Friday, March 30, 2007

Glass Noodle Pad Thai

From green chicken curry, the same website also post another interesting dish, the glass noodle pad thai. Pad Thai is a fried noodle dish, although there are many dishes called Pad Thai, all are essentially the same: fried rice or glass noodles with chilli and other ingredients for flavouring. Here is how it's done:



Main Ingredients for 2 servings:


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


Serve With:

Fresh Soya Bean
Green Lettuce


Garnish With:

SugarPeanuts ( pounded to fine pieces )
Dried Chilli ( pounded to flakes )
Lemon or Lime Slice



Preparation Instructions:


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

Tips:


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

Kang Khiew Wan Gai (Green Chicken Curry)

I stumble upon this website http://www.khiewchanta.com/ and found the recipe for the Thai's green curry chicken. Here is how this dish is being prepared:


Main ingredients for 2 servings:

100 gms. Green Curry Sauce
4 Corn Fed Chicken legs200 ml. Coconut milk
150 ml. Water
4 Red Thai Chillis
6 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
4 Basil Leaves
3 Kaffir Leaves (Asian Lime Leaves).

Serve With:
Hot Fragrant Rice or Rice Noodles

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



Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)

This particular dish is from the northeastern part of Thailand. It's definitely a favourite among the Thai's and it should be easy to prepare. The below recipe is taken from "Crying Tiger: Thai Recipes from the Heart" by Supatra Johnson. Published by Jasmine Market. (All Rights Reserved) Copyright 2004.

Main ingredients for 4 servings:

1 pound green papaya
2 Thai chilies (add more pepper if you want it hotter!)
1 small clove of garlic
2 strings long bean (cut into 1 inch lengths)
1 tablespoon chopped roasted peanut
5 cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
1 tablespoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
1 teaspoon chopped dried shrimp




Preparation Instructions:


1. Cut papaya in half (lengthwise) and remove seeds. Peel the skin of the papaya and shred the flesh using a shredder or knife (the shreds should be thin and long). In a mortar and pestle, pound the chilies and garlic until they’re broken up. Add the long beans and roasted peanuts, pounding only enough to break them up a little bit.


2. Add the shredded papaya, tomato, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, and dried shrimp, pounding until everything is thoroughly mixed together. This dish should taste sweet, sour, and a little bit salty, so you may need to add more sugar, lime juice, or fish sauce to get the taste you like.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Pineapple Fried Rice

The simple and delicious pineaple fried rice is another of the thai's signature dish. The below is the recipe extracted from http://www.easy-thaifood.com/

Main ingredients for 4 servings:

2 onions
300 g (13 fl oz) canned pineapple pieces
3 tomatoes
300 g (10 oz) rice
2 tb oil
2 tb fish sauce
1 tb ketchup
1 ts sugar

Preparation Instructions:
  1. In a pot bring water to boil and add rice. Cook for ten minutes and pour off water. Let rice cool down.
  2. Dice onions and tomotoes, drain pineapple pieces.
  3. Heat oil in a wok or a pan and add onions. Stir-fry onions until golden.
  4. Add tomotoes and pineapple. Continue to stir-fry.
  5. Stir in rice and heat.
  6. Season with fish sauce, ketchup and sugar.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Tom Yum Goong

Tom Yum Goong is a soup base serving with hot and sour taste. It is one of the famous dishes in Thailand. The below is a recipe from http://www.thaitable.com/
Main ingredients for 2 servings

4 cups water
1 cup shrimp
5 mushrooms
1-2 limes
1 lemon grass
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 tablespoon fish sauce
5 sprigs cilantro (Chinese parsley)
3 chili peppers
1 tablespoon nam prig pow (core mixture of shallots, garlic, shrimp paste, dry chili pepper, salt, and sugar. Frequently there is also tamarind paste and dried shrimp.) Optional



Preparation instructions:

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 directly 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.