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.

Another amazing day today. Was one of those extended days…made a total of 9 dishes. Five with Chef Ratch and 4 with Chef Guitar, afterwards. Today ALL the dishes were excellent.

Some new ingredients I worked with were pickled cabbage and whole mung beans. Some new techniques I learned were how to debone a freaking chicken wing, seriously? It was time consuming but very rewarding :), then I stuffed it. I also fried morning glory leaves to dip in a wonderful chicken and shrimp dip.

My two stations today (morning and afternoon) looked like this. There is always more that comes to the station at different times but I just capture what is on there at the start.

The dishes I made today were:

• Khao soy curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Khao Soy)
• Khao soy with chicken (Khao Soy Gai)
• Deep fried fish in red curry (Pad Ped Pla Thod Krob)
• Stuffed chicken wings (Bpeek Gai Yut Sai)
• Pork belly stir fried with lemongrass and sweet basil (Moo Sam Chan Pad Horapa)
• Mung bean Thai custard dessert (Mor Kaeng Tua)
• Hot and sour soup with turmeric (Kai Tom Kamin)
• Braised spareribs in pineapple sauce (Si-Khrong Moo Op Sapporot)
• Crispy fried morning glories (Yam Pak Boong Grob)
• Cucumber salad with boiled egg and prawn (Yum Tang Gwa Goong Sod)

Wow, that was a lot and oh so yummy! I have to say, i’m getting a little tired of eating ALL that food, but i’m not getting tired of preparing it. So many fun and new techniques I am learning, it’s incredible! My arm muscles are getting really buff, all that pounding in the mortar. I need the additional exercise with everything I am eating!

So, my top three dishes from today were the egg noodles in chicken curry (Khao Soy Gai), was a yellow curry; the hot and sour soup with turmeric (Kai Tom Kamin), the flavor of the broth was similar to Tom Yum broth but a Southern Thai version; and the braised spareribs in pineapple sauce (Si-Khrong Moo Op Sapparot), oh my!

Well, the chicken curry was my favorite from the first 5 dishes I made today and the hot and sour soup and braised spareribs were two of my favorites from the second half. I really don’t know which one to choose so I will just flip for it…hold on…okay, the braised spareribs with pineapple is the winner!

For the braised spareribs with pineapple, you will need:

• 400 grams pork spareribs, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 cup fresh pineapple, sliced into chunks
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice (or orange)
• 1 tablespoon seasoning sauce
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon white peppercorn
• 1 teaspoon coriander root, roughly chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock

Steps:

1. In a mortar, combine peppercorn, garlic and coriander and pound to a paste.
2. Mix the peppercorn mixture with ketchup, soy sauce, seasoning sauce, palm sugar and stir well.
3. Add mixture to pork and combine well. You can let marinate in refrigerator for an hour or two if you have time.
4. Add pork mixture to pot and add chicken stock and juice and combine well.
5. Add pineapple to the pot and simmer over low heat until the spareribs are tender and sauce is thick, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Here are all the other dishes that I made today.

Well all, that is it for today…yes, that was enough…I only ate a couple of bites of each dish and am still soooo stuffed. The rest of the month I will be making around 9 or 10 dishes…so there will be A LOT more pictures coming :).