfurled sails, sailors making adjustments on their lines and the sun shining brightly. Perfect day for sailing, don't you think?

A cheeky reminder from the juries, David and Capt. Awoot.

And even though this regatta first started out sometime in 1973/4, the friendship forged has continued throughout all these years, especially for the adult sailors, who met regularly to sail in other competition and also for leisure.

Jeremy took me on board the jury boat and it was so much fun watching all the action take place out at sea. Here's our Thai friend holding up the Optimist class flag :D

I captured this! I remember taking this picture and when I showed it to the lads on this keelboat, they wanted me to delete it off my camera hehehe but these Thai guys were good. Despite this capsize, they took the 1st place that year.