Greetings from Bangkok! Another good day of cooking. I was just thinking today, as I was chopping some REAL small shallots, how much better my knife skills have become. This school is teaching me more than Thai recipes, but giving me the experience in the kitchen with items I normally wouldn’t use much, such as woks, steamers, coconut shredders, mortars, carving knives, etc. Even though I miss my family and friends back home, this has been a wonderful experience so far and hope I can do it again in the future in other countries, as well.

Some new ingredients I worked with today included soft tofu (it was real soft and gelatinous) and Chinese salted black olives (they had some HUGE pits in them, wow). I got to scrape coconut out of a fresh coconut today and learned how to prepare it. Fresh coconut doesn’t last long, about a day or two in the fridge…So you have to add a little salt to the shredded coconut, mix, and then steam it for about 15 or so minutes so it keeps fresh longer.

Also, I went to the bakery next door to get some of the items that I’ve used at school for home…so much less expensive then buying them online, sooo much…I checked. I just remembered a few more things I want…guess I will go back tomorrow after class!

My stations today were very colorful with all the veggies and sauces. I need to mention, when we cook if it looks like your dish is getting dry in the wok there is always chicken stock on the cooking station to put into your dish. It’s basically cook by site…if it looks like it’s dry or going to burn/stick to the wok, add more broth. Also, we do multiple tastings for each dish to make sure the sauce tastes as expected. If you like your flavors differently you can taste and adjust from there.

What I made today:

• Deep fried tofu & prawn sauce (Tao Hu Song Khuang)
• Deep fried Spicy Pork Salad (Larb Tord)
• Southern Thai style deep fried fish with turmeric (Pla Thod Khamin)
• Thai style salted black olive fried rice (Khao Pad Nahm Liap)
• Coconut pancakes (Ka Nom Ba-Bin)
• Stir fried beef with black Pepper (Neux Waw Pad Prik Thai Dam)
• Stir fried rice vermicelli with tamarind sauce and soy bean dip (Mee Krati)

Although I really enjoyed the coconut pancakes, I think my favorite dish today is between Southern Thai style deep fried fish with turmeric, Thai style salted black olive fried rice, and stir fried beef with black pepper. They all had a light and healthy taste to them, especially the fish…oh, so tender and succulent with wonderful flavors from the turmeric and garlic rub…but I will go with the Thai style salted black olive fried rice. When everything was mixed together the flavors just hit the spot today.

For the Thai style salted black olive fried rice, you will need:

• 2 Chinese salted black olives, pit removed and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 small shallots, sliced thinly
• 30 grams ground pork
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 2 small hot chilies
• 1/4 cup long bean, sliced thinly
• 1 lime, cut for garnish
• 1/4 cup toasted cashews

Steps:

1. Heat walk with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and fry garlic until fragrant.
2. Add pork and separate then add black olives. Cook until pork is done.
3. In the meantime, mix sugar, oyster and soy sauce and set aside.
4. Add rice to wok, then sauce mixture and mix well with other ingredients in wok and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.
5. Dish the fried rice onto a serving plate and arrange small piles of hot chili’s, long beans, shallots and lime around the perimeter.

The other dishes I made today:

Whew, that is it for today. Tomorrow I have a double Saturday session. I will be making 9 dishes! I’m kind of scared to weigh myself…oh well, it’s all an experience! Catch you tomorrow.

Another amazing day today. Was one of those extended days…made a total of 9 dishes. Five with Chef Ratch and 4 with Chef Guitar, afterwards. Today ALL the dishes were excellent.

Some new ingredients I worked with were pickled cabbage and whole mung beans. Some new techniques I learned were how to debone a freaking chicken wing, seriously? It was time consuming but very rewarding :), then I stuffed it. I also fried morning glory leaves to dip in a wonderful chicken and shrimp dip.

My two stations today (morning and afternoon) looked like this. There is always more that comes to the station at different times but I just capture what is on there at the start.

The dishes I made today were:

• Khao soy curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Khao Soy)
• Khao soy with chicken (Khao Soy Gai)
• Deep fried fish in red curry (Pad Ped Pla Thod Krob)
• Stuffed chicken wings (Bpeek Gai Yut Sai)
• Pork belly stir fried with lemongrass and sweet basil (Moo Sam Chan Pad Horapa)
• Mung bean Thai custard dessert (Mor Kaeng Tua)
• Hot and sour soup with turmeric (Kai Tom Kamin)
• Braised spareribs in pineapple sauce (Si-Khrong Moo Op Sapporot)
• Crispy fried morning glories (Yam Pak Boong Grob)
• Cucumber salad with boiled egg and prawn (Yum Tang Gwa Goong Sod)

Wow, that was a lot and oh so yummy! I have to say, i’m getting a little tired of eating ALL that food, but i’m not getting tired of preparing it. So many fun and new techniques I am learning, it’s incredible! My arm muscles are getting really buff, all that pounding in the mortar. I need the additional exercise with everything I am eating!

So, my top three dishes from today were the egg noodles in chicken curry (Khao Soy Gai), was a yellow curry; the hot and sour soup with turmeric (Kai Tom Kamin), the flavor of the broth was similar to Tom Yum broth but a Southern Thai version; and the braised spareribs in pineapple sauce (Si-Khrong Moo Op Sapparot), oh my!

Well, the chicken curry was my favorite from the first 5 dishes I made today and the hot and sour soup and braised spareribs were two of my favorites from the second half. I really don’t know which one to choose so I will just flip for it…hold on…okay, the braised spareribs with pineapple is the winner!

For the braised spareribs with pineapple, you will need:

• 400 grams pork spareribs, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 cup fresh pineapple, sliced into chunks
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice (or orange)
• 1 tablespoon seasoning sauce
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon white peppercorn
• 1 teaspoon coriander root, roughly chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock

Steps:

1. In a mortar, combine peppercorn, garlic and coriander and pound to a paste.
2. Mix the peppercorn mixture with ketchup, soy sauce, seasoning sauce, palm sugar and stir well.
3. Add mixture to pork and combine well. You can let marinate in refrigerator for an hour or two if you have time.
4. Add pork mixture to pot and add chicken stock and juice and combine well.
5. Add pineapple to the pot and simmer over low heat until the spareribs are tender and sauce is thick, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Here are all the other dishes that I made today.

Well all, that is it for today…yes, that was enough…I only ate a couple of bites of each dish and am still soooo stuffed. The rest of the month I will be making around 9 or 10 dishes…so there will be A LOT more pictures coming :).

Good day to all! Hope you are enjoying all the posts on all the wonderful Thai food that I am preparing. What a wonderful opportunity that I have to do this for a month!

Some of the new ingredients that I used today included wing beans and Thai bananas (these cute little 3-4″ banana’s). The wing beans were very unique, they had ridges all around.

Today the recipes were not as spicy as other days. Of course I always have the choice of how spicy I want to make my dishes but I have leaned towards making the recipe as is to see what it tastes like. Well, today as is was not too spicy :).

My station today:

Today’s menu included:

• Gaeng khua curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Khua)
• Mussel curry with pineapple (Gaeng Khua Sapparod)
• Crispy pork paste dip (Nam Prik Kak Moo)
• Stir fried squid with salted egg yolks (Pla Meuik Pad Kai Kem)
• Wing bean salad (Yam Tua Plu)
• Steamed banana pastry (Kanom Kluay)

Today is the first day that it’s easy for me to pick my favorite recipe. Even though all the dishes had their merits I REALLY loved the wing bean salad. Mildly spicy with coconut cream and chicken and shrimp…wow, it had a wonderful subtle flavor. The wing beans had an interesting texture, very different than a regular string bean. The only bad thing was that it seemed like too small of a portion!

For the wing bean salad, you will need:

• 250 grams Wing beans, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup minced chicken
• 3 shrimp
• 1 hard boiled egg, peeled and cut
• 1/4 cup fried shallots
• 2 fried dried small hot chilies (optional, for decor)
• 2 tablespoons coconut cream
• 2 tablespoons mild chili paste
• 1/1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice

Steps:

1. Blanch the sliced wing beans in boiling water for 1-2 minutes then immediately put into cool water and drain. Set aside.
2. Add coconut cream to pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer
3. Add in chicken and shrimp and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add chili paste and stir well then add fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice and combine well.
5. Cook for another minutes and taste for seasoning then serve by itself or over rice.
6. Top with fried shallots, boiled egg and dried chili, if using.

I have to say that these dishes I am making have been some of the most colorful dishes I have made, consistently! The ingredients are also so fresh, it’s amazing. Here are some pictures of the other dishes I made today.

The next dish I made is called a dip, which I was confused about since it’s not what I would think of as a “dip”. It’s pork fat, shallots and garlic that all have been sliced REAL thin and then deep fried. After you fry it you throw it all in a wok and heat it some more as you throw in some chili powder, salt and sugar. I asked Chef why it’s called a dip and she said that they eat it by dipping chunks of sticky rice into it and it sticks to the rice and you pop it in your mouth. Of course it can also be served over rice or as a garnish on dishes, or you can just pop the crispies in your mouth!

This next dish was very pretty. Looks very festive and holiday like!

And lastly, dessert. This one I thought would be great but was just so so. It had too much of a rubbery texture for my liking :), but the fresh shaved coconut was REAL good.