I spent most of the day at the Book Fair at Queen Sirikit Convention Hall. The big fairs are usually during the school holidays in April and October. I used to comment that Thai people don’t like reading much (apart from cartoon books), but every year more and more people go to these book fairs. Today was packed and I could hardly move. I bought quite a few books that I will share with you later, but first I want to show you this book which is all about the Top 10 of Thai Food! Obviously one of my favourite subjects. As you can see, the book is in Thai. I think I already have the best of the Thai cookery books. Most of them are quite limited and repeat themselves a lot. so, that is why today I was browsing through the cook books written by Thai people. A better selection for sure. I bought half a dozen cook books which will help me a lot identifying the ingredients of street food that I have already photographed. I could blog about Thai food every day, I am just lacking the information sometimes.

Anyway, according to this book, the following is the Top 10 list of Thai Food:

1. Hot and sour soup with shrimp ต้มยำกุ้ง (tom yum goong)
2. Green curry with chicken แกงเขียวหวาน (gaeng kiaw waen gai)
3. Fried Noodles ผัดไทย (pad tai)
4. Pork fried in basil ผัดกระเพรา (pat ga-prao)
5. Red curry with roast duck แกงเผ็ดเป็ดย่าง (gaeng pet bet yaang)
6. Coconut soup with chicken ต้มข่าไก่ (tom kaa gai)
7. Thai style salad with beef ยำเนื้อย่าง (yam neua yaang)
8. Satay pork สะเต๊ะหมู (moo sa-teh)
9. Fried chicken with cashew ไก่ผัดเม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์ (gai pat met ma-muang him-ma-paan)
10. Panang curry พะแนง (pa-naeng)

I have already written about most of these dishes as they are all my favourites. You will find them on my new web site at enjoythaifood.com. The others I will do my best to add soon.

By the way, we also have a new forum where you can discuss Thai food!

Doesn't that look delicious? I could almost eat the picture! Yesterday afternoon, I got into the lift at school at the same time as one of the Thai teachers. She had obviously just got back from a trip to Paknam market. I didn't even have to ask her what she had bought. She opened it up and showed me a delicious looking dessert. She then gave it to me. She must have seen the saliva dripping from the corner of my mouth. I tried to say no but she was being typically Thai and wouldn't take no for an answer. Though I must admit I didn't put up much of a fight of refusing it. The dessert looked so delicious. I asked her what the name was and she said "khao nieow dtut" ( ข้าวเหนียวตัด ) which means sticky rice slices.

Arriving in the computer room one of my teachers there asked what I had. I showed her and she said "oh, it is khao nieow naa nuan" (ข้าวเหนียวหน้านวล )! I said no, it is "khao nieow dtut". She insisted it wasn't. I then asked five different Thai people and ended up with them splitting into two different camps. It would now seem that this dessert is known by two different names though "khao nieow dtut" seems to be more popular!

Anyway, you may recognize the topping as being similar to khanom thuay which I talked about before. The white topping is made from rice flour, salt and coconut cream. In this case, as you can see, the layer is much thicker. The second layer here is also different. It is sticky rice. Overall, a very good dessert. And it only costs 5 baht per slice! In the picture you can see two slices.

Most of my favourite Thai curries are coconut based. But there are a couple of spicy ones that are not. The most famous is probably gaeng som, which is a sour soup. It is a bit like a thick vegetable soup that we have back home but it is both hot and sour.

You will find lots of different recipes, though it is often seen with either fish or, in the above case, with prawns. The vegetables in this version are long beans, Chinese cabbage and carrots. The paste is made up with red chilis, chopped red shallots and shrimp paste. The ingredient that is mainly responsible for making it sour is the tamarind juice. A good side dish for this spicy soup is omelette. Try it, it is a different experience.

The other day, when I was with Steve and Jit, I watched some villagers making a large batch of khao tom mat ( ข้าวต้มมัด ).  This is basically sticky rice, bananas and black beans wrapped in banana leaves. This is then steamed though it could also be grilled. You may remember me talking about khanom thian before which is quite similar. Though that one uses sticky rice flour instead.

To make khao tom mat you first dissolve some sugar and salt in a pan of coconut milk. You then add the sticky rice and stir slowly over a low heat until the liquid has dissolved. Next you need to tear up some banana leaves into lengths of about 8 inches long. Spread some of the sticky rice mixture in the middle and then place a halved banana on top. Complete the sandwich with another layer of sticky rice and press in a few black beans. Tie up the banana leaves with a long strip of bamboo. You then place it in a steamer, like the one above, and steam for about an hour or so. The results will look like below. Delicious.

I was quite excited recently to see three new food shops that had opened near my house. That kind of thing doesn’t happen that often. I had been watching this row of shophouses being built and then one by one each owner opened a food shop. At the moment there are three in a row. The ones on either side sell noodles. Nothing exciting about that because there are noodle shops everywhere. However, the middle one had a sign saying “gaeng gup khao” meaning curry with rice. I love curries. (You probably know that already.) The food shop opposite where I live sells curries and soup for take-away. It only costs 15 baht each but they are quite often disappointing. The meat is often miniscule or just bony. If I buy there I have to add my own meat.

So, this morning I set off down the road to investigate what curries they had for sale. I wasn’t disappointed. They had a really nice selection. The sign said 20 baht for one dish with rice and 25 baht for two. Very reasonable. I chose a curry and a chicken dish and indicated that I wanted to take it home by saying in Thai “sai toong” ( ใส่ถุง ). This literally means put in a bag. However, many people say “sai haw” ( ใส่ ห่อ )for when they want take-away. This means wrap in banana leaves which they used to do a lot in the olden days. Even though plastic bags and foam boxes are used more often today, people still stick to the old words. Thee two big bags cost me 45 baht baht. More expensive than the other shop, but just take a look at the picture below and you can see I got value for money. Aroy!

The dish I got was called stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts or gai pat met mamuang himmapaan ( ไก่ผัดเม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์ ) in Thai. Actually they didn’t have cashew nuts which would have made it a bit more expensive. So they substituted with normal nuts. They also added tomatoes which gave it a kind of sauce and sheen that dry versions don’t usually have.

This dish is quite easy to cook. As usual, I won’t give you the amounts because Thai people don’t usually measure anything. Fry some garlic in a pan until golden brown. Then add the finely sliced chicken and cook until ready. Add the onion, cashew nuts, fried dried chilis and spring onion. Stir well. Season with fish sauce, dark soy sauce and a pinch of salt. Garnish with some coriander and fresh red chili.

This is really delicious. I often order this dish when I go to restaurants to eat with friends.

One of my favourite hawker food snacks are the fried quail eggs. You don't always see them around. When I do I usually go straight for them. It costs about 10 baht for a tray. The vendor sprinkles some soy sauce on top and black pepper. You will notice on the picture below that she uses the same hot plate as for khanom krok.

When you eat noodles in Thailand, it is usually eaten dry or with a clear soup to which you add your own condiments. However, there is another noodle called khanom jeen which is quite different in look and taste. These distinctive white noodles are almost spaghetti like. They are made from rice flour and are best bought freshly made. I have never seen them being made, but they are apparently produced by forcing the rice flour through a sieve into a pot of boiling water. They are sold in nest like batches in the market.

The name khanom jeen is a little misleading. It can literally be translated as "Chinese pastry", however it is neither pastry nor Chinese. Some cookery books say that this dish comes from Southern Thailand. However, it would seem that just about every region of Thailand has their own version of this curry. When you are out on the street, you will see noodle shops that specialize in khanom jeen. The tables will be laid out with trays of vegetables which you can help yourself to. In the shop where I took these pictures you had the choice of four different curry sauces.

In the above picture you can see the sauces for three soups that go with khanom jeen noodles. The larger one on the right is "nam ya ga ti" which is sometimes shortened to just "nam yaa". It is the famous version for the central region. In the top left is "nam ya ba" and bottom left is "nam ngiaw". The missing sauce is "nam prik". The first two I mentioned have fish balls (look chin pla) but nam ngiaw is served with chicken pieces. The recipe does vary as you travel around the country but the following should give you an idea of the ingredients.

ขนมจีน น้ำยา - khanom jeen nam yaa

The fish curry sauce is made with fish, ginger, garlic, shrimp paste, shallots, galangal, lemon grass, peppers, coconut milk and fish sauce.

ขนมจีน น้ำเงี๊ยว - khanom jeen nam ngiaw

This curry is made with garlic, red curry paste, yellow bean sauce, diced tomatoes, turmeric, fish sauce, spring onion and coriander. You can use either chicken (as in the picture) or pork ribs.

The sauce is poured on top of the noodles. You then have a selection of vegetables which you eat with it. These include: basil, quail eggs, pickled mustard greens, shredded cabbage and beansprouts. It is a bit unusual but worth your time in trying them out. You can also eat khanom jeen with green curry instead of rice. Try something new the next time you are in Thailand!

The archives for this food blog can be found at http://www.enjoythaifood.com