Day 17 today. A lot of good and refreshing dishes. Made the last type of curry today, panang. It was good, but I still like the yellow curry we made the best and than the massaman curry second best. The difference with the panang was you ground peanuts in it too.

Some new ingredients I worked with today included shredded seaweed, ear mushrooms (very psychedelic looking :)), and fresh taro. Some of my stations today, I sometimes forget to take pictures!

Today I made:

• Panang curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Panang)
• Panang curry with pork (Gaeng Panang Moo)
• Egg tofu & seaweed clear soup (Tom Juid Tao Hu Khai)
• Pomelo salad (Yam Som-O)
• Sweet & sour vegetables with shrimp (Pad Preaw Wan Kung)
• Stir fried chicken with ginger (Gai Pa Khing)
• Steamed rice with taro chicken & mushroom (Khao Ob Peuk)
• Red curry with pork and long beans (Pad Prik Gaeng Moo Thua Fak Yao)

As usual, everything was good but I had several favorites today, and some of them surprised me. My biggest surprise came from the egg tofu & seaweed clear soup, for one, because I do not like dried seawood, blah…but it amazed me the depth of flavor it provided to the soup and how the taste kind of blended away. Another favorite was the pomelo and shrimp salad…I LOVE pomelo’s but this just didn’t sound that good as I saw what was in the sauce, but oh my gosh, when you put it all together it was amazingly refreshing and so light tasting that I ate it ALL…no, not 2 or 3 bites. You can subsitute grapefruit if you can’t find pomelos, or even apple slices. And lastly, I loved the steamed rice with taro chicken and mushrooms…such a simple recipe yet so flavorful.

What to choose…hum, I think I will go with the steamed rice with taro, chicken, and mushrooms. Was just wonderful and not spicy at all, something my family would appreciate!

For the steamed rice with taro, chicken and mushrooms, you will need:

• 1/2 cup jasmine rice, pre-cooked
• 1/4 cup taro, chopped in 1″ cubes
• 50 grams chicken, 1.5″ chunks
• 3″ piece of Chinese sausage, sliced thin
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 2-3 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon dried shrimp (optional)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons pork fat (or 1 tablespoon of cooking oil)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper powder
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon seasoning sauce
• pinch pepper powder
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce

Steps:

1. Marinate chicken with 1 teaspoon each of sesame oil, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Add 1/4 teaspoon of pepper powder. Mix to combine and set aside.
2. Saute (or deep fry) taro until golden brown (do not burn) then take it out and mix together with rice, set aside.
3. Brown chicken pieces in same pan as you sauteed taro and remove from heat.
4. In a wok, heat oil and throw in garlic, browned chicken, mushrooms, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp (if using), and season with soy sauce, sesame oil, seasoning sauce, pepper powder, salt, sugar, and oyster sauce (last 7 items in ingredients list).
5. Stir until chicken is done, add a small ladle or two of chicken stock at this time so chicken doesn’t stick.
6. Throw in rice and taro mixture and 1/2 of the green onions and combine well, set aside for a minute.
7. Heat clay pot (or other pot that you may be using) and add pork fat or oil to the bottom. Once heated add the rice mixture and put the lid on to heat. You can either heat it in the oven or on the stove top (we did the stove top on medium heat.)
8. When you hear the rice start crackling on the bottom of the pot leave to heat another minute or two and turn off heat…for a total of about 5 minutes.
9. Open lid (be careful to not burn yourself from the steam) and top with remaining green onions and enjoy!

And the other dishes I made today:

That’s it for today. Catch you tomorrow!

Hi All, today we moved on to green curry paste, as one of my teachings and dishes…I really enjoyed it. We always have the choice of how many chili peppers to put in our paste, in case we don’t want it to be overly spicy. Even though I like spicy I used 1…but it still seemed pretty spicy, and I only used 1/2 of the paste in the green curry dish I made…I must have gotten a good one!

We went for a tour of the market again, to show the incoming students what I saw the first day. It was nice to see again, I saw a lot of things I didn’t see the first time.

Today each of us prepped our own station ingredients. It was fun, but hectic! We also made our own tamarind sauce…pretty easy. You take a tamarind root and boil in water, let cool then smash all the meat off of it with your fingers, then you boil it again so it lasts a long time.

The dishes I learned to make today included:

• Green curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Kheao Wan)
• Green curry with chicken (Gaeng Kheao Wan Gai)
• Thai style fried rice noodles (Pad Thai)
• Sweet sticky rice with Longan and coconut cream topping (Khao Nieow Piak Lam-Yai)
• Stir fried seafood with spicy basil (Talay Pad Kra Pao)
• Crispy fried mussel pancakes (Hoy Tord)
• Tofu and soy milk (Tao Hoo)

The most fun dish to make today, because I didn’t think it would be so easy, was the Tofu. I won’t see how much it firms up, or how it tastes, until tomorrow but the process was easy. My two favorite dishes today were the pad Thai and the green curry with chicken. So yummy! But, i would have to choose the green curry with chicken since it had a wonderful balance of flavors.

For the green curry with chicken, you will need:

• 50 grams chicken, sliced
• 1-2 tablespoons green curry paste
• 1 Thai eggplant, cut in 6
• 5 pea eggplants
• 1-2 kaffir lime leaves
• 8 sweet basil leaves
• 1/4 red spur chili, sliced or julienned (reserve 1/2 for garnish)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1/2 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Steps:

1. Add oil to wok and 1-2 tablespoons of green curry paste, stir vigorously until fragrant.
2. Add coconut cream and and stir until oil rises to the top.
3. Add chicken and fry for about 2 minutes, until chicken turns white.
4. Add coconut milk, eggplants, palm sugar and fish sauce and simmer until eggplants cook.
5. Then add sweet basil and kaffir leaves, some of the red chili’s and cook for 10 seconds.
6. Serve with rice, if you desire.

Some of the other dishes I made today:

The pad Thai was wonderful. Chef taught us different ways to present it. See below for some additional presentations of this dish.

Well, that is it for today. I will be having class tomorrow too, Christmas day, so stay tuned for some more. Happy Holidays to All!!!

Greetings from Bangkok! Another good day of cooking. I was just thinking today, as I was chopping some REAL small shallots, how much better my knife skills have become. This school is teaching me more than Thai recipes, but giving me the experience in the kitchen with items I normally wouldn’t use much, such as woks, steamers, coconut shredders, mortars, carving knives, etc. Even though I miss my family and friends back home, this has been a wonderful experience so far and hope I can do it again in the future in other countries, as well.

Some new ingredients I worked with today included soft tofu (it was real soft and gelatinous) and Chinese salted black olives (they had some HUGE pits in them, wow). I got to scrape coconut out of a fresh coconut today and learned how to prepare it. Fresh coconut doesn’t last long, about a day or two in the fridge…So you have to add a little salt to the shredded coconut, mix, and then steam it for about 15 or so minutes so it keeps fresh longer.

Also, I went to the bakery next door to get some of the items that I’ve used at school for home…so much less expensive then buying them online, sooo much…I checked. I just remembered a few more things I want…guess I will go back tomorrow after class!

My stations today were very colorful with all the veggies and sauces. I need to mention, when we cook if it looks like your dish is getting dry in the wok there is always chicken stock on the cooking station to put into your dish. It’s basically cook by site…if it looks like it’s dry or going to burn/stick to the wok, add more broth. Also, we do multiple tastings for each dish to make sure the sauce tastes as expected. If you like your flavors differently you can taste and adjust from there.

What I made today:

• Deep fried tofu & prawn sauce (Tao Hu Song Khuang)
• Deep fried Spicy Pork Salad (Larb Tord)
• Southern Thai style deep fried fish with turmeric (Pla Thod Khamin)
• Thai style salted black olive fried rice (Khao Pad Nahm Liap)
• Coconut pancakes (Ka Nom Ba-Bin)
• Stir fried beef with black Pepper (Neux Waw Pad Prik Thai Dam)
• Stir fried rice vermicelli with tamarind sauce and soy bean dip (Mee Krati)

Although I really enjoyed the coconut pancakes, I think my favorite dish today is between Southern Thai style deep fried fish with turmeric, Thai style salted black olive fried rice, and stir fried beef with black pepper. They all had a light and healthy taste to them, especially the fish…oh, so tender and succulent with wonderful flavors from the turmeric and garlic rub…but I will go with the Thai style salted black olive fried rice. When everything was mixed together the flavors just hit the spot today.

For the Thai style salted black olive fried rice, you will need:

• 2 Chinese salted black olives, pit removed and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 small shallots, sliced thinly
• 30 grams ground pork
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 2 small hot chilies
• 1/4 cup long bean, sliced thinly
• 1 lime, cut for garnish
• 1/4 cup toasted cashews

Steps:

1. Heat walk with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and fry garlic until fragrant.
2. Add pork and separate then add black olives. Cook until pork is done.
3. In the meantime, mix sugar, oyster and soy sauce and set aside.
4. Add rice to wok, then sauce mixture and mix well with other ingredients in wok and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.
5. Dish the fried rice onto a serving plate and arrange small piles of hot chili’s, long beans, shallots and lime around the perimeter.

The other dishes I made today:

Whew, that is it for today. Tomorrow I have a double Saturday session. I will be making 9 dishes! I’m kind of scared to weigh myself…oh well, it’s all an experience! Catch you tomorrow.