Easy Thai Food

Thai Fried Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:27:00 +0000

Firmly in my Top 10 for Thai Street Food is Pad Thai, otherwise known as Thai fried noodles. The ingredients that make up this dish include: egg, beansprouts, dried shrimp, garlic, tofu, salted Chinese radish and crushed peanuts.

You can find pad thai being made almost anywhere. However, be warned. The recipe does vary. Try to avoid the pad thai that has been "mass produced" and is seen for sale for only 10 baht at temple fairs and places like Khao San Road. For best results, watch it being made fresh. The pad thai stand around the corner from me opens at about 5 p.m. and is open until late. A large plate from her costs 20 baht (see picture above). An extra sized helping (called pi-set in Thai) costs only 5 baht more.

In the above picture, you can see the ingredients waiting to be added. From left to right: tofu (beancurd), dried shrimp and salted Chinese raddish/turnip. At the back, in the plastic bag, you can see the rice noodles.

First to be added to the wok are the noodles. These are stir-fried for a few minutes. Next is added the dried shrimp, tofu and minced Chinese raddish. Again this is mixed and stir-fried for a few minutes.

The ingredients are now pushed to one side and an egg is cracked into the wok. She cooked the egg for a minute or so before breaking it up and mixing it in with the noodles. Finally a sprinkling of chopped chives and a generous layer of breansprouts are placed on top. This is not mixed in with the noodles. It is now ready to serve. The finally layer is the ground roasted peanuts. She placed all of this into a container with some spring onions, half a lime and a little plastic bag containing chili and sugar.

Although pad thai is cooked just about everywhere, people will cross to the other side of town just to get their favourite recipe. My favourite is on Taiban roundabout. Very delicious and worth the extra effort to cross town. It is easy to spot the more popular hawkers as there is always a long queue!

I have never attempted to cook this dish as it is so readily available. However, here is the recipe if you want to have a go at home:

Stir-Fried Thai Noodles Recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz (250 g) rice noodles (sen lek)
3 tablespoons oil
3 garlic cloves (kratiem), minced
1/4 cup dried shrimp/prawns
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) fish sauce (nam pla)
1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) sugar
2 tablespoons tamarind juice (ma-kaam piag)
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 cup fried tofu
2 tablespoons dried unsalted turnip, cut into small pieces
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup 1-in (2.5-cm) lengths chopped chives
1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) ground roasted peanuts
1 cup bean sprouts

Garnish:

1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped chives
1/4 small banana blossom, cut into strips
1/2 lime, cut into wedges

How to cook:

1. Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 30 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.

2. Heat a large skillet until hot, then add the oil. Add the garlic and dried shrimp, and stir-fry. Add the noodles and stir-fry until translucent. It may be necessary to reduce the heat if the mixture is cooking too quickly and the noodles stick.

3. Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind juice and paprika. Stir-fry the mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the tofu, turnip and egg.

4. Turn the heat to high and cook until the egg sets, stirring gently. Thoroughly combine the mixture, and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes until most of the liquid is reduced.

5. Mix in the chives, peanuts and bean sprouts. Place on a serving dish, arrange the bean sprouts, chives, banana blossom and lime attractively and serve.

by www.enjoythaifood.com

Gai Pad Bai Ga-Prow

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:59:00 +0000

Gai Pad Bai Ga-Prow
Spicy Chicken with Basil

This is a quick and easy dish which is a favorite of the people of downtown Bangkok. Sometimes it is served over rice with a fried egg.

Ingredients:

6 garlic cloves (kratiem), minced
4 shallots, minced
12 mixed green and red jarapeno peppers (prik chee fa and prik chee fa daeng), sliced
1 teaspoon canned green peppercorns
1 tablespoon oil
1 lb (500 g) ground/minced chicken
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup hot basil leaves (bai ga-prow)

How to cook:

1. Place the garlic, shallots,peppers and peppercorns in a mortar and mash with a paste until a paste is formed.

2. Heat a large sauté pan to medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the garlic paste and stir for 1 minute, then add the ground chicken, fish sauce and sugar. Continue to cook until the sauce is reduced. Toss in the Basil leaves.

3. As a luncheon dish, serve over rice with a fried egg.

4. As a dinner dish, serve separately with rice and with an accompaniment such as hot and sour shrimp soup (Tom Yam Goong)

SERVES 4

Information from: "Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook". Buy this and other cooks book at amazon.com.

Vegetarian Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:54:00 +0000

This recipe is taken from the from Vegetarian Thai Food cookbook now on sale in our cookbook section.

Spring Roll Ingredients

300 grams of spring roll sheets*

25 grams glass noodles (also known as mung bean noodles)

3/4 cup mashed, boiled hulled mungbeans1 cup shredded cabbage

1/4 tsp white ground pepper (Rocket brand)

1 cup bean sprouts, root tips removed1

1/2 tbsp. light soy sauce (thin soy sauce)

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying the garlic

2 tbsp of paste made by mixing rice flour and water and then boiling to thicken

Vegetable oil for frying the spring rolls

Preparation

Soak the noodles in water to soften them; then cut into short lengths and mix with thee mashed mung beans, cabbage, bean sprouts, pepper, and soy sauce. Fry the garlic in the 1 tbsp of oil over low heat. When it yellows, add the noodle-mungbean mixture and stir fry until dry. Then remove from the pan and allow to cool. Spread out a spring roll sheet, placing a heaping teaspoonful for filling in the middle, fold the ends over the filling to form a cylinder, and stick closed with a very small amount of flour paste. Fry the spring rolls in the hot oil over low heat until crisp and golden brown, drain and serve with spring roll sauce, sweet basil (horapa), cucumbers and lettuce.

Spring Roll Sauce Ingredients

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. salt

2 tsp tapioca flour

1/2 of a red spur chili, seeds removed and well pounded (fresh Thai chilies)

Preparation

Use a mortar and pestle to pound the fresh chilis.

Mix together all ingredients.

Note:

Use fresh spring roll wrappers if available, otherwise use our Spring Roll Wrappers. Simply dip each paper/wrapper individually in a plate of shallow water. Allow to soften (less than a minute) and then gently remove. Roll these up with the filling above but omit the flour paste, as it is not necessary. You may also serve with ready-made Spring Roll Sauce.

Kaeng Phed Pet Yang or red curry of duck

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:32:00 +0000

Main Ingredient
Roasted duck 1
Cherry tomatoes 200 g.
Ma-euk, hairs scraped off 13 fruits
Grated coconut 500 g.
Chilli 1
Sweet basil 5 g.
Kaffir lime leaves 5 leaves
Sugar 6 g.
Fish sauce 10 g.
Zalacca 30 g.

Chilli paste Ingredient
Dried chilli 5
Shallot 20 g.
Garlic 5 g.
Chopped galangal 5 g.
Lemon grass 12 g.
Kaffir lime skin 4 g.
Coriander root 8 g.
Coriander seeds 5 g.
Cumin 5 g.
Pepper seeds 5 g.
Salt 3 g.
Shrimp paste 3 g.
* 30 grams = 1oz. , 1kilogram = 2.24 lbs.

Cooking Method
Chilli paste cooking
- Pound all the mixture until ground
- Squeeze the grated coconut to get a half cup coconut cream and 3 cups coconut milk
- De-boned the duck, cut into 1 inch strips
- Simmer the coconut milk with the neck bone and joint
- Heat the coconut cream until shine, mix the chilli paste and fry until fragrant, mix the duckmeat, fry and add to the simmered coconut milk, use the medium heat and add kaffir lime leaves
- Mix tomato, ma-euk, sweet basil and zalacca, seasoning with sugar and fish sauce

by http://www.thaifoodtoworld.com

Tags: curry, duck, Roasted duck, Kaeng Phed

Tom Yam Pla Krop - crispy fish soup

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:33:00 +0000

This isn't a crispy soup, it's a soup made with crispy fish.
Specifically pla krop (pronounced 'plah grob' with the 'o' in krop being something between a short o sound an a 'au' sound (a bit like saying 'crab' when you have a very nasal cold)) is deep fried catfish.
The catfish is fried whole in very hot oil (smoking peanut oil), so the usual cautions and caveats apply. Also for the proper flavor it should be fried with the head on - in Thailand it is fried before it is cleaned and trimmed for the second stage of cooking. You may of course clean and fillet the fish first.
The very hot oil ensures that only the outside of the fish is crunchy-crisp, and the inside is not reduced to concrete hardness!
If you prefer this dish can be made with salmon, trout, or sea bass.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ingredients
one catfish, to yield about half a pound of catfish pieces.
6 thin slices of kha (galangal) 6 thin slices of khing (ginger) 4 hom daeng (shallots - purple onions) 6-8 prik chi fa haeng (dried red Thai jalapenas) 4 kratiem (cloves of garlic - with skins) 2-3 stalks of takrai (lemon grass or citronella), cut in 2" pieces
half a cup of nam pla (fish sauce) half a cup of nam som makham (tamarind juice)

method

1: Deep fry the catfish whole in very hot oil until the skin is very crisp.
Remove and drain.
When cool enough to handle, remove the head and the tail (don't waste it - it can be added to your fish stock pot, or fed to the cat), then break the rest into large bite sized pieces, discarding the major bones.

2: on a grill or barbeque, grill the galangal, ginger, shallots, jalapenas, garlic and lemon grass until slightly charred.
discard the skins, and chop, then pound to a paste in a mortar and pestle or a food processor.

3: Bring about 3 cups of water to a rolling boil, and add the ingredients, after one minute lower the heat to a simmer, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Special thanks to - Muoi Khuntilanont.

Yam Wun Sen or mungbean noodles spicy salad

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Main Ingredient
Mungbean noodles, soak in water	150 g.
Pork chops, steamed	150 g.
Shrimp, steamed and peel	100 g.
Ear mushroom	5
Tomato	35 g.
Lettuce	250 g.
Spring onion	100 g.
Coriander plant	1
Celery, cut in pieces	150 g.
Roasted peanut	60 g.
Sliced chilli	1
Onion	100 g.

Seasoning sauce Ingredient
Chilli	1
Sliced garlic	1 bulb
Pickled garlic	1 bulb
Chopped coriander root	5 g.
Sugar	80 g.
Vinegar	100 g.
Fish sauce	100 g.

* 30 grams = 1oz. , 1kilogram = 2.24 lbs.

Cooking Method

Seasoning sauce cooking

Pound garlic and coriander, chilli, mix sugar, fish sauce and vinegar

Boil water, soak wun sen, leave in cold water and drain
Cut pork and shrimp in pieces, soak in boiling water
Clean the ear mushroom, soak in boiling water, leave in cold water, and cut
Mix all the mixture, dress with seasoning, mix together, taste for sour, salty, spicy and sweet

from www.thaifoodtoworld.com

Chicken Coconut Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:44:00 +0000

ต้มข่าไก่ tom kha gai

Chicken Coconut Soup with mushroom

I read in the newspaper the other day, that a research team from the UK had proved that an extract of galangal can both kill cancer cells and protect healthy ones from the disease. As this is a common ingredient in Thai stir-fries and soups I was intrigued to learn more. I went onto the Internet and googled "galangal". I eventually found a recipe for Tom Kha Gai (chicken coconut soup). As this is on my favourites list I decided to have a go at cooking it.

My first stop was my collection of cookery books. I soon discovered that although each book had a recipe for Tom Kha Gai they were quite different from each other. From my memory of eating this dish I decided to use the recipe from "Thailand The Beautiful Cookbook". I made a list of the ingredients before setting off to the supermarket. I needed: coconut milk, galangal, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, coriander leaves and some chili. They wanted green but I wanted red.

(Left): galangal (Right): lemon grass

On the left is the galangal (kha). As you can see, it is similar in appearance to ginger. It is pinkish and has a peppery flavour. The label on the pack said it cost 45 baht per kilo. This pack cost 5.75 baht. More than enough. On the next shelf I noticed another pack with both lemon grass (right), galangal and kaffir lime leaves (below right). These are the ingredients for Lemon Grass Soup (more famously known as Tom Yum). As this was only 7 baht I decided to go for that. (1 US$ is presently 38 baht.) As far as I understand, although these two dishes have similar ingredients, Tom Yum focuses more on the lemon grass and Tom Kha Gai focuses more on the galangal. If you are wondering at this stage what "tom" means then I will tell you that it means "boiled".

(Left): coriander (Right): kaffir lime leaves

Next I needed the coriander or "pak chee" in Thai. There were two varieties on the shelf. One was "pak chee tai" and the other "pak chee jeen". I guess the former was Thai and the latter Chinese. As "pak chee jeen" was translated into "coriander" on the label I knew which one to pick. This only cost 4 baht. Next on my list was the small green limes, coconunt milk, chilis and of course the chicken. Oh yes, did you know that the red chilis that are labelled in English as "red bird chili peppers" are called in Thai "mouse shit chilis"! I wonder why they didn't translate that properly in the supermarket?

Tom Kha Gai - Chicken coconut Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups of coconut milk
6 thin slices of galangal
2 stalks of lemon grass (cut into 1 inch strips and crush with cleaver)
5 fresh kaffir lime leaves (torn in half, not cut)
250 g of boneless chicken
5 tablespoons of fish sauce (naam blaa)
2 tablespoons of sugar
Half a cup of lime juice
1 teaspoon of black chili paste (nam prik pow)
Quarter cup of coriander leaves
5 green chili peppers (I will use red chilis)

Method 1:
(1) Combine half the coconut milk with the galangal, lemon grass and lime leaves in a large saucepan and heat to boiling. Add the chicken, fish sauce and sugar.
(2) Simmer for about 4 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. Add the remaining coconut milk to the saucepan and heat just to boiling.
(3) Place the lime juice and chili paste in a serving bowl then pour the soup into the serving bowl.
(4) Garnish with the torn coriander leaves and chili pepers, and serve.

Other recipes I have read don't include the lemon grass. I also saw another one that said add the chili at the same time as the chicken. I will do that. This next version of the same recipe comes from a book called "Simply Thai Cooking". I am thinking I will go for a mixture of the two. However, they say add lemon juice which I don't have!

Method 2:
(1) Slice the chicken into thin strips.
(2) Smash lemon grass with the flat side of a chef's knife once and then cut into 1 inch pieces; slice galangal into thin rounds; tear lime leaves into thirds; cut chilis in half.
(3) Heat coconut milk and water in a saucepan for 2-3 minutes. Don't let it boil. Reduce heat to a medium and add lemon grass, galangal, lime leaves, chilies and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring continuously and not letting it boil.
(4) Add chicken strips and cook for 5 minutes, stirring over medium heat, until the chicken is cooked.
(5) Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and quarter tablespoon of sugar. stir, and continue cooking for another minute or two/
(6) Transfer to a soup bowl and serve immediately, garnished with fresh corriander leaves.

Well, I think everything is ready. I am off now to cook some Tom Kha Gai. Wish me luck!

from http://www.enjoythaifood.com

Papaya Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Amnews) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:24:00 +0000

som tam ส้มตำ
One of my favourite meals, which is definately in my Top 10, is Som Tam, otherwise known as Papaya Salad.

The meal is quite simple to make. The main ingredients are shredded green papaya, chopped green beans, tomoato, dried prawns, unsalted roasted peanuts, chillies, garlic and lime juice. These are all pounded together in a mortar using a pestle. The sound it makes is "pok pok". Whenever I hear that sound while walking down the street I always turnaround to look for the som tam stall.

The papaya salad is best served with sticky rice (khao neow) and grilled chicken. That is the way I like it. But you can have fish instead. There is also a recipe which has crab.

When you come to buy Papaya Salad, it is nearly always prepared in front of you. This way you can tell them how many chillies you want! I like mine hot. Papaya Salad with sticky rice from a roadside stall will cost you about 20 baht.

Recipe:
1 medium dark green papaya

4 garlic cloves (kratiem)

6 green Thai chilies (prik khee noo)

2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

1/2 cup chopped green beans, in 1-in (2.5-cm) pieces

2 tablespoons anchovy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sauce

1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) lime juice or tamarind juice (ma-kaam piag)

How to make:
1. Peel the papaya and rinse with running water to remove the acid. Remove the seeds and shred the papaya with a grater. Set aside.

2. Place the garlic cloves and the chilies in a mortar and mash with a pestle until crushed into chunks. Place the papaya and the remaining ingredients in the mortar and gently combine all ingredients by mixing with the pestle and a spoon. Serve cold.

Source: "Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook" by Panurat Poladitmontr
http://www.enjoythaifood.com/somtam.php