Dec. 11--Salted salmon fried rice with shrimp ($14.95) is listed as one of the signature dishes at Rice Thai Asian Kitchen, a small, casual restaurant in Edgewater. It's easy to see why. Generously portioned and artfully presented, this dish is worlds away from the scoop of brown-stained rice festooned with squiggles of sprouts found at too many neighborhood takeout joints.
Aromatic and hot, flecked with black pepper, the jasmine rice kernels remain fluffy and separate. Tossed into the rice are seven shrimp, tissue-thin carrot slices, moist flecks of pan-browned scrambled egg, slivered green onions and, most intriguingly, chunks of salted cooked salmon. Don't let the word "salted" scare you away. A slight saltiness, amply balanced by the rice, gives the salmon a texture, an oomph, that makes the dish interesting.
Co-owner Lek Sirisombatwattana says her sister and co-owner, chef Kob Sirisombatwattana, salts fresh salmon, lets it marinate overnight and then pan fries it for the fried rice. The dish, she adds, is a variation on a family favorite, in which their parents used dried Thai fish. Salmon, they decided, would be a worthy substitute.
"I think salmon is a very, very healthy dish," Lek Sirisombatwattana said.
Rice Thai Asian Kitchen, 1136 W. Thorndale Ave., 773-878-8060. Open daily.
wdaley@tribpub.com
