Real Thai Recipes

Wing Bean

cee — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:07:28 +0000

Wing Beans are a squarish shaped bean. When you cut them they resemble an “X”. They have a mild flavor, and are used in thai salads (yum) and eaten with chili pastes (naam prik). They are commonly eaten with coconut milk, roasted chili paste, peanuts and toasted coconut in wing bean salad.

Storage: Store long beans in a bag in the refrigerator. They won’t last long and will turn black fairly quickly, so use up soon.

Wing Bean Salad

cee — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:42:04 +0000

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.

Roasted Chili Paste

cee — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:43:08 +0000

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.

Fried Egg Salad

cee — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:32:22 +0000

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.

Thai Fried Rice with Chicken

cee — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:40:16 +0000

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.
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, cilantro, a piece of lime and the cucumber slices.
Serve with a small bowl of fish sauce with sliced chilies (prik naam plaa).

Cardamom

cee — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:27:26 +0000

Cardamom seeds are used in Chinese, South East Asian and Indian cooking. They’re also used in some Western Desserts and Indian spiced tea (masala chai). A few roasted pods make a great addition to Massaman Curry. There are generally two types of cardamom, a green and very fragrant variety from India, and this brown fatter variety from China. Thais usually use the brown one.

Storage: The seeds will last months in the cupboard if kept airtight and dry.

Cassia Leaves

cee — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:59:26 +0000

Cassia Leaves are very similar in appearance to Bay Leaves. These are dried leaves from the cassia tree, a type of cinnamon. They are primarily used in Massaman Curry. Commonly in Asian markets they are labeled “Indian Bay Leaves”.

Storage: The leaves will last months in the cupboard if kept airtight and dry.

Massaman Curry

cee — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:53:55 +0000

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.

Thai Dining Guide

cee — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:29:44 +0000

If you’re Thai, or speak Thai fairly well, the food you receive at a restaurants is quite different than what they give to foreigners. Why? Mostly because Thai people are scared that foreigners can’t eat Thai style — it’s too spicy, too fermented, too foreign. They’ll dull down the flavors thinking thats the way that foreigners prefer it. While this may be true for some people, it can be frustrating for sure for those who appreciate Thai food the way it’s meant to be served.

The Thai language is tonal and very difficult to pronounce for people who are not used to it. So instead of trying to teach you some basic phrases, we figure it’s best to give you a guide. You can print it out, fold it, and put it in your wallet.

There are sections on getting authentic food — stronger flavor, no western vegetables, etc, as well as helpful phrases for vegetarians and people with food allergies. Also, for those who love spicy food, point to the guide when you order and the server will more likely believe you when you say “spicy please”.

This guide can work both inside Thailand or wherever you are. Please let us know if you enjoy it!

Thai Dining Guide
PDF, 718K
A4 format

Shrimp Paste Rice

cee — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:25:20 +0000

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.