Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy-Day 13

Hello everyone, back to cooking today after a one day break. Made some wonderful dishes with Chef Ratch today. This week is curry week. Made some dishes with some red curry today, the rest of the week we will learn green, massaman, yellow, and panang.

Only worked with one new ingredient today and that was duck. I’ve tried duck before, you know, the one that your hunter friend shoots in the air and cooks for you. I didn’t like that duck, had too much of a gamy taste, so I assumed I didn’t like all duck. Well, oh my gosh, this duck breast was amazing! No gamy taste, cooked it to medium…it melted in my mouth. I’m assuming they farm their ducks here or something different that doesn’t give them that taste. Now, I can say I LOVE duck…well, at least in Thailand.

What I made today:

• Red curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Phet)
• Red curry with roast duck (Gaeng Phet Ped Yang)
• Chinese kale with prawn salad (Yum Kana Goong sod)
• Fried sweet noodles with pork (Pad See Eeaw Moo)
• Stir fried black pepper beef (Nua Pad Pik Thai Dam)
• Mango with coconut sticky rice (Khao Neaw Moon)
• Fresh spring roll & spicy chili dip (Por Pia Sod)
• Sweet potato ball (Kanom Kai Nok Ka Ta)

Today, I have several favorites to pick my top dish from. The red curry with roast duck, mango with coconut sticky rice (yup, finally learned how to make this, amazing!), fresh spring rolls, and sweet potato balls.

I’ve already given you my thoughts on the duck. So, let me explain my other top picks a little. I had mango sticky rice for the first time at the airport last March when I was leaving Thailand. I never had a chance to try it and when I was going to my terminal they were making it fresh, right in the airport, so I HAD to try some. Well, it was amazing, and I thought…”dang it, I could have been eating this for the last two weeks!”. So, needless to say, I was happy to learn it today and it was WONDERFUL…and so beautiful when you put the yellowish-orange colored mango by the white rice…AND the mango’s here are so much more tastier, I think they are a different variety.

The fresh spring rolls are different than how I have made them in the past. I have made fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, which have noodles in them. These are a lot more calorie conscious than the others, since there are no noodles, AND the dipping sauce we made to serve them with is wonderfully spicy (but not that spicy when you eat it all together).

I also have to mention the fried sweet potato balls because they were different and unexpected. You make your dough and then roll it in little balls and fry it. You can fry, as is, and take them out after they are golden crispy, which were okay…kind of chewy…or you can press the balls every 5 seconds, in the oil, after they firm up a little, and watch them puff up more each time you press them down…to the point where they have quadrupled in size and become hollow in the middle, kind of like a pate a choux…but even more hollow. It’s like the pumpkin dough disappears from the middle and it’s just a hollow crusty ball…very crunchy and Chef said I can fill it with cream, when I asked. I thought cream and maybe a raspberry and some powdered sugar on top would be good too!

Okay, back to what I choose for my favorite dish, I have to go with the red curry with roast duck, only because the duck was soooo good when I thought I didn’t like duck!

For the red curry with roast duck, you will need:

• 100 grams roast duck breast, sliced
• 1 teaspoon BBQ color
• 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon seasoning sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 4 shakes of 5-spice powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1-2 tablespoons of red curry paste (made fresh, if possible)
• 1 Thai eggplant, cut into 6 wedges
• 1 bunch of pea eggplants, remove from stem
• 5-8 pieces of pineapple chunks
• 3 cherry tomatoes, slice in half
• 1-2 kaffir lime leaves, stem removed and torn in fourths
• 5-10 Thai sweet basil leaves
• 1 red spur chili, for garnish
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Steps:

1. Score your duck on skin side or flesh side (I did both).
2. Mix together the next 7 ingredients (BBQ color, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, seasoning sauce, sugar, 5-spice powder and sesame oil) and pour onto duck and massage it into the skin and flesh. Let marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerate.
3. In the meantime, place eggplant in salted water to remove bitterness and so they don’t get dark while you prepare your other vegetables and herbs.
4. Put duck on broiler pan and roast in a preheated 400 degree oven until top of skin is crispy and meat cooked to medium (unless you want it more done), about 20 minutes. Remove and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
5. Heat oil in wok and add 1-2 tablespoons of the fresh red curry paste and stir until fragrant. Then add coconut cream and stir until combined and fat separates (oil comes to the top/sides).
6. Add coconut milk and bring to boil, then add pineapple, cherry tomatoes, and eggplants.
7. Season with the fish sauce and palm sugar (can use regular if you don’t have palm), make sure the sugar dissolves well, and bring to a boil on medium heat. Check your sauce to see if you want to adjust the taste at all.
8. Add basil, kaffir lime leaves and stir together for several seconds and turn off heat.
9. Slice duck into 1/3 inch pieces .
10. Plate curry vegetables and top with duck slices then garnish with red chili’s and serve with rice (optional).

Pictures of the other dishes I made. Enjoy :).

That is it for today! Catch you tomorrow.