chickenfeet

Last night I decided to cook the classic Issan combo; grilled chicken, papaya salad and sticky rice.

Grilled chicken

Pound lemongrass, garlic, coriander root and white pepper to a paste. Rub it over the chicken (whole, parts or boneless chunks). Marinade for at least two hours. Grill, preferably over charcoal but whatever. Serve with sweet chilli sauce and/or Jaew.

Papaya salad

Peel, seed and shred one unripe papaya. In a mortar and pestle bash 5-10 bird's eye chillis, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and a few coriander roots. Take two pieces of fermented fish (this is the Issan bit) and bring to the boil with 125ml of water. Simmer until the fish has dissolved then strain, reserving the liquid. (Have extractor fan on full blast and dispose of the strained fish solids rapidly. This stuff could be used for chemical warfare). Halve 8 or so cherry tomatoes and cut 3 or 4 long beans into 2.5cm pieces. Add the chilli/garlic paste, tomatoes and beans to the papaya and mix well. Now add some of the fish liquor and some lime juice to the salad and mix thoroughly, ideally pounding it a bit to blend the flavours. Keep adding, mixing and pounding until the salad is to your taste. It should be quite spicy, pungent, slightly salty and slightly sour.

Serve the chicken and salad with steamed sticky and a plate of raw herbs and veggies. When I had this kind of chicken in Thailand it usually came with white cabbage and cilantro. Last night we had sweet red pepper, black radish, long beans, cilantro and white turmeric.

For a non-Issan variant on this, serve jasmine rice rather than sticky rice. For the salad, use fish sauce instead off the fermented fish liquor, add a little palm sugar and some dried shrimps (or salted rice field crabs if feeling brave). Crushed peanuts may also be added.

X-posted to gastrogasm

I was in the mood for noodles last night and I'd just acquired a new Thai cookbook; The Best of Regional Thai Cuisine by Chat Mingkwan, so I made one of her recipes, Pad Se-lew.

1/2 pound beef sirloin cut in strips and marinaded in 1T light soy, 1T oyster sauce, 1T granulated sugar, 1/2t salt, 1t ground white pepper.

1 pound fresh wide rice noodles or 8oz dried rice noodles soaked in hot water until pliable (what I had so what I cooked)

2 cups sliced gai lan or other greens (I used baby bok choy because I had it)

2T dark soy sauce
2T minced garlic
1T light soy sauce
1T fish sauce
1T granulated sugar
2 eggs beaten
1/2t ground white pepper

Heat 2T oil in a wok and add noodles and the dark soy. Stir until evenly coated and set aside.

Heat 2T more oil and stirfry the garlic until fragrant. Add the beef and cook until almost done. Add the greens, the light soy, fish sauce and sugar. Stirfry for a couple of minutes. Scramble the eggs in the bottom of the wok. Add the noodles and cook until everything is hot again. Sprinkle with the pepper.

Serve with chilis in vinegar, fish sauce, chili flakes and sugar as condiments.

It was really good.

X-posted to gastrogasm

So pork is dull and boring says one ongoing thread on LJ. Herewith then one of my favourite Thai curries. This is one of few Thai curries not including coconut milk that I really like. This is the recipe I pinched from Madhur Jaffrey and it's very good. I've seen other versions that may well be more authentic. See after the recipe.

Gaeng Hang Lae

Ingredients
For the curry paste:
3-8 dried hot red chillies, depending on hotness required
2cm cube fresh or 5 slices dried galangal or 2cm fresh ginger
2 sticks fresh or 2 tbsp dried sliced lemongrass
90g shallots or onions
10 large cloves garlic
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 tbsp ground coriander seeds
2tsp ground cumin seeds
½ tsp ground turmeric
You also need:
875g boneless pork, cut into 4cm cubes
1½tbsp Japanese soy sauce (shoyu) (or use dark Chinese soy)
3 x 2.5cm cubes fresh ginger
10-12 shallots or small pickling onions
10-15 small cloves garlic
2 or more tbsp tamarind paste or lemon juice
2 or more tbsp dark brown sugar
salt

Method
1. First make the curry paste. Put 250ml water into a small bowl and crumble the dried red chillies into it. If using dried galangal and dried lemongrass, add them to the water as well. Leave the dried ingredients to soak for 30 minutes.
2. If you are using fresh galangal or ginger, peel and coarsely chop it. If you are using fresh lemongrass cut it into very fine slices crossways, starting from the bottom and going up the stalk about 15cm, discard the strawlike top. Peel the shallots and garlic and chop them coarsely.
3. When the dry seasonings have finished soaking, put them with their soaking liquid and all the other ingredients for the curry paste into an electric blender. If you are using fresh galangal or ginger or fresh lemongrass, add them to the blender now. Blend until smooth. This curry paste may be made ahead of time and even frozen.
4. Next combine the pork, curry paste and soy sauce in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, peel the ginger and cut it into very thin slices. Stack a few slices at a time together and cut them into matchstick strips. Peel the shallots and the garlic, leaving them whole.
6. Put the pork and its marinade into a wide, heavy, preferably non-stick pan, set it over a medium-low heat and bring it to a simmer. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes or until the meat starts to release its fat. Turn the heat to medium-high. Stir and fry for about 10 minutes or until the spice mixture begins to dry out and brown.
7. Now add 450ml water, the ginger strips, the whole shallots and the whole cloves of garlic. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover and cook for 45 minutes or until the meat is tender.
8. Add the tamarind paste or lemon juice and brown sugar. Mix and taste, adding more of each if you think you need it. Add salt if desired. Cook for another 2-3 minutes to allow the flavours to develop and mingle. Serve.

My alternative recipe includes cassia bark and star anise in the curry paste. It also uses a mixture of belly pork (with skin) and blade (with bone) which sounds far more Chiang Mai style than lean boneless chunks. Further, the shallots are chopped and the whole garlic cloves are replaced with pickled garlic.

X-posted to gastrogasm

This is a fairly typical Thai salad. IMO just about any Thai meal should include a salad (yam)or a larp.

Yam Som Oo

Pulp from a large pomelo (could use grapefruit I guess but would be wetter/softer)
3 tbsp shredded, roasted coconut
2 cloves garlic sliced and deep fried (or use the pre cooked ones or just chop the stuff)
3 red shallots sliced and deep fried or not - see above
1 tbsp coarsely ground roasted peanuts
2-5 fresh red or green Thai chillies finely sliced
4-6 mint leaves torn (or substitute any kind of basil)
2 tbsp cilantro leaves
100g cooked shelled shrimp (optional)
50g steamed and julienned pork (optional)

Dressing:
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp palm sugar
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp chilli jam (sold in Asian markets as 'Roasted Chilli Paste')
2 tbsp coconut cream

Mix the dressing making sure it tastes salty and sweet and not too sour.

Toss everything together and serve on a large platter with other dishes and rice.

I used store bought deep fried garlic and shallot and didn't include the shrimp or prawns and it was still very good.

X-posted to gastrogasm

fortunatecave wanted recipes so here's the pick of Tuesday's dinner.

Gkoong Dtom Gkati Kamin

1 large stalk lemongrass
250ml coconut milk
10ml peeled and crushed fresh turmeric
4 Thai chillies - crushed
+/-30ml tamariund juice
Palm sugar
salt
350g medium shrimp - peeled, deveined and butterflied
1 shallot chopped fine
3 red or orange serranos or jalapenos cut into slivers
4 kaffir lime leaves cut into slivers

1. Trim the lemon grass and cut on the angle into longish thin ovals.

2. Bring coconut milk to a boil. Add turmeric, crushed chillies and lemon grass. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Season to taste with tamarind, salt and sugar.

3. Increase heat and add shrimp, shallot and 2/3 of the chilli slivers. Cook gently until shrimp are done. Stir in half of the kaffir lime leaves and transfer to serving dish.

4. Garnish with reserved chilli and lime slivers.