Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy-Day 15

Merry Christmas to those that believe! I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. Thailand officially doesn’t celebrate Christmas with the day off so I had cooking school today…which is great because that is what I am here for!

Today I learned to make massaman curry paste. It was wonderful! I think to now it’s my favorite curry and I had never tried it before, I have some cans of it in my pantry at home but hadn’t tried that type yet. It was different then the red and green in that it had some warm spices in it, such as, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom, plus the herbs and spices are toasted before pounded in the mortar. It supposedly is a Muslim inspired curry.

My stations today:

The dishes I made today included:

• Massaman curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Massaman)
• Massaman curry with chicken (Gaeng Massaman Gai)
• Stir fried chicken with cashew nuts (Gai Pak Med Ma-Muang)
• Steamed pork with lime sauce (Moo Noung Ma-Now)
• Deep fried shrimp in tamarind sauce (Goong Thord Lad Sood Makham)
• Chicken in coconut milk soup (Tom Kha Kai)
• Stir fried vegetables with tofu (Phad Pak Teahu)
• Pork belly with spices (Moo Hong)

I have to say that the tofu dish above I got to use the tofu I made yesterday. It was excellent! I can’t believe how easy it is to make tofu…I think I said that yesterday. It was a medium firmness tofu. Chef Ratch said that I want it softer to not press most of the water out of it before refrigerating it overnight. But I loved the texture, and it was WONDERFUL when I battered it with panko and fried it…YUM!

There were several stand out dishes for me today. The Massaman curry with chicken, the deep fried shrimp in tamarind sauce and the pork belly with spices. The shrimp was so crispy and the homemade tamarind we made was awesome! The pork belly had a thick stew consistency. I didn’t think I’d like the spices so much in it because when I tasted the sauce, while it was cooking, I didn’t like it that much…but once the liquid reduced oh my gosh, it was wonderful…the flavors came together great.

Okay, that leaves the Massaman curry with chicken. When I tasted it the first thing I thought was “this is my favorite dish up to date.” So that is my #1 pick today! It was served with a crispy hash brown like pancake, all I can say is it was amazing in every way. Massaman curry is usually good with chicken, beef or lamb, not seafood.

For the Massaman curry with chicken, you will need:

• 100 grams chicken, cut into about 1.5″ chunks
• 1-2 tablespoons prepared or store bought Massaman curry paste
• 50 grams potato, shredded
• 1/4 cup onion, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick (1″ piece crushed)
• 1-2 cardamom seeds
• 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamarind juice

Steps:

1. Heat wok with 1 tablespoon of oil and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Massaman curry paste (to your taste), stir vigorously until fragrant.
2. Add coconut cream and mix well, stir until fat separates to the top.
3. Add chicken and fry for about 5 minutes (depending on the size of your chunks).
4. Add coconut milk, onion and palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind juice.
5. Stir constantly until chicken and onion are cooked. Remember to add some chicken stock, when needed, so it doesn’t dry out.
6. In the meantime, make your potato pancake. Add shredded potato to a heated non-stick pan with one tablespoon of oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. You can salt your potato a little bit before or afterwards, if you wish.
7. Throw in half of the peanuts into curry as it’s cooking and garnish with the other half after you plate.

The other dishes I made today:

That is it for today. Catch you tomorrow for more wonderful Thai food!