Stirfry GALORE

Lots of Thai dishes are stirfrys made of anythign and EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine. Yesterday we made two different ones for dinner along with omelette [didn't I say they eat omelette all the time?] and rice... of course.

So, first I will give you a run down of how to make a Thai stir fry and then I'll write what we put in each of the three we have made in the past few days [for examples].

1. Pour some oil into a wok [usually we we just use the same wok we used for the omelette and the leftover oil in there is enough].
2. Toss in your meat and fry it until it's nice and cooked
3. Add your vegetables [you may have to cook them halfway first by boiling, depending on what vegetable you use]
4. Add soy sauce, soy bean sauce, oyster sauce and sugar
5. Add a little bit of water
6. Voila - you are finished!!

SO - EXAMPLE #1
MEAT - pork
VEGETABLE - baby corn, broccoli, carrot
ADDITIONAL - garlic [add before the vegetables but after the meat]

EXAMPLE #2
MEAT - pork [I don't eat beef in Thailand so my host family always eats pork]
VEGETABLE - green beans [need to be boiled first]

EXAMPLE #3
MEAT - pork
VEGETABLE - [none]
ADDITIONAL - chili peppers, garlic, Thai herb [I don't know the english name]

"GIN GIN GIN!"

Thai Omelette

Thai Omelettes don't differ much from normal Western Style omelettes except for the amount of oil you use and what you cook it in. Thai Omelettes tend to be fluffier and greasier - the faint of heart should not attempt to eat one.

1. Heat up a considerable amount of oil in a wok [and I mean considerable - at least a cup]. While it is heating up you can beat your eggs in a bowl with whatever else you want to add in. Usually Thai Omelettes are made only with egg and no ingredients because you eat it with rice or with steamed/boiled vegetables. For example when I made an omelette with my parents we ate it with a vegetable and pork stirfry. [I will write later about how to make that].

2. When the oil is heated up [give it a couple minutes] you can add the egg into the wok. It cooks very fast so use a flipper to check to see if the bottom is done and then flip it over [no fancy tossing - there's too much oil in there].

3. When both sides are a nice golden brown - VOILA! You are finished :)

Cookies Thai Style

The ingredients you will need to make the cookies are:

1. แป้งสาลีพัดโบก 500 g [cake flour]
2. แป้งสาลีว่าว 200 g [all purpose flour]
3. นำตาลไอซิง 330 g [icing sugar]
4. เนยสด 110 g [butter]
5. มารการีน 370 g [margarine]
6. ผงฟู 1 tbsp [baking powder]
7. เกลือ 1/4 tbsp [salt]
8. กลินวานิลา 1 tbsp [vanilla flavouring]
9. กลินนมเนย 1 tbsp [buttermilk flavouring]
10. ไข่ 2 [eggs]
11. งา / ลูกเกด / ถัว 200/300 g [sesame/peanuts]

A. Weigh and sift the cake flour [500g], all purpose flour [200g], salt [1/4 tbsp] and baking powder [1 tbsp]. Sift three times.
B. Mix in the icing sugar [330g] and sift again.
C. In a mixer, beat together the butter [110g] and margarine [370g] for 3 minutes.
D. Add the eggs [2] and mix for another 2 minutes.
E. While mixing on a low speed, add in the dry ingredients and beat for 3 minutes.
F. Add in the vanilla flavouring [1 tbsp] and buttermilk flavouring [1tbsp], then mix in the nuts with a spoon so you don't break the mixer.
G. Drop the cookies onto a greased tray and bake in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes. [Depending on how thick you make the cookies it could take longer/a higher temperature].

If you can't find buttermilk flavouring, I'm sure you could vido it from the recipe :)

Peace and Love <3

"Thai Spaghetti" ie Canadian spaghetti... with ketchup

Thai people like to think that this is "ahan falang" [foreigner food], but this is definetely not the way that foreigners eat spaghetti. So, I consider it "Thai food".

Cut the following into small pieces to make the spaghetti sauce:

พริกไทย chile peppers
แครอท carrot
มะเขือเทศ tomato
พริกหยวก green/yellow peppers
หอมหัวใหญ่ onion
หมู pork
ฮอทด็อก hotdogs

Put on a pot of boiling water, and season the water with salt before you add the pasta.
While your pasta is cooking you can start the sauce.

In a wok add some oil and wait until the oil is hot before adding the pork and the hotdogs.
When the pork is fully cooked [it should be brown, not red] you can add the vegetables.
Once the vegetables and meat are cooked fully, turn the heat down and add:

ซอสมะเขือเทศ ketchup

That's right, ketchup. You only need to keep it on the heat for a little longer and then turn the heat off while you mix in the ketchup. Your noodles should be done, you can strain them and pour the sauce overtop.

VOILA!!

Salad and Steak Moong Yor

Today was my first official cooking class at school. Actually, it wasn't official, I just dropped in at the room and said "I'm studying with your class this period." Everyone was super friendly though - the class was M3/8 [grade 9's] and they taught me to write out the recipe in THAI!
That's exciting. First we made salad dressing:

1. Beat together 10 eggs with an electric beater.
2. Over medium heat, simmer together in a saucepan:
3 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup of vinegar
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 glass of water
Once you have simmered this for a while and it has mixed together, you can beat it in with the eggs using the electric beater.
3. Slowly add 1 L of vegetable oil in with your sauce, while still mixing with the electric beater. The sauce should start to thicken and look more like a salad dressing. Then, add a whole can of condensed milk.
4. Finally, add 2 tablespoons of mustard and a cup of mayonnaise in with your sauce.

We served the salad dressing over a mixed fruit dish, but you can serve it over anything. Some ideas for your salad:
Lettuce, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Carrot, Dragonfruit, Apple, Guava, Pineapple, Beans, Nuts, Chicken, Pork, Jellies, Radish, Orange etc.

Thai people put EVERYTHING in their salads.

Next, we made "Steak moong yor" > there is no English translation but I would describe it as a pork meatball, battered and deepfried. It also tastes good with the salad dressing.

To make the meatballs we used two different kinds of pork - I don't know what kind because, again, there is no English translation as pork is not prepared this way in Canada. However, any kind of pork would do.

1. Pound the meat until it has a similar texture to ground beef.

2. Depending on your personal taste, add in the following:

Diced onions

Soya sauce

Pepper

3. Next, prepare your batter. Whisk together in a bowl:

1 cup of all purpose flour

2 tablespoons of oil

1/2 cup of cold water

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

4. Heat up a wok over medium heat and fill it with enough oil to cover the patties.

5. Take handfuls of your meat mixture, form them into circular, flat patties and cover them them in the batter. Thenslowly and carefully drop them in the oil. Keep the patties from sticking to each other and when they are a golden brown you can remove them with a hand strainer and let them cool on a rack over a grease tray.

6. If you want to be SLIGHTLY healthier [not that this is much of a diet recipe to begin with] you can skip battering the patties and fry them the way they are.

Again, You can eat Steak Moong Yor with the salad dressing recipe from above, and they are also good with soya sauce. I also assume that you could eat it with rice [everything is eaten with rice in Thailand].

Sweet Chicken Stew [I forget the Thai name so I made one up]

This particular dish is eaten over steamed rice, but you could eat it with any kind of rice you want, or as a stew!

First, you need to start with a wok [oh, classic Asian cooking] and start to fry some minced garlic and chicken. We used drumsticks but whatever kind of chicken you want to eat is good. I'm assuming you could eat it with pork or beef if that is your preference, or you can vido the meat all together and add vegetables of your choice later. Once the chicken is partially cooked add in cinnamon and sugar.. LOTS of sugar. How much sugar depends on how sweet you want it to be, but the dish is traditionally sweet - that should give you a guideline. I believe we put in a cup of sugar. Keep stirring so the sugar and cinnamon don't burn until the chicken is fully cooked.

Then you are ready to start your stew. Add to the wok enough water to almost cover the chicken, but not drown out the flavour. Keep the water simmering and add brown sugar [again it depends on how much you would like to put in.. we put in another half a cup].

While your stew is simmering, boil some eggs [however many you would like]. When they are finished cooking, cool them in an ice bath so you can peel them right away. Once they are peeled you can add them to your stew in the wok. Add more water if necessary. Then, let your stew simmer for 30 minutes before eating.

Like all Thai dishes, we all had our own plate of steamed rice and the bowl of stew was a community bowl that everyone ate from. The traditional Thai style of eating is to take 2 or 3 spoonfuls of stew/eggs/chicken and pouring it over your rice. Once you are finished that part of your rice you can get another 2 or 3 spoonfuls. More than that 2 or 3 spoonfuls is ... weird :) But, as you probably don't live in Thailand, you can eat it whatever way you would like.

I'll try to get the pictures I have on this as soon as possible, sorry for the long wait.

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves"

Sticky Rice - Khao Neeow [The basis of everything]

Sticky Rice
Many dishes in Thailand are made with Sticky Rice. Not only is sticky rice a staple for dinner and lunch, but for breakfast and dessert as well. The particular dish I learned how to make with Sticky Rice was called "Khao Neeow Sung Kai Ya". However, I figured I would first make a blog post explaining the basic principles of sticky rice first as it has it's own special cooking methods.

First you need to soak the sticky rice in cold water over night. If you are in a hurry you can soak it for an hour, but most people who I ask tell me you should soak it over night.

After the sticky rice has soaked in water you need to start boiling water in a pot [like this one, however if you don't have one like this I'm sure you could use any pot that would fit]. You need to transfer the sticky rice into the wooden basket [or another pot that fits over top of your larger pot] and steam it for 30 minutes to an hour with a cover. Check it, but not too often until it has a sticky but soft consistency.

This is what sticky rice is supposed to look like when it is finished. In Thailand they use a wide wooden circular plate, but I'm sure you could use any sort of plate to spread out the Sticky Rice and let it cool down before you put it away. You can eat it right away [I love sticky rice with salt] or you can save it [at room temperature]. In Thailand they use small baskets to store their Sticky Rice. If you happen to have something like that lying around the house, that would be your best bet. If you have any other storage container, that would probably work as well.

You can eat sticky rice by itself with salt, or with other meals. I like to eat it with Som Tam and I dip it in the sauce that is on the Som Tam. It is also very popular to eat sticky rice with pork or fish :)