jam's thai food and cooking blog

Spicy Glass Noodles Salad: Yum Woon Sen

2010-01-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

New Year has rolled around and I almost didn't notice it. 2009 was a wonderful year and I'm looking forward to another great year to come. An exciting beginning for us this year, we are expanding our store to double to size. We are adding ice cream up to 12 flavors a day, a tea house and yummy baked goods both from Thailand and around the world.

To celebrate the New Year, I thought I would post this recipe for a favorite dish of mine. This is the only dish that makes me dream about at night. I get so excited to come home if there is some leftover in my fridge. In Chinese tradition, noodles are left the length that they come. The long noodles represent long and prosperous lives. When you eat the noodles, you are supposed to eat the whole length of it without cutting.

The best way to prepare the noodles for this dish is to boil them without soaking. As soon as the noodles are completely soft, drain them and run them under cold water to stop the cooking process. I always like to add ground shrimp to this dish. Shrimp adds so much flavor to the dish. You can use either chicken or pork but I prefer pork.

Here is the recipe for this delicious salad and may you all have a prosperous New Year.

Bean Thread Noodle Salad

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 pound of shrimp, minced (substitute w/ soy bean protein and mushrooms for vegetarian option)
1/8 pound of pork, minced (substitute w/ soy bean protein and mushrooms for vegetarian option)
1 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
1/4 cup water
2 cups of bean thread noodles, boiled and drained
Handful coriander, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
Handful green onions
Pinch of salt

Dressing
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp chopped Thai chilies
1/4 tbsp white sugar
1/4 tablespoon palm sugar
4 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp fish sauce (or soy sauce and fermented soy bean paste for vegetarian option)

Heat oil in a medium sauté pan, add garlic, and fry until fragrant. Add minced pork and shrimp and stir occasionally until cooked, about 2 minutes. Add water and soy sauce to taste. Mix all ingredients and the cooked meat in a mixing bowl. Make dressing by pounding all the ingredients in pestle and mortar or put them in a food chopper/processor. Pour dressing on top of the mixture and mix well. (I prefer to use my hand to mix it) Taste and add more dressing if desired.

Pad Ka Prow w/ Goat Meat

2009-12-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I did a demo at Austin Farmers Market downtown on the same day Pamela Walker had her book signing. Her book Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas is an essay of eleven farms in Central Texas. I was cooking up some Pad Ka Prow or stir fried basil with ground goat meat. I was using all the vegetables from the market that day from holy basil and Thai Apple eggplant from Simmons Family Farms, mushrooms from Kitchen Pride, bell peppers from Chris at Milagro Farms, Thai eggplants from Cas at Animal Farms and Thai chilies from Two Happy Children Farms. The goat meat was from Singleton Farms. I have only used goat meat to make Thai style Biryani and I just absolutely loved it. I thought the ground meat should work with this dish very well.

This post might have come a little late especially after the first hard freeze we had last Friday night. All my tender plants were frozen and we are done with Spring/Summer garden. Mushrooms are all year round and you can use only those in this dish. I hope this post will help you decide what to plant in your garden next Spring. Check out an article in Edible Austin on how to grow your own Thai garden.

Those vegetables were picked less than 24 hours before I cooked them. They were sweet and firm. The bell peppers from Milagro were exceptionally delicious. They were the best bell peppers I have ever tasted.

The show started with the wonderful smell of fried garlic and chili paste that brought people in from the other end of the market. The recipe is from this post back in Spring 2008 when I harvested some green beans to make this dish. You can use pretty much anything as long as it's firm. You can turn this into a noodle dish, Pad Kee Mao or Drunken Noodles by adding noodles after the meat. You can use flat noodles. If using dry flat rice noodles, soak them for about an hour. You can also use cooked spaghetti noodles or Penne pasta in this dish as well. Add some dark soy sauce to give some dark color and a little bit of molasses flavor. You can also make Basil fried rice from this same recipe.

As for basil, I used holy basil or Bai Ka Prow, in this dish.

You can substitute Thai sweet basil or Bai Ho Ra Pa for this dish. Thai holy basil is very tender and they have to be used the same day it's harvested. Simmons Family Farms brings it to the market every Saturday morning. It is spicier and sweeter than sweet basil. Thai basil plants are annual in central Texas. If you have them in pots, you can bring them in during the winter and it should come back in the spring. Some friends who grow Thai basil in the ground cut it down during winter and cover it with plastic tarp to protect it. If the plants make it through winter, they will come back stronger and bigger.

Eat Local Week: Eat at the Source

2009-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

Austin Third Annual Fundraiser Eat Local Week is sponsored by Edible Austin to benefit Urban Roots. The event kicks off this coming Saturday at Austin Farmers Market on December 5th. Thai Fresh is joining the team for the second year to help raise the money for the event.

Eating local is so much better in so many ways. By eating closer to the source of the food, you save so much energy and resources that goes into shipping, packaging and storing before the food gets to you. I love to shop at the farmers' market. I love to talk to people that grow the good. I enjoy hearing their stories and how they are passionate about what they are doing. I have grown to appreciate their hard working spirits.

When I started selling my food at Sunset Valley Farmers Market 4 years ago, none of my ingredients were local. My stand was next to Amador Farms and Hillside Farms and I started to add ingredients from those farms into my cooking. I thought to myself, this makes so much sense!!!!!

At Thai Fresh, we are committed to eating and cooking as close to the source as possible. As a Thai restaurant, it is difficult to find many of the important ingredients locally. But whenever we can, we will use meats and produce that are raised and grown locally. Everyday, you will find selections of dishes that we rotate. Our menu changes all day long reflecting what is in season and abundant. When you eat at Thai Fresh, you can be sure that 100% of our meats and seafood are from Texas. We will use whatever vegetables in season as much as we can. We are so proud of our farmers and ranchers. Read more about who we buy from on our website.

Shop, eat and cook locally.

Pad Sea Ew: guest blogging at Rasa Malaysia

2009-11-29T20:01:00.001-08:00

It's about time I reveal this popular recipe. I have been wanting to publish this recipe forever and as I was attempting it, Bee from Rasa Malaysia invited me to be a guest on her blog. I have been following Bee for a while. Her blog is an encyclopedia of Asian recipes. I have made a couple of dishes from her recipes and I always visit her blog when looking for Asian recipes, especially South East Asian.

When Bee asked me to guest blog on Rasa Malaysia, I immediately said yes. I hope you will enjoy it. Check out the recipe on Rasa Malaysia.

Morning Glory

2009-11-17T17:13:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago, I went to Loy Kratong festival at Thai Temple in Del Valle. Loy Kratong festival falls on the full moon of November. People will make Krathong, or a floating flower that is originally made by folding banana leaves into petals and secure them to a "floater" usually made from cutting banana trunks into rounds. The floating is a way to thank the river and to let go of any anger and resentments. It is a big festival for Thai people. There are big events going on all around the country especially in the north of Thailand in Chiangmai.

A lady brought in a huge bag of Morning Glory and laid them on the table for sale. "Those were just picked a few minutes ago", she said. Immediately, I thought of two perfect dishes to make with them and bought a couple of bunches to take home with me. Morning Glory or Ipomoea aquatica, is an aquatic plant grows in water or in soil that is next to water. It is considered a noxious weed by USDA because of its invasive nature. I think it should be fine to grow these in a pond or contained water space in your backyard. You can buy these at Asian markets around town. Stick the stems in water to sprout roots if you want to try growing them. Our family used to live on the river and these grow everywhere in our "front yard". I can totally see how it gets out of control if let loose in natural water sources like lakes. They are called by different names from water spinach, swamp morning glory or in Thai "Pak Boong".

I made two dishes out of these Pak Boong. The first is sour curry. The recipe is from the previous post on Gang Som.

I fried Salted Black Fish or Pla Salid to go with it and I was back home again.

I also made Pak Boong Fai Daeng or Red Flame Morning Glory, literally.

You usually see this dish done by street vendors. Some vendors make it into a show to attract customer by throwing the stir fried dish in the air and another person catches it with a plate and serve it. It's a pretty fun scene to watch. This dish is super easy to make.

stir fried Thai Morning Glory

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 bruised chillies
4 cloves garlic, bruised
2 qt bite size Morning Glory
1 tsp soy bean paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup water or stock

Heat up the oil in a pan, fry garlic and chilies until fragrant, add vegetables, soy bean paste, soy sauce and water and stir fry until vegetables are wilted. Check seasoning and serve immediately over rice.

Spicy Rice Balls

2009-11-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

For the past months, I have been making these delicious rice balls for many events. They are easy to make, very economical AND they are so delicious. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The lime leaves are really the key for these rice balls. The recipe is adapted from Fish/Chicken cake recipe that I posted a while back. You can roll them up and freeze them until you are ready to fry. I like to use jasmine rice because they are fragrant and a little softer than other rice without being too sticky. Make sure your rice is hot when you combine the mixture so that they are easier to roll.

Here is the recipe

4 cups hot jasmine rice
2 tbsp red curry paste
1-2 tbsp soy sauce ( I prefer Thai soy sauce but you can also use the Japanese Tamari especially if you are looking for gluten free soy sauce)
a pinch of sugar
2 kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin strips (roll the leaves lengthwise and thinly slice them)
oil for deep frying

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except for the oil, taste to see if you need any adjusting. If it becomes dry, just add some water so they are easier to roll. Heat up the oil on the stove or use a deep fryer, fry until golden about 3 minutes.

bountiful seafood with Thai seafood sauce

2009-11-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

Last month, I got a chance to join the Oyster Club for their kick off event at the Plant at Kyle. Our very own Roberto San Miguel from San Miguel Seafood brought in fresh oysters, shell and heads on shrimp, and different kind of fish.

When it comes to seafood, nothing beat the ultimate Thai seafood sauce. I sent the sauce ahead of me for people to enjoy with their fresh seafood. The recipe is easy and consists of

4 red or green fresh Thai chillies, minced (about 2 tbsp)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp Thai fish sauce
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp chopped cilantro with stems

you can make it as spicy as you want by adding more chillies in there. The event was a success and I had a blast. It was good to see some old friends David Alan from Tipsy Texan and Jeffery Lorien from Zhi Tea.

the perfect Halloween recipe:egg custard in pumpkin

2009-10-27T10:57:00.001-07:00

Before I let this month go by without posting, I thought I just couldn't miss this recipe. It is perfect for the season: winter squash season and Halloween season. I was at Green Corn Project Annual Fundraiser at Boggy Creek Farm on Sunday and cooked up some of these for my cooking demo. It was such a big hit. It is so easy to make and so beautiful and delicious once done.

This perfect dessert is made by filling a small pumpkin with coconut egg custard and steam for about an hour. This is the time of the year when you see pumpkins everywhere. Gather some before they are gone from the grocery stores. Farmers' market will have these yummy winter squashes until they are gone, about the end of winter. So, if you have farmers' markets near you, shop some of the winter squashes they have. This particular squash is called Kombucha. It is a meatier variety of squash and is perfect for this dessert. The variety is called Sunburst with bright orange color and shades of green. I ran into these at Austin Farmers' Market downtown and bought a few to cook with. You can use other kinds of smaller squashes or pumpkins for this recipe. Your choice is endless. As long as it has semi flat bottom that won't roll over when you put it in a steamer, it should be fine. Check out this website for different variety that you can try to grow from seeds in your garden. I think other kinds of custards like flan will work well as filling for this wonderful dessert as well. Hope this recipe comes in time for your Halloween party.

Egg Custard in Pumpkin

1 cup thick coconut cream (you can also use the top part of the can of coconut milk if you can't find coconut cream)
1 cup palm sugar
5 eggs
1 pandan leaf or pandan essence(you can buy frozen leaves at Thai Fresh or you can buy the essence at other Asian grocery store.)
1 medium size pumpkin (or k ombucha squash, autumn cup, buttercup, gold nugget, turban)

Heat the coconut cream, pandan leaf (if using, if using essence, add after it's cooled off) and palm sugar in a saucepan just enough to dissolve the sugar. Remove the leaf and let cool to room temperature.
Beat the eggs and mix in with the coconut cream mixture. Strain the mixture through a fine wire mesh colander to smooth out the bubbles. Spoon out any bubbles that may have formed over the top.
Pour the mixture into a hollowed out squash with an opening on top. Steam over medium-high heat until the custard is set, about an hour, depending on its size and thickness of the squash. Let cool and cut into slices like you would cut cakes. You can also pour the custard in a heat proof dish and serve custard over sweet sticky rice.

Market Moment(s)

2009-09-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I got to go to a market and a farm stand with Madeline and her friend. Check out the feature on Madeline's food tattoos in the Statesman. We went out to Austin Farmers' Market first around 10 am and shopped there. I bought pomegranate and persimmons from Lightsey Farms. This is almost the end of Texas fruit season. Well, oranges are coming, but you got to get out there for your summer fruits. They have Asian dates, different kinds of persimmons, pomegranate, pears and watermelons. I bought some pomegranate and Fuyu persimmons. I like Fuyu persimmons the best because they are crisp and I don't have to wait for them to get jelly like before I can eat it. I probably finish almost two pounds before the day was over. Also, those Fuyu are the ones we find in Thailand but they are much bigger there. We get them mostly from China.

Then we went out to Blanco to visit Arnosky farm stand. From Austin, I took 290 out to Dripping Spring, turn left onto 165 and at the intersection of 2325 and 165 on your left, you will see a big blue barn standing. I have known Pamela for a long time from Sunset Valley Farmers' Market back in 2005. I was excited I finally got a chance to go out there because I have been a big fan of her flowers. The flowers were as pretty as I remember. I bought some zinnias to bring home and Leo got to pick a pumpkin for his carving. He went into the field and helped Pamela pick it out. He was super excited about the whole thing.

We ended our trip at this brand new restaurant Red Bud at the square downtown Blanco. They had only been opened for three days when we got there. I had a salad and my friends shared a sandwich. I really enjoyed my meal. The salad was so fresh and it was pretty too. We headed back home feeling pretty energized from our trip.

Soon, I plan to visit Montesino Ranch and will share my visit here again.

the orange drink: Thai Iced Tea

2009-09-23T17:07:00.001-07:00

This drink is the ultimate Thai drink. Everybody loves Thai Tea, whether or not they admit it. There are two kinds of Thai teas but the creamy kind is what a lot of people are used to. There are "Cha Yen" (iced tea), the creamy kind and "Cha Dum Yen" (black ice tea), the tea with just sugar in it. But why is it orange? Sadly, Thai tea mix has orange food coloring in the mix. I don't know why they started putting color in Thai tea in the first place. My assumption is that the color was intended to distinguish between Thai tea and Thai coffee. If you brew strong tea with spices, you will end up with delicious Thai tea that looks just like coffee.

As an alternative, you can brew your own Thai tea by getting 2 qt of water boiling, add star anise and cloves (just one star anise and maybe a few cloves) and let boil for a few minutes. Turn the heat off and brew green or black tea leaves in the spice infused water. Brew strong black or green tea using about a heaping 1/4 cup tea leaves. Add condensed milk while the tea is still hot if you are making the creamy tea or just sugar if you are making the black iced tea. How much sugar or condensed milk should you add? That depends on how sweet you want it to be. Refrigerate or pour over ice. Now you have it, the famous Thai Iced Tea.

Market Moment

2009-09-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is the first time in a year that I have Saturday off. I forgot how fun it is to just spend the whole morning market hopping. Just want to share a market moment with you from this past Saturday. Leo always wants to eat ALL THE TIME at the market. This is one of the foods we got. It was pizza from La Boca. Fotini makes a variety of pizzas and empanadas at her store on Manor Road and brings them to both Austin Farmers' Market and Sunset Valley Farmers' Market every Saturday.

We got this piece because it has the most vegetables on it. It's a good way to add veggies to kids' diet. Leo thinks if it's on a pizza, it's good. We love her pizzas and empanadas. There are more than 20 kinds of empanadas and 15 kinds of pizza. Visit their store, you can dine in or take out.

a taste of yellow:super meyer lemon ice cream

2009-09-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

I just came across a post about making food with yellow ingredient to promote cancer awareness on Winos and Foodies blog by Barbara. I saw it yesterday, on the deadline for submission but I am inspired that I would like to promote cancer awareness with this post. This is an event for Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Livestrong Day. I would like to dedicate this post to my beloved brother in law, Gary Barnes. Gary was diagnosed with lung cancer and fought it for a year before he left us. He was the brother you would ask for. He had so much love for people around him and he always brought us together as a family. Gary didn't smoke or drink, the doctor linked his cancer to his service in the Vietnam War and Gulf War. His body is not with us anymore but his soul will always be around. We miss him miserably.

I got this recipe from David Lebovitz' ice cream book, the Perfect Scoop. It's called Super Lemon Ice Cream. A friend shared with me Meyer Lemons that she had and I immediately thought of this recipe that I saw in David's book. So, I used those Meyer Lemons to make this perfect ice cream. These lemons are sweeter than regular lemon, it is lemon with a little touch of orange in it.

Here is the recipe

2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeeze lime juice
2 cups half and half
pinch of salt

Zest the lemons into food processor or blender and blend with sugar until fine. Add lemon juice and continue to blend until all sugar is dissolved. Add half and half and salt and blend until smooth. Chill completely and freeze according to your ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions.

And let me tell you, this ice cream is just out of this world. Meyer lemons are just perfect because of that little sweetness. This is the first time that I finished the whole bowl of ice cream after taking the picture so early in the morning. This recipe is here to stay. We are making the ice cream for Thai Fresh too.

Texas Monthly Burger Trail continued

2009-09-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

After trying out Parkside's burger, I continued my way down the list. I was in Port Aransas a few weeks ago for our first vacation since we opened Thai Fresh. Port A, as we call it, was more beautiful than I remember. The only time I went was 4 years ago and I didn't fall in love. This time around, the water was clean and the beach was pleasant. We had so much fun swimming and hanging out on the beach.

My mission in Port A was to try one of the burgers on Pat's list from Port Aransas Brewing Company. I didn't get a chance to go until the second day there. I ordered the Stopher Burger and I absolutely loved it. The meat was so lean but tender and very well seasoned. I do also like fatty meat, if you wonder. The best part of the burger was the bun that they make fresh everyday. I asked our server what kind of dough it was (not that I will attempt to make it or anything) and the answer from the kitchen was "it's a secret." It's the same dough that they make their pizza dough in house. It was a little salty, which I loved and it was so soft and dense.

So, if you are in Port A, give these guys a try. Order a beer or two to go with your burger.

fried chicken and sausage gumbo

2009-09-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

yes I know, it doesn't sound very Thai. But here is my story. When I came to Austin in 2001, the only cookbook I brought with me was Muekdaeng's cookbook. His website is under renovation and the front page is down but the page for recipes is up. I use his vegetarian egg roll and satay recipe all the time. I was using this cookbook religiously for the whole first year to cook up some food for friends. Even the first dinner with my grad school boyfriend was from this book. I wish he published this in English to share with the world.

One night I was looking at what to cook for the next party and came across this recipe that uses okra. I love okra, I should try to make this. So I did. At the party, my roommate said, this tastes like Gumbo and I said, I don't know what Gumbo is. I went back and looked at his recipe, sure enough, there is a word "Gumbo" in the parenthesis. So, this has been my Gumbo recipe ever since.

The past month, okra is everywhere at the Farmers' Market. I bought a bunch thinking I wanted to pickle them after reading Pickled Okra recipe from Lisa at Homesick Texan. I'm still going to make it but I was distracted by this recipe for Gumbo that I haven't made for a while.

1 whole chicken (about 2-3 pounds)
1 cup diced onions
1 cups diced bell peppers
3/4 cup chopped celery
3 cups sliced okra
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
vegetable oil for deep frying
1 qt chicken stock
1 lb smoked sausage
1 tsp chopped garlic

cut whole chicken into good size pieces for frying. You can start by running your knife to split to breast and then go from there. Marinade chicken pieces with salt, garlic powder, paprika and let sit for at least 30 minute, in my case, I let it sit overnight. Mix all purpose flour, salt, garlic powder and paprika in a zip lock bag and shake to mix well. Add chicken pieces into the bag and shake until the pieces are covered with the batter. Save half of the batter to make roux later.

fill a heavy duty pot with oil about 1 1/2 inch high. Heat the oil up until hot, fry chicken until done, about 5-8 minutes on each side.

When done, save 1/2 cup of oil and discard the rest of the oil. Put the oil back into the same pot, scrape the bottom bits and heat it back up. When the oil is hot, add the leftover flour mixture into the pot and stir constantly for about 4 minutes until flour starts to turn dark brown. Be careful not to burn the roux. Take the pot off the heat, add celery, bell peppers and onions and stir fry off the heat until the roux is thicker. Return the pot to the heat and stir fry until vegetables are wilted. Add half of the stock to the pot and stirring quickly until the stock is dark and thick. Add the rest of the stock into the pot. Bring the stock to a boil, add sausages, chopped garlic and okra and simmer for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, pick chicken off the bones, add chicken to the pot, season with salt and pepper and it's ready to serve. Jasmine rice is always the best with everything. I'm a little biased, of course.

thai eggplants

2009-09-04T13:48:00.001-07:00

Last week Maew from Simmons Family Farm in Lockhart brought over a basket full of Thai eggplants. Maew grows a lot of Thai vegetables and she brings them to Austin Farmers' Market every Saturday morning. She also sells Kaffir lime plants that she took care of for two years and ready to harvest at the market too. I was so excited to make curries with these little gems. These eggplants are my most favorite eggplants. You can stir fry with them or you can make curries with them. I made Green curry with these. I haven't had these in curries for a while so it really made me feel like I was eating my mom's cooking. They are easy to grow just like any eggplants. You can buy seeds at Kitzawa online. I bought a lot of my seeds from them. Many local nurseries also carry starter plant early spring. You can check at It's About Thyme or Natural Gardener.

Thai temple in Austin: nostalgic experience

2009-09-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

When I first got to Austin, I went to the Thai temple with a friend and we bought a bunch of food. I am not sure why I never went back until recently. Wat Buddhananachat is at 8105 Linden Rd. in Del Valle, a 20 minute drive east of Austin. I was there last weekend mainly for the food. You name it, fried bananas, homemade sausage, grilled pork, meatballs on sticks, papaya salad and the list goes on. Foods that you don't see in restaurants, foods that you don't make at home, foods that only belong to street vendors in Thailand. I ate so much, more than I should have. I bought more food home to enjoy the next day because I have to wait until October before the next one. The schedules are published on their website. I want to share my experience with you through these pictures.

The lady was making papaya salad for me, Laotian style with Pla Raa or fermented fish. It was so spicy but I couldn't stop eating it. This is her first time to Austin. She lives in Houston and travels to temples for festivals. Her food was just unbelievable. If no one told me that this is Austin Texas, I would have thought these pictures are from the streets of Thailand.

Tod Man Kai: fried chicken cakes

2009-08-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

I must post this right now because they look and taste so good. I have been making these instead of the fish cakes or Tod Man Pla because it's easier and the kind of fish we get in Thailand is not available here. Well, it is but it comes frozen and once thawed, they don't taste as good and the texture is far from delicious. Although, David Thomson suggested you can use cod to make these cakes in his Thai Food book. A friend told me about making these with chicken and I tried and it turned out so good. It's so tender, light and fluffy it doesn't taste like chicken. If no one told me, I would have thought these were fish cakes. You serve these with cucumber salad that is oh so refreshing. It's so easy to make, a little messy I must say. Here is the recipe.

Chicken Cakes (adapted from Fish Cakes)

8 oz ground chicken
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 egg
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
5 kaffir lime leaves, slice thinly
2 tbsp finely chopped green beans
oil for deep frying

combine chicken, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar and egg in a bowl and mix really well. I find that mixing the eggs, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar and chicken in food processor speeds up the process of throwing/slapping the mixture to the bowl. Gather the mixture into a ball and throw back to the side of the bowl (just pick up the mixture, slap the mixture back to the bowl). Big stainless steel bowl works best in this case. Continue slapping until the mixture is thicken and sticky. Mix in lime leaves and green beans. Make the mixture into small discs and deep fry. Serve with cucumber relish.

Cucumber relish

½ cup Cucumber slice (quartered lengthwise and slice)
1 whole Serrano pepper
1 Shallots
3 tbs White vinegar
3 tbs Sugar
4 tbs Water
Pinch of salt
1 tbs chopped cilantro

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Let the salad rest for 20 minutes.

Nam Pla Prik: Thai chillies and fish sauce

2009-08-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Many times people would ask me for a "recipe" of the sauce they see on the table at our restaurant. Some people are addicted to this sauce and put it on pretty much all foods they eat. Our Nam Pla Prik or Prik Nam Pla is just simply a combination of first fish sauce or Nam Pla and Thai Chillies or Prik.

Just chop the chillies into small rings. To handle the chillies, hold the stem and then cut towards the stem. Put those in a bowl and cover with fish sauce. You can also add some thinly sliced shallots and lime juice in there. A splash of lime juice will be plenty for a 1/2 cup sauce. This sauce is great with curry, fried rice, vegetables and noodle dishes. It's just like salt with spice. Chillies get less spicy after sitting in fish sauce for a while so you can actually eat those chillies without numbing your lips. Also, this chili fish sauce mix is great to tone down anything that is too spicy for you to eat, just sprinkle the fish sauce over the rice and the spicy dish, the sauce will bring the spice down a notch and you can eat some more. Salt is the best cure for spicy or hot food. In Thailand, people just take a pinch of salt whenever we eat anything that is super spicy. Salt will cut the oil on your tongue and the heat will disappear so you can eat some more. Try that next time, it works better than milk.

Texas Monthly Burger Trail : the kickoff

2009-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled when Texas Monthly came out with their top 50 best burgers in Texas. Burgers are not something I have much authority in since I was born and raised in Thailand where burgers is a synonym for McDonald's. But I know when it's a good burger. I love burgers, good burgers that is. So, my quest is to try all those burgers, all of them. I started my journey of burger at Mighty Fine here in Austin and then the Roadhouse in Bastrop but I didn't have my camera with me at neither of those places. I will have to go back because I do believe that pictures speak louder than words although in this case, tasting the actual burgers will speak louder than anything.

Before I begin my journey, I just want to clarify that this is not a burger or restaurant review. It's a burger tasting mission. I will tell you what I think and I will try to write it as soon as I can after eating it so I remember exactly what I think of it.

My true journey begins when I got my new camera. We went to Parkside on a Wednesday night for their happy night half off oyster and bubbles. I have been wanting to go for a while and finally got a chance. Bubbles and oyster, bring those on. Chef Shawn was working and we got to chat a little. I was even more excited to be there also because Parkside has one of the top 50 burgers. We ordered it. We loved it.

It was unlike any burgers I have tried. It was so juicy, almost too tasty to be a burger. I ran into Pat Sharpe at Thai Fresh the other day and was super excited to tell Pat about my journey and I couldn't figure out the word to describe the burger I had and then I said, "the burger was sophisticated!" The burger at Parkside was smooth and refined. The fries, oh those fries, were unbelievable. You have got to try those fries. I enjoyed my evening and I encourage all to try their burgers and of course their oysters and everything else.

My journey will continue. I just got back from Port Aransas and tried another of the best on the list. Stay tuned.

cooking from a local box with greenling

2009-08-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a cooking class using ingredients from Greenling Local Box. It was so much fun and I had a fantastic time. Cooking from local ingredients is the best way of cooking. Your ingredients are fresh because they don't have to travel so far away and you get to support local farmers.

Greenling provided the ingredients from their local box that they deliver to Austin area. Their local boxes consist of ingredients from local farmers. In this box we had okra, baby leeks, purple potatoes, eggplants, figs, blueberries, peaches and some mushrooms. We did three dishes with those ingredients.

The first dish we made was Spicy mixed fruit salad that we tossed those delicious fresh fruits in spicy dressing that we use in our papaya salad. Those figs were gorgeous. The green skin and the red seeds made the dish so vibrant.

When people first heard of the dressing that has fish sauce and dried shrimp as ingredients with fruits, they were suspicious. The salad was a hit and I couldn't get enough of it. The different flavors of the fruits and the spicy, sour, salty and sweet dressing couldn't be more perfect. The recipe for the dressing is in this post about papaya salad. You can use pretty much any kind of fruits that won't fall apart once cut. Fruits that are not super juicy and summer time is the perfect time to make it in Central Texas because it's the time of abundance for fruits.

Then we use our baby leeks to make Pad Thai. We substitute Chinese chives with those and they turn out great. You can also use green onions instead of the chives too. The last dish we made was a yellow curry with bone-in chicken, potatoes and onions. We used up all the purple potatoes in that curry. You can adapt the recipe from this green curry recipe. Use bone-in chicken instead of rabbit. Make sure to simmer it for 40 minutes before adding potatoes and onions and skip the Thai basil.

Another ingredient that is not used very often in Thai food but in this recipe is okra. Use okra in place on watermelon rind in Gang Som or sour curry. I love the texture of okra in that curry. Whenever I made it, I just couldn't stop eating it until it's all gone.

You can use mushrooms in coconut soup, green curry or red curry. You can use purple eggplants in curries too but make sure to simmer it for a while because those big eggplants take longer than skinny Asian eggplants that we normally use in Thai curries.

Everybody had a blast, I had a blast. We will do it again soon.

how to boil the perfect whole chicken

2009-08-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

When my dad visited 8 months ago, he brought me a book, "the secrets that chef won't tell". I didn't read it until he went home and found some really good tips in cooking. One great tip that I got from the book is how to boil a whole chicken. I used to just boil the heck out of it, you know, until the outside falls apart and the inside is cooked. I ended up with chicken that is perfectly cooked inside but fallen apart on the outside. This was an eye opening tip because I make Chicken Rice or Kao Man Kai all the time. It is my most favorite dish in the whole world and I am making the people of Austin falling in love with it as well.

So here's the trick. Wash you chicken(s) and place in a big enough pot. I get my whole chickens from Dewberry Hills Farm because they have the best pastured chickens you can find. Terry and Jane raise their chickens with love. They deliver all over town to restaurants and they are also at Sunset Valley Farmers' Market too. Fill up your pot with water just to cover the chicken. Add fresh herbs, in my case bruised ginger, smashed garlic and a bunch of cilantro. You can also add green onions, onions, celery or some cabbage to it. Add 2 tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of fish sauce or soy sauce or you can just use salt. Bring the water to a boil and then turn it down to simmer. Put the lid on and set a timer for 20 minutes ( a few more minutes if you are boiling more than one chicken) and when the time is up, it's done.

When I did it the first time, I couldn't believe how tender and moist the chicken was. The breast meat was not dry. The inside was completely cooked to the bones but the outside was in a perfect shape. There was no blood next to the bones, perfect. Let sit, the best way is to let it drip in a colander over a big pot and cool it down completely before handling it. You can use the meat to make Chicken Rice (the recipe will be posted soon, stay tuned) or casserole, salad or whatever you wish. Save the homemade stock for future use. My dad likes to freeze the stock in ice cube trays and save those cubes to put in stir fried dishes. If you plan to use it for a big dish, you can freeze it in a jar and make sure you don't fill it up all the way.

spicy tempeh salad

2009-08-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

recently, I discovered another meat substitute, Tempeh. Tempeh is a soybean product that was cultured and fermented resulting in a soybean "cake". I absolutely love the texture of tempeh especially fried tempeh. I was dipping little cubes of fried tempeh in soy sauce for my snack.

I bought some for our vegetarian cooking class and had some leftover. As I always try to use up leftovers before they go bad, I thought of this perfect summer salad that is light and vegan. Thai salads are evolved around the main five flavors: spicy, salty, sweet, sour and bitter. This dressing is just another common one we use for most salads except that I substitute soy sauce for fish sauce to make it completely vegetarian.

ingredients
1 block tempeh cut into 1 inch cubes, deep fried
a handful of chopped cilantro
1/2 yellow onion, sliced or green onion, chopped
1 pickling cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1-2 tomatoes chopped into chunks

dressing
3 Thai chillies, minced finely
3 tbsp soy sauce or you can put 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1/2 tbsp soy bean paste to add the "fishy" taste that will resemble fish sauce
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar

Make the dressing by combining all ingredients and season to taste. Combine all ingredients for the salad and tossed in spicy dressing.

This salad is so refreshing I can munch on it all day.

summer indulgence..blackberry coconut ice cream

2009-07-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

The heat is brutal but you gotta give it to the fruits when it comes to summer. My ice cream machine has been working harder than anything else in the store. We have been making ice cream all day everyday. The most popular has been all the dairy free coconut ice cream flavors that I made. These blackberries are from Austin Farmers' Market. You can still get them but I don't think they will last much longer.

The recipe is super easy and you will get your ice cream in no time at all.

1/2 cup blackberries
2 cups coconut cream (you can buy coconut cream or you can scoop the top part of the coconut milk before shaking it. You can use the whole can of coconut milk but coconut cream will give you a better texture. Coconut milk will make the ice cream icier)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt

You can make this ice cream two ways. You can bring everything to a boil and simmer until all sugar is dissolved and put the mixture in a blender. Or you can bring everything but blackberries to a boil and then add blackberries to the mixture and blend. Either way, you will end up with this irresistible rich colored ice cream. Enjoy your summer.

a short trip to Boggy Creek

2009-07-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

I had a 15 minute visit to Boggy Creek Farm this morning. I knew they had some figs and I wanted to make fig ice cream. I got my figs, gave Carol Ann a big hug and left. These are the sweetest, softest, most juicy figs I have had in a long time. Go get them at Boggy Creek Farm Stand on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9 am - 1 pm. Or not? So there is more for me. I love figs and I hope these figs will make it to my ice cream if only I can stop eating them.

the harvest of spring

2009-06-11T18:22:00.001-07:00

Summer just got here, may be yesterday for real. I am pretty good with heat but when it hits 100 F, I will feel it. Just before it gets too hot in Texas for green beans and tomatoes to survive in the city, I thought I will share with you what we have harvested from our garden. These green beans are growing on our front yard fence. It is so showy to passer bys and I am so proud of my husband for taking care of them. Last year, I grew some bush beans because they take shorter time, about 45 days versus 60 days.I was told though that the pole beans taste better. This year, we have both in because I really want to harvest early but then I also want to see if the pole beans are really better.

One thing I can definitely tell is that the pole beans are easier to harvest. I always missed a bean or two when harvesting bush beans. Since we have our brand new front yard fence that we put in last summer, I thought we could give it a try. I'm not sure if it's the varieties that I got, but my pole beans taste super delicious, sweeter than the bush beans and I don't have to kneel down to harvest them. I'm all about pole beans next year.

The recipe for Som Tam is in the previous post. My son loves to eat vegetables now that he can pick them off the vines from the garden. So, if you have trouble encouraging your kids to eat veggies, grow some. They will love watering, weeding, picking, and of course eating. We grow a lot of green beans, tomatoes and peppers this year and there is no better way to use them all but in this very recipe. I hope you enjoy your garden.