Wow I actually stuck at something and have followed through on what I said I would do and for your friday pleasure here is my Thai green curry prawns.

You might be noticing a pattern with my love for all things curry like and I promise that this is that last one for the month.

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 green chile peppers, chopped
• 3 stalks lemon grass, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 lime, zested
• 2 tablespoons corn oil
• 1/4 cup corn oil
• 1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
• 1 (7 ounce) can baby corn, drained
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 3/4 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp (30-40 per pound)

Again this is a nice and simple one to cook and you can pick everything up on your drive home from work.

Place cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic, green chile peppers, lemon grass, cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, and 2 tablespoons of corn oil in a food processor. Blend to a smooth, thick paste. Set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup of corn oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir green beans and baby corn for about 30 seconds. Stir in the paste, soy sauce, and coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, then add the shrimp.

Cook the shrimp until they are bright pink on the outside and the meat is no longer transparent in the center, 3 to 5 minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick, stir in some water.

Photo by niamheen and used under creative commons

Stir-frying is usually associated with Asian cooking, but you can use different varieties of ingredients to create a healthy stir-fry. This is a great quick meal to make when you are pressed for time during the week. Stir-fries are fast, use little oil and are loaded with vegetables and lean meat. It is also a great way to use up leftover veggies in your refrigerator. I love the idea of throwing whatever I have on hand into a pan with a homemade sauce for a quick and tasty meal. This makes a great main course, but you can even stir-fry some of your favorite vegetables for a quick side dish. Be sure to add this to your weekly dinner menu!

Stir-Fry Thai Noodles with Chicken

Serves 6

Ingredients:
16 oz wide Thai rice noodles
1 medium onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb snow peas
1 lb chicken, diced
1 tablespoon oil
1 large or 2 small limes for juicing into sauce and garnish

Sauce Ingredients:
6 tablespoons Oyster sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok with 1 tablespoon of oil. Add garlic and onions, and cook for a few minutes or until they begin to turn transparent.

2. Add the chicken and snow peas and cook until no longer pink on the inside.

2. Mix up the sauce ingredients and set aside.

3. Cook noodles according to directions; drain.

4. Add the sauce & noodles to the wok, let it cook for 2-3 minutes so the sauce thickens up and coats all the vegetables and noodles.

5. Squeeze fresh lime juice over noodles and serve immediately.

Asian Grills

by Alexandra Greeley

Publisher Doubleday; 1st edition (April 1, 1993)

ISBN 10: 0385422121

ISBN 13: 978-0385422123

The book is a sleeper. Unassuming at first glance, this cookbook actually covers virtually all of Asia, including Indonesia/Bali, Malaysia, Singapore, the Treasure islands, Laos, Myanmar and, of course Thailand, Japan, India, China, Hong Kong and Korea. She even visits Macau and the Philipines, both usually left out of the discussion of Asian foods.

Grilling has always been an essential part of all of these cuisines and author Greeley surveys each area with a nice mix of dishes, not all of which are necessarily grills. she offers a personal perspective and knowledge of each culture and her thumbnail sketch of each area is valuable to those of us who will never visit.

She has a well-rounded glossary and she draws distinctions between similar ingredients in different countries, warning when substituting one for the other will dramatically change the character of the dish. She distinguishes between Singaporean and Malaysian Laksa, for instance, although she only gives the recipe for the former. It would have  been nice to have both recipes. Her Thai green curry seems reasonable (I haven’t made it) and I would have liked to see a red curry recipe as well. She has a red curry dish, a grilled duck recipe, but it uses a commercial red curry paste. Of course, Thai curries are usually used more in “stews/soups” type of preparations, but it’s nice to see it used for grilled dishes as well.

I’m anxious to try the Grilled Balinese Duck, a banana leaf wrapped smoky/spicy duck cooked directly on low coals for 8 – 10 hours.

I highly recommend seeking this book out, It will expand your horizons greatly and any of these dishes can be cooked on a decent sized kettle grill. Well-written and well-researched, this is an enjoyable survey of the world of Asian grilling.

Balinese grilled duck. Photo by Jean Marc D at Yelp.

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/l2CuOXGfLMzNQ-mSf8ylKA?select=0Cc-isET5wNucxwMTGxWaA

Fish Sauce or Nam Pla is one of the key ingredients in Thai cooking, in fact, many other countries in Asia also have its own version of fish sauce.

In Thailand, there are many brands of fish sauce, perhaps the most well-known amongst the foreigners are Tipparos and Squid brand.  My mother who is quite picky when it comes to food (and everything else) discovered a few years ago that neither of them suited her taste but she had found what she claimed was a great fish sauce a few years ago. We use the ” Tra Choo (Tra Chang)” or “Scale” brand. It has to be specifically golden scale as well. I’m not sure how much it cost, but it’s likely that the price is a little higher than few other brands.

Recently, there’s a new brand of fish sauce which put itself in the different league..yes.. even to mom’s favourite brand unfortunately.  It’s called ” Megachef” which is a premium grade fish sauce. I’ve heard of it through various media channels, what make it interesting is Chef David Thompson of a famous Thai restaurant in London, Nahm is a brand ambassador for “Megachef”.  For those who do not know this restaurant, it is the first Michelin star Thai restaurant.

For me who is not an expert in fish sauce, when I smelled it for the first time, I noticed immediately that it smells different and when I tasted it, it tasted different to other fish sauces I’ve ever tasted before. It’s definitely my new favourite brand of fish sauce from now on!  I’m sure that Megachef is being sold in many Asian’s groceries stores, throw away or give away your old fish sauce in your pantry and stock up the Megachef!!

Megachef fishsauce

Dear readers,

I want to start off this blog by admitting that I have lived on Koh Tao for the past several years and wish to remain anonymous.

My purpose for writing this is twofold: I wish to share things that I love about the island and expand its image a little bit. At the moment this island is synonymous with diving and for good reason; there are approximately forty dive shops for a 21 square km. area. If it sounds like a lot that’s because it is!

However, let’s be fair. In high season all of these shops get solid numbers of customers, so with that observation one can easily argue that it’s about the right number. There are other things to do on the island, sometimes more engaging than diving.

Activities:

There are challenging hikes to be found on the island as the mountains, while not being very high, ascend quite sharply. There are some trails around, but it is still the case that walking straight into the woods is the way to go. Bring decent boots because you don’t want to twist your ankle with bad footwear and find yourself isolated in rugged terrain with no people around. Also, there is always a chance of a run in with a small viper that you would probably never see until it’s too late. It’s only big enough to tag a foot, so cover up.

As the market has expanded maritime alternatives have opened up as well. Koh Tao now has sailing, windsurfing, sports fishing, boat handling courses, snorkeling trips (often as part of a dive expedition), and the list is growing.

Koh Tao has many large boulder formations and rock outcroppings that are suitable for climbing. Many of these sit alone and can simply be accessed and used hassle free.

(See ‘travel’ for more details on this) One of Koh Tao’s greatest assets is its rich diversity of bays and beaches. There is for instance Hin Wong Bay which has great snorkeling. The bay is filled with large boulders that allow a person to simply walk partially out over the water and jump in. It’s very beautiful. For the sunbathers of the world there is the popular and well known Sairee Beach, but it’s common and also convenient. For a more rewarding experience that involves a bit of travel try Freedom Beach, last stop on the road through Chalok Baan Kao on the southern part of the island. There’s too much to cover in this blog which is why exploration is one of my top tips for enjoying this island. The populated areas are condensed, and there is still plenty to stumble upon here. It can be a great adventure.

Travel:

There is a multitude of information available about how to reach Koh Tao that doesn’t need to be discussed here, apart from this writer’s opinion that the Catamaran is the way to go. It’s a little more expensive, but well worth it in convenience.

So, moving right along…let’s talk about getting around once on the island. This is a big gray area for a lot of travelers and a point of suspicion and apprehension. Of course many of you have probably already guessed that I’m talking about renting a motorbike. Let’s not beat around the bush here: lots of people have been screwed out of thousands of baht because they put a scratch on a bike and the owner claims the entire front half of the bike has to be replaced, and they’ll hold onto your passport until you pay. It sucks. It really sucks, and they all ask for a passport in exchange for renting a bike. So, what are you supposed to do? Well if you want to rent a bike you just have to accept that you won’t have your passport for awhile. You can take Koh Tao taxis instead, but they just sit around all day and concoct strategies for sapping every last baht from hapless tourists. It’s not a good alternative. I don’t recommend walking to the other side of the island either. You’ll need to get a room and a 5 Liter bottle of water to recover with by the time you get there. Which brings us back to motorbikes. There are some strategies that work.

First off you never know who is a crook and who’s not. Here are some tips:

1. Don’t rent a brand spankin’ new bike sitting in front of a shop that does something unrelated like internet or selling vegetables. Things like this should send up red flags in your mind.

2. Do look for shops that run a professional bike rental and repair business, and have well used merchandise. This isn’t to say that you should rent a bike that relies on a tire held together by a rope to get you over a mountain, but it should look worn, used, and run well. This signifies to you, the renter, that this shop can fix its own bikes, keep them in good running condition, and not feel the need to take everything you have in the process. Of course nothing is 100% in this world, but this is a good place to start. Also, should you put a scratch on a well used bike you stand a much better chance of having it go unnoticed, which is really what you want in any case. Trust me!

3. Do take pictures of the entire bike including close ups of both damaged and undamaged areas. They really can’t argue with a picture confirming that you did nothing to the bike. Although, that might not stop them from trying.

4. I shouldn’t have to say it, but some people never cease to amaze. The #1 cause of injury on Koh Tao is motorbike accidents. Why? People who can’t ride a motorbike rent them anyway thinking everything will be fine because it’s vacation! This is flawed logic and realizing it after an injury just plain sucks. Have a good think about whether you should be getting onto a bike in the first place.

5. Lastly, check twitter and the like for anyone who has told their tragic story about putting a scratch on a bike and coughing up 8,000 baht for it. People talk and you should use it. You can google Koh Tao motorbike scams and pages will pop up.

Food:

This is a favorite area for many people, an area filled with excitement and curiosity about what sorts of culinary bonanzas await. Koh Tao does not disappoint. Contrary to what some people think this island does a pretty good job of catering to all tastes, and anyone who says different probably ate within the same 100 meter patch of beach for a week and claims that the island doesn’t have REAL Thai food. This simply isn’t the case. I’ve eaten in various locations on Koh Phangan and Samui, and my feeling has always been that Koh Tao does it better with more diversity and cheaper prices, period. I truly believe that the other two islands just aren’t as interesting and therefore have not attracted the same caliber of restauranters.

I personally love the restaurant choices on this island b/c they cater to people needing a western fix as well as those who want to experience the culture. This is the one section where I have chosen to name names, because being vague just doesn’t get it done with food, does it?

It used to be the case that Mae Haad, a short time ago, had the best restaurants. This has changed. In almost a complete role reversal Sairee now has the best places to eat, and Mae Haad is basically to be avoided and passed through once you get off the boat.

For people needing their western fix, I recommend Farango and Portobello (same ownership) for pizzas and lots of other delicious Mediterranean food. These and other restaurants worth checking out are on or close to the same road that connects Mae Haad with Sairee. It’s the most important and busiest road on the island, and you can’t miss it.

To have real Thai food I recommend a road, yes a whole road! Doesn’t make sense does it? Maybe I can help. Sairee has a crossroads where the road from Mae Haad comes in. This is a pivotal juncture, for (coming from Mae Haad) a left goes to the beach, straight goes toward more resorts and rolling nothingness (worth exploring), and a right turn (this is important) goes on a road where an interesting little subculture has evolved. When you take this right and walk 100 meters away from the congestion it all of the sudden seems like you’ve entered the real Thailand again, and the choice of restaurants reflects it. This road has, almost exclusively, Thai food, and damn good Thai food at that. Here’s a tip: it’s an important distinction for a Thai restaurant to have a Thai chef. Sounds silly doesn’t it? Of course they should have a Thai chef! Unfortunately some restaurants have done well and turned the cooking over to Burmese chefs. It’s hard to tell the difference based on appearance, but the food tells the story straight away.

On this road ‘Nid’s Kitchen’ is new, but has quickly developed a reputation for having very good and authentic Thai food. It also has fresh homemade burgers for that western fix, and they’re not puny, wimpy burgers either. It is delicious and very reasonably priced. Right beside that there is a duck soup place that is also divine, and new as well. Both places are remarkably cheap and give good portions and value for the money. These are just two of the restaurants on this road. And, you’ll also find that there is a dramatic price drop here compared to restaurants just a couple hundred meters away on the main road.

Eating on the beach can be a wonderful experience on Koh Tao, or a completely mediocre one. Sairee beach is literally filled with restaurants. A few standouts for me are *Noori India restaurant, and it’s beside the renowned Lotus Bar (same owner) so you can have exceptional food and then just start partying right there. *Sairee Cottage also has good food on the beach. This place has one of the most solid histories of good service anywhere on the island. Of late, it has gotten a bit more expensive, and some people seem to think it has slipped a little in areas that made it great in the first place, but it’s a nice place to eat regardless. *Flower Restaurant on the south side of Sairee beach has exceptional Lasagna, and their other food is hit or miss. You might be wondering why I would name a restaurant that has one great dish. Well the answer is simple: it has one great dish! Once people get to know this island it’s not uncommon to find them skipping around from place to place seeking out their favorite meals that one place does better than another. But, I will leave the rest of this experience to you, because it’s fun finding that one stand out meal somewhere. *Lastly, King Crab is not to be missed for great grilled seafood on the beach. It’s located back on the northern end of Sairee. It’s easy to get to, but you might have to ask directions just to find the road to turn onto just past 7-eleven on the main road.

Accommodation:

This is another kind of sticking point on this island, not so unlike motor bike rental. This is not to say that getting a room on Koh Tao is a scam, but it can definitely qualify as a hassle. The result: lots of people get accommodation lumped with a diving course, then feel sort of put out, and leave the island after four days having gone to a few restaurants and spent a lot of time on a dive boat and in classrooms. This is normal for the duration of a dive course, but there is no reason to feel that there are not other places to stay when a dive course finishes, ergo time to leave the island. You would be really missing out. There are other places to stay, and lots worth doing.

The same road that has lots of authentic Thai food (a right turn at the Sairee 7-eleven) also has budget rooms, both in existence and under construction. This road is growing and it’s capitalizing on the gaping hole that’s been left open that backpackers are perfectly happy to walk through. Nobody wants an overpriced room and a majority of the island seems to have overlooked it. Seek this road out for solid deals. It also has an area named Jitsin village where there are a lot of residential homes and bungalows. It is possible to go in alone or with friends and find some nice little deals for a stay beyond the normal four to five days. This area is nice and quiet and affords quick access to Sairee, very much worth a look.

The alternative is to do a dive course and get a discounted or free room that gets marked up to (in all likelihood) at least a thousand baht and up per night. This is what repels a lot of travelers who finish a dive course. Naturally they don’t want to pay it and feel put out, then they leave. Some of the rooms that come with dive courses are great, and you probably won’t want to give it up, but all good things must come to an end.

Instead of doing a big long section about dive schools I’m just going to throw in a little advice here with accommodations.

A lot of people have a notion that a small unheard of dive school where they can be alone is far superior to a busy one. Now think about that and consider whether or not it sounds right. How do you think the big dive school got big, by doing a poor job? Does it make sense to assume that somebody came along and said: ‘I’m going to build a huge dive school right here,’ and then it filled with customers as if by magic? No it didn’t. The big dive schools have been around the longest and earned their customers through hard work and high standards. They’re organized, professional, and well managed from top to bottom. It’s not hit or miss with a big dive shop. They didn’t grow through inconsistency. If you go to a small place you might get an instructor who’s not good enough to work at a better dive shop. You also might find a diamond in the rough that’s just getting started and will be a great shop one day. So, just shop around and make an informed decision. You should know the telltale signs by now of people and places that will suck versus ones that will be great and rewarding. The big dive shops have websites that turn up first in searches, and offices to greet you on Khao San road in Bangkok. This is where your research should begin, not necessarily where a decision is made. If you think you might go pro one day (work in the industry) take into consideration that a busy dive shop has the potential to offer a lot more work one day. You’ll find that your training reflects a shop’s image, and so your best chance at employment lies in the hands of those who trained you. Always bear this in mind. Diving is great so enjoy it and be ‘that’ person who everyone wants to be with because it looks so fun. It can be a nice little job for those who are meant to succeed in it.

So, to wrap things up: explore the island on a crappy motor bike, fill your belly on a quiet road close to 7-eleven, and don’t sleep on the beach once a dive course is finished. I hope you enjoy this island as much as the residents who have made it their home. If you visit please help Koh Tao’s ecological efforts and don’t litter or overuse the island’s limited water supply.

Thank you and good luck!

P.S. Look for more advice like this in the future as the island continues to grow and mature.

One of the things we have really wanted to do while travelling is learn to cook something from another country.  We love Thai food so we booked onto a day-long cookery course.

We weren’t really sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a great day.  They took us down to the local market (where food was so much cheaper than the usual markets!!) and showed us all of the ingredients that they use.  One unpleasant moment was when a market man grabbed a live flapping fish and began hacking it to pieces!!!!  Anyway… we went back to the little cookery house and chose 5 meals to prepare each.  There was quite a selection to choose from.  Then we went off into groups and were shown what to do.  A couple of our choices were different, so we enjoyed sampling each others’ meals when we came back.  Yum!!!  So we are now pretty impressive Thai chefs and are determined to try it out when we get back home.

That evening we went to Chiang-Mai’s night market.  It was pretty big and fun to walk around.  I was delighted to find some fantastic bright red sequined shoes for a quarter of the price of what they would be in the UK.  Yey!

Chiang-Mai is touristy, but a really nice place.  We left with mosquito bites the size of boulders (Carly for a change, about 10 of them – not Dave!), but also some pretty good memories!

Tom Yum Soup Recipe

From this website: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/tomyumkung.htm

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 stalk lemongrass, lower half sliced thinly and minced (tough outer leaves and bulb removed)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves (find these in the freezer section of your local Asian grocery store)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 red chilies (depending on desired spiciness), sliced (and de-seeded, if less “heat” is desired)
• 1/3 cup fresh coriander (or cilantro), roughly chopped
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce (available at all Asian/Chinese food stores and some grocery store chains)
• a handful of fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 12 medium or large raw shrimp, shells removed
• 1 can good-quality coconut milk, OR 1 more cup good-quality stock, 1/4 cup lime juice, + 1-2 tsp. sugar (to taste)
• optional: additional red chilies (left whole), plus other vegetables (shown here: cherry tomato, broccoli, & mushrooms)

Preparation:

1. Pour stock into a deep cooking pot.

2. Place lemongrass slices in a food processor and process until finely grated, or pound by hand with a pestle & mortar and add to the broth. Also add the tops of the stalks for extra taste.

3. Add garlic, chilies (including whole chilies, if using) and lime leaves. Bring to a boil.

4. Add the mushrooms and shrimp. Boil for 3-4 minutes, until shrimp is pink and plump.

5. Turn down the heat to low and add the coconut milk (or stock mixture) plus fish sauce. Stir well to combine. Test the soup for spice and salt, adding more chilies and/or fish sauce (instead of salt) as desired. If too spicy for your taste, add more coconut milk. If too salty, add a squeeze of lime juice.

6. Serve in bowls with fresh coriander sprinkled over and quarters of fresh lime on the side. For an extra hit of flavor, you can also add some Thai chili sauce. ENJOY!

From this website: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/tomyumkung.htm

Note: If you can not find the Kaffir lime leaves at the Asian store, contact me.

Continuing from part 3 (The food) we just have to show you the barbeque and Thai night at Echo Valley Ranch & Spa

On most Friday nights in the summer months Echo Valley Ranch & Spa puts on a fantastic barbeque on a stunning bluff that sits on the property just past the magnificent Baan Thai conference and spa center. (We will get to that building soon) The views are amazing and Chef Kim puts on a fantastic spread!

We witnessed Chef Kim masterfully barbecuing an amazing array of fresh organic meats and fish from Lamb, Beef, Salmon, Pork and their signature sausages! (Look for those at breakfast too) all accompanied with fresh organic veggies and a great choice of salad….owww did i mention fresh baked home made bread!

Once you have made your plate (s)  you have a choice of dinning in their custom built outdoor eating area or sit around a cozy fire.

When you look back at the Lodge at Echo Valley Ranch & Spa from the barbeque area LOOK AT WHAT YOU SEE!

During the summer months Echo Valley Ranch & Spa also offer its guests a Traditional Thai Night, always a special treat once a week, same goes for the barbeque!. The Thai evening is complete with wonderful authentic Thai Food cooked by the Thai Staff at Echo Valley Ranch & Spa….Now when i say the real thing i mean the real thing!! 

After dinner there is traditional Thai dancing where they get everyone involved, Yes we did dance with them…Great experiance!.

For more information and to experience these delights book at trip: www.evranch.com

Lemongrass And Sweet Basil: Traditional Thai Cuisine

by Khamtane Signavong

This slender volume would make a good companion piece to my previously recommended book, True Thai by Victor Sodsook. True Thai didn’t have any photographs of dishes and this volume has copious photographs that will give the chef a good idea of plating, presentation and composition.

It’s not as in-depth as the previous book and I don’t recommend it as ones only Thai cookbook, but it does cover a lot of ground and is ideal for the beginning chef.

There’s a pretty good cross-section of recipes and a concise bit of background information. As I said, for me, the main utility is the number of photographs of the various dishes.

The author says that fresh chili pastes can last in the refrigerator for “up to three months”. I find this quite optimistic. My experience has been that you have about two weeks max before the chili paste starts turning.

That quibble aside, I recommend this volume to anyone just getting interested in Thai cuisine, or anyone who has taken my recommendation and bought True Thai.

Photograph of Waterfall Beef Salad courtesy of:

King and I Thai Cuisine

West Des Moines, Iowa

I have been living and working in Thailand for over a year now and while staying here, I learned to love Thai food. For one, it is tasty and flavourful cos they used many herbs and spices in their food. Of course the most common ingredient in Thai food is the Chili. This ubiquitous red or green vegetable has been a recognized staple in Thai cooking (27 herbs and spices in total) together with basil, mint, pepper, garlic, onions, spring onions, lemon grass, coriander, lime and many others. Another reason why I love Thai food is because it is very cheap. Cheap means a meal consisting of rice and a viand costs around 30-60 Baht if you are eating on local food court or road side restaurant. Actually, eating in a “real” restaurant is also not too expensive. A dish would normally cost around 90-150 Baht. A seafood dish is cheaper as well (if I compare to Philippines).  A dish made of Crab or prawns would cost around 200-400 Baht while in Manila, it may cost double. Of course the prices may vary depending on the category of the restaurant or if it is located in a Tourist area but I still find it cheaper. Moreover, Thai food is basically healthy cos there are a lot of vegetables and herbs in it and they tend not to overcook the vegetables so it remains crispy and the nutrients not lost. Thais can even eat String Beans, eggplant and some vegetables raw which is a first time for me to do as normally either we cook the vegetable or boil it in water.  One thing that I noticed though is that many foods are oily. Also, I realized sugar is added into most dishes so have to caution my cholesterol and sugar level. Good thing though, I regularly exercise nowadays which I tend to neglect back home and on my last check-up my cholesterol level and blood pressure is normal, thank God!

Near my place there are many food kiosks and local shops selling noodles, duck, chicken or barbecue however living here for a year, I get bored of the usual food I can buy along the street. Fortunately, I found a good restaurant just within my apartment complex. The food is good and cheap (price ranging from 30-90 Baht)  as well. What’s more important is that one of the waiter can speak English well so I don’t have any difficulty ordering or them serving the wrong food. My favorite in that shop is their Pad Thai (Thai noodle very similar to our own Pancit Palabok) as well as Chicken with Basil Leaves though sometimes it tends to be too spicy for me the waiter had to place the Electric Fan in front of my face to avoid sweating too much and give me an extra glass of water.

I have been reading and researching on how to cook Thai Food which actually is almost the same as cooking Filipino food. I even planned to enroll in a short Thai Cooking course for the basic fact that I still dream becoming a chef someday (still possible I think).

Yesterday, I researched for a simple Thai recipe (Spicy Salad and a simple pork dish first). I went to the supermarket and bought the ingredients afterwards.

This morning when I woke up, I tried preparing the 2 dishes for my brunch. First, I prepared Phat Phet Thua Fak Yao Mu Sab or Ground Pork with String Beans. It is very easy to cook, just stir fry the ground pork in garlic, onion, chili then add the seasoning (soya sauce or fish sauce, oyster sauce and some sugar). Once the pork is tender, just add the String Beans until it’s a little bit soft.  After I finished cooking the dish, I placed in a bowl and whoa, it looked like the actual recipe I saw in the website.

The next recipe is a Spicy Salad made of Chinese Sausage and Cucumber. Actually, Thai food has some influences of Chinese cooking like the method of stir frying or deep frying. So if you noticed, even their salad have Chinese Sausage. To prepare this dish, you have to fry the Chinese Sausage then cut into small diagonal strips. Then slice the cucumber in small portions as well as Onions. On a separate bowl, prepare the dressing made of Soya Sauce, Fresh Chili, sugar. I added some vinegar to balance the taste since vinegar is also very good dressing for cucumber and onions. Then pour the dressing to the Chinese Sausage and cucumber.

The recipe is so easy isn’t it? But why am I sharing these to all of you considering it’s actually not a major feat? For me it’s a personal achievement actually…

It was really a shame that when I went back home last May, I didn’t even had a chance to prepare some Thai Food for my family so they can taste some “authentic” Thai recipe which is totally different than the food being sold in Thai Restaurants in Manila which tends to be too commercialized. My cousin Rona when she had a training in Japan can cook some Japanese food when she returned home. Pity me!

Another thing is that I have been cooking Filipino foods since I learned to cook (growing up in a family wherein all family members and most of our relatives can cook) and being able to cook a foreign dish adds up to my so-called “qualification”.

So much for that long story..I would like to share with you through pictures the 2 dishes I prepared this morning which I have been eating for Brunch and now Dinner (while I am writing this blog post and Facebook-ing). If you noticed, the chili is not as much as those being served in Thai Restaurants. Of course I had to suit it to my spice level so at the moment I just put about 3 pcs of chili for each dish. Maybe soon, I can put 1 chili garden in my dish. Ha ha ha! Next time, I will attempt to prepare another personal favorite, Tom Yum Goong (similar to Sinigang) and Som Tam (Papaya Pok pok salad as what they call locally). Sounds funny and naughty isn’t it? I am not too sure why they call it Pok Pok as well but the salad is actually prepared by pounding all the ingredients in a mortar and pestle so the same in Tagalog which pounding means “pukpok”. I dunno but I think maybe some Filipinos travelling to Thailand during the early days actually gave a tag for the Som Tam to be called Pok Pok salad. How naughty can the food be sounding right?

Happy eating!

It took me right back to high school home eco classes- everyone with their own little portions of each ingredient on a plate, own cook station and own pots and pans, teachers saying ‘If there’s smoke, it’s burning!’ and running around adjusting everyones stove flames.  Well… the open air kitchen and and the fact that Mrs. Wainwright had been replaced by a Thai guy did make it feel a little different to home eco class but it was fun to be back in that environment again.
 
I’m not going to rattle through all the dishes we cooked but suffice to say that we were STUFFED by the end of the day. One lesson I did learn is…. that hot and spicy really adds flavour.  Not a groundbreaking insight for your average Joe, I realise, but for me it’s quite the insight.  For years people have said to me ‘You don’t like H&S?  But that’s what adds the flavour!’ to which i’d retort ‘Yeah, but it also burns your mouth at the same time so i’m ok with no pain and less flavour’ (I still maintain that this is a fair line of reasoning). One dish that we made was Red Curry with fish and I though ‘Ah ha! I see a way out of this firey curry, i’m going to use 1/2 a tablespoon of curry paste instead of a full one to make it less spicy’, (meanwhile Spice Woman Mel was adding extra chilles and had a heaped tablespoon). As we sat down to eat, my Red curry resembled a murky pink curry and Mel’s was a lovely colour and aroma and when I tried hers, it WAS so much better (even though it burned my mouth). So, I will continue on with my journey of tastebud discovery.
 
Then we came back to our hotel and lay on the beds for about 1 hour like beached whales while we waited for our 6-course meal to digest. Next up is a Thai massage. I’ve been here a week and this is my first Thai massage- a crime if ever there was one!

cooking class

Coming together nicely...

Mel dives in

still need convincing

Chiang Mai scenery

Chiang Mai taxi

the art shot

I always used to find, “salting to taste” tricky. Some dishes were not even cooked yet and the recipe would say add salt and pepper to taste. I would just randomly add some salt and pepper and hope for the best. Even in dishes that I could taste as they were cooking, I found it hard to know how much salt to add. What taste was I aiming for? The options I thought were to add some salt or too much salt. To avoid too much I added just a little, in most cases not enough to make any difference to the dish. Then I was reading a book by Linda Carucci who is a chef and cooking instructor. In her book she said to add salt until you can taste the first ingredient you added. For me, this really works. I might be looking for garlic or an onion flavour, if they went in the pan first. The process is almost like bringing a camera into focus. Suddenly all the flavours are there and the point of adding salt to the dish is worthwhile – bringing out all those great flavours.
I do like how not all cuisine styles follow the adding salt to bring out the flavours routine. Some Indian dishes are completely a balance of the ingredients – hence the large amounts of the ingredients that make up the dish. Some Thai dishes it is the balance of the salty (usually from fish sauce) the sweet (usually from palm sugar) and the sour that make the dish.

- Fiona

I was watching Bobby Chinn the other day at Discovery Travel and Living. His main cuisine is that of Vietnamese, however; during that episode, he was in Thailand and decided to create a Thai dessert: Mango sticky rice.

His version was simpler, he created the sticky rice with some coconut milk and place some diced mangoes beside it. As I watched him, his dessert reminded me much of our own Philippine sticky rice dish: the ‘Biko”.

With that in mind, I also created my own version of the mango sticky rice which is very similar with the biko.

First, get some sticky rice or ‘malagkit’ and cook it. You can easily find this in the grocery or in your local market. Then, as you cook the rice, get some mango and puree it.

Put that slice of mango in your blender and it must look like this.

Next, get a saucepan and heat the coconut milk with some sugar. Melt the sugar in it.

When the coconut mixture is ready, combine some of the mango puree and coconut mixture together. Set aside some coconut milk mixture. This will be your mixture for the mango sticky rice.

Mix the mango-coconut milk mixture with your sticky rice.

After mixing, just assemble it! It is pretty easy, the base is the mango sticky rice, then add some shredded coconut on top of it. To top everything, add some canned red beans. Pour some of the extra coconut milk beside the whole dish and there you go!

Thoughts

First of all, what I like about this dish is that it’s a local dish. All ingredients came from the Philippines, meaning, you can expect the quality of the ingredients be very good.

Second, the texture was better than I expected. It seems I undermined the texture of the sticky rice because I thought that it would be mushy, then again, it wasn’t. A bite will give you a burst of texture of the sticky rice, shredded coconut and red beans. I felt the every bit of grain of rice there was and the texture of the three elements were quite unique and meld harmoniously with one another.

Lastly, the sharp sourness of the mango paired really well with the richness of the coconut milk. Moreover, the earthy bitter taste of the red beans gave a good balance with the overall sweetness of the dish. This gave a good balance to the dish.

All in all, I was surprised with the dish, it was better than I expected. I feel this dish was well executed and I was happy about it.

Allium Foodworks has been invited to present two cooking stages at the Edmonton Home & Interior Design Show on October 2nd at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm.  Sponsored by the Turkey Producers, Elaine will be making a Thai Cashew Turkey Stirfry – delicious!  If you’re at the Home Show, stop by and check out the cooking stage – there will be different chefs at different times on both Friday and Saturday.

This recipe is both fast and easy to make, although the end result is something truly extraordinary.  My brother’s wonderful girlfriend Crystal gave me a gift basket last Christmas with all of the ingredients needed to make this soup. I have made it many times and have adapted it just a bit from her original recipe. Enjoy!

* Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
4 cups chicken broth
10-12 slices of ginger (about the size of a quarter each)
2 large stalks of lemon grass, cut in 1-inch pieces (lemon grass can be found in most grocer’s produce section)
2 pounds chicken breast, cut into small cubes
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon granulated chicken bouillon
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, plus 1 teaspoon zest
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup chili paste (available in the Asian section of your local grocery store)
* For less heat, add only 2-3 tablespoons chili paste and then taste                         before adding remainder.
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:
1. In a medium pot combine coconut milk, chicken broth, ginger, and lemon grass.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together lime juice, zest, fish sauce, sugar, and chili paste. Taste and adjust flavors as needed.

3. Add chicken, mushrooms, and lime juice mixture to pot with coconut milk.

4. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.

5. Stir in cilantro and serve warm.

Regular readers of this blog know how enamored I am with the cuisine of Thailand. So I am happy to point out that the newest episode of Anthony Bourdain’s great show, No Reservations, takes place in Thailand.

I can’t wait to experience Tony’s descriptions of the distinct flavor and texture profiles of this great and noble cuisine. And I’m sure there are going to be some passing references to debauchery and decadence as well.

I suggest that just before you watch the show, that you dust off a copy of Alex Chilton’s song Bangkok and listen to it at maximum volume.

This makes me very happy indeed.

The show airs on The Travel Channel at 9pm CDT Monday night.

Be there. Aloha.

http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain

http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/

The Original Thai Cookbook

by Jennifer Brennan

Publisher Perigee; Reprint edition (31 May 2002)

ISBN 10: 0399510338

ISBN 13: 978-0399510335

This book claims to be “The first complete, authentic Thai cookbook published in America”.

Since it was first published in 1981, I suspect that this might very well be true.

And you should pick it up.

Half recipes and half cultural and historical overview of a very interesting country in Indochina, this book will inform your culinary education and compliment the book True Thai by Victor Sodsook that I’ve previously reviewed. His book is mostly recipes, but this book has a lot of “background info”.

You’ll learn how the cuisine of Thailand is bound by the logistics of their native kitchens, and you follow the evolution of a cuisine that has many parents due to its history of being ruled by various regimes and peoples. You’ll learn little tips like simmering chili paste-infused coconut milk uncovered instead of covering in order to prevent curdling.

And you’ll have plenty of recipes with which to compare with the True Thai cookbook and you’ll discover which ones you favor over the other. If you are a vegetarian, you’ll find plenty to work with here.

What you don’t get is a bunch of pretty pictures. This book is all business.

When I watch Top Chef, I’m amazed how many times rice is the downfall of a cheftestant.

I rarely have to cook mass quantities of rice, so it’s possible that it’s more difficult to cook rice for 10 or more people. But if you have to cook rice for less than 10 people, rice isn’t all that difficult, especially with basmati, my favorite rice (jasmine rice, a close cousin, is a close second).

First of all, for basmati, it’s very important to rinse well. You need to get rid of a little of the starch that’s on the outside, plus, occasionally you’ll find small grit and tiny stones that have to be eliminated. You need to rinse 4 or 5 times, or until the rinse water is clear and not cloudy.

I usually don’t measure, but most people think that a cup of cooked rice per person works pretty well. That’s about a half cup of raw rice.

The traditional ratio of rice to water is 2 parts water to 1 part rice. But I don’t worry about measuring. Here’s my trick, as taught to me by an accomplished Indian cook – add the rinsed rice to a pot and add enough water to be one inch above the rice.

I add some salt and ghee (although you can certainly use butter or vegetable oil – for an even more exotic flavor, you can add a dash of light colored sesame oil as well, but only a couple of dashes, because it’s quite strong in flavor). You put it on high heat and bring to a roiling boil. As soon as it hits the roiling boil, immediately turn down the heat to a simmer and cover.

Don’t peek until you get to the 12 minute mark. If you have a small amount of rice (say for 2 or 4 people), the rice will just about be finished. You’ll probably need to cook for another couple of minutes. How do you tell if it’s done? There will be steam holes on the top when it’s close. Take a chopstick and carefully open up the middle of the rice and expose the bottom. If there’s still a little water in the bottom, you’ll need to cover and continue to cook for at least 2 more minutes. Never stir the rice. This will make it gummy. Check again after 2 minutes. If all of the water has evaporated, you’re done! If not, cover and check every minute.

If you are cooking larger amounts, you’ll probably have to cook a little longer. You still want to check at the 12 minute mark just to see how close you are. You’ll basically be judging by the amount of water left in the bottom. After you cook a few batches, you’ll get a feel for how long it will take to evaporate the remaining water.

I like to leave just a tiny amount of water in the bottom, cover and remove from the heat. The rice will continue to cook off the remaining water even when it’s off of the heat if you keep it covered. If you do this, you won’t risk scorching the bottom of the rice.

When serving, take a large spoon and scoop it out, trying not to disturb it too much. It should be light and fluffy without having to “fluff it up” with a fork as is sometimes suggested.

If you follow these instructions, you’ll never have a problem with basmati rice.