Spicy Stir-fried Chicken with Long Beans

Judging by the letters we are receiving, people are eager to visit thai-blogs.com on Fridays to see what we are eating for lunch. It is sometimes a challenge for us when producing the Friday Lunchtime Thai Menu. We are restricted to not only street food, but also to a budget of about US$3 for all of us. Plus, we cannot repeat any of our favourites. Every Friday we are eating something new. So, for me it is sometimes hit and miss. But, this first one is one of my favourites. It is called "pat prik khing gai". It is basically pork fried in chili paste with long beans. A simple dish but tasty. The curry paste includes spur chillies, shallots, garlic, lemon grass, coriander root, kaffir lime, dried shrimp and shrimp paste. Strangely, no sign of ginger despite the name being in the title. To cook, marinate the sliced chicken (or pork) with a tea spoon of fish sauce. Blanch the yard long beans in boiling water until nearly cooked. Cut them into one inch lengths. In a hot pan, fry the chili paste until fragrant. Add the chicken and cook until done. Season with sugar and fish sauce and then stir in the beans. The version we had today is not as red looking as it should be. Maybe they watered it down a little. But, what can you expect for only 20 baht.

Hard Boiled Egg in Sweet and Sour Sauce

This is an interesting side-dish that I haven't had before. It is also strangely named in Thai as "kai luk kery". A literal translation is "son-in-law eggs". Basically, some eggs are hard-boiled and then shelled. These are then fried in hot oil until they turn yellow. For the sauce, grind together cilantro root, garlic and pepper. Stir fry them for a short while. Then add palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind sauce. Add some water and then simmer until it becomes a thick sauce.

Clear Soup with Mixed Vegetables

This is a clear soup called "gaeng liang" in Thai. It is not really spicy so don't be misled into thinking that "gaeng" always means hot and spicy. The soup stock is mixed with shrimp paste, pepper, red shallots and dried shrimp which has been grounded until well combined. It is really up to you about the vegetables. This one has shrimp, pumpkin, wax gourd, baby sweetcorn, and sweet basil leaves. This is alright as a side dish and cost us only 20 baht. I wasn't thrilled about it.

Sticky Rice Grilled in Banana Leaves

The final one today is our dessert. It is called "khao niew ping". It is basically sticky rice with a mystery contents grilled in banana leaves over a charcoal fire. You need to ask what it contains unless you like to be surprised. To ask, just say "sai a-rai". The choices are: banana, taro, shredded coconut or mung beans. Not too bad if you are not expecting much. These cost 6 baht each.

Come back next Friday to see what we ate for lunch!

Green Chicken Curry (gaeng khiao wan gai)

We are now onto Week 8 of our Friday Lunchtime Thai Menu. If you have just joined us, we are trying to buy a meal every Friday for four people that will only cost us not much more than $3. Sounds impossible? Not if you live in Thailand. Thai Street Food is both cheap and delicious. The first dish on our menu today is a classic example. It is a chicken green curry which is among the favourites of many foreign tourists. Believe it or not, this dish only cost 20 baht and tasted just as good as from a restaurant.

I often cook green or red curry at home as it is quite simple. I also like making up my own recipe for this but here is the traditional method of cooking. First add the green curry paste to the pan of hot oil. You can buy this ready made down at the market. When it becomes fragrant, gradually add the coconut milk. If you are Western you will now be asking for exact measurements. But, in Thai cooking you use your gut feeling. Keep stirring until a green oil surfaces to the top. Next add the sliced chicken. You could also use beef or pork. Remember, Thai people don't use knives so everything has to be pre-cut to bite size. At the same time you should add the kaffir lime leaves. These should be torn just before adding so that the fragrance is released immediately. Once it is cooked through, transfer to a pot. Add the remaining coconut milk and season with sugar and fish sauce. Bring it back to the boil. Now add the eggplants that have been quartered. Sometimes the pea eggplants are added but I find these too hard. I usually add frozen garden variety peas instead. Once the eggplant is cooked, add sweet basil leaves and the red chilies. Now it is ready to eat!

Fried Chicken with Basil Leaves (gai pad gra-prow)

This is a favourite among Thai people and is often bought in shops as a one dish meal topped with a fried egg. I think the minced pork version is more common, though this chicken one is just as good. When you buy as a meal with rice it will cost about 25 baht. You might need to add an extra 5 baht for the fried egg. As we bought without rice it cost us only 20 baht. This can be a very spicy dish so you might like to say "pet noi" which will result in the cook not using so many chillies. The ones used in this dish are the small variety and can be very hot. A small handful is used. In Thai these are called "prik kee noo" which translates as mouse dropping chili. To cook, use a mortar and pestle to ground the chilies and garlic. Then add to hot oil until fragrant. Add the chicken and stir until done. Season with fish sauce and sugar. Some recipes add oyster sauce too. Now add the holy basil which gives it a very distinctive taste. Also add a sliced spur chili. It is now ready to eat.

Salad (salad khaek)

I guess we will have to start blaming you, our readers, for not allowing us to have balanced meals on Fridays. I would have much preferred to have a stir fried vegetable dish with the above. But, we are not allowed to repeat and are trying our best to come up with unique menus each week. This next one is called "salat khaek" which could be translated as Indian style salad. Though I think only because mayonnaise is not used for the dressing. Here they use a spicy peanut dressing similar to the one used for the satay pork dish. In this picture you can also just see some white bean curd which was actually quite nice. They sell these in plastic bags by the side of the road for only 20 baht.

Coconut Jelly Dessert (wun gati)

I don't normally eat Thai desserts as I find them too sweet. But it is alright once a week in the interest of research for this series of blogs. This first one is a hardened version of my all time favourite "khanom tuay". The lady selling this one comes during the day ringing her bell. If I can catch her I will share some pictures with you. This version is called "wun gati" which is a coconut jelly. The green colouring is natural and comes from the pandanus leaf which is often used in desserts.

Grated Coconut Pudding (kanom sod sai)

This is one of those surprise desserts that you buy wrapped in a banana leaf. You will need to ask what is inside unless you like lucky dip! This one is called "khanom sod sai" though sometimes you might hear it being called "khanom sai sai". The brown filling in this one is shredded coconut though you will sometimes find alternatives. The pudding is sticky rice with a topping of coconut cream and rice flour. This is then wrapped in a banana leaf and put in a steamer for about ten minutes. Four of these cost about 10 baht so it is worth experimenting.

I hope you enjoyed looking at our meal as much as we enjoyed eating it. Come back next Friday to see what we will eat next. In the meantime, please browse some of my most popular Thai Food Blogs.

When you are travelling, one of the highlights is always tasting the local specialties. Last weekend I was in Nakhon Pathom which is famous for khao lam - which is sticky rice cooked in a bamboo tube. There are different recipes. You can use either black or white sticky rice. Some will also have black beans. The white in this picture is egg custard. This dessert is flavoured with coconut milk. There is another version in Chonburi and I will show you the difference later.

When you buy them you usually have to say how many bamboo tubes you want. The classifier for this is "grabok". They are usually 35 baht each or three for 100 baht. I bought a bundle of three and she threw in a thinner tube for free. It is so nice when they do this. Around some tourist attractions, some vendors get greedy when they see foreigners and will try and overcharge. After you have chosen which one, she will ask whether you want her to crack it open. Even if you are taking it home it is probably a good idea to get her to do this. You can see in the above picture that she has got the machete out and is chopping away. Make sure you stand back. I had one for lunch and it was so tasty that I went back to get another bundle. Not for myself, but for friends back home. Whenever I tell Thai people that I have been away for the weekend, the first thing they always ask is, what food did I bring back for them!

If you haven't tried khao lam already, then do try the next time you get a chance. As well as Central Thailand, they have a version in the north.

Thai name: ข้าวหลาม​

Chicken and Wax Gourd Curry (kaeng khua fuk kap gai)

This is the continuation of our Friday Lunch Menu where we show you that Thai Street Food is not only cheap but can also be very delicious. The first on the menu is the chicken and wax gourd curry. This is similar to the Red Curry with Pineapple and Mussels that we had for lunch the other week. Wax gourd is sometimes called a winter melon though it is longer in shape. The Thai name sounds a bit like an English rude word which we won't repeat here. To prepare, peel the gourd, discard the seeds and then cut into one inch chunks. Heat the coconut milk and then add the red curry paste. Next add the chicken and continue cooking for a few minutes. Finally add the gourd. Season with sugar, fish sauce and tamarind juice. This dish cost us 25 baht from a street food vendor.

Fried Salted Fish (pla khem tod)

I am never too keen on dried fish. From the point of view of a housekeeper, it is good because it keeps for many days. But, I found this one to be too salty. Maybe more than it should. After they gut the fish, they rub in a salt mixture. This is then left in the sun to dry for a couple of days. Extra flavour comes from any passing cat that might lick at it or dust kicked up from a passing car. This is then deep fried so it becomes crispy. It only costs 8 baht a piece and is a cheap meal with rice for some people.

Stir-Fried Striped Clams(pad hoi lai)

I am not too fond of clams, but living in Paknam I know they are widely available at the market. These are fresh water clams which live in the mud. In Paknam Market, a kilo of these would cost only 50 baht. You have to rinse them in water until they open up. Make sure you get all the mud out. The ingredients are very basic. Only garlic, salt and what some people call chili jam (nam prik pao). Sweet basil leaves are added at the end. This dish cost 20 baht.

Fried Mungbean Noodles with Egg (pad wunsen sai khai)

This is a basic vegetarian dish, though you could also add say minced pork. The vegetables here are carrot, tomato, Chinese cabbage, onion and spring onion. The transparent noodles (wunsen) are first soaked in water. They are then added to the frying pan at the last minute as they don't need so much cooking. This dish also has egg. You season it with dark and light soy sauce and sugar. A cheap dish for 20 baht.

Pearl Barley Pudding (luk deuei nam kati)

Our dessert today is this pudding with pearl barley topped with coconut cream. Sugar is first dissolved in a pot of water. Then tapioca flour is added to the syrup. It is stirred until clear. Then the pearl barley is added. Other versions you can add mung beans. The coconut milk has salt added and is brought slowly to the boil until the salt dissolves. This is then the topping. I can't say I was too keen on this dessert. I suppose it is what you grow up to be used to. This dish cost only 10 baht.

Our meal today was under budget at only $2.70 for four people. All of the food we have bought for this series of food blogs are bought separate from rice. This makes it easy to share with other people and saves money. However, it is also quite common to be able to buy meals for one person from street vendors. For example chicken on rice or a bowl of noodles. These dishes I will tell you about on another day.

Today I am going to show you the menu for my breakfast this morning. To be honest, I don't normally eat Thai food for breakfast. I usually have a traditional Western breakfast of cereals or fried egg and bacon. This kind of breakfast is actually becoming more common among Thai people in Bangkok. But, most Thai people will just have the leftovers from their meal the night before. Personally, I prefer not to start my day with something hot and spicy. For people who prefer something lighter and plainer for breakfast, then a bowl of johk is a good choice. This is a rice congee which usually has minced pork and an egg. When I am away on one of my road trips around Thailand, I often buy johk at a food stall by the side of the road for breakfast. It is very cheap and a good way to start the morning. This bowl was 15 baht and then an extra 5 baht for the optional egg.

This dish is made with broken rice which is then cooked for longer than normal. Broken rice is cheaper to buy. You can buy normal rice if you like and break it yourself! This is usually achieved by stirring it often while it is being cooked. But that is a lot of effort. It is cheaper and easier to buy broken rice. You boil the rice with a pinch of salt and some pandanus leaves. You need to stir often unlike when cooking normal rice. It is then seasoned with soy sauce, pepper, spring onion and coriander. The dish I had this morning contained minced pork shaped into small balls. But, it could also have sliced kidney, liver, chicken or even fish. It is up to you. Before serving they sprinkle shredded ginger on top. As I am not a fan of so much ginger, I usually say "mai dtong sai khing". However, for authenticity of the picture, I had to sprinkle it on top today. Like I said, an egg is an extra 5 baht. This is partially cooked already but is basically still raw. They crack it into the thick rice soup just before serving and the heat from the rice will complete the cooking process for you.

Another common snack for breakfast is pa thong ko which is basically deep-fried dough. A kind of Chinese version of donuts, though the taste is plainer and it can be very oily. It is best to buy these freshly cooked while they are still crispy. Also check the condition of the oil used for cooking. If it is very black then that is a sign it has been used too often. There are several versions though the one pictured above is considered the original. It starts as long strips of dough that is cut into shorter lengths. Two pieces, of different lengths, are stuck together with water before being dropped into the hot oil. Thai people refer to two lovers being inseparable as like "pa thong ko". You can either eat this with your coffee or cut it up into pieces and stir it into your "johk" which is what I did this morning. You can also have it with a green custard or drink together with soy bean milk. But, that is mainly the evening version which I will talk about another day.

In Thai: โจ้ก (johk) ปลาท่องโก๋ (pa thong ko)

Spicy Minced Meat with Herbs (larb moo)

This is the continuation of our Friday Lunch Menu where we show you that Thai Street Food is not only cheap but can also be very delicious. Our budget for four people is about US$3. Today we had larp which is a kind of salad. The recipe has been around for hundreds of years. There are different versions of it in different regions of Thailand. Quite commonly it contains minced pork or chicken like in this one. The Isaan version has raw meat but I prefer to have this cooked version. The seasoning includes lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar and mint. There are also finely sliced red shallots. The key ingredient that makes this a larp is the roasted rice powder. This is uncooked rice which is roasted and then finely grounded. It is usually served with raw vegetables such as cabbage, snake beans and cucumber. I enjoyed eating this dish which had a distinct lemony taste. This dish cost us 25 baht.

Red Curry with Pineapple and Mussels (Kaeng Khua Subparod Sai Hoi)

I have seen different versions of this dish. More commonly it is wax gourd and chicken. But this version has pineapple and sea mussels. The spices that are used to make the coconut curry include dried chillies, minced galangal, minced lemon grass, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste. This is pounded in a mortar until finely grounded. I liked the curry a lot as well as the sweet pineapples. But I am not that keen on the sea mussels! But it wasn't too bad. The price was 20 baht.

Stir Fried Morning Glory with Pork and Shrimp Paste

Of all the dishes today this one was the one I disliked the most. The pork and morning glory was good. However, I think the cook went a bit overboard with the shrimp paste. The taste was very strong so I could only eat a little. This dish cost 20 baht.

Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai)

I have shown you pictures of this one before. It is by far my favourite and I often order at restaurants. However, as this one was only 20 baht you basically get what you paid for. There wasn't too much chicken and the taste wasn't as strong as it should be. The key ingredients, apart from the coconut milk, is the galangal (which is very good for your health) and lemon grass. However, I couldn't find any galangal though I could taste it. Maybe they recycled it for another dish! It was still delicious and well worth the money. But, in the future I think I will only eat this dish in a restaurant.

I am thinking next week we might go a slightly different direction and switch from lunch to breakfast! Let's see. Come back next week to thai-blogs.com to see what Thai food we will eat.

Minced Pork and Tofu Clear Soup

This is the continuation of my weekly Thai Lunch that I am documenting on thai-blogs.com and enjoythaifood.com. Our budget is always about 100 baht which we are able to do because we buy Thai Street Food and then bring back to the office to share. The first one today is a clear soup which compliments very nicely anything else that might be a bit spicy. In Thai it is called Gang Jued Tao Hoo Wun Sen. I have seen some variations that use eggs, but more commonly, the dish is made with tofu. It is a basic soup that has cilantro root, garlic and pepper. The minced pork balls are then cooked in this boiling stock. It also has wun sen which is the transparent noodle. At the end it is seasoned with fish sauce which is the Thai way of adding salt. Chopped spring onion and cilantro leaves are sprinkled over the top. This dish was 20 baht but could cost you nearly $1 elsewhere.

Steamed Fish Curry (haw mok pla)

I am never that keen on seafood, but haw mok pla is one of my favourite seafood dishes. This one was bought down the market for only 20 baht. This is made with serpent-head fish, though you can also find pork or chicken versions if you don't like seafood. But, give this one a try as I am sure, like me, you will love it. In the picture, you can see that the meal is presented in a banana leaf bowl (hence the name). The leaves have changed colour as they have been in a steamer for about twenty minutes. To make, add the curry paste to one cup of coconut milk in a mixing bowl. Add some fish sauce and stir well. Next add an egg and season with fish sauce. Another cup of coconut milk is added slowly while you continue stirring for a further twenty minutes. At the end, stir in briefly chopped basil leaf, coriander, and kaffir lime leaf. This mixture is then scooped into the banana leaf cups. This is then steamed over boiling water for about twenty minutes. Before serving, coconut cream is poured over the top. Very delicious. I have seen miniature versions of these dishes in restaurants. But, nothing beats the real thing from the street hawkers.

Thai Fish Cakes (tod man pla)

The next one can easily be eaten as an afternoon snack. If you have ever been to Thailand then you would surely know that Thai people like snacking all day. This one is a curried fish cake. However, it is not as spicy as you might think. Don't be fooled by the green ingredients in the fish cake. This is not green chili as I used to think. It is in fact finely sliced long beans! You will also find finely shredded kaffir lime leaf. This makes it a little sour in taste. The ingredients are mixed in a bowl and then made into small patties. This is then deep fried until golden brown. This dish cost 25 baht. Again, I am not fond of seafood but this is one of my favourite roadside snacks.

Sticky Ricky with Ripe Mango

The final dish is a Thai dessert and is a favourite for most foreign visitors. It can be quite sweet at times, so don't pour too much coconut cream on the sticky rice. Of all the Thai desserts, you must try this one at least once. But a word of warning, it is very addictive and will expand your waistline.

Come back next Friday to see what we have on the Lunchtime Thai Menu. As always, please keep sending in your comments and suggestions either in the comment section below or as an email.