Tom yum fried rice with a Thai-style fried egg

Finely slice the lemongrass and pound it to a paste.

Add thinly sliced galangal and very finely chopped kaffir lime leaves and pound.

Pound in the Thai chilies until no big chunks remain.

Mix in sugar, Thai chili paste, fish sauce, soy sauce and plenty of lime juice to make the tom yum paste.

Prepare peeled, deveined shrimp, seeded tomatoes and the gai lan.

Heat a lot of oil in a wok until quite hot and fry the egg so it bubbles at once and gets crispy edges; set aside.

Sear the shrimp on one side, flip, cook until a little brown and crispy, and remove.

In the same wok with a little oil, cook the onion until translucent, then toss in the vegetables until coated and bright green.

Add the rice and toss, then add the tom yum paste and keep tossing until every grain is coated and the rice is dry, pressing clumps with the back of the spatula.

Crank the heat to dry the rice; do not cook too much in one pan or it steams.

Add the tomatoes and shrimp and toss to warm through, then toss in green onions.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, plate, finish with chopped cilantro and the fried egg on top; break the yolk into the rice.