There are many different durian species. Prices range from 100 Baht up to 2000 Baht. Those high prices are reserved to durian ( species “MON THONG” ), which are big and contain abound flesh and small pits. Species “KADUM”, “CHANEE”, “KAN YAO” have bigger pits and less flesh. A durian is heavy and with its torns it can be dangerous if it falls on the feet.

Opening a durian is a difficult task. A big butcher knife has to be used to open it. The top of the fruits is cut by making big slices and it is necessary to pull the hard and stick peel to open the durian. Inside the big slices there is also flesh. Beware for people making a regime, durian is said to be a fruit that makes people fatter.

In Thailand there are 133 species of durian in Thailand. It is said that the 1942 flood has destroyed many durian orchards. After most producers did only plant easy growing durians, which could be sold easily. Generally, the lifespan of a durian tree is about 150 to 180 years. At hot season a tree can have up to 50 fruits.

The best Asian durians are said to be found in Thailand. Season in Thailand is during all the year depending on species. In all Asia durian is said to be the king of the fruits. Asian people are really fond of it. Even in Paris where exotic fruits are very expensive, when season begins, Asian people nudge themselves with their elbows to get the best durians.

There is a real love between Asian people and durian but there is a real hatred between westerner people and durian. Some really dislike it even if they never try it because the smell is a strong barrier. For example, durian can be eaten fresh, in durian ice-cream or with sticky rice. Also durian can be found inside cakes, mooncakes, sweets and so on… Even durian-flavoured condom can be bought.

For the first time in the mouth, people have got a strange feeling of something similar to old butter. After eating there is still a strong durian breath in the mouth. Anyway It is worth trying!

Small durian : In year 1999 there were problems about durian in Thailand. Some producers in order to take big parts into durian market sold them before they were ripe and big enough. Some quantities went back to Thailand because of unsatisfied Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong customers. This caused the price per kilo to fall. So the practice of some producers had bad effects on all. Even some producers added a yellow dye to make their fruit look ripe. Government is thinking about a label of quality for durians and actions will be taken over bad producers.

In Nakhon Nayok province, there is an orchard called the “LA-ONG FAH” orchard. It does contain 700 durian trees. The owner is Chatri Sowantrakul and it took more than 30 years to obtain a such orchard. Now it also serves as a botanical garden where about 50 rare species of durian are well preserved. This orchard has a wide variety of strange-looking durians; some are oval, others are round and flat. Several have long stems. Some has the colour of the meat comes in various shades-white, light yellow, dark yellow, and even gold. Their names are unfamiliar : kob ratsamee, toranee hwai, chai maa fai, jok loi, thong, yoi chat, nom sod and khun non.

[Thanks: http://www.ezythaicooking.com]

Mung Beans Boiling Sugar ( ถั่วเขียวต้มน้ำตาล ), Thai dessert that should not hard to do.

Ingredients

• 1 cup mung beans
• sugar, amount as your taste
• water

Directions

1. Wash mung beans then rinse. Submerge into water for 3 hours.
2. Boil mung beans in 5 cups of water. Also remove bubbles while boiling.
3. Wait until beans split then add sugar.

Isaan som tam (northern style) tastes more sour and salty while the Thai som tam more sweet. Both should be hot.The picture to the left is Som Tam at a restaurant in Thailand. This version was incredibly hot and spicy! It is made with julienne strips of green papaya, prik ki nu (fiery Thai chiles), kratieum (garlic), raw crab, prik chi fa daeng (Thail jalapeño chiles), nam pla (fish sauce), long beans, Nam Manao (lime juice), and ma kua teet (tomato).-clay

Watch this great video about making Som Tam from Enjoy Thai Food.

About 2 cups shredded green papaya

2 tablespoon fish sauce

1 ½ tablespoon palm sugar, if not available can substitute it with regular sugar

3 tablespoon lime juice

½ cups tomato, wedged

1/3 cup dried shrimp

¼ cup peanuts

10 green chilli

5 cloves garlic

Use motar and prestle to crush the chilli and garlic, add shrimps, continue crushing, add sugar, continue beating with the prestle, add the papaya, beat, beat, beat, add fish sauce, beat, beat, add lime juice, still beat, beat, beat, add tomato, beat, beat, beat, add peanuts, beat, beat,,… you may need to add either sugar, fish sauce, or lime. The final taste on the balance between sweet, (pepper) hot, salty, and sour. Serve with vegetables (cabbage, sting bean, napa,..) Many northern or northeastern Thais like to eat it with sticky rice.

Green papaya has a very mild, almost bland, taste, but it is the medium through which robust flavor ingredients take body and form. It picks up the hot, sour, sweet and salty flavors, giving them a unique crisp and chewy texture unlike that of any other vegetable. When made into salad, you wouldn’t know that it was mild and timid; you remember it only as bold and spicy.

Unripe papayas are readily available in various sizes and shapes during the summer at many Asian markets. Select one that is very firm with shiny green peel suggesting that it is as freshly picked as possible. Any very firm unripe green papaya can be used for the recipe, ranging from the small Hawaiian papaya to the huge Mexican variety. The important thing is that it should be unripe - the flesh still light green, almost white, in color after it is peeled. Select the firmest one you can find. Even green fruits will eventually ripen and turn soft if allowed to sit around for some time.

There are many ways to make green papaya salads, with varying degrees of hotness, sourness and sweetness. The hottest salads are probably made in northeastern Thailand and Laos where they are eaten with barbecued chicken and sticky rice as a staple food of the populace. There, the salads are made by bruising julienned green papaya with garlic and very hot bird peppers in a large clay mortar with a wooden pestle, then seasoning with lime juice, fish sauce and other flavorings.

Som tam poo.

Thai people like to eat it with sticky rice,Lab ,Gai yang( roasting chicken)and fresh vegetable( sweet basil, cabbage,cucumber, etc).

[Thanks: http://salee-recipe.blogspot.com]

We know you’ll like the exotic flavor of durian when mixed with sweet rice, sugar and coconut milk. Usually it’s eaten with whole durian fruit, but since fresh durian is not available in the United States our durian flavor will work fine. When served, the coconut milk drenches the rice so it’s a “soupy” consistency.

Ingredients

1 cup sticky rice, prepare it using our sticky rice recipe
2 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon palm sugar
3-4 drops (or more if you like) durian flavor
1 tablespoon tapioca starch

Method

Dissolve 2 cups coconut milk, 1 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt over medium heat. Add durian flavoring.

Topping

Mix 1/2 cup coconut milk with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon palm sugar and the tapioca starch. Bring to a boil.

Serving

Place sticky rice in a bowl and pour the sweetened coconut milk over it. For each serving, transfer to an individual bowl, then top with a few teaspoons of topping sauce. Enjoy!

[Thanks: http://importfood.com]

2 Servings

Start boiling the water in a 2 quart pot. Peel and devein the shrimp and set them aside. Cut lemon grass into pieces, 5-6 inches long. Use the back of your knife to pound the lemon grass, just to bruise it to release the flavor. If you want, you can tie the lemon grass into a knot to make it easier to manage. Drop the lemon grass in water and let boil for 5 minutes.

Put the fish sauce and 1 lime’s juice into the bottom of the bowls you will serve the soup in. Crush chili pepper and add to the bowl.

Remove the stems from the kaffir lime leaves and add the leafy part to the pot. Clean and halve the mushrooms and add them to the pot. Add the shrimp and turn off the heat. Shrimp gets too tough very quickly, and will cook even when it is just sitting in the warm broth. Scoop the shrimp and liquid into the serving bowls immediately. As soon as you add the liquid to the serving bowl, you will see that the broth becomes cloudy because of the lime juice. Add the nam prig pow. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Be very careful, the peppers can be hot. Take a small sip at a time. Add more fish sauce and/or lime juice if it tastes bland. It’s right if it’s good for your sinus.

Tips and substitutions

Unfortunately, for the true taste, it is difficult to substitute anything for the kaffir lime leaves. The richness of the sour taste comes from the complement of the different citrus flavored ingredients.

I serve this soup directoy into individual bowls for each person.

If you don’t like it hot, cut down on the chili peppers or do not cut them up, but leave them whole for decoration.

[Thanks: http://www.thaitable.com]

Ingredients

1 tblspn oil
4 eggs
2 tblspn oyster sauce
1 tblspn butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 spring onions, chopped
1 eggplant, chopped
250 g mushrooms, sliced
2 tblspn fresh coriander, chopped
Garden salad and sweet chilli sauce, to serve

Method
Heat a non-stick frying pan with ½ tablespoon of oil. In a bowl, mix together eggs and oyster sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of this mixture to the frying pan. Swirl to cover the base of the pan. Cook over medium heat for one minute. Remove from pan. Repeat this procedure until all egg mixture is used. You may need a little extra oil in between repetitions. In the same frying pan, heat butter over low heat. Add garlic, spring onions and eggplant. Fry for 3 - 4 minutes. Add mushrooms. Fry for 2 minutes. Stir in coriander. Divide mixture amongst the omelettes. Roll neatly. Place fold-down onto serving plates. Serves well with salad and sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Beginning in May and extending through August, the Durian announces its presence in Thai markets with a distinctive, highly pervasive aroma. To Thais, as well as to many other Asians, the stink is a welcome odour for they regard Durian as the king of fruits, a rare delicacy that is well worth the comparatively high price it commands. Some visitors, on the other hand, are deterred by the potent smell and never actually sample the creamy golden flesh hidden within the spiny exterior - thereby missing one of the truly great pleasures of fruit eating. “The more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop,” wrote Alfred Russell Wallace, after eating his first Durian in Borneo in the 19th century, and most of those who follow his example are likely to agree with him.

Thai durians are noted for their subtle flavour and smooth texture, often winning over gourmets who have failed to respond in other countries where the fruit grows. Three of the most popular varieties (and there are several dozen to choose from) are cha ni, kan yao, and, perhaps the most prized of all, mon thong.

Alternatively some of the other options for eating Durian include Durian ice-cream or Khao Nieow Turian - Sticky Rice topped with durian meat cooked in a coconut cream sauce, and Turian Kuan, preserved durian toffee, or jams. Kahn Yao or the Long-Stem Durian with firmer yellow flesh and Chanee or Gibbon Durian with its golden yellow flesh have a richer and more distinctive flavour and are much sought after by true Durian connoisseurs, although in the Bangkok, it is becoming an increasingly rare commodity. The best Durian is judged by the thickness of the flesh and the size of its seed. (The smaller the seed relative to the amount of flesh, the better.) Durian ripens quickly in the hot tropical climate. As the fruit ripens, the flesh takes on a creamy consistency and the intensity of the aroma increases. (Given this lingering and at times overwhelming aroma, durian is banned from hotel rooms, cinemas, aircraft, limousines, coaches and vans.) The best Durian are from the orchards of the Eastern provinces of Thailand namely Rayong, Trat, Prachin Buri, Chantaburi and Surat and Chumphon in southern Thailand.

Varieties

Preparation and eating

1. The fruit ready for eating must have a good smell.

2. Slit the fruit with a knife from end to end,

3. Slit along two of the grooves in the skin in the centre of the sections, on opposite sides of the fruit.

4. Prise apart the slits to open the fruit.

5. Separate the sections

6. Take out the segments and remove the seed.

Nutritional value
High vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus

Fruiting season
May - August

Uses
Eating fresh, making durian paste

Storage
Keep the ripe fruit at room temperature (25-30 Celsius),
it can be kept for 2-5 days.

I have used chicken in this dish but pork is more common.

Ingredients

300g minced Chicken (click here to learn about minced meat)
2 Free range eggs
2 cloves chopped Garlic
3 Tblsp Chopped Shallots/Spring Onions
3 sliced eshallots (French or Red Shallots)
4 small Button Mushrooms quartered
1/2 tbs sugar
Oyster sauce
Fish Sauce

Method

Heat your wok with a little oil on a medium/high heat, and eshallots and stir for a minute or so
Add the garlic and after 30 seconds add the chicken. Stir the chicken constantly breaking up any lumps that form

Add the mushrooms and sugar, stir for another minute
Add 1 tbs Oyster sauce and a little water to help with the sauce. Remove from heat and reserve

To make the omelette beat the eggs with a little fish sauce

Heat 1 oil in your wok over a medium heat

Add the egg mixture and let it cook, there is no turning of the egg

Once the egg is just about cooked add your meat mixture to half the omelette, fold the omelette in half and serve

gai pad khing (ginger chicken)

This is one of a pair of recipes that I’ll post today that cause some
confusion because of their similar names.

gai = chicken
pad = stir-fried
khing = ginger

so this dish is chicken stir-fried in ginger. This is a simple, quick
meal that could equally be made with pork or beef, or even shrimp, or
for the vegetarians, tofu marinated in a mixture of dark soy and fish
sauce for flavor.

It is cooked in a hot wok - the peanut oil used for cooking should be at
the smoking point. However if this makes you a little nervous it doesn’t
suffer from being cooked a little cooler. If you do use a lower
temperature, then the garlic should be sauteed in the oil before the
chicken is added, to bring out the flavour. At high temperature this
would result in burnt (and very unpalatable) garlic flakes in the food,
so you add the garlic with the chicken, not before it.

Because of the high temperatures you will need to move swiftly from step
to step. Therefore I strongly recomend that you put the ingredients on
plates ready to add them - you won’t have time to measure ingredients
once things start to move.

–Ingredients

3 tablespoons of peanut oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 cup of chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup of mushroom, sliced
3 tablespoons of grated ginger
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
a pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons of chopped onion
2-3 red chillis (prik ki nu) slivered
3 tablespoons of scallion/green onion, cut into 1″ pieces
ground prik thai (black pepper)

optionally you can add a cup of sweet chillis (prik chi fa in Thai - a variety of jalapeno)
The bulbs of 3/4 scallions, and some cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish

–Method

Mix the fish sauce, soy and oyster sauce ready for use,

Bring the oil to the smoking point in an adequately large wok, and add
the chicken and garlic, and stir fry until the chicken begins to change
colour (this is quite quick, so don’t overcook).

Add the sauce and stir until it returns to a bubbling consistency, then
add the remaining ingredients, and stir until the chicken is cooked.

Serve with steamed rice, and garnish.

The recipe for pork is identical, beef if it is used should be marinated
in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of whiskey and the fish suace, soy sauce
and oyster suace, which should be retained after marination to be added
to the cooking.

Special thanks to - Muoi Khuntilanont.

Beef Panang Ingredients

1. 400 grams beef tenderloin, sliced

2. 2 tablespoons panang curry paste

3. 2 tablespoons vegetable cooking oil

4. 150 gms coconut milk

5. 2 tablespoons palm sugar

6. 2 tablespoons fish sauce

7. 10 basil leaves

8. 1 red chilli, sliced

9. 3 kaffir lime leaves

Beef Panang Preparations

1. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the curry paste for one minute, then pour in the coconut milk and boil.

2. Add beef and season with palm sugar and fish sauce.

3. Once the beefs are cooked, then add basil, chilli and kaffir lime leaves. Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve with steamed rice is also a good way to enjoy this recipe.

Some clip how to make Beef Panang from http://www.thaifoodtonight.com