http://www.realthairecipes.com Authentic Thai Recipes from Thailand Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:15:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/wing-bean-salad/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/wing-bean-salad/#comments Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:42:04 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/?p=521 Wing Bean Salad (yum tua pu - ยำถั่วพู) is a central Thai dish featuring "wing beans" which are blanched and tossed with coconut milk, roasted chili paste, toasted coconut, tamarind, palm sugar and peanuts. If you can't get wing beans where you are, they can be substituted with green beans or snap peas.]]>

Slice the fresh coconut meat into match-stick size strips, about 1″ (2cm) long. Remove the skin of the shallots and slice thinly.

Roast the coconut on medium heat in a dry pan until light brown. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. Set aside on a flat plate to cool.

If your peanuts are not already roasted, dry roast them now like you did the coconut. Crush the peanuts with a stone mortar & pestle or the side of a heavy knife.

Fry the shallots in enough vegetable oil to cover them on medium heat until golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Remove before dark brown as they will continue to cook for a minute or two once removed from the pan. (You can cheat here and buy pre-fried shallots in a container at many Asian groceries.)

Fry the chilies in the oil until browned.

Boil the eggs in water until hard-boiled, about 10 minutes. Replace the hot water with fresh cold water to stop the cooking. Peel and slice however you wish (halved, quartered, or sliced thin like shown).

Clean the shrimp by peeling off the heads and legs, and removing the “vein” (intestine), but leave the tail on.

Trim off the ends of the wing beans and boil whole in salt water for less than a minute — just enough time to turn a darker green. You want them to still be crisp & crunchy. Rinse in cold water and slice into 1/4″ pieces (as shown).

Heat the coconut milk in a pan until boiling. Add the shrimp and cook until pink. Turn off heat and add the palm sugar, tamarind paste, roasted chili paste, lime juice, fish sauce, peanuts and coconut. Mix well.

Add the wing beans and mix. Remove to a plate and arrange the eggs along side. Garnish with the fried shallots and chilies.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/wing-bean-salad/feed/ 13 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/naam-prik-pao/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/naam-prik-pao/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:43:08 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/?p=510 Roasted Chili paste (naam prik pao - น้ำพริกเผา) is a condiment which is used in a variety of dishes, ranging from soups, salads to stir fries. You can even spread it on toast like you would fruit jam. Many people buy this pre-made in jars, but fresh is better!]]>

Peel and cut the garlic & shallots thinly and uniform. If they are different sizes they will cook at different speeds, resulting in burning. De-seed the chilies.

Fry the garlic in the oil on medium heat until lightly browned. Remove the garlic and set aside. Fry the shallots the same way, and set aside. Fry the chilies until fragrant, but be careful not to burn, then set aside. Fry the shrimp until light browned and fragrant, set aside and keep the oil in the pan. Both the garlic and shallots will continue to cook for a minute or two so don’t take them out too late.

Roast the shrimp paste in tin foil in a dry pan (or directly on the burner if you have an electric stove) for about 2-3 minutes on medium heat.

Powder each ingredient seperately, either in a stone mortar & pestle or in an electric spice mixer. Then mix together.

Return the mixture to the pan with the oil along with the shrimp paste. Cook over low heat until fragrant and browned. Be careful not to burn.

Add the tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce. Continue to cook over low heat to reduce a bit to a jam consistency.

Store in the refridgerator. It’ll last for a really long time.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/naam-prik-pao/feed/ 2 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/fried-egg-salad/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/fried-egg-salad/#comments Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:32:22 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/fried-egg-salad/ Fried Egg Salad (yum khai dao - ยำไข่ดาว) is a Thai "yum" using crispy fried eggs. There are generally two varieties of this dish - one with coriander and garlic, and the other with Chinese celery and onions. This recipe is for the coriander and garlic version.]]>

Mix the fish sauce, sugar, soup base and lime juice well in a bowl.

Chop the garlic, chilies and coriander fine.

Fry the eggs in a very hot pan with a good deal of oil until crispy, about 1 minute. It helps to ladle the oil over the top of the egg to cook both sides at the same time. Set aside and allow to cool a bit.

Put the eggs in a plate and cut into quarters. Mix the garlic, chilies and coriander together into the sauce.

When ready to eat, pour the sauce over the eggs. Don’t let it sit long or the eggs will get soggy.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/fried-egg-salad/feed/ 2 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-fried-rice-with-chicken/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-fried-rice-with-chicken/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:40:16 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-fried-rice-with-chicken/ Thai Fried Rice with Chicken (khao pad gai - ข้าวผัดไก่) is a very easy dish to make, and a great way to use up leftover rice.]]>

Prepare all your ingredients: chop the tomato into medium-sized pieces, slice the onion into thin strips, finely chop the garlic and chop the scallions. Slice the cucumbers and chicken.

Heat the oil on high until hot. Add the onion. Stir well and when it’s softened add the garlic. When the garlic is slightly browned add the chicken. Stir well. Keep flipping the chicken until it’s white on all sides.

Add the rice and stir well. Add the tomatoes and mix.

Push the rice to the side of the pan and add a bit more oil. Crack an egg on the oil and mix in the pan. Let set. When solid, flip the rice on top and mix well.

Add the soy sauces, sugar and salt. Turn off heat.

Add 1/2 of the scallions and white pepper powder and mix well. Turn onto a plate and garnish with the rest of the scallions, coriander, a piece of lime and the cucumber slices.

Serve with a small bowl of fish sauce with sliced chilies (prik naam plaa).

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-fried-rice-with-chicken/feed/ 17 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/massaman-curry/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/massaman-curry/#comments Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:53:55 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/massaman-curry/ Massaman Curry (gaeng matsaman - แกงมัสมั่น) is a Southern Thai curry which has a lot of Indian influence. Massaman is an old way of saying "Muslim", for many of the dry spices were carried to Thailand by early Muslim traders. Like Indian curries, this curry is heavy on dry spices and very aromatic. It's typically served with rice or roti, and sometimes with a side of ajaat.]]>

If making your own paste, dry roast the dry spices in a pan on medium heat until fragrant, about 2-4 minutes. It’s best to roast each thing one at a time until fragrant. The chilies should be browned. Roast the shrimp paste wrapped in tin foil for a few minutes too.

Soak the dried chilies until soft, then take out the seeds and inner bits and chop fine.

Pound the paste in a stone mortar & pestle. Start by grinding up the dried spices until powdered, then set aside. Put the chilies in the mortar and pound until uniformly smashed, then add the rest of the ingredients, starting from hardest and driest and working up to softest at the end. Then add the dried spice powder back in and the shrimp paste. Mix well. If using a food processor, just mix it all in together. If using canned paste, skip these three steps.

Cut the potatoes and onions into bite-sized pieces and wash the chicken.

Add the oil to the pan and turn on to medium high. Fry 4 tablespoons of the paste until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.

Add the whole chicken pieces. Fry until the chicken is sealed on the outside, about 2-3 minutes.

Add 1 cup of the coconut cream (top part of the can if using canned – don’t shake the can). Simmer until the oil separates, about 2-3 minutes. You’ll see reddish oil starting to float to the top.

Add the potatoes, peanuts and onions and the 1 cup of coconut milk. Simmer for a few minutes.

Add the cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cassia leaves. Mix well.

Simmer (and stir well) until the mixture browns and a good deal of oil comes to the top. About 15-20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add some water. Add the fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind juice at the end. Taste – you may need to adjust the flavor if it’s not salty or sour enough.

Serve with rice or roti. Also is great with ajaat (slightly pickled cucumber salad) on the side.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/massaman-curry/feed/ 12 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/shrimp-paste-rice/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/shrimp-paste-rice/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:25:20 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/shrimp-paste-rice/ Shrimp Paste Rice (khao kluk gapi - ข้าวคลุกกะปิ) is rice which is flavored with shrimp paste. The flavor of shrimp paste is strong, and is complimented by the sour mango, sweet pork, chilies, shallots and fried shrimp. This dish is packed with flavor — sweet, salty, spicy, sour and pungent. This is a one-dish meal, something to eat when alone or for lunch.]]>

The first step is to make the sweet pork (muu waan/หมูหวาน). Slice the pork thin (1 1/2″ x 1″ x 1/3″) (4cm x 2.5cm x 1cm) – see picture. Fry it in about 1 teaspoon of oil on high heat. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, pepper, and palm sugar. Cook until it’s no longer raw. Lower the heat to medium low. Keep adding a little water every now and then to keep it from getting to dry and burning. Cook for about 10 minutes until shiny and sticky. Set aside.

The next step is to make the egg strips. Crack one egg in a bowl and whisk until mixed. Wet a tissue with oil and wipe the inside of the pan. You don’t want a lot of oil for this one. A non-stick pan comes in handy for this kind of thing. Pour the egg in and tilt the pan so the egg evenly coats the bottom of the pan, about 1/8″ (.25cm) deep. Fry on medium heat until set and golden (not brown). Flip once. Take off heat and allow to cool. Roll the egg and slice thin to create strips. Set aside.

Fry the shrimp in oil until crispy, about 30 seconds on medium-high. Strain and set aside.

Slice your chilies & shallots thin. Peel the mango’s skin and chop with a knife to make thin strips (or use a cheese grater).

Add a little oil (about a teaspoon) into your pan and turn the heat up to medium-high. When the pan is hot, add the rice, shrimp paste and fish sauce. Stir well to mix. Cook until the rice is warmed up and mixed well.

This dish is usually served by packing the rice into a bowl, and using it as a mold. Turn it upside-down onto a plate and remove. Then add all the other things around the rice on the plate, with the egg on top of the rice. Garnish with cilantro.

When you eat it, mix it all together and squeeze the fresh lime juice on top.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/shrimp-paste-rice/feed/ 5 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/hot-and-sour-soup-with-shrimp/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/hot-and-sour-soup-with-shrimp/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:34:31 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/soups-curries/hot-and-sour-soup-with-shrimp/ Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp (tom yum goong, ต้มยำกุ้ง) is probably the most famous Thai dish, both inside and outside of Thailand. It's eaten very often here, usually in a type of hot pot with fire underneath. There are hundreds of variations of tom yum, and this recipe includes the two most common versions of Tom Yum Goong.]]>

Prepare all the ingredients. Remove the outer layer of the lemongrass stalks and cut off the end. Cut into 1-2″ pieces and smash with the side of a heavy knife to release flavor. Tear the center vein off the lime leaves. Slice your galangal into thin slices. Cut the tomato into 6 pieces lengthwise. Peel the skin off the shallots and smash lightly. Clean your coriander roots well. Smash the fresh chilies with the back of a heavy knife, or in a mortar and pestle. If using fresh Thai straw mushrooms, slice the bottoms off and cut in 1/2 lengthwise. If making the version with milk: roast the dried chilies until fragrant and browned in a dry wok on medium heat (see note).

Clean the shrimp by peeling off the backs and snapping off the top part of the heads, but leave the fat on at the base of the head (the reddish brown goop). This is very important, as that fat imparts a signature flavor into Tom Yum Goong. Don’t discard it. Then, peel out the legs + intestine underneath, but leave the tails on. Set aside.

Boil the broth on high until it comes to a rapid boil. (see note about broth below). Add the lime leaves, lemongrass, coriander root, galangal, shallot(s) and tomato. Boil for 4-5 minutes until the broth tastes herbal. if you’re using fresh ingredients, 4-5 minutes should be enough. In a separate pan, boil the mushrooms in plain water.

After you’ve boiled 4-5 minutes, add a pinch of salt and the shrimp. Strain the cooked mushrooms and add them to the soup as well. Cook until shrimp turn pink, about a minute.

Add the fish sauce and remove from heat. You will now season the soup.

Add lime juice, chili paste, smashed fresh chilies. Taste the soup. Is it sour? Is it salty? If no, add a bit more, 1/4 teaspoon at a time.

If making the version with milk: Add the milk and dried chilies. If doing this step you’ll need to add a bit more lime juice and fish sauce as the milk tames it down a bit. Add about a teaspoon more of each.

Add cilantro and serve. This soup is best served really hot!

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/hot-and-sour-soup-with-shrimp/feed/ 23 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/sour-curry/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/sour-curry/#comments Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:55:14 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/sour-curry/ Sour Curry (gaeng som, แกงส้ม) is a tart, watery curry which does not have coconut milk. The broth is made sour with tamarind paste and is salted with fish sauce. There are a variety of vegetables which can be used. Sour curry is usually made with ground fish and or shrimp.]]>

Soak the chilies in water until soft. When soft, drain and slice into pieces.

Make the curry paste by smashing the chilies until a paste, then adding the finger root, shallots and finally shrimp paste. Pound until smooth in a stone mortar & pestle, or use an electric blender.

Boil the water, and then add the curry paste. Boil for about a minute, and add the raw fish (with skin still on).

Boil the fish for about 3 minutes, until the fish is white inside and soft. Fish out the fish. Take the skin off and discard. Pound the fish pieces into a paste with the mortar and pestle, or blend in an electric blender until smooth. Add the paste back into the boiling curry.

Add the Chinese turnip and boil for 10 minutes until the turnip is soft and somewhat transparent.

Add the palm sugar, tamarind paste and fish sauce. Make sure the turnip is cooked properly before you do this step.

Add the rest of the veggies and cook for a minute until soft. Remove from heat and serve.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/sour-curry/feed/ 2 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-style-omelette/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-style-omelette/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:12:17 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-style-omelette/ Thai-Style Omelette (khai jiaw, ไข่เจียว) is a common snack to eat on the street or a quick breakfast or lunch. It's usually eaten as a one-dish meal or snack over rice, and not eaten as part of a large family-style meal. It's very easy to make and goes really well with Sri Racha chili sauce.]]>

Add the oil to the pan on high heat. Wait until the oil is dancing around in the pan and almost smoking.

Crack the egg into a bowl. Add the fish sauce and pepper, and whisk with a fork until mixed and frothy.

Pour the egg mixture into the oil at a slowish rate, so that it’s a stream of egg hitting the hot oil.

Cook until lightly browned. Flip and cook the other side until browned as well. About 1-2 minutes.

Remove and serve over rice. Garnish with cilantro (optional) and serve with Sri Racha sauce.

]]> http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/thai-style-omelette/feed/ 8 http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/turmeric-chicken/ http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/turmeric-chicken/#comments Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:04:47 +0000 cee http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/tumeric-chicken/ Turmeric Chicken (gai ka-min, gai leuang, ไก่ขมิ้น, ไก่เหลือง) is a common treat found in Pattaya or Bang Saen, the beach towns south of Bangkok. It's grilled by vendors who push their carts next to the beach. You buy a few pieces, a batch of sticky rice, and enjoy your meal under an umbrella with your feet in the sand. Jett made this recipe for my family one summer in Cape Cod, and they ate the whole batch without stopping. Here's her recipe.]]>

Peel the skin off the tumeric if using whole root. Smash with the garlic, coriander roots and peppercorns to make a paste.

Rinse the chicken and add to a bowl. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce & sugar.

Put your hand inside a plastic bag and rub the paste into the chicken. Poke the chicken with a fork a bit to make holes for the marinade to seep in. Coat well, cover and refrigerate for 4-5 hours or overnight.

After marinating, either grill or bake in the oven until cooked.

To test if your chicken is done, poke with a fork on the thickest part of the meat to the middle of the piece. Pull out the fork and watch the juice come out of the hole. If it’s pink, it’s not done. If it’s clear, it’s done. Don’t cut big slices into the piece or the meat will dry out.

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