Richard Barrow's Life in Thailand - Category: Enjoy Thai Food
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Lunchtime Thai Menu 19 (Updated: 12/05/2008) |
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Crispy Noodles in a Thick Vegetable Gravy (rat naa mee grob) For our Thai lunch today, we decided to have individual meals for each person. Normally we will buy various dishes and then share. All of these meals in this series of the Friday Thai Lunch were bought on the street in Thailand and then brought home to photograph and eat. The first two are one of my favourites and can be bought almost everywhere. In Thai it is called "rat naa". In English you could call it Noodles in a Thick Vegetable Gravy.
Wide Noodles in a Thick Vegetable Gravy (rat naa sen yai) These two dishes both have the same ingredients of pork and Chinese broccoli. However, you can choose what type of noodles you like to have. These are two of my favourites for "rat naa". The top dish has "mee grob" which is a crispy version of the egg noodle, and the one above has "sen yai" which is the wide noodle. You can also choose "sen mee" which is a thin noddle which I don't like so much. I usually alternate between "sen ya" and "mee grob". The gravy is made thick by adding corn flour to the stock. These dishes only cost 25 baht each. Actually, there is more gravy to pour on top but I kept some back so that you could see the ingredients better! This is very good value for money
Egg Noodles in Tom Yum Soup (baa mee tom yum) Around the corner we have a noodle stall where you can order quite a few different versions of noodles that either come dry or in a soup. The price is the same so I usually always ask for the soup too! Again you can choose from a variety of different sized noodles. If you don't know the Thai then you can always point to what ingredients you want! The choice is usually, "sen yai", "sen mee", "sen lek" and "ba mee". My all time favourite is the last one which is called egg noodle in English. It is yellow in colour whereas the others are white. At this stall, I usually alternate between "ba mee kieo nam" (egg noodle soup with wonton) or "baa mee tom yum". The above is the latter version which I love. It is virtually the same but has Chinese morning glory instead and she also adds ground roasted peanuts and a spoonful of nam prik pao (otherwise known as chili jam). She never makes it spicer enough for me so when I get home I always add another spoonful of chili jam and then the dried chilis as well.
Wonton Soup with Red Pork (kieo nam moo daeng) This is the second version with the wontons. These are pork wrapped in a pastry. However, the ingredients can vary. She also added pak choy vegetable and red pork. I like this one with egg noodles. However, this person didn't want any noodles so the noodle vendor added more wontons instead. The soup is always clear and it is up to you about adding the four flavours. These come in packets and include: chillies in fish sauce, chillies in rice vinegar, sugar and chili powder. I usually add them all though not so much of the sugar. I am not as sweet toothed as the Thais seem to be. Both of these dishes cost only 25 baht each.
Khao Tom MadOur dessert today is also one of my favourites. It is called "khao tom mad". It is basically a mixture of sticky rice with coconut cream and sugar. It also has a ripe banana in the middle and you can also see some black eye peas in this picture. It is wrapped in banana leaves and then left to steam for two hours. These cost only 6 baht each. So, our meal for four people was about US$4 today which wasn't bad!
Come back next Friday to thai-blogs.com to see what we are eating in the Paknam Web offices.
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How to eat.... Rambutan (Updated: 12/05/2008) |
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The rambutan is one of my favurite fruit that can be bought in Thailand. It is actually grown all over South-East Asia but here it grows in places like Chantaburi, Rayong and Trad in the East. It is a very distinctive looking fruit with its hairy outer skin. There are two varieties you can buy here: Rong Rien and Si Chompoo. The latter one is in the bottom right of this picture with the pink hairs. The taste is sweet and very succulent. It has a high sugar content as well as Vitamin C. It is also quite cheap. I bought these for 20 baht a kilogram. Or it is 45 baht for a can which also has syrup.
To prepare rambutan for eating is very easy. If I am outside, I might use my fingernail to make a small cut in the skin. Then holding each end, slightly squeeze and twist. At home you should probably use a sharp knife to make the cut. You don't need to cut all around as the skin comes off easily. For presentation, it is best to only take off one half like in this picture. However, don't cut the fruit in half like I did in the top right of this picture. I just did that to show you the seed. This is not edible and some people say it can be poisonous. Though you can apparently eat if it is roasted. It is a narcotic though. Often when I eat rambutan the seed will stick to the flesh. So I have to eat around it. However, when I buy rambutan when I go down to Rayong for a beach holiday, the seed comes out easily. This is because it is freshly picked from the tree. The ones we get in Bangkok are beginning to be too ripe. If the hairs change to black then it is starting to go off. Once it is cut open, I keep it in a container in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.
Thai name: เงาะ
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Lunchtime Thai Menu 18 (Updated: 12/05/2008) |
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Chicken Curry (gaeng gari gai)Despite the increase in food prices, we somehow managed to stay within budget for our weekly Friday Thai Lunch in the Paknam Web offices. The curry today is one of my favourites and is easy to cook as long as you can buy the curry paste ready made. In Thai it is called "gaeng ga-ri gai". The word "ga-ri" comes from the same language root as our own "curry". If you are wondering, "curry" comes from a Tamil word and so therefore suggests that this aromatic curry has an Indian origin. The curry paste has more spices than the average Thai curry. Ingredients include dried chillies, shallots, garlic, galangal, lemon grass, ginger, coriander seeds, comin seeds, curry powder, salt and shrimp paste. You can cook this dish with either chicken or beef. The other main ingredient is the potato. I like eating this dish with what the Thai call a "roti" rather than with rice. The side dish is traditionally cucumber relish. We bought this one for only 20 baht, though at the shopping mall, this curry with roti is about 40-50 baht.
Prawns and Mung Bean Noodles (kung ob wunsen)This is a good dish that uses the transparent wunsen noodles. It seems easy to cook and I will try one day. What you have to do is fry some coriander roots, ginger, peppercorns and onion in a wok until fragrant. Remove these and then add the mung bean noodles to the wok together with a seasoning of salt, sugar, light soy sauce and oyster sauce. Add the shrimp and keep tossing so that it doesn't burn. Now place all the ingredients into a clay pot. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes. This dish cost us 25 baht.
Stuffed Bitter Gourds in PorkI wouldn't eat this dish by itself but it is a good accompaniment with something else. The Chinese bitter melon is a bit like a light green cucumber though larger and it has knobbly skin. To prepare, you need to cut open and remove all of the seeds. This one is stuffed with ground pork, but you sometimes see a vegetarian version with a mushroom mixture. This dish was 20 baht.
Thai Custard with Pumpkin (fakthong sang kaya)This Thai custard with pumpkin is very delicious but I will have to be careful not to eat too often. That is the problem with many Thai desserts as you will put on weight if you are not careful. The way they cook this is very clever. They first clean the outside of a pumkin and then cut a trapdoor in the top. The seeds inside the pumpkin are then scooped out. The Thai custard is made up of a mixture of eggs, sugar and coconut cream. You then stir this mixture together with some pandanus leaves. Once the sugar has dissolved, it is strained through cheesecloth. The pumpkin is then placed in a bowl and the mixture is poured in. The trap door is then put back and it is all then steamed for about 40 minutes. Once it is ready, the mixture should have hardened. It is now cut into wedges about three inches thick. Each wedge costs about 20 baht. Make sure you try this the next time you are in Thailand.
More Thai food on our menu at thai-blogs.com next week.
Don't forget to visit the forums to discuss Thai food!
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Lunchtime Thai Menu 17 (Updated: 12/05/2008) |
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Pork in Tomato Sauce (nam prik ong) Every Friday, we are bringing you pictures of the Thai food that we are eating in the Paknam Web offices. This first dish was a new one for me though I found it worth repeating in the future. The pork and tomato sauce is made up from pounding together chillies, salt, galangal, onion, shrimp paste, garlic and of course the pork and tomatoes. To cook, first fry some garlic in a wok until golden brown. Then add the paste and fry for a few minutes until cooked through. Then add some water and continue cooking until this has evaporated. It is then served with either fresh or cooked vegetables.
Green Curry with Beef (gaeng kiew wan neua) The next dish is an old favourite for many visitors to Thailand. I like both green curry and red curry and you can cook it yourself with just about any meat or even fish. This version is green curry with beef. You can buy the curry paste ready made in most supermarkets around the world. You will also need some coconut milk. In this picture you can see the quartered egg plants and hard peas. When I cook myself I use normal garden peas from the freezer.
Steamed Noodle Rolls (kuay-tiao lod) This is another one of those dishes I haven't had often but it has a good taste. It is basically a noodle wrap that is stuffed with various ingredients. This one had chicken with dried shrimp, tofu and bean sprouts. The topping is a sweet dark soy sauce.
Indian Fried Pastry (roti) Our dessert today is a popular snack often seen on the street. The roti came with Indian immigrants to Thailand. Locally, we buy our roti from a Muslim family. Commonly there are two versions. This one has sweetened milk and sugar which costs about 7 baht each. Another version has an egg instead and is usually about 15 baht each. I will show you some more versions of roti on another day. When you are next in Thailand, make sure you try something new. You never know, it may become your favourite dish.
Don't forget to visit the forums to discuss Thai food!
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Lunchtime Thai Menu 16 (Updated: 12/05/2008) |
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Spicy Salad (yum tua poo)The first dish on our menu for this Friday lunchtime was this spicy salad. The basic ingredients include shrimp, squid, minced pork, hard boiled egg, sliced red shallot, roasted ground peanuts, and dried chilies. The sauce includes coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and a sprinkling of sugar. Not bad at 25 baht a dish.
Radish SoupThe second dish uses Chinese radishes. You need to peel these and then cut them into one inch blocks. You cook the stock with pork on bone. Once the pork has cooked through, add the radish and mushrooms. Some recipes also add dried squid for the stock and fresh shrimp. However, we had clear soup. A basic dish that goes well with something spicier. This was only 20 baht.
Stir-fried bell pepper with porkThis is an easy stir-fried that you can cook yourself in a wok. In Thai it is called "pad prik yuak gup moo". The main ingredient is the green bell pepper. But there is also spring onion, onion and pork. You also add oyster sauce and some sugar. This was 25 baht.
Stir-fried vegetables with porkAnother stir fried dish was this basic one called "pad pak ruam mit" in Thai. When I go to restaurants I often buy this dish as it goes well with most curries. The ingredients will vary depending on what the cook has in stock. I often cook this myself as it is quick and easy. As always, fry some garlic until golden brown. I add the carrots and cauliflower first as they take slightly longer to cook. Keep stirring all the time. Then add the remaining ingredients. Add some water if it starts to dry out. Season with oyster sauce and sugar. Some recipes say add fish sauce instead but I prefer oyster sauce. This version also had pork which obviously you add first! This was 25 baht.
Khanom TomThis is a nice Thai dessert called Khanom Tom. There is a Thai boxing hero with the same name - Nai Khanom Tom. I wrote about him not long ago. I am not sure if he is named after the dessert or the dessert is named after him! Anyway, the filling of this rice ball is made up from grated coconut and sugar that is cooked in a wok until it becomes a thick mixture. When cooled it is rolled into a ball. The outer wrapping is made up from glutinous rice flour and coconut cream. If you want to make the green version, you also add the juice of the pandanus leaf. This gives you the dough after you have left it stand for a while. Then roll the dough into small balls and then flatten them. Add the filling and then wrap the dough around it. These are then boiled in water until they float to the top. They are served with a topping of steamed grated coconut. These are 10 baht for 5 rice balls.
Come back to thai-blogs.com next week for more Thai dishes.
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These blogs were originally published at thai-blogs.com |
