chef a-go go - the travel shots

A few shots of Saigon

2011-10-10T09:37:00.000+07:00

The Metropolis of Pak Beng - Mekong slow boat sin city.

2011-08-23T12:13:00.003+07:00

Welcome to Pak Beng!

There was no sign to say that, it comes straight from me.

The town is a small stopover on the river for the infamous Mekong Slow Boat.
This was my third trip to Pak Beng so I'm obviously some sort of masochist.
The town itself is located on a picturesque bend in the river and is a welcome sight at the end of a gruelling boat trip.
On this occasion we travelled upstream against the current.
Our progress was like a salmon with cancer trying to jump out of a bath, but eventually we made it.
A further 20 minutes saw our driver squeezing our boat in between those already moored, with the help of some bamboo poles and a lot of running on the part of the boat boys

Pak Beng was a tad gloomy this time around, and nature celebrated our arrival in grand fashion, opening
the skies to greet us with a sullen deluge and to wash the streets clean of any remaining hope or optimism.

This sign was not exactly true. Hive bar was not the only place in town serving beer, but they did have the advantage of offering a glass with it, a chair and some adjacent tables.
We checked into the small stilt homes opposite the Indian Restaurant.
The place was close, private and overlooking the river, a majestic view following a very short walk.
we dropped our bags inside and paid the cash.
Both of us were sticky and grimy with the blood, sweat and tears of a 9 hour adventure up the churning waters of Upper Laos and proceeded to remove clothing in readiness for a much needed shower.
From memory, it was around this time that the power died, and the whole of Pak Beng and surrounding jungle fell into a still, quiet, dark eeriness that led us to our balcony and some twilight views of the river, the only thing still visible.

My better half waited for 10 minutes then struggled against the odds and positioned a torch in the bathroom, washing with cold water as I relaxed on the verandah, taking in the sights and sounds.
I felt a little guilty, but not guilty enough to move.
She emerged wrapped in a towel, and the electricity returned moments later, thus signalling that by divine right, I, Chef Shane should take my turn sluicing the debris from my crevices under hot water, with the lights on.
I smiled, but not enough to earn me a good slapping.

Washed and ready to face the world again, we discussed our options in the culinary capital of Pak Beng.
We decided to head into 'town' about 400 metres away and got ourselves ready.
It rained again. Heavily.
We decided to go across the road to the Indian Restaurant instead. Mistake.
Not being tripadvisor addicts, we didn't write that place up, but if there are more than 2 others guests waiting, go somewhere else.
The Naan Bread was the worst I have ever experienced and the food took forever.
They did, however, chill the bottle of NZ Sauv Blanc that we bought, and served it to us in the smallest wine glasses I have ever seen. More on that on the naan bread links.
Below is the Pic of Pak Beng town.
It is pretty tiny and has plenty of accommodation options in all budgets.
Most are cheap.
From the cheap ones around $5 you can choose between bed bugs, spinal damage, mould, dirty linen, or an exciting cocktail of all the above.
From $15 onwards you can get something decent.
The food in Pak Beng is interesting if you are not forced to consume it.
The best option is definitely barbecue - great quality, cooking and variety.
Unfortunately, may of Pak Beng businesses feel the need to give the customer what they want, which is where it all comes undone.
The croissants could start wars, and the baguette is a travesty.
We witnessed young male travellers bite into a baguette 'sandwich' and then hold it up, peel it apart, inspect the contents (and lack of dressing/butter/spread) and then debate in serious, lowered tones.
Anyhow, this is the Cityscape photo of Pak Beng.

Next we have the humble stall.

The street is lined with them in the mornings in the hope that hungry and disgruntled travellers will purchase these items as sustenance for the voyage ahead.

Many will.

Hungry and waiting for breakfast, we consider the cocktail list (or is it a personal column?)

The White Russian is a popular choice, but following the Lorena Bobbit incident we were wondering if the "Bloody Marry" may make for a more exciting holiday.

These guys below come down every morning to receive alms. I am wondering if they actually pray or chant for an improvement in the bread and pastry quality.

The monks are a nice reminder that one is in Laos, and they do add a lot of colour to the town.

All in all, a nice wee town, but if you stay there, get some nice digs for the night.
It won't cost much and it will make all the difference.
For food, eat early and eat local - it will be the best experience.
Coffee - only nescafe. Bugger!
The Indian restaurant - don't do it.
Get a place with a river view - stay up late, get up early.
The town runs on tourism - boat arrive from 3pm and go until 9am. For a really surreal visit, stay an extra day and see the place implode when the boats go.

General info about the slow boat:
Slow boat is around $35 from Thailand for boat only from Houay Xai (Thai Border) to Luang Prabang
Cost is around $65 from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai including boats, accom in Houay Xai, mini bus, transfer.
Thailand to Luang Prabang is down stream (with the current)
Luang Prabang to Houay Xai is upstream (against the current)
You'll get in to Pak Beng on sunset going upstream, and an hour or 2 before going the other way.
No need to buy cushions now - the slow boats have contoured soft chairs.
Cold beer, tea, coffee, softdrinks on board. Bring anything else.
The boat leaves at 8am to 9.30am in the morning from all 3 places - Houay Xai, Pak Beng & Luang Prabang.
It takes 6-8 hours each day over 2 days to go from Thailand to Luang Prabang (or back) by slow boat.
The speedboat takes just 6 hours but is fast, noisy, more dangerous and you need to cover up from sun and spray (which stings at high speed). You'll end up rattled and jolted.
Vietnam Airlines fly to Luang Prabang and Chiang Mai from Hanoi and Saigon. Easy to plan a circular trip.
Luang Prabang airport has direct flights to Siem Reap.

Our trip was:
Flying Vietnam Airlines: Danang to Hanoi, then Hanoi to Luang Prabang.
Slow Boat Luang Prabang to Houay Xai.
30 baht boat across the river, Houay Xai to Chiang Khong Thailand.
Mini bus at 10.30am from Chiang Khong to Chiang Mai.
Flight on Air Asia from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
Vietnam Airlines from Bangkok to Saigon to Da Nang.

Please ask if you have any questions on the slow boat.
It's my third time up and down, so happy to share anything I've learned, for better or worse.
Travel stuff will be posted here and my food & cooking related stuff on http://www.chef-a-gogo.com

North Thai sushi - Mad about Mekong Maki

2010-07-13T04:06:00.000+07:00

This morning's breakfast was a great one.
When I say breakfast I mean the meal that we tuck into around 9am after being up at the crack of Dawn.
And yes, before you write in - Dawn loves it!

As I've been saying we eat a lot of sticky rice.
Every meal, sticky rice. It's the staple.
Today we grabbed a couple of fresh catfish, slashed them along the side and flung them into a wire press and fired up the charcoal burner.
Ten minutes later we had 'pla dook yang' or grilled catfish.

Another use for the wire and the charcoal was to make the accompanying dip.
Char roasted shallot nam prik.
This is an easy one.

Red shallots, golden shallots, or small onions 80g
Garlic, fresh cloves 15g
Chillies, fresh, whole 3-4 each medium size, medium hot.
Salt flakes

Roast the whole unpeeled shallots over charcoal until charred and cooked
Roast the chillies over charcoal until charred and cooked
Crush the garlic in mortar and pestle with salt flakes
Crush the chillies into the garlic and salt
Peel the shallots and crush them into the mix also.
Check seasoning - That's it. ready.

The next step is so easy and it's a taste sensation.
Grab a chunk of sticky rice and flatten it into a rectangle.
If there are no sushi chefs watching, just flatten it into any shape!

Pull some barbecued catfish flesh and skin off the whole fish (no bones).
Lay it in the middle of the rice
Spoon some nam prik of roasted shallot on it, and roll it up.

It takes no skill and the Japanese would hate you and mutter Nipponese curses at you for being an unworthy unskilled faux-maki-rolling peasant.
But put this into your mouth and you'll be swapping insults back with them.
It's a taste sensation. Just delicious.
No need to drown them the same old soy and wasabi and fumble with chopsticks.
Just grab this bad boy and get it "in yer belly"

To learn how to cook sticky rice step-by-step with photos, visit my chef-a-gogo website, now up and running at http://chef-a-gogo.com/?p=56

Could you, would you should you make this? Hell yes!

You can play with the concept a bit and tell me all about it. I hope I've explained it well enough.

Do you have any questions?

How to cook and eat a crocodile

2010-07-08T04:50:00.001+07:00

Crocodile fillet stir-fried with Ancho chili, coconut and basil

Sorry about the misleading blog title.
I should have called it "croc around the clock" as this dish has been on my lunch and dinner menus in a few different incarnations. Croc is pretty available as it's produced in Asia, US, Australia, New Guinea, China and Africa and is often stocked frozen by 'progressive' suppliers and supermarkets.
There are different cuts, but I always go for the tail fillet and then slice it thinly across the grain.
Crocodile has a mild flavour and the texture its meat and fat is similar to pork.
It's well worth a try - but don't overcook it.
A short burst of high heat is great, and you should cut it thinly, and not cook too much at one time so the pan doesn't lose its heat.
The picture above was taken a couple of years back - I had red capsicum and snow peas etc in there. It didn't need it. The picture and recipe below is the evolved version. Simple, tasty and minimalist. Give it a try.
If you can't find or catch a crocodile, then you can use pork.

Ingredients

220g Crocodile tail fillet, thinly sliced
50g Green beans, sliced thinly
50g Onion, sliced thinly
1/2 Large red chilli, thinly sliced if you like
1 Dried Mexican Ancho chili. (soak in a little boiling hot water for 5 minutes, then blend or pound to a paste)
125ml Coconut milk (half cup)
Sweet basil leaves
Fish sauce
Black pepper, freshly crushed or ground
Oil for cooking
Sweet basil leaves, picked off the stalk

Method

Heat a wok or pan until hot
Add a little oil, it should come to almost smoking
throw in the first 4 ingredients: Croc, beans, onion and chilli
Stir-fry over high heat for 1-2 minutes only
Add ancho chilli paste. Stir fry for 10 seconds then add coconut cream to stop it from burning.
Working quickly, stir it around and toss to combine, toss the basil leaves through, then season to taste with fish sauce and black pepper. In this one minute period, the coconut and Ancho chili should have reduced to a sexy sauce thick enough to coat the crocodile, onion and beans.
That's it. Serve with potato crisps or sweet potato crisps. Cook them fresh - don't use Lays or Pringles! ;-)

Serve with rice, or freshly cooked potato crisps or sweet potato crisps, or a bit of both. The rice is great for mopping up the delicious gravy. And the crisps are just great for no particular reason. (actually, for textural contrast if I were to give a professional reason)

Eating your loofah and having it too.

2010-07-07T04:24:00.001+07:00

How to cook an old scrubber
Enter the loofah, that coarse wiry thing that hangs somewhere in the bathroom, and sometimes gets used for back scrubbing.
Mine has a wooden handle, and used to hang off the window hook at a bit of an angle because of the short string. From time to time when my back felt particularly reptilian, I would remember to grab it and start see-sawing it across my back to pry off the scales.
When I was a kiddie, we used to have a long Phallic loofah that laid nonchalantly around the bathtub - threatening quick dippers with its unknown potential.
For me, that was the loofah.
They do have other uses.
One, apparently, is for sexual fantasies and envisaged by Fox TV show executives. Wikipedia makes reference to this seemingly innocent dried gourd skeleton in the Bill O'Reilly harassment suit "Mackris produced quotations from phone conversations between herself and O’Reilly in which he suggested various sexual fantasies he had for her. A widely publicized portion of one conversation included a scenario where O'Reilly would massage her with a loofah in the shower. At one point during the conversation, O'Reilly referred to the loofah as "the falafel thing." "Falafel" eventually became a short-hand reference to the affair."
Each to his or her own.
Broadminded though I definitely am, I find it difficult to become aroused over the inclusion of any type of loofah in my sexual repertoire. Perhaps that's my loss, or maybe I'm just getting old. In my culinary repertoire however, it has definitely found a place.

Loofah is a type of gourd.
The ones you find in shops for bathroom use are a bit like me. Old, past their prime, and allowed to hang on their vine and die, drying out to expose their dry fibrous interior.
The young ones however, are a bit like zucchini.
You can slice them and fry them up in a similar way.
This recipe was actually done with bamboo and glass noodles after what you see below. Also good, but I was really getting into just eating the loofah part out of the wok as cooked below. Awesome.
Here's the recipe and method.

Stir-fried loofah with pork
Cooking oil
Loofah, sliced thinly
Finely chopped pork fillet (or could use chicken, or onion if vegetarian)
Chillies, fresh, chopped
Oyster sauce, Thai Maekrua brand
Black pepper, freshly crushed

First wash, then chop up your young loofah.
Slice the chillies also. To taste.
Slice the pork thinly. If you have a less tender cut, it can be chopped or coarsely minced

Heat a wok or frying pan.
Add a little oil, and when smoking, add the pork. Stir-fry 1 minute until just coloured and sexy, then add and stir-fry the loofah and chilli, still over high heat.
It should make a loud sizzling sound the whole time, just like my lily-white skin during an hour in the midday sun. If it doesn't, then the wok isn't hot enough.

We want to stir-fry it all at high heat for about 2-3 minutes until almost cooked.
Next, add the oyster sauce. About 1 tablespoon for this amount of pork, loofah and chilli.
Season with a liberal sprinkle of freshly crushed/ground black peppercorns.
that's it.
Eat it with rice, or just as is.

Whole fish braised with lemongrass, chilli and turmeric root

2010-07-06T04:13:00.002+07:00

Pink tilapia fish with fresh curry paste, wrapped in turmeric leaf

This meal is possibly the best 80 baht that I have spent this week.
That rounds out to about $2.60, and as a Saturday brunch it was beyond compare. If one dish with sticky rice and morning glory could be described as an orgiatic feast, this could possibly be it.
We used pink tilapia - a freshwater fish with no fishy taste - and softy white flesh. This would be awesome with snapper, grouper, blue eye cod, sweetlip, red emperor, coral trout or the usual premium white fish suspects.

This is another simple recipe that is easily achieved if you decide to plant a couple of turmeric roots in your garden or make a quick trip to the Asian market.

Ingredients:
1 each Whole Pink Tilapia or similar meaty white fleshed fish
1 stalk lemongrass, smashed
1 each Turmeric leaf for wrapping
1 cup water

To make fresh curry paste
12 cloves of fresh Garlic
1 tsp Salt flakes
7 grams/ 1 dsp Turmeric root, fresh, peeled
10 each Dry red chillies
1 stalk Lemongrass, fresh, thinly sliced

Pound the curry paste ingredients together in a mortar and pestle until you have a paste
Split the fish open along the back on one side, butterfly one fillet open only so it can be stuffed. see pictures. Don't fillet it fully. The bones add flavour and you're going to leave some anyway unless you are a pro.
Remove the guts and discard them, feed them to the cat, or mail them to a friend. Up to you. Be generous with your imagination. If you like Pro Hart, you can even chuck them at some canvas and then open an art gallery, but you don't need them for this recipe (thank God!)
Spread the fine-smelling, salubrious curry paste combo onto the inside of the fish as pictured.
Lay the other stalk of lemongrass on top. Just cut in in half or quarters and smash it a bit first to break the fibres and release the flavour into the fish as it cooks.
Close fish, lay it on a turmeric leaf, and fold the leaf over the top to wrap it inside.
Put into a saucepan with a little water only. About a cupful / 250ml is fine.
Put the lid on, and simmer GENTLY until cooked.

There you go - the tastiest fish you've had in ages.
I got the lions share for brunch today - but you end up cleaning the plate anyway and mopping up the delicious sauce. Guaranteed.
Not having enough can actually cause family feuds, so make sure you are generous with the amount you make.
Health benefits of turmeric: This wicked, memorable root is considered to be an anti-inflammatory, it fights infection and also helps settle the stomach.
I believe it also brings one close to orgasm if my experience eating it today was anything to go by. You could marry this dish!

Cooking with baby watermelon

2010-07-05T08:06:00.005+07:00

Baby watermelon with pork rib and roasted chilli broth
Good morning from the midst of booming thunder and a tropical deluge that is pelting downtown Bangkok!
I am here for 'one show only' and I am still full of things to share from Chiang Rai.
This is an unusual but really quite 'normal' offering today. I'm using watermelon - while it is immature and green. We call it "Tang Thai" - "Tang mo" being watermelon, and Tang Thai being the Thai watermelon.
Never mind. Unlike chefs, baked items and the Dubai workforce, all watermelons are created equal. You can also use 'normal' non-Thai watermelons. But here is the catch - they have to be babies.

Yep - once again, I'm a babykiller.
I'm talking green, young, hard-as-a-rock baby melons that are nowhere near ready - seeds undeveloped and flesh inside looking just like a fat zucchini.

Over here, the baby watermelons are used a few ways.
Simply sliced, and eaten raw on the side of nam prik dips and 'larb' salads is one way. The appearance, taste and texture is almost like raw zucchini.
The other way is in a simple 'Gaeng' or 'curry.
In most of Thailand 'Gaeng" is a coconut milk based curry with freshly smashed Thai curry paste. Tasty but fattening, and excellent at clogging the arteries and sometimes the access to the bathroom too.
In the North, "gaeng" is pretty much anything simmered in a spiced broth and served like a soup. It is always healthy, light and tasty.
The broth can be simple - garlic, chilli, kaffir lime and salt.......up to a complex combination of complementary ingredients.
This recipe is light, simple, healthy and delicious,, and has no fat, so I'm sharing.
If you cannot find baby watermelons or grow them, then you can use potato for this dish.

Ingredients
baby watermelon, peeled and cubed (no seeds)
garlic
toasted dry red chilli flakes
salt (or a potassium salt substitute if watching your blood pressure)
kaffir lime leaves
knorr stock cubes (*optional - but see - I can be simple and easy to follow)
pork on the bone (any - but young pork spare-ribs would be great)
fresh coriander (or you could use sweet basil leaves if you prefer)

Pound the roasted dry red chilli with salt and garlic.
Put on a pot with cold water in
Add pork to the pot. In the North it is just put in on the bone. For ease of eating or a bit more sophistication, add bones seperately so they can be taken out, or use baby pork spareribs
Add the diced baby watermelon and the kaffir lime leaves.
Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes, or until the watermelon is soft and juicy - like well cooked potato.
Check the seasoning - adjust salt and add a touch of sugar if it needs more body. NOT sweet - just a pinch to balance the salt.
To finish, take off the heat, add the coriander (or basil) and serve.

This recipe is pretty healthy. It is chock full of antioxidants. Studies have shown that baby watermelon is more beneficial to eyesight than carrots.
The wee critter also has 20% of 'good' carbs, and is good for blood pressure due to high potassium, magnesium & content.
Oh - and a high count of Vitamins C & D just to close the sale. It even sounds interesting on the menu.
The mouth feel is starchy just like potato, or sort of like a marrow that actually tastes good.
The recipe pictured is home style Northern Thai - but it can certainly be 'revised' into something more sophisticated.
I give you not a recipe - but the gift of baby watermelon as an ingredient to simmer like potatoes and funky-up your food offerings.
Anyone who cares to take off with this idea, let me know what you are doing. I'm all ears!

Stirring up a hornets nest - Giant wasp larvae 'nam prik' dip

2010-07-04T03:33:00.011+07:00

Recipe for "nam prik dtor dtua"
More edible insects on this page. This time we turn into baby-killers, and chomp into Giant hornet larvae - the immature large wriggling babies of the black & orange wasp that lives in hives high in the treetops of North Thailand.

This one is called "dua dtor", and looks a bit like an Australian witchetty grub or a New Zealand huhu grub. Similarly, it can be eaten raw, or tossed in a wok until crispy and fried salt and pepper style.
The raw one is an OK taste. Apart from getting your head around the 'fat white grub' aspect, they actually taste and feel a bit like bland mashed potato. Like mashed potato, dipping in a little salt is a great move if you want to liven up the taste. With a little salt, and roasted dry chilli flakes, they are fine to eat 'as is'.
I wasn't so impressed with them raw, - they were OK - but not amazing. When made into a Northern style 'nam prik' dip with charcoal roasted chillies, I have to say it was pretty damn good.

The flame-roasted chillies, above

I was wondering about the nasty black nest, and why the hell nobody gets covered in painful stings.
These bad boys have a powerful sting that can kill you, so it pays not to piss them off.
The secret is in getting a long stick with a wee fire on the end of it and semi-burning the wasp nest.
If I was a giant hornet, I'd takle great exception to this, but it seems to work for the gatherers.
The miffed wasps who escape the fire dissipate, and the burnt nest gets pulled down with any remaining wasps dead. The ones who are out hunting come back to a nasty surprise of finding their house not only burned down - but also stolen. And wasps don't have insurance. Imagine their mood.
For a piece of nest the size of two cigarette packets, it costs around 40 baht, which is around $1.20.
Here's the recipe which you can also do with huhu grubs and witchetty grubs, my Aussie and Kiwi brethren.
You could do it with bee larvae too, but they are a lot smaller, and it would be a hassle to get them out of the honeycomb.

This is the hornets nest with a dead hornet in the front from the foraging process.

Ingredients:

Giant hornet larvae - raw
Large Thai chillies
Salt
Sugar

Method

Skewer the chillies whole and roast them over gas flames or charcoal until the skins blister and blacken
Crush them in a mortar and pestle with a little salt
Add in the hornet larvae
Pound or crush them to a paste / dip consistency
Season to taste with more salt and a pinch of sugar

Serve with sticky rice. Roll the sticky rice into balls, dip it into the nam prik - and thats it.
Delicious actually, like a smoky eggplant dip. the flavour is very mild, and the toasted chillies shine through. It's like a smoky roasted chilli babaganoush without the tahina, garlic and oil.
It's also really healthy.

The adults have a bit of a sting on them. These are pretty docile creatures - and don't come after you unless you provoke them.
They are very good natured - which is a wonderful thing because a sting from one off these can kill you, if you are unlucky, old, an infant, or have any health issues.
A sting in the throat or any sensitive areas can be a major drama - they are big, venomous and have powerful stingers.
If you want to eat these bad boys and have a nervous disposition - best to get them from the market.

Snakes on a plane. (Sorry - SNACKS on and off a plane)

2010-07-03T11:35:00.002+07:00

This post is a quick heads-up in case you are travelling through the airport, and there are no cicada trees or wasp nests handy for your power breakfast.

Don't despair. No need to sit there blubbering, tears streaming down your grubby, petulant cheeks.

Just buy a pack or two of these from the airport shop, and your cheeks really WILL be 'grubby'.

Stuffed full of them probably, like a squirrel hoarding nuts.

These are handy packs of fried grubs to sustain the hungry traveller (or should we call them 'peckish?) - just like Pringles, only healthier and without emulsifiers, flavour agents, coagulants and preservatives. Or not.

For those too lazy to follow my simple nam sausage recipe, the shop stocks these ones, ready to upset the traveller in the seat next to you as you belch and breathe garlic nam breath like a sour-pork-eating dragon. (Just in case you've had your fill of fried larvae, and feel like some variety).

Aaaah.
Moo yor. A soft, tasty Thai pork 'bologna' if you like. Wrapped in a LOT of banana leaf. I thought I was in for a meaty snack of extra-ordinary proportion, and it ended up being like unwrapping a free Xmas gift from a Department store Santa. A kilo of banana leaf with 100 grams of meat. Nice though.

One of the things I love about Bangkok. Yes - it's a wild city full of juicy exploits. An especially juicy exploit is going to any BTS sky-train station, finding the 'soontra' stand, and getting into their fresh passionfruit juice.
They stock fresh passionfruit, fresh passionfruit & beetroot, fresh passionfruit & carrot, lemongrass & pandanus drink, and Thai orange juice. All are good.

Fresh passionfruit juice is almost as addictive as heroin, but costs less, and is better tolerated in the workplace and public areas.
Unless you are like me, walking with purpose through the human swarm, juggling bags and plastic bottles, trying to rip the cap off with one hands and the teeth, and drink it without staining the front of my shirt with spilled juice.

Grilled chicken or "Gai Yang".
Another classic accompaniment to sticky rice. All over Thailand, and I'm still not sick of it.

Grilled pork skewers. the guy asked me if I wanted 'nam jim' on it - the toasted chilli and lime dressing with coriander and fish sauce.

I looked at him like he was stark raving mad. Some sort of street vending lunatic. OF COURSE I want nam jim! These charcoal grilled pork skewers are tender and succulent.
Moo ping skewers without nam jim would be like a chef without a weird or mean streak. Strange.

as the shirt says........................

And talking about fast food icons - this is what KFC is up to in Thailand this week. It looks a lot healthier, tastier and more appetising than a bloody cardboard box of reconstructed, meat-glued chicken and chemical paste nuggets. I wish they did it everywhere.

This one just made me smile.

I wonder at which point did they get sick and tired of calling in plumbers to pull large knotted balls of hastily flushed stockings out of the blocked toilet?

Aroused by my 'morning glory'

2010-07-03T03:54:00.015+07:00

I just LOVE this stuff!
Morning glory, Pak boong, 'water convolvulous' or water spinach is a great Asian vegetable that grows in damp places - ditches,around ponds and in swampy areas.
In Thai, it's called "pak boong", which is no problem, but for some strange reason it is called 'morning glory' in English.
Sorry. I just have to snigger.
Naming a leafy green creeping vegetable after an inadvertant wake-up erection is probably a great marketing move for single housewives, but it destroys productivity for lewd-minded chefs while we chortle at each order.
Better we call it the Thai name 'pak boong'

Fortunately, the lesser used name of 'water convolvulous is enough to make one lose ones erection.
On the bright side, it is becoming more an more available in the West through Asian shops and specialist farmers markets, and if you are fortunate enough to live in Asia, it grows like wildfire and is cheaper than chips!
You can buy it at the market like me, but if you take your eyes off the road for a second (not advised in Asia) - then you'll probably see it growing kerbside as well as a very tasty but somewhat prevalent weed.
The method is easy, so I won't write a thesis about this one:

Ingredients
Morning glory / pak boong / water convolvulous.
garlic - peeled and crushed or just simply crushed
chilli
cooking oil
oyster sauce
yellow bean sauce or soy sauce
*You'll need a wok or a heavy frying pan.

Method

Rinse, then cut the 'pak boong' a couple of times into lengths about 5-6 inches. (should be a little wet)
Heat the pan or wok nice and hot
Add the oil
Throw in the garlic and stirfry 20 -40 seconds until golden. (if it takes longer - its not hot enough!)
Throw in the sliced chilli
Throw in the morning glory (Waaaa hahahahahahahaha - Lorena Bobbit eat your heart out!)
Stirfry for 1 minute over high heat, There's gonna be a lot of sizzling and hissing as the veggies are wet, and the wok is hot and full of oil. This is a GOOD thing! Just take care a little. If you are outside with a wok and a burner and no trees above, add everything in a bowl, heat a wok superhot, and throw everything in. Flames leap up 1-2 metres for 2-3 seconds then die down. The taste is amazing, and great show. they call it 'pak boong fai daeng' (Morning glory with red fire!) popular live station dish.
Season with yellow bean soy, oyster sauce and a dash of golden mountain soy sauce. (It's awesome!)
Stir it for 30 seconds.
Thats it. Serve it.

Morning glory - with green chillies

Baby pumpkin leaves & shoots "yod fuk tong" done the same way

For another classic Thai fast food, Morning glory is also stirfried exactly the same way - but with 'moo grob' (crisp pork) sliced through it. Just ask for "pak boong pad moo grob"

If you eat pork, it's really good! Give it a try.

A simple tasty Thai soup with fish

2010-07-02T05:49:00.008+07:00

Fish and tomato soup with kaffir lime, cilantro, prickly ash (gaeng som pla makan) serves 2-4 depending on demeanour, girth and appetite.
Forget the complexities of Tom Yum and Tom kha – they are done to death and you'll never make your critics happy.
The newbies will love it – but everybody else has their own favourite taste memory. Each has a thousand different incarnations depending on background, cook and diner preference. Plus – it's so common everywhere, it won't be a 'first impression'
Apologies to accomplished Thai chefs: This doesn't apply to you. Your tom yum is probably mouthwatering. But add this to your repertoire and watch us silly Farangs start drooling and kowtowing.

In the culinary world, simplicity and freshness aces complexity. As easy as that. (Those words will come back to haunt me because of my frog recipe, I'm sure)
This catfish soup has everything.
Incredible taste, fresh local ingredients, and such simplicity that it is almost fool-proof. I have to say that this soup has taken over my "favourite" status from the roasted chilli and kaffir lime "Tom Saap" pork rib soup that I wrote about last year.

First – get a fish.
Here in North Thailand we are using catfish or similar freshwater fish.
In the South they would rather eat bony sea sprats from the ocean than plump tasty river fish. It's a fresh locally available food thing. What they are used to. You try it too! get a fresh local fish from where you live, not a frozen one or an import. "Your favourite fish" can be inserted without incident.
Do NOT drive all over town to the Asian shops looking for a place that has north Thai catfish :-)
You will also need "Ma-kwem" – or prickly ash berries. <cue sad disappointed stare>
Fortunately, Robyn from the eatingasia blog wrote me to say that this can be substituted with Sichuan pepper and a little grated orange peel (No white pith from the orange though - it is bitter!)
Here is the recipe. Serve with rice, or sticky rice – or just a spoon and bib.

Ingredients:

500g / 1 each Freshwater catfish (or your favourite whole fish)
1-2 Tomato – ripe, red.
100g / 1 ea Onion (or red shallots if you can get them)
30g / 6 cloves Garlic
15g / 6 ea Chilli, fresh, red Thai (to taste)
800ml / 3-4 cups Water
Salt, Sugar, optional MSG if you like it. (Sugar, salt to taste. Everyone's is different, so balance these flavours yourself) As a rule – salt to taste, and just put a hint of sugar.
1 tsp Dried prickly ash berry - ground (or can substitute with Sichuan pepper pounded with a little orange zest if you cannot get prickly ash)
10-12 leaves long cilantro (sawtooth / flat coriander) – or fresh coriander
4 each Spring onion
2 each Kaffir lime – juice. (you can substitute lime juice & lime leaf)

Method

Cut the fish roughly into large chunks. It is best cooked on the bone to flavour the soup. If you have roe – use that too – but don't chop.
A workaround, (to avoid picking at bones when you eat it) is to fillet the fish, pinbone it, then make a stock by simmering the bones very gently in water for 10-12 minutes only. DON'T BOIL.
Then use the stock instead of water in step 5
Chop the 3/4 of the garlic and all the chilli. Pound it in a mortar and pestle. OR just chop it a bit more.
Slice the onion (with the grain – not into rings)
Cut the tomato as you wish. Wedges or julienne both work fine. Cut the core out though, and don't use it
Bring the water to a gentle simmer in a pot.
Add in the chilli and garlic
Add the fish.
Reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook gently until the fish is just cooked through (5-10 minutes) DON'T BOIL!
Season soup with the salt. Taste it. Add a little sugar – this will deepen the flavour
Pound / grind the prickly ash with the remaining 1/4 of garlic that you kept from earlier.
Remove from heat, add in the prickly ash / Sichuan pepper, squeeze the kaffir limes in and tear some cilantro leaves into the soup
Serve immediately and bliss out. Every spoonful is good for you – but tastes good enough to be a mortal sin.
The flavour and 'awesomeness' comes from the prickly ash or "ma-kwem"/ "Ma-kan". Get some!
Make sure you add the Schezuan pepper & orange skin if you don't have it, or you just get a boiled fish soup.

Do a "Dexter" on your fish. It should be scaled and gutted first, either by you, or Khun Fishmonger.

Add fish, tomato and onion into the water - which has the garlic and chilli floating around in it as discussed.

A couple of torn up kaffir lime leaves never hurts.

Make it a gentle simmer. No - scratch that - Make it an almost IMPERCEPTIBLE simmer. Boiling destroys fish. And eggs. And chicken. And it toughens meat. Boiling should only be used for politicians and naughty children that scream loudly in trains all the way from Sydney to Gosford.

It's a chef thing. If you learn not to boil things with protein in them, you are halfway to culinary achievement.

Hint: If it looks like a jacuzzi - turn it down. A LOT!

Smash the prickly ash with a little garlic. When the fish is cooked, add it into the soup, remove from the heat, squeeze the kaffir lime juice in, and stir in the cilantro. Yum!

Voila. Flirty feeds - done dirt cheap!

Don't like the presentation? Neither do I. Just make sure if using fish fillet, that a fish stock is used as the base, or add the head and bones then take them out before serving so it is full of flavour.
Yes - we can make this into a five star dish with funky presentation, retaining the flavours of the North - but that is a story for another day. Enjoy.

Cooking with hops. Frog with betel leaf and galangal flower.

2010-07-01T02:43:00.001+07:00

BBQ frog stewed with betel leaves, galangal flower and aromatic wood

This is a very different, delicious North Thai recipe for frog.

Serves 4 memorably

The meat:

Two whole plump barbequed frogs, with skin on.

At first they look and smell grim. Never fear. Don’t be a ‘doubting Thomas’ like I was ;-)

The vegetables:

Hung wai – the white things in the bowl that look like a cross between palm heart and bamboo.

Betel leaves – “bai chorpoo” (Pepper leaf)

Kaffir lime leaf

Thai Eggplant – apple eggplant & pea egg plant

Pak tam leung – a type of creeping morning glory (sounds rude, no?)

Ja-kaan – aromatic wood.

Dok kha – galangal flower

1-2 tbsp roasted dry red chilli flakes (See tom saap recipe for method)

100g / ½ cup ground roasted dry sticky rice

25g – 2 tbsp fresh garlic, peeled & crushed

750ml – 3 cups Water

30ml / 2 tbsp Cooking oil

Chop the frogs into large chunks
Cut the Ja-kaan wood into small pieces then split into quarters. Mix the wood with the chunks of frog.
Get your greens ready – like in the photo above and below.
Heat a wok or frying pan and sauté garlic and roasted chilli for 1-2 minutes until it smells great
Add the frog and chunks of ja-kaan wood. Add a little water to the wok and stir with wooden spoon (to stir any tasty garlic and roasted chilli that sticks to the pan into the ‘sauce’
Put the 750ml water in a saucepan.
Move the frog, wood and ‘sauce’ from the wok/pan into the potful of water
Add the slower cooking ingredients (hung wai, thai eggplants, andf also the kaffir lime leaves)
Simmer 5-10 minutes gently
Next add the betel leaves, galangal flowers, and quick cooking greens
Stir in the ground roasted rice. This thickens the gravy and gives an incomparable rich flavour. You are ready to eat.

Betel leaves, Galangal flowers and Cha-om (Acacia/wattle shoots)

The galangal flowers are spicy and delicious, the betel leaves give a peppery depth and the roasted chilli is just wonderful in most Northern dishes., -

Chop and mix the chunks of frog and the aromatic wood

Heat the wok, Add oil and fry the frog, wood, garlic and dried roasted chilli flakes

Add a little water, and stir to 'deglaze' the pan. This is a 'chefs trick' - it's also how you make gravy! The stuff stuck to the pan has a lot of flavour, and when you add liquid and rub it off into the liquid with a wooden spoon, it makes a great tasting sauce.

Put a pot or casserole dish with water on the stove and empty the wok and its contents into this. The wok should be clean. If not, add more water and rub the 'baked on' bits off into the water and add it to the pot.

Check the colour of the 'water' in the pot. This is flavoursome tasty garlic chilli, frog and wood sauce already. It's just a bit thin and runny right now.

Add the vegetabless that take the longest to cook. That’s the pea eggplant, apple eggplant, kaffir lime leaves and the 'hung wai' (the stuff that looks like palm hearts)

It should look like this around this point. Simmer for around 7-10 minutes to cook the veggies through properly.

The flavour will come out of the kaffir lime. Delicious, but it’s not where we want to be yet!

When the eggplants are tender, add in the 'delicate greens'. That would be the cha-om, the betel leaves and the galangal flowers.

The green leafy veg will cook in minutes - so add in the ground roasted rice ('khao krua').

And here we have the almost finished product. You need to taste it. But I don't need to tell you that. It’s an essential part of cooking!

If I pass on nothing else of use whatsoever - just remember, taste as you cook and adjust.

Taste and season. Taste and tweak.

Here is the finished dish, ready to serve. In a restaurant, we'd make this "no twigs and sticks' for the final service, and present it in a more sophisticated manner - but we are sitting on the floor family style with this one, and it is a local recipe that was handed down from generation to generation. This is one that foreigners and city people don't know about.

In the North this is eaten with white sticky rice, which is rolled into balls and dipped into the gravy.

I can’t bring myself to fully commit and eat totally with the fingers yet, so I am still very much “a foreigner”.
I still get my own plate, spoon and fork and a wee bowl, and I sit a tad strangely on the floor.

We all sat around the table the first few days for my benefit but it became a bit too much effort, and ‘When in Rome” should also apply to North Thailand, where the hospitality is genuine.

About the frogs – they smelled bloody horrible, semi barbequed from the market. It’s ok –they don’t get eaten like that.

The skin is a great feature and it is barbequed to enhance the aroma for the finished dish.

After the cooking these have the texture of chicken, and being large, they are quite meaty.

For me, the combination of the betel leaf and galangal flower combined with the ja-kaan wood defines this dish.

Galangal flower is very different from the root and leaf – it’s quite spicy and peppery.

I’ll definitely be cooking this dish around Asia – albeit more tidily.

When I do, it willl be presented as an upmarket dish with heirloom flavours and pedigree – a celebration of local culture and family cooking, but knife and fork ready.

But I do have to say if I ever enjoyed sucking my fingers clean, it was while eating this. If you can find the ingredients, jump on it right away. It is a dish that you have to try before you croak.

Nam prik ong - SpicyChiang Mai 'Bolognaise' sauce

2010-06-30T06:55:00.003+07:00

Nam Prik Ong - Classic Chiang Mai pork and tomato dip

This dish is a specialty of North Thailand - a Chiang Mai menu would be incomplete without it.
It's best described as a "Thai pork bolognaise", although that short-changes both the Italian and the Thai cuisines in its generalisation.
It gets used a few different ways.
Most common is a dip, where it gets surrounded by healthy greens, raw vegetables and usually some light crunchy prok crackling known locally as 'kap moo'.

That is what I have pictured here.
The other use is for "kao soy nam kua" - the Chiang Rai and Laos version of rice noodle soup.

Like any rustic regional cuisine, the ingredients are readily available, either grown in the backyard, or picked up inexpensively and bursting with goodness at the many street stalls that spring up mid afternoon in every ville around Asia.

The dish is simple to make, has few ingredients, and an awesome flavour.
Try it, and impress your victims.

Ingredients
200g / 1/2lb lean pork. (chop finely or mince it)
300g / 3/4lb fresh ripe red tomato
50g red shallots (yes, you can use onion)
4-5 garlic cloves, fresh
salt to taste
4-5 leaves of cilantro (flat leaf coriander)
1-2 each spring onion
Method
Peel and crush the garlic
Chop shallots, pork, tomato,
Pound dry chilli and garlic together
Saute pork in a little oil
Add the chilli and garlic
Next add shallot, tomato, and a little water for cooking so it doesn't dry or burn
Season with salt to taste, add a little MSG if you use it. Most kitchens in Thailand use it, but very sparingly
Cook until tomato is soft and it looks like a very sexy, slightly spicy bolognaise sauce.
It will probably take around 15 to 20 minutes, so it pips the spaghetti sauce on preparation time, and has the added bonus of being just as tasty, albeit in a spicy, redolent Southeast Asian way.
To serve it, put some fresh, healthy green vegetables.
In Thailand they normally put veggies which we in the West ALWAYS eat cooked.
Don't worry - the raw veggies should provide complimentary flavours, textures and balance to the rich spicy dip. Common raw veggies to use are: Peeled cucumber, green beans or snake beans, white cabbage, green unripe baby watermelon, zucchini, and it normally gets served with the pork crackle as mentioned.
Fresh white sticky rice is great for rolling into balls and dipping in it.

Other uses?
Why not do some thing similar to the Khao Soy Nam Kua?

For 2 people you'll need:
1 litre Stock or broth. (chicken or pork. Or boiling water & stock cubes if you really must)
300g 2 serves - Thick flat rice noodles (to be authentic. But your favourite noodles will be fine)
200g Nam prik ong (1 heaped serving spoon per bowl)
1/3 cup Freshly cut coriander
1/3 cup Freshly chopped spring onion
2 tbsp Fried garlic (optional but the sheer taste is an aphrodisiac)

Blanch the noodles and whack them into two big serving bowls
Ladle the broth over them
Top with nam prik ong
Garnish with chopped coriander and spring onion
Put some fried garlic over the top, and transport yourself mentally to a street stall somewhere near the Mekhong.

Or for the non-soup aficionado?

Grilled prawns with nam prik ong dressing
Or why not pan fry, grill or barbeque some fat, juicy fresh prawns, and use the nam prik ong as a dressing, like one of my creative Isaan chefs from my Thai restaurant? Great idea, and it works a treat.

Have a great day, pork-munchers.
Now I've done all the hard work, can you give me any other suggestions for funky ways to use this great dip?

All Pics on this blog taken with my trusty compact Fuji EXR 12MP with 10X zoom)

Yum 1.0 How to cook sticky rice

2010-06-29T04:46:00.009+07:00

First of all, sorry about assuming in my previous writing that everybody knows how to cook and eat sticky rice.
My bad.
I carry on about sticky rice post after post, so here is a very simple explanation of the technique to cook it at home yourself.
North Thailand, Isaan and Laos use sticky rice as a staple, and it is eaten differently to 'normal' rice, which is soft, fluffy and only a little clingy if cooked properly.
Sticky rice is sexy, versatile and habit-forming.
It clings together stubbornly and has a gloss and a toothsome quality that other rice can only dream of emulating. For me, it's the King of rice.
Sorry about that. It's my blog.(And I'm right).
It is normally eaten with the fingers; up here it is rolled into balls and dipped in sauces or eaten with small amounts of the other dishes. Other uses follow the cooking instructions and photos below.

Once you have tried sticky rice, usually in an Isaan Thai restaurant or Laos restaurant, you'll probably end up frustrated when you attempt to get it again at similar venues without success.
The answer - make it yourself. It is SO easy.

You will need:
White sticky rice (Also called 'glutinous rice')
Water
A bowl to soak it in overnight
A steamer or bamboo steamer basket
It helps to have a clean (new) handkerchief, cheesecloth, gauze sheet, or non-fluffy tea-towel etc to cook it on and handle it with - but it's not really necessary.
It's just less messy to handle, and it stops it falling through the holes of the steamer

Fool proof method

Put the dry rice in a bowl
Cover it with cold water, enough to leave an inch or two of water covering the top of the rice.
Leave it for 12 hours - overnight is normal. You can keep it in the fridge soaking if you want to.
After it has been soaked, drain the water off - and keep a cupful *for adding to your next batch.
Lay your cheesecloth or clean cloth/gauze in the steamer and put the soaked rice on top.
Steam for 15-20 minutes. Taste. The rice should be clinging together, chewy and toothsome without any hard bits. If steamed for too long it will get soft and gluey - so just steam until it is cooked through.

soaking overnight in cold water.

Steaming in a cheesecloth or tea-towel. You can also use a traditional 'v shaped' woven flax or bamboo steaming basket on the top of this pot. Anything that lets the steam penetrate properly.

Just a steamer is fine, but until it is cooked, the rice can fall through.

The finished product. Awesome white sticky rice

Variables:
If you steam over very rapidly boiling water, enclosed, it will cook faster than if you have a basket on top of a simmering pot. (pressure and volume of steam makes the difference)

Volume and shape of sticky rice makes a small difference too. Try and make sure it is faily evenly spread over the steamer, and not in a pyramid shaped mound :-)

How hungry you are: It is a known fact that a watched pot never boils. The hungrier you are, the longer it will seem to take to cook.Prep it in advance. Don't wait for the rice - It can wait for you.

Keeping the soaking water from the rice - a trick of the trade:
Add a little bit (1/2 cup) of the old rice soaking water into the next day's batch of rice that you soak.
The enzymes and good bacteria will go to work and make a better tasting, nicer textured rice.
(an old local trick from the family up North!)

The good news: (No - not the bible!)
You can cook a batch in the morning and leave it (covered) all day and use it for breakfast lunch and dinner if you want. Just reheat in the steamer for a minute or two, or covered in a microwave (BRIEFLY!) or - eat it at room temperature

The bad news:
DON'T sit exposed sticky rice in the path of a fan or air conditioner. Wind, air circulation or a fan will dry it out and make it nasty. In fact, just being exposed to any air for any length of time will dry it out. That is why it is served in small baskets lined with plastic, or by street vendors in plastic bags.
You can serve it in plastic bags, wrapped in banana leaf, or in a small container too.
Hell, you can even clingwrap the stuff or hand it around in condoms if your recipients find it amusing, or won't object. Just keep the air off it, and it is yours for the whole day, soft, supple, and.........ooooh this sounds like a Mills and Boon novel!.

Even worse news:
In the eyes of Thais, I have become a peasant. Yes, thats right, A serf, a farmer, a ne'er-do-well.
Jasmine rice, or "khao suai" is the 'superior' rice, and more expensive. It is eaten with a spoon and fork.
(Whoopee!) The Isaan region is poor and a tad sparse, compared to the lush, wet, tropical central plains and jungle-clad South.
Sticky rice is the staple of Isaan, and society here is a bit classist.
Ergo, if you eat steamed rice - use a silver spoon, speak like a toff, and all is well.
If you admit to a staple diet of sticky rice rolled into balls with your fingers, you are a peasant.
I prefer sticky rice. Its awesome. I have no shame.
Great Isaan dishes that have now become Thai food classics can only be served with sticky rice.
These include hawker fried chicken, sun-dried beef or pork, som tam papaya salad, hawker charcoal chicken, Charcoal Barbecued Pigs Ears...and Nam Sausage!
Show me a Thai that doesn't eat those, and I'll show you someone unworthy of their passport :-)

It IS true that eating with the fingers is hard for a Westerner.
Indians, Laotians, Africans, Arabs and Northern Thais have a connection with their food that involves the tactile senses. Use of the hands and fingers. A sensuality and feeling for what we put in our bodies that we just don't get.
Are we too uptight?
We are taught from an early age to use utensils, have proper manners and follow a rigid etiquette of eating.
McDonalds, though I am sad to admit it, brought 'eating from the hands' into mainstream use. It's just a pity about what they serve.
Then came 'crab bibs' and the several hundred dollar meal check.
Are we evolving back from too many rules to enjoying the sensation and freshness of real food from the utensils that we were born with on the end of our arms?
Who knows.
I've learned to sit on the floor and eat - but I still like my own plate ort bowl to spoon food into - and I still like my spoon and fork.
But the sticky rice - yes, I've changed!

Other uses, now you have learned to cook sticky rice.
It can also have other ingredients mixed in - as soon as it comes off the steamer from cooking. At this point it is soft,and can absorb ingredients and still stick.
Then you can mould it into patties and panfry it - crisp on the outside and sexy in the middle.

You can add sauces and liquids into it when it is freshly cooked and off the heat also. Here in Thailand the standard dessert is sticky rice with hot coconut milk stirred in and served with mango.
(recipe will follow in a seperate post)

Once the rice has 'set' (and that happens after only 4-5 minutes after you stop cooking) - that's it. Any additives will break it up and it won't stick.
Ask me any questions in the comments section if I have left anything unclear.
Have fun, and say 'hi' from me to the counsellors at SRA when you get there. (Sticky Rice Anonymous). I have missed a few sessions, and I'm now in serial relapse. Yum.

Lend me your ears

2010-06-29T04:17:00.021+07:00

Pigs ears wrapped in turmeric leaf, grilled on charcoal

Another simple but great dish that half of the world can easily make, if they have a garden. Turmeric leaf infuses a delicious flavour through white meats and fish when wrapped and baked or grilled.
Like banana leaf but with taste!
regular charcoal-grilled pigs ears are a hawker food classic, and great with a cold beer or two.
It is hardly the type of thing that you would cut into daintily with knife and fork at the Waldorf Astoria – but as an unashamedly meaty snack for casual eating it has a lot going for it.
Unlike grain-fed beef fillet, it also has the advantage of being inexpensive, sustainable and easy to find.

Normally these funky looking triangular aural flaps are sold in the markets with a selection of other cuts, grilled on wire racks, smoking and sizzling.
The vendor then grabs them and deftly slices them into strips, and hands it over with a wee bag of roasted chilli and lime 'nam jim' for dipping into.

Sticky rice (again) is the staple with this one. That wasn't good enough for today's fresh bagful of porcine auditory apparatus.

We decided to rape the one of the turmeric plants in the garden of a few leaves and wrap the ears in that first.
This almost steams the meat, infusing the delicate flavour of turmeric through it, then when cooked, the package is unwrapped and the meat finished on the charcoal bbq as normal.
Turmeric root is that deep orange pungent rhizome ('root') that is so popular in South Thai and Indian cooking – and normally its only the root which is commonly sold and harvested.

The leaves have a delicious aroma, and using them to wrap food imparts a more subtle tone to the food than using a paste or root preparation.
For those who don't like pork – turmeric leaves are also great for wrapping fish. Here's the turmeric plant and the barbeque – and yes, charcoal DOES give a nice flavour than heat beads on a weber, or the gas powered barbie.

If you can get hold of fresh turmeric root, and you live in a place where you get some warm weather (ie - Not Greenland, Scotland, Alaska or Invercargill!) - then plant a few turmeric roots and use the leaves for wrapping fish, chicken, meat and even things like fried rice.
It grows readily if you have warm to hot weather, and it likes sunlight. It's an attractive plant, and the aroma of grilling with the leaves is awesome!

It takes about 30 minutes to cook through. Not too hot, and no flames touching. Then unwrap when cooked and grill the ears directly over the embers to get them sizzling and sexy. Sexy ears. Mmmmmm. I almost have an ear fetish - and it's served with my favourite 'nam prik kha'' galangal dip.

Very tasty indeed.Is that maggots in the background????
Next week I'm running a feature on a really great tasting dip made from giant hornet larvae pounded with flame roasted chillies and spices

How to make Thai nam sausage the natural way (naem)

2010-06-28T06:03:00.007+07:00

Nam sausage
There is really no nice description that does justice to this popular Thai snack.
It's a taste experience relished all over Thailand, but hard to explain to foreigners and the uninitiated. Nam is so popular in Thailand, it even has its own facebook pages. http://bit.ly/d5LjEN
Mine looks a bit different to theirs, because it's fresh and natural.

In the West our sausages are meaty and fresh, or smoky and dried, or heavy and fatty like mortadella or bolgna.
This is not one of those type of sausages.
The 'nam' sausage is a Thai staple, spicy, flavoursome, with a tang and some personality.
If you are about to kiss passionately, choose chocolate truffles instead of nam. But if you are going to drink, eat and be merry, have some fermented sausage on hand. It's great with a beer or four, and can also be added to soups, or made into a wicked Thai salad that gives you a moreish taste memory.

Nam is easy to grab hold of in Thailand, both literally and figuratively.
Just walk into any 7-11 from Chiang Rai to Hat Yai, and choose from 10 different brands. In all supermarkets there's a staggering display to stand confused in front of.
Street vendors sell it grilled, barbecued on sticks, deep fried or tossed with ginger root and toasted peanuts. The list goes on.
It's made with pork, but if you don't eat pork, it can be easily be replicated made with lean red meat also. In Australia I made a great Kangaroo nam with zero fat and an impressive flavour and texture.

Nam is basically a 'sour fermented pork sausage'.
There. I said it. Sounds horrible doesn't it? It always puts people off.
Fermented! Like.......... like wine, beer, bread, pickles, yoghurt, sauerkraut, tabasco, vanilla beans, prosciutto, serrano ham, olives, cheese and all those other disgusting things that we would never eat because it's gone sour and full of bacteria!

Nam is awesome!
In the West it's not so common, but we can whip into the Asian shop, pick up a packet of Lobo 'nam powder' - and make our own. Fantastic.
Nothing like grabbing a pack of powdered enzymes, additive numbers and food enhancers and mixing it through raw meat. You can of course - I used to do it myself. It tastes good, and Hell, we eat additives every day in the West in almost everything we consume.
But why not do it the easy natural way if we have the know-how?

The traditional Thai method is actually cheaper, easier and far superior in flavour than the lab export. Before starting, you need to make sure that:

The work area and bowl/utensils are scrupulously clean
The pork or other meat is very fresh
You wash your hands well - and wear gloves when mixing
The meat should be chilled and temperature controlled up until you use it

Ingredients

Lean freshly ground pork (never frozen). Better to get a piece of pork, then chop it or mince yourself.
Cooked white sticky rice
Garlic, fresh cloves
Thai chilli, whole - not cut
Salt flakes - kosher, Maldon, etc. Must be a pure salt - not table salt
MSG if you dare. If not, read this in horror and say out "loud AAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHH!" loudly and ignore
Pork skin (yes, skin!) - slice into small strips and simmer in water until not quite soft, about 5-10 minutes. Do not cook too much or it will disintegrate and go gluey!

You will also need:

banana leaves - or clean plastic bags
rubber bands, or string, or - something to tie it up with.
larger plastic bags to protect the individual nams as they ferment

First crush the garlic. Remove the skins, wash, then chop roughly

Grab some fresh cooked white sticky rice, and rinse it in some water so the grains separate. You basically give it a 5 second wash, and drain off the water.

Add the sticky rice and the crushed garlic to the chilled pork mince, and mix in the chilled sliced cooked pork skin. Crush the salt flakes slightly, but not too much. Don't use iodised table salt.

If you need more background on nam (and anything else in the Thai repertoire for the last 4 centuries) get the book "Thai Food" by David Thompson.
It's in English, and it's a masterpiece that comes bound in Thai silk. Food porn at its best ;-)
I learned this version the best way though - by watching Mum and Dad.
Add the salt flakes to the mix, and give it a stir.
Grab a pair of gloves and start to knead it well to mix the cooked sticky rice and the salt into the pork and garlic. The sticky rice is what will start the fermentation process, and the salt will control it to a certain extent.

You'll need a couple of sturdy priks. Relax. "Prik" is the Thai word for chilli.

Choose your chillies according to your taste. The standard is the normal Thai birdseye chilli, about 4-5cm long (1.5 to 2 inches). If you are brave or silly, you could use 'scuds' - the miniature chillies that burn their way through you like battery acid. If you have a death wish, experiment with habanero chilli :-)

Important: DO NOT chop the chilli. Keep them whole. Just pick off the stem and the green bit at the end, like in the photo.

Next, the packaging. It's all about the packaging. Over here we use banana leaves, but you don't need to if they are not available. It is OK to use plastic bags, but they have to be new ones, and very clean.

Rubber bands are handy too, as we need to keep these 'nam' sausages nice and tight so they hold together.

Lay the nam inside the banana leaf, or spoon it into the clean plastic bag. Don't be too worried about technique. We just want to wrap it up, and then squeeze it, tie it, or press it nice and tight for 24-48 hours.

I think my nam looks pretty sexy, but I'm biased. This one is wrapped with thin 'strings' cut off wild bamboo with a sharp knife, but I'm showing off. I made some with plastic bags too, just so you don't feel insecure.

The important thing is to make sure that they are quite tight. You know when you get stressed out and wrap rubber bands around your finger again and again until the end turns blue?
Well after you roll it in the plastic bag, do that 3 times. Once on each end and once in the centre, and you end up with a tight, firmly bound sausage that doesn't fall apart in your hand. ? That didn't sound right. Never mind.
If you are going to use it for salads or barbecue, that doesn't matter so much. The quality won't be affected - only the 'solidity'. and 'firmness. :-)

VERY important: Now put your wrapped nam packages into a fresh plastic bag, twist it well, and seal it with rubber bands, twist ties or something so that flies and pests can't get in.
We are going to do what the cheese and yoghurt makers do, and leave it at room temperature for 1-2 days to ferment, so we don't want any bugs laying eggs or trying to eat it. Not even the edible kind!

here's a pretty poor quality photograph of one I prepared earlier.
It takes 1-2 days to ferment, and after that we keep it in the fridge.
1 day is slightly sour, 2 days more so. It's delicious.
You can eat it plain, or slice it and serve it with roasted peanuts (no skin) and some thin slices of peeled young ginger root. Try it with a few cold beers.It keeps in the fridge for up to a week.
Natural, no preservatives. I'm lovin' it!

Don't eat pork?
I have made this successfully with lean beef, and also with kangaroo meat. Both were excellent. The texture was softer and colour was deep red and unusual, but no issues. Taste was fantastic.
And - why the ugly pork skin?
It gives a great textural contrast - just try it. If you are too scared the first time, then it can be made without.

Lard na 2.0 - a simple classic revisited

2010-06-27T13:08:00.003+07:00

Why blog the same stuff twice Shano? Running out of ideas?

The recipe for Lard na that I posted in April 09 is one of the most popular ones to date.
I'm actually a little shocked at how many hits it gets every week, and I didn't realise that so many people outside Thailand love this dish and want to know how to make it.
Being fairly new at blogging back then, and very pressed for time, I just took some rough nasty pictures of a meal we made at home back then, with a borrowed camera - and at the time In was also ravenous and grumpy.
Here it is again, re-defined, in the classic street-kitchen style that is so common in Thailand.

(Pictured - lard na pork - made with thinly sliced pork tenderloin, but you can use any meat, seafood, veg)

In the interest of simplicity, the recipe comes first, with a few tips later.
It is a quick, simple recipe - easy to make, so allow about 10 minutes to chop everything and 10 minutes to cook.
I felt the topic deserved simplifying and re-posting, so here it is;

Lard Na recipe - the classic.(serves 2)

Ingredients:

The noodles
20ml / 1tbsp cooking oil
2 serves thick flat rice noodles, (or your favourite noodle) ready to use

The meat and gravy
20ml / 1tbsp garlic, freshly crushed
120g / 1/4lb lean tender meat or seafood (your choice)
600ml/1 pint stock, broth, or water & stock powder
to taste (60ml) oyster sauce (Thai Maekrua brand is better)
to taste (20ml) Soy sauce (Golden mountain brand or healthy boy)
2 tbsp (40ml) yellow bean souce (Healthy boy brand)

Vegetables:
60g carrot, freshly sliced
60g cauliflower, cut into flowers
50g baby corn
60g chinese broccoli / gai larm/ pak kanaa or favourite Asian greens (roughly cut)
40g oyster mushrooms & straw mushrooms (or your favourite 2 mushrooms)

To thicken:
45g / 4tbsp tapioca flour mixed to a pourable paste with a little cold water
(if you can't get tapioca flour, use cornstarch/cornflour

The cooking method

Heat a wok, non stick pan or heavy cast iron pan. When hot, add the oil
Sear the rice noodles at high heat for just a minute or two. You want some colour, so hot, and fast.
Serve the rice noodles onto two plates, ready for topping with gravy
Add oil into hot wok/pan, throw in the garlic
When garlic is aromatic & golden, add the chicken, or pork, or meat, or *seafood. If you are going to use seafood, sear it with the garlic for flavour and colour, then remove it and set it aside so it doesn't overcook. You add it back in at step 10. Stirfry 1 minute maximum for colour and aroma. This is fine as a vegetarian or vegan dish - just don't use any meat & adjust the oyster sauce for dark soy.
Add the water or stock. (In Thailand they normally just use water and add 'ros dee' stock powder)
Bring to a simmer and add the cauliflower, carrot, mushrooms and baby corn. simmer 2 minutes/
Add the Chinese broccoli or Asian greens.
Season with the oyster sauce and soy sauce to your taste. Taste as you season
Everything should be cooked by now. If using chicken, cut the biggest piece just to double check. If using seafood, add back in now.
At a gentle simmer, slowly pour in the tapioca flour/cornflour paste, stirring gently to thicken.
Simmer 1-2 minutes maximum, then remove from heat and ladle gravy, meat and veggies over the noodles
Garnish with ground white pepper and fried garlic and you have a meal fit for a King.

There should be a very generous portion of gravy, thick enough to coat the noodles. Think of it as Thai "chips & gravy", only healthy, delicious & low in fat

Pointers and tips that may help or inspire:

Any cut of chicken is fine to use. Make sure it is boneless though.
For pork or beef, use tender cuts like fillet/tenderloin, or if using tougher cuts, slice it very finely across the grain.
If using seafood, sear it quickly with the garlic, then set aise until everything else is cooked. Overcooked seafood is dry and awful
If you use cornflour, the gravy will be a bit cloudy. Another option is arrowroot which is clear and glossy - but loses thickness if you reheat.
Water and stock powder is the most common thing used for this in Thailand, so don't despair if you can't make stock or broth.
Change the ingredients by all means - but add the ones that take longest to cook first. Add green vegies last.
Sear the rice noodles at really high heat quickly in a hot pan. It almost 'burns' them (brown, not black!) which gives a great flavour & texture.
If using fresh rice noodles, you have to pull them apart first before you start, or else you get a sticky mess
If no fresh rice noodles, use dry rice noodles. Called "rice sticks, 10mm" - they commonly come in a 400g packet.You'll need to soak them for an hour in hot water - but not too hot. You should be able to put your hand in it.
If you don't have time, you can boil the dry flat rice noodles - or use another type of noodle. I'm not the noodle nazi!
Why be traditional? Change the ingredients. You should never learn a recipe - master it, understand the technique, and once you know the rules you can break them. This makes a great gourmet dish!

Lard na made with prawns

Better than sex? An amazing, easy dip with only 3 ingredients.

2010-06-27T06:37:00.022+07:00

WOW! Spicy Galangal dip with roasted dry chilli and garlic!I learned this Thai dip a few months back and fell in love with it's ease, flavour and 'blow you away' taste impact.
It's the easiest thing in the world to makeIt has only three ingredients plus salt, and it transports you to another place in time and space on the first mouthful.

Nam prik kha – or galangal chilli dip is made by pounding fresh galangal root, garlic cloves, and dry red chilli roasted or toasted until brown and aromatic.
This is served with sticky rice and 'hedt torp' (boiled mushrooms) here up in the North bordering Laos.
That's it. End of story if you are Thai.

Being a chef and a crazy foreigner, I get to know the rules so I can break them. For me, this is just begging to be served as a spicy, seductive, heady dip or relish with a barbeque, braai or grill.

I know I have just offended a continent full of vegans and vegetarians who were about to write in and compliment me on giving them a meat-free culinary orgasm. Never mind.
You CAN use it just with mushrooms. The classic accompaniment is 'hedt torp' which are small round mushrooms with no stalk that look like smooth truffles.

I actually like dipping balls of sticky rice in this 'nam prik' and eating it just like that. THAT is a truly vegetarian use, and a very satisfying one too!
This recipe begs to be used – on everything. Recipe first – and my usual rambling and detail later under the recipe.

Equipment
You'll need a mortar and pestle for this to do it properly. Use a stone one - the wood and terracotta ones are for som tam salad - not for breaking down fibrous vegetables and spices into curry pastes and nam priks
You could probably use a blender, but it would be cheating. And you would get a paste texture and not a sexy dip and luxurious mouth feel.

Ingredients:

Fresh galangal root 2 tbsp
Fresh garlic cloves 1/2 tbsp
Whole dried red chilli 3-4 tbsp

How to do it.

Toast the dry chillies by tossing in a dry frying pan or wok over medium heat. You want the chillies to change colour to brown – almost starting to blacken evenly.
When you think you have almost screwed it up and cooked them too far – they will be just perfect. At first I used to toast them too lightly out of caution.
Toss the chillies into a mortar and pestle – and pound them to chilli flakes.The aroma will be intoxicating.
Wash the galangal root, and slice it thinly. Peel it if it is old and woody. If it is smooth and young – no need.
Smack a bulb of garlic with your hand or a cleaver, and remove a few cloves. Peel it if you must. With tiny Thai garlic – no need. It MUST be fresh!
Pound the galangal to crush it to a paste
Add the garlic, and keep pounding
Add the toasted chilli flakes and pound a minute more until it forms a paste
Add a dessertspoon of water to make it easier to eat and dip. That's it!

*A pinch of 'umami' or MSG will deepen and enhance the flavour, if you are not allergic or paranoid. If you are, then: "Aaaaaaaargggh!" – don't use it. Use it as a dip, relish or condiment.

Great with: mushrooms, BBQ steak, lamb cutlets, venison, sticky rice, chips (yes – French fries), or even spread thinly onto a burger as a sexy signature condiment. (but mention my name) Enjoy. This really is awesome!

Pound the galangal root slices in the mortar and pestle.

Add the garlic. Yep - I was shocked too. No need to peel the small, fresh Thai ones. Peel yours though. They will be plumper and with tougher skins.

Crush together - steady, rhythmic and deep. In Thailand they say you can tell how a person makes love by watching the way they wield a mortar and pestle. Since learning that I have been a tad self conscious, and I make sure I put on a good show of pounding impressively if any Thais are watching :-)

Add the toasted chilli flakes. See the colour? they are darker than that on the outside - and they smell SO good. But why stress out doing it daily? You can buy a bag of dry chillies, toast the whole lot, then grind them all and keep them in an airtight container or jar for 'instant gratification'.

After the mixing and pounding is done, add a dash of water just to smooth it out a little and make it easier to dip stuff in.

This has aphrodisiac qualities. Anybody who tries it will want to sleep with you, marry you or bear your children. If none of the above apply, then ask for money or favours. It's THAT good!

This is what a galangal plant looks like. And yes, as well as the tropics, they also grow in the sub-tropics. So try growing a plant or two in upper NZ, Australia, lower US, South Africa if you have a garden. Otherwise head to the supermarket.
I mentioned that Galangal is a root. That is not exactly correct. It is a rhizome like ginger, turmeric, and bamboo! But you can pretend that it IS a root if you have a plant - and just 'hoe in' to get some around the base, an inch or two under the ground. For the more academically minded, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galangal

The flowers (above) can be used in cooking too. They look nice and have a fantastic taste and character that is very different to the root, which is a staple of Thai cuisine flavour bases.
The flowers are quite spicy surprisingly, and can be added into salads, stews & braises, and soups

Here is real food, totally lacking in romance or poetic license. Yes - real roots and rhizomes are covered in mud.
Just like carrots, parsnips, potatoes and other veg before they get taken to the distributor, sanitised, wrapped in shrink wrap and displayed in the supermarket on a polystyrene tray. :-) They taste fresher too.

The downside is that you need to give it a wash to get the dirt out of all the cracks.
In hotels we sanitise them of course - and at home they get a good wash and a peel. It really is great to get to a farmers market if you can - The produce is so much closer to nature than what you see in the city department stores.

Any fresh galangal root is fine, and if you can get THAI dried chillies, then use them. They last for ages. Just keep them airtight. Do leave a comment if you make this one. It is just sensational.

Sweet bamboo, simply stir fried

2010-06-26T06:24:00.089+07:00

There are four types of bamboo commonly used for cooking around these parts, and this one's called "Nomai waan", or 'sweet bamboo'
Most of the bamboo we are used to in the West has a very yellow tinge, and a woody flavour - normally out of a can or vac pac.

This variety has a really nice taste - mild, sweet and excellent all by itself.

Young Bamboo shoots are the bit that is edible.
You could try and gnaw on the old stuff below, but people would tease you and call you "Panda".
It DOES have culinary uses though, when it gets older.
The heavy wood cylinders or 'pockets' are used to cook food inside, giving flavour and retaining moisture. the outside gets charred and smoky, flavouring and steaming the food inside which retains its moisture and infuses the flavour trapped inside.
Sticky rice gets cooked inside, and another great recipe is fish wrapped in turmeric leaves, packed into bamboo, and barbequed.
That one is going on my menu at some point - just delicious.

This next pic is the thin young shoot of bamboo.
Good ones are hard to find, because the tip is below the earth, or mulch covering. Digging around like a truffle dog can help - and experienced harvesters know how and where to look.

On these skinny young ones, only the lower half of each segment is edible - the top half normally woody. They are not as meaty as the plump, larger 'nomai wan' shoots. The idea for skinny ones like this is to peel the bamboo and use the tender bamboo from the lower part of each segment and then discard the woody top parts.

Next step is easy for this variety of sweet bamboo. No curries, spring roll fillings or salads are necessary to mask the overpowering flavour, because it is subtle and delicious. Just peel until no skin is left.

Boil until soft, in plain water. This should take around 40 minutes.
Cool, then shred finely.
Heat a wok or frying pan.
Stir-fry in a small amount of oil, with a little salt.
Add a little water (2 dsp. only), and stir-fry a minute or two.
Serve with a little shredded cilantro chopped through.Enjoy.

A simple, fresh, tasty pad ga pao recipe with ‘kai dao’

2010-06-25T05:24:00.015+07:00

This classic Thai dish has to be the world's sexiest fast food, and so easy, healthy and versatile. Plus it tastes amazing.

Pad ga pao (or ka prao as it is also known) is a five minute meal, guaranteed, and usually served with steamed rice and a fried egg on top. It is also one of the most commonly eaten, widely loved dishes in the Thai food repertoire. Everybody eats it here, all the time.
The beauty of it is the total lack of fat and dramas – it's also inexpensive, easy to cook, and so full of flavour.

It's commonly made with chicken or pork (minced or finely chopped) – but you can use anything. Beef, seafood, tofu, vegetables – even weird stuff.
The name 'pad ga pao' simply translates as 'fried with basil leaves' – the basil being 'hot basil', Thai basil', 'holy basil', or 'bai ga pao' in Thai.

Here are the basil leaves. BTW - these are RED ones - but the more common variety are green. They grow easily - so plant some in a pot. They look a bit hairy and unappetising, just like me - but they leave fond memories and a desire for more

Ingredients: (to serve 2)
220g Lean chopped or ground meat (it can be chicken, pork, beef, etc, or even fresh mixed seafood)
1 tbsp Fresh chopped garlic
Chillies, cut in half, or on an angle (amount & variety up to your heat tolerance)
1 cup Holy basil leaves, fresh
1 tbsp/ 20ml Oil for frying
1 tbsp/20ml Soy sauce (Thai 'golden mountain' or 'healthy boy' is great)
1 tbsp/20ml Oyster sauce (Thai Maekrua is awesome!)

*Steamed rice for serving
*Fried egg (to put on top of the rice)

How to make your dream come true:
1/. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, wok or sauteuse
2/. Fry garlic until golden over medium heat
3/. Add chopped/minced meat or seafood
4/. Stir-fry a minute or two until almost cooked.
5/. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, basil leaves and chilli 6/. Fry the egg
7/. Serve on a plate with steamed rice. Put the fried egg on top of the rice. 8/. Enjoy your awesome authentic Thai dish, and get used to cooking it frequently because anyone who tries it is going to ask for more.

More information and cooking tips:
The 'main' ingredient can be anything. Experiment.
The sauces can be varied to taste. Some use sweet soy, kecap manis, dark soy (see eiw dum) – which can be an acquired taste. If you like it, go for your life.
The 'kai dao' (star egg) is fried egg – but in Thailand it is normally fried in quite a bit of oil in a hot wok, so the top is almost cooked and the bottom light brown and a bit crunchy. Your standard fried egg is fine.
The egg is optional. Most people have it in Thailand – some people don't. Without the egg, ask for 'pad ga pao' – with egg, ask for 'pad ga pao kai dao' Some other generic Thai that is useful to know when ordering food:

Moo = pork (shouldn't it be "oink"?)
Neua = beef
Gai = chicken
Pla = fish
Goong = prawn
Talay = seafood
Kai - egg
Kai Gai = chicken egg
Kai neua = a weird stare – because cows don't lay eggs. But as a euphemism...............Phew!

NORMALLY - you serve "pad ga pao" with FRESHLY cut cucumber sticks and ripe tomato. So fast and easy!
Now get cracking and make some fast food that your friends and family will worship you for.

Rare North Thai spice discovery มะเขว่น

2010-06-24T12:38:00.004+07:00

มะแขว่น "Citrus Prickly Ash"(Zanthoxylum limonella Alato) pronounced as "Muh–Kan" in North Thailand or "Ma-kwem" elsewhere.

A couple of days ago I was given a very simple, very aromatic soup which has haunted my taste buds since. The ingredients seemed too simple to have such a tantalising taste and depth of flavour and I was left scratching my head.

The soup was catfish simmered with onion, tomato, garlic, chilli and water – finished with cilantro (sawtooth or broad leaf coriander)

There was a secret ingredient – dried flower buds from a local tree which are simply pounded and added into the soup a moment before serving.
The taste is incredible.
Heady, slightly woody, aromatic, intoxicating and so deep and rich – this is my ingredient discovery of the decade.

The recipe for the soup will follow on this blog later this month.
This is an amazing spice sure to add a point of difference to any chef's menu.
It is a regional specialty from Chiang Rai, the North of Thailand & Laos but not at all common or available in Bangkok, Isaan or the South.

It can be used as a specialist regional Thai cuisine ingredient for Thai chefs, or as a rare spice for fine dining chefs, bakers and creative culinarians.
As well as the soup application, I can see this really taking off as a great ingredient for breads, pizza bases, or infused into a jus for beef, venison, lamb, kangaroo or game meats.

In the North it is used mainly in "Gaeng" style soup broths with fish, chicken or beef, or in Northern larb, which is a tad chunkier and more "rustic" than the now popular Isaan version.

It is so EASY to use too. Pound or grind briefly – and add to the soup last minute before serving. Easy and foolproof. Chefs and suppliers are welcome to contact me and I'll see if I can organize to post a bag out, or sort out a regular supply.

I have met a couple of growers here.
This is a spice that deserves to be discovered by innovative chefs.
Move over the mighty truffle…….this is a contender for the King of rare spices. Here is a little more detail, and some photos of "muh-kan" – both dried, and on the tree.

Dried - this variety has small seeds that look like tiny star anise pods or chunky Schezuan pepper..

Bagged up into domestic quantity. Enough to use 10-15 times

These are the 'flowers' fresh on the tree. You have to wait until they start to shrivel and dry - then harvest them, dry them and store properly for use.

The spiky trunk of the tree. They are not all this tall - and I'd hate to have to climb one.

It would be like making love to a porcupine, or riding a runaway cactus.If harvesting yourself - go for a shorter, bushier tree like the one below.

This photo gives a better idea of what the leaves of the tree actually look like.

To use it in soup or stews, just pound or grind a little of the 'muh-kan' with an equal amount of garlic, then add it at the last minute before serving.

There is nothing complex about it, except for the depth of the flavour.
I can imagine this would slay unbelievers if it were seeded through a pure, well made jus, over game meat or high quality beef, accompanied by a glass of exceptional Cabernet.

***Thanks to Robyn from eatingasia blog, and my friend Dadi from Bangkok for assisting with identification, English name and substitute for this amazing spice.
Robyn suggests substituting with Schezuan pepper pounded with a little orange zest. It could be almost awesome. :-)

For a deeper look into Thai cuisine as you rarely see it, I must also recommend David Thompson's THAI FOOD - an encyclopaedic reference of Thai cuisine from centuries ago to the streets around Thailand today.
He has two versions, both the same content. One is pink/purple, bound in Thai silk. I have that one - it's pure Asian food porn! As a professional expat chef in Thailand, it is my Thai food reference bible - and it is in English.

Honey, I'm home!

2010-06-24T07:15:00.001+07:00

I got another surprise yesterday when K Boonchuay walked in the door holding a stick with a bee hive on a piece of plastic.
Being the innocent babe-in-the-woods that I am, I initially thought "Great stuff - fresh honey!"
To a certain extent, I was right. There WAS honey, and it tasted great!

The honeycomb was obviously wild, and not the neat, rectangular frames of manufactured wax that the lazy bees back home just land on and extrude.
This was a shapely, bizarrely textured slab of wax with honey in one end and nothing in the other.
Or so I thought.

It looked innocent enough at first glance, but on closer inspection there were a couple of grubs in there, which are the baby bees, or bee larvae for those unkeen on being baby-killers.
(Note to those folks - stay away from veal and baby corn!)
My first question was all about the collecting.
He had no bee suit, no smoke gun, and no bee stings.
These are not actually bees, but a similar species - not as aggressive, and mostly not at home when he grabbed the hive with a long stick.

Absentee parents that failed to get a baby sitter. And look what happened to the kids;
All that is missing is the sinister phone call to the adult bees "Have you checked the children............"?
These are the wee larvae, which again I thought may simply be panfried, boiled, or eaten 'au-naturel' like wee rice shaped waxy oysters.
I actually found an amazing new dish - because these little bee larvae were actually cooked in the tender waxy honeycomb hive by barbeque over smouldering wood embers.
The hive was actually full of the larvae - which wasn't apparent at first glance.

When barbequed, the hive contracted and caramelised, taking on a delicious smoky flavour, and the larvae had a very hard to define taste - distinct but mellow.

Really lovely stuff.

I'm keen to try it again, and I was really impressed with having the opportunity to give it a go.

Khao Soy – the sequel.– Khao soy nam kua from Laos & Chiang Rai

2010-06-23T07:08:00.004+07:00

I have already done a post on Khao soy, that sexy half creamy coconut chicken curry dish from Chiang Mai laden with soft yellow egg noodles and crispy fried yellow egg noodles.
Those of us who have tried it will just nod sagely. Others will act confused and will not realise they are missing a taste sensation – and may blithely carry on with life, unaware.
Sad.
The creamy delicious coconut curry Khao soy from Chiang Mai is actually a fusion dish that is centuries old, which will surely upset the authentic food purists.
It hails from the Shan people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) who funkied up a few ingredients from the Indians and the Chinese.
Obviously it's not just crazy farang chefs in the new millennium that like to mix and match ingredients and concepts from different countries.

The 'khao soy' does come in another flavour and incarnation though. Khao soy nam kua.
This bad boy is found all over Chiang Rai and across the border into Laos – Khao soy lite if you will, with not a hint of coconut to be seen.
This actually makes more sense up here, because if you look around, you will see a sum total of.......hang on.............let me look..............ZERO coconut trees.
Khao soy nam krua is a little more 'local' – made with thick flat rice noodles covered with a clear stock, and a tasty spoonful of 'nam prik ong' – spicy ground pork and tomato relish.
Pork (local), rice noodles (local), chilli, garlic and tomatoes (all definitely local!)
Tubbs from the local shop in "The league of Gentleman" would be proud.
So – how does it taste?
Light, refreshing, and spicy! Even for old asbestos mouth here, it was a bit of an eye opener.
Coconut does tend to smooth out the incendiary qualities of chilli, or 'prik' as it is known here. It dampens the flames considerably.
In a clear broth base, the chilli essential oil tends to stick with anything remotely oily, meaning a delicious flavour gets swallowed, and then BANG – a pocket of chilli oil caresses the back of your throat like a rusty razor blade. But if you can handle the flames – it is pretty good!
How do they do i t?
Simplicity itself compared to the creamy Khao soy.
Blanch some thick rice noodles and dump them into a bowl.
Cover with clear boiling hot broth.
Top with a spoonful of 'nam prik ong' – which looks like a Thai bolognaise sauce – but is actually ground pork cooked with tomatoes, chilli, garlic.
Finish with a sprinkle of chopped spring onion and coriander.
That's it. 25 baht. Or around 75 cents to $1, depending on what country your dollar is based in.

The aftermath of getting the cane

2010-06-22T18:28:00.000+07:00

I was sweating profusely, hunched over my laptop yesterday when I had a plate of weird stuff plonked down in front of me.

Cubes of wood? Hmmmmm.

Actually I did recognise it, because I lived in Babinda, Far North Queensland and ran a small restaurant there.

Babinda is a sugar cane town which "changes wallpaper" weekly as the sugar cane goes through its growing cycle.

The sugarcane there grows to an impressive height, and is sent off to the mill which belches steam into the air in dense plumes from the processing.

This is a pic of the wee plant in the back garden - which definitely wont end up in any mill.
Here it gets used more immediately, with street vendors running it through hand operated press to extract the sweet, refreshing green-tinged juice.

The stalk is thick and purple. Shiny and not sweet.
Just peel off the stalk and dice the inside of the sugarcane into cubes, and you have a refreshing sweet snack to chew on and pep up the mouth.

What is it like?
Delicious. Sweet. Refreshing.
And a lot like chewing soft crunchy wood that disintegrates into woody pulp and fibres in your mouth.

Like the thirty bottles of plonk at an over-the-top wine tasting, it is recommended to spit, not swallow.

It takes a few mouthfuls to get the hang of it - but you end up chewing, sucking, swallowing the juice, then spitting out the pulp.
Fantastic!

If you are a little organised, whack them into the fridge for a few hours first - and it is chilled and revitalising.

Get into it if you live near sugarcane fields, or have a backyard in a tropical area.

Sumptuous sunburned serpent

2010-06-22T14:18:00.006+07:00

There is a popular snack consisting of marinated sun-dried meat, which is then deep fried with kaffir lime leaves.

Normally it is beef or pork. (Neua da dieow, or moo dad dieow).

Yummy stuff, and eaten with sticky rice. Laos, Isaan and Cambodia have this - and it's great with a couple of beers, or between meals.

This exotic wee treat on the left is snake, prepared the same way.

Marinated, hung, and dried. To serve, one simply fries it.

I could go all cliche, and say it tastes like chicken (??????), but it does have a very subtle taste and a great chewy texture.

Well worth trying if you are ever in these parts.

I'm learning another local snake dish in the next few days with a fresh, live, wriggly critter from the market near Chiang Khong.

I'll post on that early next week.