Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy-Day 7

Well, the one day break is over. Time to get back to cooking. I have really enjoyed cooking on a daily basis. Of course, if I had to cook for a hundred people every day then I may not :).

Today Chef Guitar was our instructor. So far, all three of the Chef’s that have taught me have been excellent. It’s so nice to see the different teaching, cooking and preparation styles of each Chef, it teaches you a variety of ways that things can be done and keeps you on your toes!

Some new ingredients I worked with today included morning glory, (although I had eaten these last March I never had worked with them), Kaffir fruit (not just the leaves), jack fruit, and made my own rice powder, which was blended with lemon grass and kaffir leaves and gave it a great aroma.

The dishes we made today included:

• Tay pho curry paste (Nam Phrik Gaeng Tay-Pho)
• Tay pho curry with pork belly & morning glories (Gaeng Tay-Pho)
• Stir fried crab with curry powder (Poo Pad Phong Ka Ree)
• Slice grilled spicy pork salad (Nam Tok Moo)
• Baked prawns and mung bean noodles (Goong Oob Wunsen)
• Water chestnuts in coconut syrup (Tub Tim Grub)

My favorite dish today was the sliced grilled spicy pork salad. The dressing was so flavorful with a little tang from the lime, saltiness from the fish sauce and a touch of sweetness from the sugar. What a wonderful balance of flavors. It was the perfect bite, or two, or three…oh well, let’s just say there were some bites to be eaten :).

For the sliced grilled spicy pork salad, you will need:

• 70 grams pork (was like the pork steak that we see, no bone)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon toasted sticky rice
• 2-3 shallots, finely sliced (remember, there shallots here are like an inch or less in diameter, not like the big ones in the US)
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried chili powder
• 2 stalks coriander, finely sliced
• 1 stalk spring onion, finely sliced
• 2 leaves of Thai coriander, finely sliced
• 5-8 mint leaves (for dish and for garnish)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/4 tsp sugar

Step:

1. Grill, or pan fry, the pork steak to medium (don’t use any oil), then remove and slice about 1/3″ pieces.
2. Add stock in a small pot and bring to a boil, add sliced pork and stir until cooked.
3. In the meantime, in a bowl, mix lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, set aside.
4. Once pork is fully cooked throw in the lime juice mixture and stir.
5. Add toasted sticky rice powder, dried chili’s and stir well.
6. Add shallots, garlic and other veggies and 1/2 the mint leaves. Stir well.
7. Serve with cabbage or long beans (optional).

Pictures of my other dishes. First time using the whole kaffir lime. Up to now we have only used the rind or the leaves. The juice is VERY tart, somewhat bitter.

It was a learning experience cleaning the crab and cutting it up. I had never done that before. Supposedly, by traditional stir fry standards, you fry the garlic first, then the protein, then liquid and lastly the veggies. If you have herbs that easily wilt they go at the end after the veggies for a several seconds only. My sauce needed a little more chicken stock…oh well, next time.

This next dish was an interesting one. Good concept but I needed to lower my heat, the bottom burned a little, but the flavor was good. I personally think after putting it all in the clay pot it should be put into a 400 degree oven to cook for 15-30 minutes. That way my bottom wouldn’t get all burned (no pun intended :)).

And lastly, dessert. So far it seems like every dessert utilizes coconut milk/cream. This one was another interesting one, but it worked! This would be good in a cup, instead of a bowl…very refreshing. A syrup was made and flavored with a pandanus leaf and then coconut milk and cream thrown in. Also, for those who wanted their coconut liquid smoked, the milk was put on the bottom of a dry steamer then the basket on top and the lit beeswax at the top and then the lid was put on…and the milk smoked away. You serve this in the cooled coconut milk with ice cubes and the chestnuts (we made two colors by dying them, one with a red strawberry syrup and the other with food coloring and water to make it light pink, then in tapioca flour and boiled), top it with jack fruit and eat it with a spoon! It was very unique, as all of the desserts have been thus far.

That is it for today. I hope you enjoyed it all! Catch you tomorrow.