New Ingredient Day! - Water Mimosa

Pad Pak Grachet (Stir Fried Water Mimosa)

A week or so back now after my last visit to Nong Fern Thai Supermarket, I picked up something new; water mimosa. I’ve seen it a couple of times but never tried it before. It looked kind of strange, so decided it was high time to give it a go. It’s got long crunchy stems with lots of small, fern like fronds on it. Like a lot of Thai green vegetables, it’s often served as a side dish. I cooked it exactly the same way as another vegetable recipe I did a few weeks back- Pad Pak Kat Khiao 

To start I gave the whole thing a really good wash before separating the long stems into stalks and fronds. I discarded some of the tougher ends and twiggy bits before cutting the crunchy stems into inch long pieces. Everything else was then done as in the recipe (linked) above.

The verdict- It took a little bit of getting used to as it seemed very green and plant like (rather than food like), if that makes sense. I liked the mixture of the crunchy stems and the softer leafy bits. All the flavours used in the dish coated the mimosa and really complemented it’s slightly earthy flavour. All in all, I don’t think I’d rush to have it again but it was enjoyable to try it none the less.

Gaeng Pha Neua (Jungle curry with Beef)

I guess for most of us when we imagine a Thai curry we think of a rich coconut based red or green sauce. This is one of several Thai curries that doesn’t use any coconut milk- without the mitigation of cooling coconut milk, it’s also the hottest. It’s a northern dish- and the name, jungle curry is a nod to the ingredients traditionally using meats, herbs and vegetables that could be found wild. I’ve used beef but this is a great curry to use all vegetables or other meats; in Thailand, frog is a popular choice.

For 2 people (or double up for 4) use

• a beef steak (frying steak is fine) cut into thin strips


• your choice of crunchy vegetables cut into small pieces- I’ve used green beans, mange tout, carrots and Thai pea aubergines


• a heaped tablespoon of Red curry paste, Mae Ploy brand is my choice but all supermarkets will sell red curry paste


• ½ pint/ 300ml chicken/vegetable stock


• a good splash of Thai fish sauce (nam pla)


• finely chopped birds eye chillies- I used 6- this is a hot curry, be brave!


• 4 kaffir lime leaves, rolled and finely shredded


• finely chop a peeled finger of krachai (optional) but very authentic if you can get it- Thai or Chinese supermarkets stock it, it’s also called lesser ginger or galingale (not to be confused with galangal)


• a handful of Thai basil (holy or sweet) substitute tarragon if you can’t get Thai basil.


• vegetable/sunflower oil for frying

Start off by heating some oil in a wok or frying pan. When it’s hot, add in the red curry paste and stir fry it for around 30 seconds before adding in your vegetables. Fry these in the paste for a couple of minutes before adding your meat and fry for a further two minutes. Now add in the liquids (stock and fish sauce) and the krachai (if you have it) can go in too. Let this cook down a bit- around 5 minutes on a medium heat, then turn the heat off and stir your Thai basil through. Serve with boiled rice and sprinkle the chillies and kaffir lime leaf over the top.

Pad Ped Sator Goong (Prawns & Stink Beans Fried in Red Curry Paste)

Well, what can I say about this dish. I ate it 24 hours ago and it is still making it’s presence very much known. This is a dish for those brave foodies that will stop at nothing in their quest for new tastes. Typically, this is a Southern Thai dish and Sator beans are usually only available in the early summer months. This is one dish where I’m not going to attempt to suggest substitutes as nothing compares to the genuine article. Let me describe a stink bean… about the same size as a large broad bean, much denser, almost the same texture and crunch as a freshly picked hazelnut. Taste upon eating is vaguely sulphurous and a little acrid. Soon after, you’re left with a feeling of pent-up heat in the body. Later on- the name lives on; you can taste it in your mouth for 24 hours; even after many drinks/ teeth cleanings. If you sweat, I imagine you would smell of it and it has much the same effects as asparagus on body functions, only multiplied and for much longer. If you’re still wanting to try this, here’s my recipe…

For 2 people:

• A pack of raw or cooked king prawns


• A pack of stink beans (sator or even called petai or parkia- available fresh from Thai supermarkets,sometimes frozen but I would give them a miss if frozen).


• A tablespoon of red curry paste (I use Mae Ploy) check ingredients and try to get a good one without unnecessary fillers and additives

• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly


• 2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded (most supermarkets sell these fresh)


• a splash of fish sauce (nam pla) all supermarkets have this


• ½ a cup of water


• vegetable/sunflower oil for frying

Heat the oil in a wok, When hot, stir fry the garlic slices for just a few seconds before adding the curry paste, stir until fragrant and strong.After 30 seconds or so, put the prawns in. If using raw, cook until prawns are pink. If using cooked, stir fry for around a minute then add the stink beans. Fry for another minute before adding the fish sauce and water to make a sauce. Give everything a good mix for a minute more before adding the shredded kaffir lime leaf and serve. I served mine with white rice.

PS. Don’t have this if you are due to a) go on a date b) visit the dentist or c) have a one to one meeting with your boss within the next 48 hours!!

Stocking up at Nong Fern Thai supermarket, Leeds

I was at a conference in Halifax today which involved a cross county jaunt starting at 5am this morning. Despite the long day, on my way back I had a 45 minute wait in Leeds for the next train which meant a quick dash to the Thai supermarket, Nong Fern on Vicar Lane  for a stock up. Twitter- https://twitter.com/nongfernleeds

Facebook- (https://www.facebook.com/nongfernthaileeds)

What a fantastic little supermarket. Monday is their fresh delivery day which meant I was spoiled for choice, there were many types of leafy/herby vegtables that I’d not come across before. I did pick up a few favourites, such as an unripe papaya to make som tam with, 3 packets of sweet basil and oyster sauce and some other ingredients that I plan to use this week- pea aubergines and krachai (wild ginger) that will go into a beef jungle curry that I’m making in a few days

I picked up something new that I've not used before, water mimosa so will investigate recipes that I can use that in and bought something that is most definitely an acquired taste that I’ve used just once before and my husband thinks are disgusting- stink beans or to give them their Thai name- sator. They come in the most amazing twisted pods that look like this…

Stink beans/ sator/ petai or even parkia (names vary!)

To use them, I’ll be making pad phed sator goong later this week too. For a bag full of really fresh Thai ingredients, my bill came in at £15.77 which I thought was very reasonable. They also do great steamed char sui buns at the counter.

Pad Gaprao Gai (Chicken and Thai basil stir fry)

I’ve just finished eating this so wanted to share this one quickly while the memories of how delicious this dish is are fresh. It’s hot, salty and packed with flavour. It’s also quick to make, a little greasy and is the perfect chaser for a night out drinking. It’s a quintessential Thai street food dish.

This is a one person recipe:

• ½ cup white rice


• 1 egg


• 1 small chicken breast/ 2 chicken thighs, chopped in small chunks (substitute pork if you like)


• 3 small red chillies (more or less, if you like), chopped into a few pieces


• 3 cloves of garlic


• a glug of oyster sauce (supermarkets sell it in bottles)


• a big splash of soy sauce


• a pinch of sugar


• a handful of Thai basil leaves* ( the herb tarragon makes a decent substitute as it has a similar aniseedy flavour- steer clear of Mediterranean basil which is nothing like Thai basil).


• vegetable/ sunflower oil for frying

Start by getting a pan of water on to boil and put in the rice when the waters bubbling rapidly. With the rice starting to cook, in a pestle & mortar (or crushed with the back of a blade on a chopping board) crush the chillies and garlic, just roughly and leave for a moment. In a wok or frying pan, heat a fair amount of oil. When it’s hot, carefully break in your egg, splash the hot oil all over it and let the bottom get crispy and brown. When your happy that your egg’s done, lift it out, put in on kitchen paper and leave it somewhere warm to sit whilst you do everything else. Still in the same hot oil,start frying the garlic/chilli for a few seconds before adding in the chopped chicken. After 3 minutes or so, the chicken should be mostly cooked; add in the sugar, oyster and soy sauces and stir, before letting the liquid reduce down. Turn the heat off and stir the basil leaves through the chicken for a few seconds. Now it’s time to drain the rice, plate everything up. Put your fried egg on top and sink in.


* the name of this dish - Ka Prao means holy basil, officially since I’ve used Thai sweet basil I should be calling it Pad Bai Horapha Gai. However, I have tried cooking this with holy basil and it just tastes unpleasant. I don’t think holy basil leaves ship well- by all means give it a go with the holy basil if you can get hold of it but be prepared for it to taste like soggy tea leaves!

Pad Pak Kat Khiao (Stir Fried Chinese Cabbage)

Following on from the weekend’s porky feast I decided a healthier vegetable side dish would go down well. This is a really flexible dish- It can be made with whatever crunchy vegetables you have in store and is a great way of using up left over veggies. Add in a few more varieties or perhaps cashew nuts too and serve with rice for a full meal. This version is as follows…

For 2 people I used:

• half a chinese leaf/cabbage, leaves cut into large chunks (available at all the main supermarkets)


• a broccoli stalk, cut into thick slices


• 2 small chillies (any colour is fine)


• 2 cloves of garlic (cut into slices)


• A good splash of oyster sauce (all supermarkets sell it- just make sure you get a bottle of plain oyster sauce, not sachets of oyster stir fry sauces, which often have lots of added ingredients)


• A good splash of soy sauce


• A pinch of sugar


• small amount vegetable/sunflower oil for frying

Get the oil heating in a frying pan or wok. When it’s hot, throw in the garlic and chillies and stir, just for a few seconds to flavour the oil. Add in all the vegetables you’ll be using and keep stir frying for a few minutes. Once the veggies have softened and maybe even a hint of charring to them, add in the oyster and soy sauces, followed by the sugar. Stir everything well for a minute more then serve out onto a plate. For some reason this tastes even better when it’s left to keep warm in the oven for 5 minutes before serving- give it a go, let me know what combinations of veggies you prefer.

Moo Grob (Deep Fried Pork Belly)

Okay so the last two dishes I posted were healthy ones so that’s my justification for this seriously tasty but artery blocking dish. Imagine a giant pork scratching that still has all the meat attached and you get moo grob. I should probably recommend that it’s served with some vegetables but let’s be realistic, it won’t change the fact your still going to be consuming one giant hunk o’ deep fried pig- enjoy responsibly!!

For 2 you’ll want-

• a nice fresh, even piece of belly pork with equal layers of rind, fat and meat


• half a cup of white wine vinegar


• Thai sweet chilli/ Sriracha sauce for dipping


• and a shed load of vegetable/sunflower oil for frying

Okay, start things off by boiling the belly pork, yes, like the last recipe, the meat is boiled first. Keep it on a steady boil for around 30 minutes until the pork is fully cooked. It’ll look pretty miserable at this stage, all grey and floppy but don't despair. Take it out and pat it dry all over with kitchen towel. The skin will now be soft and a little gluey. The skin may already have been pre- scored but to make sure you end up with ultra crispy skin, spent some time cutting a deep grid pattern through the rind and follow that up with a fork or skewer, stabbing the pork all over the rind, right through to the meat. Take a plate, pour your white wine vinegar onto it and lay the pork, skin side down into the vinegar, this helps it to dry out and tighten up. Leave it bathing in the vinegar for ten minutes while you get your largest pan heating, filled about half way with the oil. After ten minutes, take the pork out of the vinegar and again, thoroughly dry it all over with kitchen towel. Hopefully now the oil should be really hot, if you have a deep frying thermometer, about 180*c/ 350f. I cannot stress enough at this point- YOU MUST HAVE A WELL FITTING LID FOR THE PAN. Gently and swiftly, lower the pork skin side down into the boiling oil and get the lid on instantly- It may even need to be held down as it will bubble and pop like crazy for a while. Keep on a medium heat. Eventually, it will calm down but don’t go away, after 10/15 minutes it should be deep brown and crisp. Be very careful when lifting the lid off as there will be condensation inside the lid which can crackle and spit if it falls in the oil. Turn the pork over in the oil, to give it just a few minutes cooking on the other side and you’re done. Lift it out and drain on kitchen towel before using your biggest knife to cut it into chunks. Serve with Thai sweet chilli or Sriracha sauce for dipping the chunks into. Messy, unhealthy but totally worth it!

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

Som Tam (Green papaya salad)

I am addicted to som tam, yes, it’s a salad and that’s not something you’ll often hear. But som tam is no ordinary salad- it’s quintessentially Thai- it balances sweet, fiercely hot, sour and salty flavours and an awesomely crunchy texture. The juices dribble down your chin and the heat makes your nose and eyes run and leaves you looking somewhat spaced out. Give it a go and you’ll soon be addicted too! This salad, whilst made with several Thai ingredients, is an easy one to find excellent substitutes for.

For two portions you’ll need-

• An unripe green papaya (substitute 3 large carrots) 

• 3 snake or long beans, trimmed and chopped in pieces (10 regular green beans are a perfect substitute)

          

• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved


• the juice of 2 limes


• a good splash of fish sauce (called Nam Pla in Thai) don’t be tempted to use soy sauce- it doesn’t work. All the main supermarkets sell fish sauce


• a handful of salted peanuts


• 4 cloves of garlic peeled


• a dessert spoon of sugar (more or less to your taste)


• small red chillies, chopped roughly (however many you can handle! I use 4)

Like many Thai dishes, the recipe starts with a  paste. You’ll need a pestle and mortar (or improvise with a plastic/ metal bowl and the end of a rolling pin) Bash up the garlic cloves and chillies and sugar, only lightly though- you are only breaking it up a little. Add the lime juice and fish sauce to loosen everything and pop into a bowl. Next throw the bean pieces into the mortar and lightly bash them up too, tip in your bowl, Tomatoes next, again only very lightly to get the juices- throw them in the bowl too. Now the peanuts, lightly crush- throw half in the bowl and keep half back to top the salad with. Finally, with your papaya (or carrots) start by peeling the skin off. There’s basically two ways to prepare them- the fancy way (and probably safer/quicker) is to use a julienne peeler that cuts ribbons, I found graters are too fine and you end up with a pile of mush. If you really get into som tams like I did- I ended up ordering a gadget called a KomKom direct from Thailand- it was only a few pounds and shreds wonderfully.



However, if you like to live life on the edge and have no qualms about serious injury to hands and fingers, prepare your papaya in true thai style, get the largest knife/cleaver you have and holding the papaya, whack deep vertical lines all round, keep turning the papaya as you go. Eventually when you’ve done enough damage, shave the layers off the papaya. Check this youtube video for an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHUC8he02fU

Finally, throw the papaya shreds in the bowl with everything else, give everything a good mix around, let the salad sit for ten minutes for the flavours to develop and serve up, sprinkling the top with the remaining peanuts. If all goes to plan, five minutes later you’ll be  puffing and blowing with burning lips and a streaming nose but you’ll be back for more, soon enough…

Khao Man Gai (Fatty Chicken Rice)

This is one of my favourite (and most simplest) Thai street food dishes to make. It’s a really plain meal but made wonderfully fragrant by the delicious sauce it’s served with. The chicken is boiled which may seem odd but it ends up really juicy and plump.

A greedy portion for one is made from:

• A half chicken portion (a small whole chicken for 2/3 people)


• Half a cup of white rice


• a few slices of crisp cucumber


• A small handful of roughly chopped coriander

The sauce is made from:

• A thumb sized piece of peeled ginger


• Small chillies, red or green ( I like my food hot so went for 3)


• Cloves of peeled garlic (again, I like strong flavours so used 4)


• A small dash of dark soy sauce


• A larger splash of light soy sauce


• An equally large splash of white wine vinegar


• a big punch of sugar


• A big old glug of fermented soy bean paste- it looks like this:

Unless you have access to an Asian food store, this is the potential problem- it provides a savoury, salty and thickening quality to the sauce. My only real suggestion for a substitute is miso paste (but not miso soup sachets). Sainsburys sell jars of it for £1.99 and Tesco for £1.49

To start, I get things moving by getting a pan of water boiling for the chicken (only fill the pan half way or when you put the chicken in it’ll overflow). I’ve experimented with adding lemongrass, pepper, coriander etc. to the boiling water but quite frankly, I find it makes no difference to the end result. When the water’s boiling you want to place the chicken in and leave it on on a steady simmer. It will really depend on the size of your chicken as to how long it will take. For my small, half chicken portion it took around 30 mins, maybe 50 mins for a full bird. Please do test as you go; you’ll see the skin and meat begin to separate and tear easily when it’s done.

When the chicken has gone into the pot, you want to get another pan of water on the boil for the rice. The fatty part of the recipe name (Khao = rice, Man = fatty and Gai = chicken)  is because at this point you want to tip around half of the chicken cooking liquid into the rice pan, so it will absorb some of the flavours of the broth. Strictly in Thailand, the rice would be cooked by the absorption method so all the broth would be used to cook and soak into the rice- I’ve tried this, and for my tastes, it was WAY too greasy. Aim to start cooking the rice 10-15 minutes before the chicken will be done.

So for the last 10/15 minutes of chicken and rice cooking time, I make the sauce by bashing up the ginger, chillies and garlic in a pestle and mortar, or mini chopper. Put the chopped paste into a small pan and add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Give it all a stir and gently heat the sauce through. Once it’s well heated, empty it out into a ramekin or dipping sauce type pot. Slice your self a few pieces of cucumber (to me it always tastes better on a steep diagonal, no idea why but it’s usually done like that in Thailand) and if you haven’t already, chop up a small handful of coriander.

Okay, time to plate up and get eating. Drain the chicken, take off the slimy skin (unless you enjoy this sort of thing), serve whatever cuts you like the look of- I was greedy and had a breast and drumstick. Drain the rice (but don’t rinse). Plate both along with the cucumber, coriander and sauce.

Don’t skimp on the sauce- each bite deserves a dribble!

Welcome to the blog!

I simply cannot get enough of Thai food. I am truly obsessed and have been for some fifteen years now. My first introduction to Thai food was a tasty (but now looking back) incredibly unauthentic Jamie Oliver green prawn curry, swiftly followed by a much more authentic Delia Smith version. Time moved on and a gap year trip took me to Thailand in person and the love affair began. A second trip later and still numerous years since and I still cannot get enough.

This blog is a culmination of some of the many Thai recipes I have collated over the years, with a twist on just how the hell one can get hold of, or indeed exchange Thai ingredients for half decent substitutes.

Until recently I live in a mid sized city in the north west of the UK and although not flush with Thai suppliers, I could get most of what I needed from two Asian grocers there. Having recently moved to a new job in a small town in rural North Yorkshire, I am coming to terms with the loss of my beloved local Thai food stockists. My nearest place now to get ingredients is in Leeds which is a 70 mile round trip.

However, my taste for Thai food prevails and the craving continues so onward to the blog…