American Fried Rice (ข้าวผัดอเมริกัน) and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Interestingly enough, the day I made this fried rice was the day Time magazine published this report. For those who don't want to follow the link to the article, here's my synopsis. An Israeli scholar, Rachel Elior, has proposed that, contrary to popular belief, the Qumran documents, aka the Dead Sea Scrolls, weren't authored or copied by a religious group called the Essenes.

According to Elior, both internal and external evidence points to the fact that the Essenes never existed. And since it's inconvenient at best and impossible at worst for someone to write something unless they, well, exist, some theorists maintain that the group, famous for their ascetic lifestyle and extensive rules governing their bathroom rituals, could not have been responsible for the production of the Qumran documents.

The theory of the Dead Sea Scrolls not being the works of the Essenes is by no means new. Some scholars, in addition to Elior, have ardently argued against the Essenic authorship since the time the documents were discovered. So I find it a bit amusing to see people in recent weeks jumping to a non sequitur conclusion that in light of the uncertainties surrounding the authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the documents must be fraudulent. First of all, Elior's theory is just that, a theory, and by no means without opposition.

Also, the lack of certainty regarding the authorship does not at all translate into the loss of the documents' immense historical significance. It's the Essenic authorship theory as well as other studies built upon that theory that are being questioned, not the antiquity or authenticity of the documents themselves. The Dead Sea Scrolls are still works of antiquity containing the only known surviving copies of the Hebrew religious texts dated to the second century BC. In light of this, the question should be, "Who, then, wrote these documents?" not, "Okay, so how do we dispose of this worthless fraudulent junk?" These documents are still priceless regardless of who wrote them; they're still worth studying. In my opinion, now that the long-held theory has been more vehemently challenged, things are only getting to be more fun.

By the way, you are indeed reading a food blog.


Moving on to, believe it or not, a somewhat related topic -- you know how restaurants often put Tater Tots, Mac & Cheese, and chicken nuggets on kids' menus here in the US. In Thailand, American Fried Rice (ข้าวผัดอเมริกัน) was like one of those kids-friendly dishes which I, as a wee Bangkokian, ate quite a bit of.

If you're an American and wondering what in the world American fried rice is, there's nothing wrong with you. American Fried Rice is a Thai invention which is rarely found outside of Thailand. It should have been obvious to me, but I didn't know this when I was a kid. I found out soon enough, though. You see, in my juvenile naïvete, I totally thought that American fried rice was an American dish just as I would have readily assumed Norwegian fried rice was a Norwegian dish had it been something I was served growing up. (There was no such thing.)

All sources credible and dubious (including Wikipedia whence all truths originate) unanimously state that American Fried Rice was invented in Thailand by the locals during the Vietnam War when a few areas in the country were temporary homes to a large number of US military personnel. As far as I know, the story of its genesis has never been penned and canonized, so nobody really knows for sure. A couple of 8-year-olds could have thought it up for all I know. But since silence is awkward, I decided to come up with a story which, though hovers between apocryphal and downright heretical, doesn't seem entirely implausible. It goes thus.

Three cooks were having a little pow-wow on how to concoct a dish that would cater to the needs of the American clientele many of whom, they noticed, walked around with an imaginary 10-foot pole with which they would not touch the local favorite fermented fish dips. Day 1, the three cooks conferred amongst themselves and determined that the most cost-effective way to create this new dish would be to combine "American" ingredients with the most prominent and the cheapest local crop. It wasn't until Day 2 when they came to realize that this was a no-brainer. Rice, of course.

Day 3, Cook A asked the group to identify what it was that Americans liked to eat a lot. Chicken, said Cook B. He didn't waste any time coming up with that answer. Cook C nodded slowly in agreement, sharing to the group his observation that several Americans he met seemed to think everything tasted like chicken. On Day4, the group then decided on chicken. Not just chicken. Fried chicken.

What else?

Eggs, blurted out Cook B as Day 5 came to a close. Fried eggs, sunny-side up. And ham. Good thinking. What else? Hot dogs! Yes! What kind of sauce do they like? The cooks all agreed that while the Americans thought Nam Plaa was disgusting, they -- at least the ones they'd met -- practically drowned their foods in the super sweet tomato sauce called ketchup. Let's give them that. On Day 6, they decided, for texture and a little something-something, the shriveled-up grapes raisins which Americans seemed to like so much should also be added.

And with that, the prototype was created.


Gleeful, the three cooks gave each other a Thai equivalent of the American congratulatory fist bump, which is to say they did nothing (for, you see, we don't do fist bumps). The finished dish comprised a big scoop of raisin-studded and ketchup-flavored fried rice with a fried egg perched on top, a fried chicken drumstick, pan-seared ham slices, hot dog "blossoms" (because the Thai people have a tendency to turn everything into flowers be it cookies or fruits and vegetables), and some vegetable garnish.

The three cooks beheld their creation and they saw that it was good. They spent Day 7 resting.

Fine. So I don't really know how the dish got started. But other than the well-established theory regarding the place of origin, I doubt that anybody really knows how or by whom the dish was invented. There are those who purport to know, but until they can produce satisfactory evidence backing up their theories, their claims remain unsubstantiated.

No matter. Just as the mysterious origin of the the Dead Sea Scrolls doesn't diminish the value of the documents, the uncertainties surrounding the origin of American Fried Rice do not keep me from making and eating the dish from time to time. I know we're talking about ketchup-flavored rice with an eclectic set of proteins here, but you know what it's like. There are certain childhood flavors that your palate, try as it may, can never outgrow.

American Fried Rice in all its variations has been popular among both the expats and the locals for a few decades now. The reason is uncomplicated. Trashiness notwithstanding, it tastes pretty darn good. And though there have recently been reports of loopy restaurateurs adding Mounds or Almond Joy to the already eclectic mix in a misguided attempt to "improve" upon the original, the general appearance of the dish for the most part has been miraculously preserved since its inception.

American Fried Rice (ข้าวผัดอเมริกัน ) - The Way I Make It
(Serves one)


First make the chicken drumstick:
(Traditionally, fried chicken Thai-style is used, but I baked mine.)
Score a chicken drumstick and marinate it for 30 minutes in a mixture of 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, one small clove of garlic (minced), and ground white or black pepper, to taste. Bake uncovered at 375 F until cooked through.

Then make the fried rice:
Heat one tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add one small clove of garlic (minced) and saute until the garlic is golden brown. Add 1 cup of cold, cooked rice, 1/4 cup of raisins, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and 1/4 cup of ketchup; stir. Season with fish sauce, soy sauce, or salt to achieve the desired saltiness. Sprinkle some ground black of white pepper onto the mixture. When the rice is heated through and has absorbed all the seasonings, remove from heat and keep warm.

Prepare the eggs and ham:
Make a fried egg. Quickly pan-sear two slices of ham just to heat them through and get some color on them.

Make the hot dog blossoms:
Get a couple of good hot dogs and cut them in half crosswise. Make two cuts down the middle of the pointy ends of each piece to create four petals. Don't cut all the way through; the base needs to stay intact to hold the "petals" together. Pan-sear the hot dog blossoms in a skillet, lightly coated with vegetable oil, over medium heat. Once heated through, the hot dogs will bloom.

Then assemble:
Scoop the rice onto a serving plate. Top the fried rice with the fried egg. Arrange the ham, the hot dog blossoms, and the chicken drumstick around the rice. Garnish with vegetables of choice. Traditionally, this is served with cucumber and tomato slices and a piece of lettuce.