THAILAND CUISINE

Welcome to Thailand Cuisine Blog

2007-06-16T04:14:00.001-07:00

If you are a new visitor to my Blog, welcome! This Blog is full of recipes from my native Thailand. Down to the right side you can also find the "Recipe Categories"

There are more than 100 recipes on this Blog and I add new ones often, so be sure to visit regularly! or bookmark my Blog (Ctrl+D)

Cooking Thai food should be "Sanook"-Fun! Cooking can be meditative, relaxing and enjoyable. Especially when the recipes are not complex and turn out tasty. Enjoy!!!

Papaya Salad (som dum)VDO

Danger, here be monsters! This is the typical dish of Thailand consisting mainly of papaya, chillis, seasonings, chillis and more chillis. If you like chilli this is the dish for you. The recipe varies from province to province, in the North East they add some fish sauce for flavour, in other provinces it can contain pounded small crabs, or pounded pickled crab. Sometimes mango is added to give a sour taste. The recipe below is typical of North East Thailand.

Ingredients for 2 People ( medium spicy )
1 Papaya
5 Bird Chillis
5 Big Red Chillis
2 Clove Garlic
1 Lemon
1 Tablespoon of Old Salty Fish
1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
4 Cherry Tomatoes

Serve With
Any Salad of Vegetables

Preparation
Importance: you must have a proper Thai Mortar to pound the ingredients.
1. Chop the papaya into fine strips.
2. Pound the garlic and chilli to break it up
3. Slice the lemon and tomatoes.
4. Add the old fish sauce, fish sauce, sugar,1 slice of lemon and sliced tomatoes, and pound them a few times.
5. Add the papaya and pound again untill everything is mixed.
6. Taste it and add more fish sauce to salt, or more chilli to spice it to your preference.

Phad thai VDO

Pad Thai is a fried noodle dish, although there are many dishes called Pad Thai, all are essentially the same: fried rice or glass noodles with chilli and other ingredients for flavouring. Here we use glass noodles. Be careful when choosing your noodles, they must be soaked and fried, a good quality noodles survives this cooking process, poor quality noodles will break into unpleasant small pieces. This is a quick cook dish from central Thailand, you add the chilli when it is served, so your guest can choose to make the dish spicy or mild. For the pounded peanut, it's better to choose a dry unsalted peanut, roast them it in a dry frying pan and pound them in a Thai mortar until they form smaller pieces. Alternatively you can chop the nuts by hand. These can be prepared ahead of time and stored in a cool dry place for a long time.

Ingredients for 2 people
1 Small Pack of Glass Noodle
1 Egg
50 gsm. of Dry Shrimp
50 gms. of Tofu
2 Small Red Onion
50 gsm. Soya Bean Shoots (Beansprouts)
1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
2 Tablespoon Chilli Sauce
1 Tablespoon Peanuts ( pound to fine pieces )
1 Teaspoon Dry Flaked Chilli
3 Tablespoons Oil

Serve With
Fresh Soya Bean
Green Lettuce

Garnish With
Sugar
Peanuts ( pounded to fine pieces )
Dried Chilli ( pounded to flakes )
Lemon or Lime Slice

Preparation
1. Soak the glass noodles in water for 5 minutes to soften them.
2. Chop the tofu into small squares,
3. Slice the red onion into smaller pieces.
4. Clean the fresh soya shoots and chop off the roots.
5. Put the oil in a hot frying pan with the dry shrimp, and fry for 30 seconds
6. Move it to one side of the frying pan to make room to fry an egg.
7. Break the egg in hot oil and stir quickly for a few seconds to break it up.
8. Add the glass noodle and other cooking ingredients and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Thai Fish Cakes With Spicy Sauce ( Todman Bla )

2007-06-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Thai fish cakes are made from soft meat fish, green beans and starch and cooked by deep frying. They are served as a side dish with a spicy dipping or pouring sauce. Any soft meat fish will do and it's a great way to use often ignored smaller and cheaper fish.

To remove the meat of the fish: remove the head, slice it down the belly, and remove any entrails. Pull out the backbone, in soft fish this will also remove the bones. Then remove the top and bottom fins. Finally hold the fish by the skin and scrape off the meat from the skin with a flat bladed knife.

Ingredient for 2 People
150 gms Fish Meat
2-3 Tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
100 gms Long Green Bean
1 Tablespoon Cassava or Potato Starch
Oil for frying

Ingredient for Sauce
20 gms Cucumber
10 gms Peanut
2 Big Red Chillis
3 Tablespoons Sweet Chicken Sauce
(A sweet sauce normally used for chicken, it does not contain chicken!)

Preparation
Fish Cakes
1. Pre heat a deap fat fryer to 150 degrees celsius (Medium).
2. Add the fish meat, red curry paste, cassava starch, to a blender and blend it.
3. Cut the green beans into very short pieces and mix into the mixture.
4. Take a spoonful of mixture and form it into flat round 'cookie' shaped fish cakes.
5. Drop the fish cakes into the hot oil, when the fish cake is cooked it will float back to the surface.
6. Remove from the oil onto kitchen paper to dry out the excess oil.

Preparation
Dipping Sauce
1. Chop the cucumber and chilles, and mixed with sweet chicken sauce.
2. Pound the peanuts in a mortar into smaller pieces.
3. Top the sauce off with the peanuts.
4. Serve as a side dish, or you can pour it over the fish cakes as we've done in the top photograph.

Mushroom Parcels ( Por Pai Had Hu Nu )

2007-05-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

You've seen variations of these fried parcels before, and you've probably eaten lots of spring rolls before. These are much better, a much stronger flavour comes from the black Chinese dried mushrooms (you can see these in the back of the photograph).

Ingredients
Spring Roll Papers
50 gms Black Chinese Mushrooms
100 gms Shrimp
5 Bird Chillies
2 Garlic Cloves
5 gms Kra Prow Basil Leaves (Thai Basil)
1 Teaspoon Oyster Sauce
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
Pinch of Sugar
1 Tablespoon Oil

Preparation
1. Soak the dried black mushrooms for 30 minute to 1 hour.
2. Chop the mushrooms and shrimp to a very coarse mince.
3. Slice the garlic and chillies together, fry in the oil for a few seconds, add the shrimp, mushrooms, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, basil leaves and stir fry for a minute, then set aside on a plate to cool.
4. Spoon the mixture onto spring roll leaves, roll up the edges and tuck in the sides. Brush the edge of the spring roll paper with egg to seal it.
5. Heat oil to 180 degrees celsius and deep fry the spring rolls until crispy. Drain on paper and serve.

Quail Tower ( Kai Hur Carrot Tod )

2007-05-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

Cakes drizzled in chocolate? No! Scotch eggs? No. These are eggs, wrapped in a coating made largely from carrots and breadcrumbs, drizzled in a savoury sauce.

Ingredients
Quail Eggs
150 gms Chopped Carrot
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Salt
Bread Crumbs
Oil for Deep Frying

Preparation
1. Mix the flour, eggs and carrot together, place in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Cover each egg with the mixture using two teaspoons to spread the mixture over the eggs.
3. Cover with breadcrumbs. Then deep fry in 180 degree oil until brown.

Ingredients for Dark Sauce
2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
4-5 Tablespoons Water

Preparation
1. Mix everything together.
2. Warm over a low heat to cook through the starch and thicken the sauce.

Crunchy Pork & Broccoli (Mu Gop)

2007-05-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Mu means pork, Gop means crunchy and as you'd expect the main part of this dish is the crunchy pork. It is normal to use thick strips of bacon, or similar cuts of pork with the skin still present. However not everyone likes the crunchy skin, so you may prefer to remove it. The pork can be prepared ahead of time.

Ingredient for 2 people
150 gms Fatty Pork
200 ml Water
1 Teaspoon Salt
100 gms Broccoli
4 Red Chillies
2 Garlic Clove
1 Tablespoon Light Soya Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoon Oil

Preparation of Crunchy Pork
1. Add the salt to the water and bring to the boil.
2. Add the pork to the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Take it off the heat and leave the pork to dry. You can prick the pork all over with a fork, it will help to make it crunchier.
4. Once it is dry, deep fry in hot oil.
6. The finished pork should be very very crunchy.

Preparation
1. Chop the garlic and fry it in a hot frying pan for a few seconds to release the garlic fragrance.
2. Chop the crunchy pork into bite sized strips, and put it in the frying pan with the garlic.
3. Add light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar, and stir fry it for 1 minute.
4. Slice the red chilles in halves and the broccoli into florets and add those to the stir fry.
5. Fry for a few minutes longer, to just lightly cook the broccoli.
6. Serve with hot fragrant rice and optionally, the chilli sauce below.

Preparation for Chilli Sauce
1. Chop a red chilli finely, and chop a garlic clove finely.
2. Put those in a bowl together with a single slice of lemon.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce.
4. Thats it, a spicy chilli sauce - this is a common condiment, if the dish isn't spicy enough, you can add a teaspoon or two to your rice.

Rambutans & Rice Worms in Coconut Sauce ( Lot Chong Poonlamia )

2007-05-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

This dessert is 'worms' (really dessert noodles made from sticky rice flour), together with Thai rambutan fruit, all swimming in coconut sauce and rambutan juice. To make the noodle, you will need a piping bag to extrude the noodle mix into the 'worm' shape. Serve with plenty of the juice and coconut sauce, for the photograph we used only a little so you can see the green noodle, but the dessert is better if you drown the noodles in the sauce. If you can't find rose water, you can change the flavour to vanilla by using vanilla essence in water.

Ingredients
100 gms Sticky Rice Flour
400 ml Rose Water
6 Drops Green Food Coloring
400 ml Cold Water
100 gms Tinned Rambutans in Juice
200 gms Sugar
100 ml Coconut Milk
100 gms Ice

Preparation
1. In a saucepan, mix the colour with 200 ml (half!) of the rose water, add the sticky rice flour and cook on a low heat stirring continuously.
2. The rice become very thick and sticky, keep stirring and mixing until it is well cooked.
3. Spoon the mix into a piping bag.
4. Fill a bowl with the cold water, add the ice, and using the piping bag, squeeze out short (4cm) worm shapes into the ice water.
5. Boil the sugar with the remaining rose water to form a syrup.

To Serve
In a bowl, place some rambutan, some of the green noodles, some of the rose water syrup, the coconut milk and some of the juice from the can of rambutan. Add some crushed ice on the top.

Duck on Rice Bed ( Kao Na Pad Yang )

2007-05-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

Another duck recipe, if you still have left over peking duck from the day before yesterday then you are Thai! If not, I've described how to make the duck again.

Ingredients
1 Whole Duck
Palm Sugar
Dark Soy Sauce
Honey

Preparation for the Duck
1. Clean and wash the duck.
2. Scald the skin by pouring boiling water over it.
3. Take your fingers and run them under the duck skin to separate the skin from the fat.
3. Pat the skin dry with kitchen paper.
4. Dissolve palm sugar and honey in soy sauce, and brush it over the duck, leave to dry and brush again to build up a good coating.
5. Roast in the oven, 1 hour per kilo in a medium oven is typical, for the last 5 minutes turn the heat up to crisp the skin.

Ingredients For Sauce
3 Tablespoons Hoi Sin Sauce
50 ml Water
2 Tablespoons Chinese Whiskey or Ya Dong (Thai herb spirit)

Preparation
1. Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan.
2. Heat until they begin to steam, then turn off the heat.
3. Layer fragrant rice, then duck, the spoon over the sauce.

Soft Rice Soup ( Jok Het Horm )

2007-05-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

This is Jok, a rice soup, made with mushrooms. It's normally cooked for a very long time so that the rice becomes mushy. However to make it easier, I've cooked it normally, and run it through a blender to break the rice grains.

Ingredients for 2 People
150 gms Rice
4 Shitake Mushrooms
500 ml Water
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Or Vegetable stock cube for Vegetarian)
Chopped Coriander Leaves (Optional)
Chopped Ginger Root (Optional)
Fried Garlic (Optional)

Preparation
1. Soak the shitake mushrooms in water for 10 minutes.
2. Boil the rice in the water until cooked. To make the smoother texture of Jok, run the cooked rice through a food processor, or hand blender for a minute.
3. Cook it for a second time on a low heat. Add the chicken stock cube and stir until it is dissolved. If the mixture dries out, add a little more water.
4. Slice the mushrooms, add to the rice soup and cook for 5 minutes longer.
5. When the soup is served, garnish it with chopped coriander, thin slices of ginger root, and fried garlic.

Northern Style Spicy Chicken Soup (Tom Yum Guy)

2007-05-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

This version of Tom Yum soup (the popular Thai spicy soup) is eaten in the North of Thailand, it is made with chicken rather than the shrimp (tom yum gung) eaten in the south and coast. If you prefer chicken its a good spicy soup.

Ingredients for 2 People
150 gms Corn Fed Chicken
8 Bird Chillies
2 Garlic Cloves
20 gms Lemon Grass
20 gms Galanga
4 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
3 Tablspoons Tamarind Water
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
50 gms Straw Mushrooms
300 ml Water

Preparation
1. Put water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Chop the lemon grass and galanga into 3cm lengths and add to the pot to make a soup base.
3. Pound the garlic and bird chillies and add into the soup.
4. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces, then add to the soup and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Cut the straw mushrooms into half and add to the soup.
6. Add the fish sauce, salt, tamarind water, lemon juice, and kaffir leaves into the soup and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Serve With
Hot fragrant Rice

Pork Bone Stew ( Tom Juet Gar Dook Mu )

2007-05-26T05:17:00.000-07:00

This pork bone soup or stew is served with rice as a side dish. In Thailand, a large shared bowl of the soup is placed in the centre of the table and each person spoons out some potato, meat and soup onto their rice. You can also add a little flaked dry chilli when cooked to spice it up if you wish. The radish used in this soup is the large Chinese white radish (Daikon, Lo Bak) not the smaller salad radishes. If you can't obtain it, use swede or turnip instead.

Ingredient For 4 people
500 gms Pork Rib
200 gms Potatoes
180 ml Water
1 Pork Stock Cube
4 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
5 Garlic Cloves
1 Teaspoon Pepper Corns
50 gms Large White Radish
20 gms Coriander Spigs
20 gms Spring Onions
1/2 Teaspoon White Pepper

Preparation
1. Boil the water with the stock cube in the soup pan.
2. Pound the garlic and pepper corns, in a Thai mortar and add to the pan.
3. Add light soy sauce, the sugar, salt, and slice the radish and addd to the pan.
4. Chop the pork bone into small pieces.
5. When the soup is boiling, add the pork bone and cooking for one and a half hours.
6. Chop the Potatoes into bite sized pieces and add into the soup.
7. Simmer for an extra 30 minutes.
8. When serving, chop the spring onion and coriander leaves finely and sprinkle over the soup. Also add a dsh of ground white pepper to the top.

Spicey Chicken Bamboo Soup ( Gang Gay )

2007-05-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

This is a very authentic Thai recipe with a strong taste of old fish sauce. This can be off-putting to some people, old fish sauce is salted pickled fish kept for years. When it's cooked it loses some of its aroma, but uncooked it can be overwhelming. You may prefer to substitute bottled fish sauce instead of the old fish sauce, which is a distilled filtered version of old fish and has a very mild smell.

Ingredients for 2 People
200 gms Chicken Breast
150 gms Pickled Bamboo
300 ml Water
2 Tablespoons Old Fish Sauce
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
10 gms Galanga Root
10 gms Lemon Grass
2 Spring Onions
3 Fresh Chillies
3 Dry Chillies
1-2 Sprigs of Coriander Leaves
1 Tablespoon Oil
2 Kaffir Citrus Leaves

Preparation
1. Chop the chicken breast into small pieces and put into sauce pan.
2. Chop the lemon grass, galanga, into small pieces and pound the chilli and dry chilli in a Thai mortar and add to the pan.
3. Add the old fish sauce, fish sauce, salt, and oil.
4. Turn the heat on and simmer for 1 minutes.
5. Add the water into the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add the bamboo and citrus leaves and cook for a further 10 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat
8. Chop the spring onions and coriander and add to the sauce.

Serve With
Hot Sticky Rice
You eat this by taking a lump of the rice with your fingers and a piece of the chicken from the sauce and dipping the rice in the sauce liquid.

Spicy Bamboo Salad (Soup Nah Mi)

2007-05-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

This dish is a typical Thai style salad, consisting of bamboo, chilli, and mint and finished off with pan roasted peanuts. It is made with a Thai mortar & pestle, the larger sized Thai mortar is needed for this you cannot make it in a small western spice mortar. For this dish you will need toasted sticky rice, an ingredient explained in the ingredients menu.

Ingredients
100 gms Bamboo Shoots
10 gms Red & Green Chillis
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Small Red Onion
2 Tablespoons Old Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
50 ml Water
10 gms. Spring Onion
5 gms. Mint
1 Tablespoon Peanuts
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sticky Rice

Preparation
1. Put a frying pan on a very high heat and add the chilli, garlic, and red onion.
2. Fry for 5 minutes then pound it in a Thai mortar to break down the mixture.
3. Grate the bamboo finely.
4. Place the bamboo, old fish sauce and water into a cooking pot, and boil it for 5 minutes.
5. Take the bamboo mixture and add to the mortar. Pound the whole mixture, together with the fish sauce, lemon juice, toasted sticky rice.
6. Fry the peanuts in a small dry frying pan for 2 minutes until brown.
7. Serve the salad on a plate topped with the peanuts.

Serve With
Cabbage
Cucumber
Mint
Sticky Rice

Shrimp Sour Curry ( Kang som Gong )

2007-05-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

Shrimp Sour Curry is a traditional food of Central & Southern Thailand. Think of it as curried soup. Although the ingredients are the same for the two refions, the south of Thailand variation tastes more spicy because they add more dry chilli during cooking. The Central Thailand version is closer to sweet and sour soup and is the one given here. This is medium hot.

Ingredient For 2 People
50 gsm Sour Curry Paste.
800 ml. Water.
50 gms. Tamarind
8 Shrimp
50 gms. Pak Kra Chate (Or Green Vegetable)
50 Long Beans (Or green beans)
4 Oyster Mushroons
4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce.
2 Tablespoons Sugar.

Preparation
1. Clean the shrimp, ensure you cut the shell and remove the entrails which can spoil the appearance of the dish.
2. Clean the oyster mushrooms, pak kra chate, and long beans and chop into 3 cm pieces, set aside.
3. Mix the tamarind with water, squeeze until the water goes brown and taste sour. For this curry we need the sour tamarind water but not the tamarind, seive the mixture to remove the tamarind and place the sour water into a pan.
4. Add the sour curry paste to the pan and stir over the heat until the water boils.
5. When water start boiling, add the fish sauce and sugar in and taste it. You are aiming for sweet, sour, salty, spicy taste, you can adjust the sugar, salt and curry paste to achieve this.
6. Add the vegetables and shrimp and cook over the heat for 2 minutes.

Bean Corn & Mushroom Fried Rice ( Kao Pad Had Horm )

2007-05-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

Thai fragrant rice has plenty of subtle flavours, but we eat it every day and on it's own it can get boring! So we have many ways to eat rice, such as this stir fried bean & shitake mushroom rice.

Ingredients
400 gms Cooked Fragrant Rice
50 gms Shitake Mushrooms ( If dried, soak for 15 minutes in water )
50 gms Butter Beans
50 gms Peas
50 gms Corn
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/3 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves Chopped
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Chop the garlic.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.
3. Fry the garlic in the hot oil for 20 seconds.
4. Add the rice and all the other ingredients and fry for 2 minutes.

Serve With
Cucumber
Tomato
Sliced Chillies in Fish Sauce
Sliced Lemon

Sardine Fried Rice ( Kao Pad Pa Ga Pong )

2007-05-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

This sardine stir fried rice is another way to turn ordinary rice into a full meal. Sardines in cans are not expensive, and they have plenty of flavours plus the saltiness of the fish balances the rice perfectly. The final good thing about this dish is the fish itself, fish oils like the ones found in sardines are very good for you.

Ingredients 2 People
1-2 Tin Can Sardines (80gms)
300 gms Precooked Fragrant Rice
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Chopped Onion
1 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/3 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chilli Sauce

Preparation
1. Chop the garlic and slice the onions.
2. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, and fry the garlic and onions for a few seconds.
3. Add the cooked rice and fry for 30 seconds to warm it through.
4. Add all the other ingredients including the sardines and stir fry for another 30 seconds.
5. I like to keep a sardine back as a garnish, and add it at the end.

Serve With
Sliced Chillies in Fish Sauce
Sliced Lemon
Mint Leaves
Lettuce
Cucumber

Taro and Sweet Potato Rice ( Kao Pad Purk Mun )

2007-05-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

We call this two old friends rice, because Taro and Sweet Potato are both similar root vegetables. This is a good way to use up old vegetables and rice in a tasty stir-fry way.

Ingredients
50 gms Taro
50 gms Sweet Potato
300 gms Cooked Fragrant Rice
3 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves
20 gms Onion (One Medium Onion)
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Peel the taro and sweet potato, chop into small squares and steam for 10 minutes.
2. Chop the garlic and onion together, heat oil in a frying pan and fry for 30 seconds.
3. Add the rice, taro, sweet potato, light soy sauce, sugar, salt and white pepper.
4. Fry for 2 minutes, mixing all the time.

Serve With
Chilli Sauce
Cucumber
Tomato

Young Coconut Rice With Pork ( Kao Pad Mu Maprow On )

2007-05-26T03:58:00.000-07:00

This stir fried rice dish is made with slices of young coconut, pork and onions. Young coconut has a soft texture and can be bought in tins from asian grocers, or scooped out from green coconuts.

Ingredients
50 gms Young Coconut Meat
30 gms Pork Meat
250 gms Fragrant Rice
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
2 Tablespoons Chilli Sauce
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Chopped Onion
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Clean and slice the pork meat and the young coconut meat.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.
3. Chop the garlic and onion and fry for 30 seconds.
4. Add the rice and then all the other ingredients into the pan and stir fry, mixing as it cooks, for 1-2 minutes.

Duck In Cinnamon Sauce ( Pao Yang Sauce Palo )

2007-05-26T03:52:00.000-07:00

Does flavour or appearance mean more to you? I've photographed the duck pink with the sauce spread over it - very photogenic, but you can get much more flavour from it by frying the duck thoroughly in the sauce in the pan. The flavour blends well into the meat and the frying effect broadens the flavours in the sauce. It won't win any food photography awards, but it tastes so much better!

Ingredients
400- 500 gms Duck Breast
1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Sugar

Ingredients for Palo Sauce
3 Tablespoons Sweet Dark Soy Sauce
6 Tablespoons Water
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Cassava Starch

Preparation
1. Clean the duck, mix with the cinnamon, salt, and sugar. Leave to marinade (overnight if possible).
2. Pan fry the duck skin side down (without oil) until the skin is browned and nearly burnt. As it cooks the fat will come out.
3. Turn it over and cook for a further 8 minutes.
4. Finally, cook it in the over at 160 degrees celsius for another 10 minutes just to finish it. Then remove and let it rest.
5. Make ths sauce, heat dark soy, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a saucepan.
6. Mix the cassava starch with a little water, and stir it into the sauce. Cook it through until it thickens.
7. Slice the duck, so a little skin is which each slice.
8. In a frying pan, mix the duck and the sauce and fry it over a high heat for a further minute. Stirring the duck so the sauce coats it completely.

Sweet Chilli Glazed Chicken ( Gay Tod Op Sauce Prick )

2007-05-26T03:48:00.000-07:00

The glaze on this chicken is made from sweet chilli, sugar and wine. It adds a slight sharpness to the chicken, so typical of Thai dishes. For children we sometimes use ketchup in place of sweet chilli sauce.

Ingredients
300 gms Chicken Legs
1 Teaspoons Salt
5 Tablespoons Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
4 Tablespoons White Wine
Oil for deep frying

Preparation
1. Clean and steam the chicken legs for 20 minutes to cook them.
2. Preheat the oil, to 170 degree celsius.
3. Fry the chicken legs for 8 minutes to brown them.
4. Into a small saucepan, put the sweet chilli sauce, sugar, salt and white wine, and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Add the chicken legs and stir them to get them coated with a little of the glaze. Then serve.

Serve With
Salad Vegetables
Thai Fragrant Rice

Cinnamon Pork Thigh and Rice ( Koa Ka Mu )

2007-05-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

A more traditional cut of pork, the thigh, is used in this dish. It is boiled with its skin until the meat is very soft and the fat almost jellied, and scented with spices like star-anise and cinnamon. The meat is so soft it practically disintegrates when you stick the fork in it. The Mirin Whiskey is a white cooking spirit from Japan, any other strong alcohol can be substituted.

Ingredients for Family
500 gms Pork Leg With Skin
10 gms Ground Cinnamon
2-3 Star-anise
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Teaspoons Black Pepper Corns
2 Coriander Roots
4 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
5 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
2 Tablespoons Salt
80 gms Sugar
1 Chicken/Meat Stock Cube
2 ltrs Water
2 Tablespoons Mirin Whisky
3 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Clean the pork leg. If the pork has hairs, burn the hair over a hot flame and scrape them off with a knife.
2. Pound the garlic with the black pepper corns and coriander root in a Thai mortar.
3. Fry the pounded garlic mix in a frying pan till the garlic smell is released.
4. Add the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, Mirin whisky and pork leg.
5. Fry the skin of the pork leg, turning it to make sure the whole skin has been fried for a few minutes. Cover with a lid and fry for 5 more minutes.
6. Boil water in a large sauce pan, add a meat stock cube to the pot, together with salt and fish sauce and leave it to simmer and for the cube to dissolve.
7. Add star-anise and cinnamon into the pot and the fried pork and other fried ingredients, simmer for 2 hours.

Serve With
Brocolli leave or Spinach Leaves
Pickled Cabbage
Spicy Chilli Sweet Sour Sauce

Spicy Pork Salad ( Mu ma now )

2007-05-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Spicy Pork Salad is a Thai style salad. This is a dish of spicy pork that is served as a snack at parties or at home with beer or whisky. You might have a beer and pizza, but Thai people have a beer and spicy pork. The chilli content in the dish 'cuts' through the beer. Medium hot.

Ingredients for 2 people

200 gms Pork
150 mlts Water
1 Teaspoon Salt
4 Red Chillis
2 Green Chillis
3 Garlic Clove
2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce.
1/2 an Onion.
1 Teaspoon Chopped Celery

Serve With
Salad Vegetables
Beer or Whisky

Preparation
1. Clean the pork and slice into strips.
2. Put the water in pan to boil, add the salt.
3. When the water is boiling, add pork in the pan and boil for 2 minutes.
4. Put the chilli, garlic, fish sauce, lemon, celery, into a blender and blend until fine.
5. Chop the celery into tiny pieces, take only 1 teaspoon and put it in the mix with the spicy sauce.
6. Take the pork of the hot water put in the plate and add some salad vegetables to decorate it.
7. Pour the spicy sauce ontop of the pork and serve with drink or for a snack.

Glass Noodle Pad Thai

2007-05-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Ingredients for 2 people
1 Small Pack of Glass Noodle
1 Egg
50 gsm. of Dry Shrimp
50 gms. of Tofu
2 Small Red Onion
50 gsm. Soya Bean Shoots (Beansprouts)
1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
2 Tablespoon Chilli Sauce
1 Tablespoon Peanuts ( pound to fine pieces )
1 Teaspoon Dry Flaked Chilli
3 Tablespoons Oil

Serve With
Fresh Soya Bean
Green Lettuce

Garnish With
Sugar
Peanuts ( pounded to fine pieces )
Dried Chilli ( pounded to flakes )
Lemon or Lime Slice

Preparation
1. Soak the glass noodles in water for 5 minutes to soften them.
2. Chop the tofu into small squares,
3. Slice the red onion into smaller pieces.
4. Clean the fresh soya shoots and chop off the roots.
5. Put the oil in a hot frying pan with the dry shrimp, and fry for 30 seconds
6. Move it to one side of the frying pan to make room to fry an egg.
7. Break the egg in hot oil and stir quickly for a few seconds to break it up.
8. Add the glass noodle and other cooking ingredients and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Green Chicken Curry ( Kang Khiew Wan Gai )

2007-05-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

Green Chicken Curry it a favored dish from Central Thailand, and visitors to Thailand love it because it not too spicy and easy on the palet. A good meal for an evening dinner, here it is cooked with chicken legs but you can use chicken breast instead if preferred. I recommend corn fed chicken, it has much more flavour and a softer texture. There are lots of herbs & spices in the sauce, in old times these would be prepared by hand, luckily today thats not necessary, your local Asian supermarket stocks green curry sauce all ready to use. Note, you can eat the herbs too.

Originally from central Thailand, this is low to medium hot.

Ingredients for 2 people
100 gms. Green Curry Sauce
4 Corn Fed Chicken legs
200 ml. Coconut milk
150 ml. Water
4 Red Thai Chillis
6 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
4 Basil Leaves
3 Kaffir Leaves (Asian Lime Leaves).

Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice or Rice Noodles

Preparation
1. Clean the corn fed chicken legs, ensure all feathers are removed and trim.
2. Warm half of the coconut milk until it is just near boiling.
3. Add the curry sauce to the pan and stir until the coconut milk is well mixed with the curry.
4. Put the corn fed chicken legs in and stir it for 2 minutes
5. Turn the heat down to medium
6. Mix the remaining coconut milk with the water, and put add it to the pan slowly, stirring at same time.
7. Leave on a low boil for 20 minutes.
8. Then add the salt, sugar, red chilli and fish sauce in to taste. The taste should be a salt,sweet, curry
9. Cook for a further 2 minutes to cook in the seasoning, then switch off the heat.
10. Add the basil and kaffir leaves together with the cherry tomatoes.

Remarks
Before serving, it is better to let it cool slightly.

Fried Red Curry Pork ( Mu Pad prick Gak dang )

2007-05-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

This dish is a spicy Thai curry softened with coconut milk. Do not omit the coconut milk it is essential to the dish, but the vegetables can be interchanged with western vegetables. If you can't get the green aubergine, use a suitable green frying vegetable rather than purple kind. The curry is ready mixed paste commonly used in Thailand, you can get this from an Asian grocer.

Ingredients for 2 people
100 gms. Pork
50 gms. of ready make red Curry paste
200 ml. Coconut Milk
100 ml. Water
50 gms. Green Bean
50 gsm. Green Aubergine
1 Tablespoon Oil
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt

Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice

Preparation
1.Clean pork and chop into small bite sized pieces.
2. Slice the green aubergine and chop the green beans into 3 cm pieces.
3. Put half the coconut milk (100 ml). in a hot pan until the coconut steams and turn the gas down to medium
4. Add the red curry paste and stir it until the coconut and curry are mixed together.
5. Add the pork and stir again until the pork is cooked.
6. Add fish sauce, sugar and salt to taste.
7. Add the remaining half of the coconut milk and the water and bring to the boil.
8. Add the vegetables and simmer until the vegetables are just cooked.

Cinnamon Soup with Egg ( Pa Lo Khai )

2007-05-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

A very unusual soup, slightly spicy with the taste of cinnamon. The eggs make it a very filling meal rather than a soup, often served with rice to pad it into a full meal. This is something of an aquired taste, if cinnamon flavored boiled eggs are not for you, you may prefer to try one of the more common Thai dishes first and work up to this.

Ingredients for 2 people
1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
4 Boiled Eggs
4 Piece of Brown Dry Tofu
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Pepper Corn
1 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaf
1 Teaspoon Dark Soya Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soya Sauce
1 Level Teaspoon Salt
2 Level Tablespoon Sugar
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Or Vegetable Stock for Vegetarian)
200 ml. Water
1 Teaspoon Oil

Preparation
1. Pound the garlic, pepper corns, and coriander together in a pestle.
2. Remove the shell of the boiled eggs.
2. Put the water to boil and add the stock cube in a boiling pan.
3. Heat a frying pan, add the oil and the pounded garlic, pepper, cinnamon and coriander mix and fry.
4. Fry lightly until the garlic is softened.
5. Add the dark Soya sauce, light Soya sauce, salt, and sugar and stir it to mix it.
6. Add the whole boiled egg in fry them for a second to take on some of the flavours.
7. Put the fried ingredients into the boiling pan containing the chicken stock & water.
8. Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces and add to the boiling pan.
9. Boil for 10 minutes and turn heat on low for a gentle simmer for a further 30 minutes.
10. Leave it for cool then serve warm.

Suggestions
It is better to leave this to rest overnight for the cinnamon fragrance to infuse throughout the eggs.

Chicken Spicy Coconut Soup (Tum kha gai )

2007-05-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

This is a spicy chicken soup with coconut milk used to soften and add depth to the soup. A citrus flavour comes from Kaffir limes leaves and lemon grass. The spicey taste comes from the chilli, so you can adjust the chilli level to suit your own taste. The quantities are correct for a medium hot soup. The dish uses galanga root, which looks similar to ginger root and is sometimes referred to as Thai ginger. Don't be fooled, it is not ginger and you should not substitute ginger.

Like other Thai soups, rather than serve your guests a bowl of soup it is more normal to serve them a shared bowl and for them to use the soup by spooning it over rice to flavour the rice.

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Chicken Breast
100 ml Water
150 ml Coconut Milk
30 gms Galanga
30 gms Lemon Grass
30 gms Kaffir Leaves
1 Sprig Coriander
25 gms Bird Chilli
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
5 Cherry Tomatoes (Not Traditional)

Serve With
Fragrant Hot Rice

Preparation
1. Clean the chicken breast and chop it into strips.
2. Chop the galanga & lemon grass.
3. Pound the bird chilles in a mortar.
4. Put the water in pan and bring to the boil.
5. When water is boiling, add the galanga, lemon grass, kaffir and salt.
6. Bring the water back to the boil and add the chicken, fish sauce, lemon juice and coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
7. Add chilles, cherry tomatoes, coriander and in simmer for a further 1 minute to let the flavours spread through the soup.

Spicy Thai Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Gung)

2007-05-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

'Tom Yum' is a spicy soup made from chilli, lime leaves and lemon juice, 'Gung' is the shrimp form of this soup. 'Tom Yum' is what people think of when they think of Thai food, it is the poster dish you must learn to cook to be able to say you cook Thai food. In the North East it's common to eat 'Tom Yum' made from chicken, it can also be made from pork or even fish.

Ingredient for 2 People
150 gms Shrimp
250 ml Water
30 gms Galanga
30 gms Lemongrass
20 gms Kaffir Lime leaves
25 gms Bird Chilli
1 Sprig Coriander
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Tom Yum Paste
1 Teaspoon Chilli Paste
2 Tablespoon condensed milk

Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice

Preparation
1. Clean the shrimp and remove the black thread (the intestine) from the shrimp by cutting it down the back.
2. Slice the galanga and lemongrass, into short 3cm pieces and pound it in a mortar to break out the flavours.
3. Put the water in pan bring to the boil.
4. When the water is boiling add the galanga, lemongrass, kaffir, salt, and Tom Yum Paste, and wait for it to come back to biling again.
5. Add the shrimps in cook for 2 minutes.
6. Break the chillis into a mortar and pound them for a few moments to a pulp, add to the soup.
7. Add the fish sauce, lemon juce, chilli paste and condensed milk to the soup.
8. Turn off the heat and add the coriander leaves, serve hot.

Pork Mince Omelette (Mu Sap)

2007-05-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

If you think an omelette should taste of eggs, this recipe is a wake-up call. It has a strong meaty flavour with a slight spicy after-taste that is very different from a traditional 'eggy' omelette. Best of all, it's a very easy dish to make. A good way to serve this omelette is to cut it into squares, so that it can be shared between several people as a side dish.

Ingredients for 2 People
3 Large Eggs
75 gms Pork Mince
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
10 gms Coriander Leaves
10 gms Spring Onion (approx 1)
2 Big Red Chillies
100 ml Oil
1/2 Teaspoon White Pepper

Preparation
1. Chop the coriander, spring onion and chillies.
2. Whip the eggs in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the pork mince, light soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, spring onion, coriander, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
4. Put oil into frying pan and preheat the oil.
5. Fry the eggs mix for 1 minute.
6. Turn the omelette over and fry the other side for a minute.
7. The omelette should be cooked and golden brown. To make sure its cooked squeeze it, and no liquid should come out.

Serve With
Salad Vegetable
Hot Rice
Sweet Chilli Sauce

Red Curried Duck ( Gang Pate Pet Yang )

2007-05-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

The most unusual part of this recipe is the rambutans, the semi-sweet Thai fruit we add to it to balance the spicy curry. Lychees can be substituted very successfully if you can't obtain rambutans. The duck though is essential, it has a soft meat that blends into the dish. If you can't get hold of duck, try one of the other pork or chicken red curry recipes on this site instead!

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Duck
200 ml Coconut Milk
Water for Boiling
3 Tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Oil
2 Red Chillies
5 Basil Leaves
4 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
5 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
2 Cubed Raw Potatoes
4 Rambutans (From a tin is better than fresh for this recipe)

Preparation
1. Boil the potatoes in water until they are cooked, drain off the water, leaving only approx. 100 mls remaining in the pan.
2. Clean the duck and slice the meat into strips.
3. Into a frying pan, fry the curry paste in the oil for few seconds - this will release the flavours - then add duck and stir fry in the hot oil. Again this only needs to be done for a few seconds.
4. Cut the chillies and kaffir leaves into smaller pieces and add to the frying pan with the duck.
5. Add the coconut milk, salt, sugar and fish sauce, and fry for 2 minutes.
6. Add the contents of the frying pan to the potato pan and bring the liquid back to the boil.
7. Add the rambutans, basil leaves, and cherry tomatoes and serve immediately.

Serve With
Hot Thai Fragrant Rice

Seafood Red Steamed Curry (Ho Muk Talay)

2007-05-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

This dish is seafood in a set red curry. The seafood is normally a mixture of chopped shrimp, crab meat, squid, mussels and minced white fish, but you can omit or exchange similar seafood if you prefer. For a true authentic look, make little parcels of the mixture in banana leaves and steam those, but the taste is the same if you steam it in serving pots, or even foil cups can be used. This dish can also be made with coconut milk in place of the soya milk.

Ingredients for Family
100 gms Shrimp
100 gms Crab Meat
100 gms Squid
100 gms Mussels
100 gms White Fish Meat, Minced
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Red Curry Paste
250 ml Soya Milk
2 Tablspoons Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Red Chillies
2 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
50 gms Chinese Cabbage Sliced Finely
20 gms Sweet Basil Leaves

Preparation
1. Clean the shrimp, cut along the centre of the back and remove the black thread 'gut'.
2. Clean the squid, remove the gladius (the hard plate in the body of the squid).
3. In a blender, mix the red curry paste with the fish mince and egg and blend until they are well mixed.
4. Add the soya milk, salt and sugar and blend until you make a red paste.
5. Take several bowls for steaming, I used square serving dishes for the photograph above.
6. At the base of the dish, layer some cabbage and sweet basil, then add some of the chopped seafood as the next layer, then finally fill the dish with the red curry mixture. Tap the bowl to make sure the red curry fills all the gaps.
7. Steam for 10 minutes in a chinese steamer, you can test if it is cooked by pushing a fork in it.
8. Slice the kaffir leaves and chilli into fine strips and garnish the top of the curry with them.

Serve With
Hot Rice

Curried Eggs & Shrimp ( Gung Pad Pong Karee )

2007-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is a dish of scrambled, curried eggs served with shrimp and spring onion. Thailand has China to the north and India to the west and this dish is the Thai merging of those two traditions. Here I've used shrimp, you can also use crab and other seafood.

Ingredients for 2 People
75 gms Shrimp
1 Egg
1 Spring Onion
1 Sprig Coriander
3 Garlic Cloves
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Condensed Milk
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
4 Tablespoons Oil
50 ml Water

Preparation
1. Chop the garlic and fry in the oil.
2. Clean the shrimp put into frying pan with garlic.
3. Mix the curry powder with the water, sugar, salt, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce, and add to the frying pan.
4. Fry for 1/2 minute.
5. Chop the coriander and spring onion and add to the pan.
6. Scramble the egg and add it to the pan.
7. Add the condensed milk, fry for 2 minutes and serve.

Serve With
Hot Rice or Snacks

Fried Pork, Basil and Egg ( Put Kaprow Mu Khai Dow )

2007-05-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

This is a common dish for Thai office workers, the reason is simple, it is widely available from street food stalls and can be cooked very quickly in a short lunch break. It is also quite spicy so its a great way to pep yourself up for the afternoon. Fried egg is sometimes look down on in the west, but its a staple of Thai cooking.

It originates from central Thailand, but can be bought everywhere, it is medium spicy.

Ingredients
200 gms pork meat
1 Onion
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Light Soya sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Suace
1 Teaspoon Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoon oil
A pinch of pepper
5 Bird chillis
5 Large red chilli
3 Garlic Cloves
5 Kaprow Basil leaves

Preparation
1.Clean the pork meat and chop it into small bite sized pieces.
2 Slice the onion finely.
3. Peel and chop garlic and chilli until fine.
4. Fry garlic and chilli in hot pan with oil until the garlic aroma comes out.
5. Add the pork and fry it until cooked, add the onion and ingredients.
6. Add kaprow basil and a pinch of pepper.
7. Fry for a few minutes long until the onions are soft, then set aside on a serving dish.
7.Clean the pan and heat some more oil.
8. Fry the egg,the egg is usually served sunny side up.

Serve With
Hot Thai Fragrant Rice
Cucumber and tomato slices

Crispy Pork & Spring Onion Parcels ( Giew Toud )

2007-05-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

In China these are made using Wonton skins: a flour based dough processed with lye to change the texture of the flour. However at home in Thailand we make our own pastry without using Lye. This recipe is much better than the frozen Chinese parcels you can buy in the supermarket, the fresh spring onion and coriander really makes a big difference.

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Oil
150 gms Pork Mince
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Pepper
3 Garlic Cloves
20 gms Coriander Leaves (approx 2 sprigs)
20 gms Spring Onion (approx 1 spring onion)

Preparation
1. Whip the egg, put into flour and add the oil.
2. Mix this into a flour dough, it is better not to overwork it - knead it only enough to make a dough. Leave the dough for 5 minutes to rest.
3. Blend the pork, garlic, spring onion, light soy sauce, salt, pepper and coriander in a food mixer.
4. Take the dough, roll it into a sausage shape and chop off little pieces (approx 5 gms) from the end.
5. Roll each piece into a ball using your hands, then using a slightly oil rolling pin, roll the ball into a thin flat circle of pastry.
6. Put the meat filling into the centre, fold over the pastry and pleat the edges to form a parcel.
7. Pre heat a fryer or deep pan of oil to 190 degrees celsius (high).
8. Drop the parcels into the oil and fry for 2-3 minutes until the pastry has just browned and the meat cooked.
9. Remove and place on kitchen paper to remove any oil.

Serve with
Sukiyaki dipping sauce or chilli sour Chinese sauce and coriander, mint and chilli. Or you can just eat them plain.

Rice Paper Pork Parcels ( Guay Tiaw )

2007-05-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

These are a steamed snack with vegetables and pork wrapped up in a rice paper packet and steamed. They can be served hot as a starter or cold as a snack. You can see from the photograph that we eat this with fried garlic, it is a good idea to make a batch of fried garlic to be used as a condiment. If you like spicey food drop half a chilli into each parcel as you make them - it will create a burst of hotness as you bite into it.

Ingredients for Family
200 Pork Mince
100 gms Cabbage
100 gms Carrot
100 gms Bamboo
50 gms Glass Noodle
2 Egg
4 Shitake Mushrooms
4 Garlic Cloves
1 Teaspoon Ground White Pepper
5 Tablespooons Light Soy Sauce
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
4 Tablespoons Peanuts
A Little Oil
30 Sheets Rice Paper
Grease proof paper

Preparation
1. Soak the glass noodle and shitake mushroom for 10-15 minutes.
2. Take shitake mushroom and chop finely mix with the pork mince, garlic, and carrot and blend. A food processor is ideal for making this filling.
3. Chop the glass noodle, cabbage, and bamboo into small pieces and add to the mix.
4. Crush or chop the peanuts and add those. In Thailand we pound them in a Thai mortar.
5. Add the pepper, salt, soy sauce, and oyster sauce and eggs into the mix.
6. The mix of vegetables, eggs and pork will become the filling.
7. Soak the rice paper in water for 3 minutes to soften it, do not soak it too long or it will disintegrate.
8. Take a large flat plate and smear oil on it, you will assemble the parcels on this plate and the oil will prevent them sticking.
9. Prepare your steamer by covering the bottom with grease-proof paper, take a knife and cut through the slots so that the steam can go through the paper to reach the food.
10. Drop a lump of the filling into the centre of a sheet of rice paper and fold over the edges into a neat parcel.
11. Put the parcel in a the Chinese steamer, steam it for 8-10 minutes. Do not oversteam the parcel, the rice paper will become too wet if you do.

Serve With
Garlic fry
Chilli
Coriander
Lettuce
Sour sauce (Vinegar, Chillies and Soy Sauce mixed)

Pork Mushroom Parcels - Chow Mei (Khanom Jeap)

2007-05-17T03:54:00.000-07:00

Another Thai variant of a Chinese dish. These are pork mushroom and carrot parcels, we called them 'Dim Sum' but our Chinese friends say the correct name for this type of starter is 'Chow Mei'. Served as a starter or a snack, each parcel is approximately 3cms across.

Ingredient for Pastry
200 gms. Wheat Flour ( Enough for 40 )
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Eggs

Ingredient for Filling
100 gms Pork Mince
3 Shitake Mushrooms
2 Carrots
1 Spring Onion
30 gms Coriander Leaves
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoon Cassava Starch (Or corn starch)

Preparation for Pastry
1. Put the salt, sugar, and flour into a bowl and mix it.
2. Beat the eggs together and mix into the flour.
3. Knead it until it forms a dough.
4. Set the dough aside for 20 minutes, it should be covered with a damp towel to prevent a skin forming.

Preparation for Filling
1. Soak the shitake mushroom for 5-10 minutes.
2. Chop shitake mushroom, carrots, spring onions, coriander leaves, and garlic,into small pieces. It is easier to blend it in a food processor.
3. Add the blended mix into the pork mince and add the egg, salt, oyster sauce and cassava starch, and mix well.

Assembly
1. Cut the dough into very small balls.
2. On a slightly oiled or floured surface, roll the dough into small circles (approximately 6cms diameter).
3. Spread the filling evenly over the dough.
4. Lift up the edges into of the dought to form the sides - this will squeeze the filling into the centre.
5. For best results pleat the edges of the pastry to form pleated sides of the parcels.

Cooking and Storing
Add this point you can freeze them on a floured tray, or cook them straight away.
To cook them, place them in a Chinese steamer and steam for 10 minutes.

Serve With
Mint
Coriander
Lettuce
Sour sauce

Suggestions
If you like hot spicy food, you can insert a piece of red or green chilli into the centre of the parcel before eating it.
Another recommended way to serve them, is drissled with fried garlic and bacon in its oil, this is shown in the photograph.

Thai Mushroom Soup ( Gak jeut )

2007-05-17T03:46:00.000-07:00

This soup is suitable for vegetarians, yet it has all the food groups. The protein comes from tofu, the carbohydrate from noodles and the flavour from shitake mushrooms. It does not contain chilli, so this is one of the few Thai dishes suitable for children.

Ingredients for 2 people
1 Packet (100gms) of Tofu
1 Small Packet of Glass Nooddle
2 Carrots
100 gms. fresh soya bean shoots
5 Fresh Shitake Mushroom
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Or Vegetable stock cube for vegetarian)
1 Ltr. Water
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon of Sugar
A Pinch White Pepper

Preparation
If using dried shitake mushrooms, soak then for 12 hours to soften them.
1. Put the water and chicken stock cube in pan and boil it.
2. Take only 1/2 of the packet of glass nooddle and soak it in the plain cold water for 5 minutes to soften them.
3. Clean the vegetables and tofu and peel and chop the ingredients into bit sized pieces.
4. When the water is boiling add the tofu, carrots, glass noodles and shitake mushroom to the pan and simmer.
5. Simmer for 10 minutes until the carrots and mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from the heat
6. Add the light soya sauce and sugar.
7. Serve in a bowl with the soya bean shoots and a little pepper.

Chicken Rice Curry With Coconut ( Koa Mook Gai )

2007-05-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

This curry comes from the Muslim area of Thailand, the south, near the border with Malaysia. It is a chicken curry, made with rice and coconut milk, served with a spicy ginger side sauce. Imagine Paella crossed with Thai spices and that is very close to the style of this dish.

Ingredients for 2 People
200 gms Chicken Legs
350 gms Thai Rice
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
400 ml Chicken Stock

Preparation
1. Clean the chicken legs and score the meat with two or three deep cuts to help it cook.
2. Put the oil into a frying pan and fry the chicken legs until the chicken is part cooked and the skin is browned.
3. Add the coconut milk, salt, curry powder and cinnamon, into the pan and mix it together for a few seconds over the heat.
4. Turn off the heat.
5. At this point you should move the chicken and sauce into a pan suitable to cook the rice in. In Thailand we use automatic rice cookers, and we simply move the chicken and sauce into the rice cooker, however a boiling pan will work equally well.
6. Add the rice, add the chicken stock, the chicken stock must completely cover the rice and submerge it by 2cm or more, if it does not, add water or more stock.
7. Cook on a low heat until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is completely cooked.

Serve With
Ginger sauce
Cucumber
Tomato

Ingredients for Ginger Sauce
20 gms Ginger
5 Small Bird Chillies
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Soya Bean Sauce
1 Teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce

Preparation for Ginger Sauce
1. Mix all ingredients in a food processor and blend until fine.
2. Serve, yes it's that simple.
3. This sauce can be kept in the fridge and will last months, it is a common condiment for several Thai dishes, so you may wish to make up a batch and store it.

Glass Noodle Pad Thai

2007-05-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ingredients for 2 people

1 Small Pack of Glass Noodle
1 Egg
50 gsm. of Dry Shrimp
50 gms. of Tofu
2 Small Red Onion
50 gsm. Soya Bean Shoots (Beansprouts)
1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
2 Tablespoon Chilli Sauce
1 Tablespoon Peanuts ( pound to fine pieces )
1 Teaspoon Dry Flaked Chilli
3 Tablespoons Oil

Serve With
Fresh Soya Bean
Green Lettuce

Garnish With
Sugar
Peanuts ( pounded to fine pieces )
Dried Chilli ( pounded to flakes )
Lemon or Lime Slice

Omelette Cha Om

2007-05-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Omelette Cha Om is a type of Thai-fried egg omelette with 'cha om' vegetable. The vegetable is quite unpleasant when uncooked, it has a sulfurous smell similar to the smell of pond weed. Once cooked, though, the bad smell disappears leaving a much more mild flavour. Cha om is also used with curry soup, and eaten as a side vegetable either fresh or boiled by Thai people.

Note, this omelette is very spicy and contains a lot of chillis, you can reduce the chilli quantity if you prefer.

Ingredient for 2 people
100 gms. Cha-Om vegetable. (use only the soft top of the shoots)
3 Eggs.
2 Red Chillies.
1 Garlic Clove.
1/2 Teaspoons white ground pepper.
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce (Omit for vegetarian).
1 Teaspoon Light Soya Sauce.
3 Tablespoons Oil.

Preparation
1. Break the egg put in a bowl.
2. Chop the Cha-Om vegetable to 4 cm lengths and add to the bowl.
3. Cut the chillies int 2 cm lengths, and add them, together with the fish sauce, light soya sauce, and pepper.
4. Mix the ingredients well.
5. Chop of garlic clove into small pieces.
6. Add the oil in a heated frying pan wait until it is hot add the garlic and fry for a few seconds.
7. Add the egg mixture.
8. Fry for 2 minutes, turn it over, fry for a further two minutes.

Serve with
Hot rice
Spicy sauce, e.g. chopped chilli and fish sauce mix.

Black Soya Bean in Sweet Coconut Sauce (Tua Dam)

2007-05-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is a typical sweet coconut and bean dessert from Thailand, it is black soya beans soaked, steamed, and served in a sweet coconut sauce. This is an ideal vegetarian dish as the beans are full of protein and it can be used to follow a vegetable dish. It is even suitable for vegans.

Ingredients for 2 people
100 gms Dry Black Soya Bean
150 mls Coconut milk
50 gms Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Preparation
1. Soak the black soya bean in water overnight. They will swell to approximately double their size.
2. Place them in a chinese style steamer and steam for 30 minutes.
3. Put the sugar, coconut milk and salt, together in a pan and boil on a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
4. Serve the beans in a small dish covered with the warm coconut sugar mix.
5. They can also be served cold, but warm is preferable.

Sticky Rice Balls in Coconut Milk Sauce

2007-05-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

This Thai dessert is easy but messy to make. The dominant flavour is the sweetened coconut milk and it should be served warm for best results. The balls can be prepared hours ahead of time and stored in cold water, but the coconut sauce should be made just before serving. For presentation, we have added food colouring, however this is optional.

Ingredients for 2-3 People
For the Balls
124 gms Sticky (Glutinous) Rice Flour
120 ml Hot Water
6 Drops Food Colouring
A Little Vegetable Oil

For the Sauce
100 ml Coconut Milk
Pinch of Salt
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation of the Balls
1. Put a large pan of water on the heat to boil.
2. Pour the hot water into the sticky rice flour.
3. Mix and knead into a dough.
4. Add more flour if the mixture is too sticky.
5. Divide the dough into 3 sections for colouring (this is not necessary if you do not want to colour the dough).
6. Add 2 drops of food colouring to each of the 3 sections. We used red green and yellow food colouring.
7. Knead the food colouring into the 3 lumps of dough separately, you will find it easier to oil your hands with the vegetable oil to prevent it sticking to your hands.
8. Roll the dough between your hands into a sausage, and pinch off lumps of the dough and roll them into a ball in your hand.
9. This mixture will make approximately 24 balls (6 balls for each of the 3 colours).
10. Drop the balls into the boiling water.
11. The balls take approximately 3-5 minutes to cook, and will float to the top of the pan when cooked.

Preparation for the Sauce
1. Put the coconut milk, sugar and salt into a pan.
2. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture warm.
3. Do not boil!

Serving
Serve the balls in a bowl together with the warm sauce.
The sweetness comes from the sauce, so there should be ample sauce for each ball.

Shrimp Sour Curry ( Kang som Gong )

2007-05-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

Fried Pork, Basil and Egg ( Put Kaprow Mu Khai Dow )

2007-04-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

It originates from central Thailand, but can be bought everywhere, it is medium spicy.

Serve With
Hot Thai Fragrant Rice
Cucumber and tomato slices