Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy-Day 3

Just when I thought the recipes couldn’t get any better, they do. Another amazing day learning how to work with new ingredients.

First off the bat I tasted the coconut milk custard dessert that I had made yesterday, and then I tasted another one, and then another one :). I thought it was pretty good. The bottom layer is light layer and is sweet and the top white layer is salty. So, when you take a bite with both layers together it creates the perfect balance. It has a light and creamy, and somewhat jellied texture…kind of like a panna cotta, but there is no gelatin in it, so not as dense.

So, the dishes I made today included:

• Steamed curried seafood (Hor Mok Talay)
• Pineapple fried rice (Khao Pad Sapparod)
• Authentic Thai grilled chicken (Gai Yang)
• Fried green papaya salad (Som Tam Tod)
• Black sesame dumpling in ginger tea (Bua Loy Nam Khing)

My station today. Lot’s of great ingredients and flavors. Some of the unusual, but not unheard of, ingredients I worked with today included banana leaves, Thai sausage, green papaya, tamarind paste and juice, sticky flour, ground roasted sticky rice, and Thai saw coriander. When I smelled the Thai saw coriander it was familiar and then it hit me, it’s the unique spice I taste when I always get Chicken Larb in the states…which by the way I will learn how to make and am REAL excited!

Seem’s like every dish I make is so exotic looking. We eat with our eyes first so all the pretty colors of the food and the garnishes makes for a beautiful presentation. Which I believe I’m getting better and better at after all this practice :). Then you have all the unusual (well at least to those that don’t eat like this everyday) flavors that perk up your mouth. What an amazing experience. If I were to eat everything I made I will have gained 50 pounds by the end of this all! Thankfully, I only eat a few bites of each of my dishes and then bring the rest home to my host, who graciously eats it all. So, he can gain the weight, instead of me :).

So, it’s time to pick my favorite dish of the day and share the recipe. It’s the same as the other days, everything is wonderful that it’s hard to pick a favorite. AND the sauces that go with some of the dishes, they make or break the dish, and there are always so many wonderful sauces! But since I have to pick I would say my favorite recipe from today is the fried green papaya salad, and it’s all about the sauce, and so easy to make.

I shredded the papaya and carrot with a julienne vegetable peeler, so all done by hand, no food processor…like I said yesterday, I haven’t seen one of those in this place! It’s good that I’m making one serving…otherwise I’d be shredding all day!

For the fried green papaya salad, you will need:

• 1 cup green papaya, seeds removed and shredded
• 1/4 cup carrots, shredded
• 1/4 cup tempura flour
• 1 long green bean, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 1-2 bird’s eye chili’s (depending how spicy you want it)
• 2-3 cherry tomatoes, halved or 1 roma, quartered
• 1 tablespoon peanuts, roasted
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 small lime, quartered
• 1 1/2 teaspoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind juice

1. In a clay mortar, smash the garlic, chili and lime, then add the green beans and tomatoes and smash some more.
2. Then add the peanuts and dried shrimp and briefly pound.
3. Add fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind juice to mortar and mix well with pestle. Transfer to a serving bowl.
4. Shred the carrots and papaya, add to a bowl and combine.
5. Mix tempura flour with some water to make a batter, make sure you have worked all the lumps out then pour onto carrots and papaya and stir until the batter is incorporated.
6. Heat the oil in a wok and drop (carefully) tablespoons full of tempura mixture into oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. You will need to flip them. Make sure your heat isn’t real high and burn the fritters before the batter cooks through.
7. Serve with dressing by spooning dressing on fritter or dipping the fritter into the dressing.

AND the before and final presentation pictures of the other recipes I made today!

This dish was amazing too, so creamy. Chef said it doesn’t reheat good though, not as creamy. What an elegant/gourmet dish! First time I’ve ever worked with banana leaves. Wow, so fun…it was like arts and crafts. The funny part is when we were making the banana leaf containers we had to staple them where they crease. I mentioned that we needed to be careful we didn’t eat the staple or microwave the little package later and watch sparks fly :).

This pineapple fried rice was amazing…again, so hard to pick one great dish when they all are wonderful!

The sauce that accompanies this Thai grilled chicken is another sauce that makes the dish even more amazing. Chef mentioned that this could be served with steamed rice or with the pineapple fried rice.

And the dessert today was something I’ve never seen or heard of before. Several steps to create a unique dessert. I LOVE the black sesame filling that we made. The flavor was like a dry halvah…but the texture was more like sticky cookie dough. I have to say, the tea itself was great. I wasn’t expecting it to be so flavorful with just ginger, a pandanus leaf, and brown sugar. It was the best ginger tea I’ve ever had!

And that is it for today my friends. Catch you tomorrow!

Som Tam Tod

Thai Fried Green Papaya Salad

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Appetizer, Salad

Cuisine thai

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup green papaya seeds removed and shredded
• 1/4 cup carrots shredded
• 1/4 cup tempura flour
• 1 long green bean cut into 1″ pieces
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 1-2 bird’s eye chili’s depending how spicy you want it
• 2-3 cherry tomatoes halved or 1 roma, quartered
• 1 tablespoon peanuts roasted
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 small lime quartered
• 1 1/2 teaspoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind juice

Instructions

 

• In a clay mortar, smash the garlic, chili and lime, then add the green beans and tomatoes and smash some more.
• Then add the peanuts and dried shrimp and briefly pound.
• Add fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind juice to mortar and mix well with pestle. Transfer to a serving bowl.
• Shred the carrots and papaya, add to a bowl and combine.
• Mix tempura flour with some water to make a batter, make sure you have worked all the lumps out then pour onto carrots and papaya and stir until the batter is incorporated.
• Heat the oil in a wok and drop (carefully) tablespoons full of tempura mixture into oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. You will need to flip them. Make sure your heat isn’t real high and burn the fritters before the batter cooks through.
• Serve with dressing by spooning dressing on fritter or dipping the fritter into the dressing.