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:
- 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.
- Saute (or deep fry) taro until golden brown (do not burn) then take it out and mix together with rice, set aside.
- Brown chicken pieces in same pan as you sauteed taro and remove from heat.
- 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).
- Stir until chicken is done, add a small ladle or two of chicken stock at this time so chicken doesn’t stick.
- Throw in rice and taro mixture and 1/2 of the green onions and combine well, set aside for a minute.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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!
