Moo Grob Pad Pak Got Shanghai (Deep fried pork stir fried with pak choi)

MMMMmmm, very satisfying and with all the greenery you can even convince yourself this is healthy- just don’t think too much about the deep fried pork belly. The textures are pretty wonderful, really crunchy.

It didn’t take long to do and to me is perfect Thai street food.


For two use:

• a slab of pork belly (roughly A5 in size), rind off but fat left on, cuts into chunks


• 2 pak choi, cleaned, trimmed and cut into large chunks


• half a bulb of garlic, peeled


• 3 small red chillies, chopped


• a big splash of oyster sauce


• a big splash of light soy sauce


• a small splash of fish sauce


• a small splash of water


• vegetable oil for deep frying

set up a deep pan or wok and fill it half way with the vegetable oil. Heat until hot (but not smoking) and drop in a piece of pork to gauge if it the right temperature; if it is, add in the pork, cooking in small batches. Once it is crispy and a light brown colour, roughly about 6-8 minutes, strain out and drain on kitchen paper. Leave to one side for now.


In a pestle and mortar, mash the garlic and chillies roughly. Heat a further small amount of fresh oil in a clean wok and when hot, very briefly stir fry the garlic and chilli- only for about ten seconds before adding in the white parts of the pak choi and pork. Stir fry for about a minute before adding in the leafy green bits and then add the three sauces and if needed, a small splash of water. Cook for just a minute or so more.

Serve with fluffy rice :)

Gaeng Kari Moo & Ajaad (Pork Indian style curry & cucumber pickle)

This was just the right kind of dish for a cold evening, warm and comforting, spicy but not hot. It’s as close a dish as you’ll find in Thailand to how we stereotypically think of a curry. It’s name (Gaeng= Curry in Thai, Kari = Curry in Tamil) basically means that it is a Thai interpretation of an Indian curry and as such has a lot of spices that you would normally find in garam masala. In terms of looks and main ingredients, it is also quite similar to a Massaman curry and is kept very simple, using just meat, onions and potatoes but the paste has some obvious differences. Feel free to change the meat to chicken or other veggies. The ajaad (pickle) adds sharpness and acidity to balance the mild and slightly sweet curry sauce.


For two big portions use:


For the yellow curry paste-

• half a red onion/ 6 thai shallots, peeled and roughly chopped


• 1 stalk of lemongrass, peeled, trimmed and roughly chopped


• 1 bulb of garlic, peeled


• a thumb sized piece of galangal, roughly chopped


• 2 red chillies


• a tablespoon of coriander seeds


• a heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds


• a teaspoon of fennel seeds


• a tablespoon of tumeric powder


• a heaped tablespoon of mild curry powder

in a dry pan, add the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds and lightly toast over a gentle heat until they smell fragrant and are just starting to go brown. Get them off quickly otherwise they’ll burn and be useless. Pour them into a mortar and grind into a fine powder. After, add in the powdered turmeric and curry powder, stir and pour out into a bowl.

Take the fresh herbs (garlic, chillies, galangal, lemongrass and onion) and like I did for the Khao Soi recipe, put these ingredients into a tin foil parcel and place directly over a low flame or place in the grill. This will roast/ char the ingredients but keep an eye on them all the time and keep moving the foil parcel- especially if you use direct flames. Take off after 5 minutes or when the herbs have softened and have some colour on them.

Put them into the mortar and bash them up until you have a paste. Put the paste into the bowl with the dry spices and mix well.

That’s the curry paste done. Now onto the pickle….


For the pickle use:

• about ¼ of a cucumber, thinly sliced and cut in half


• about 50ml of white wine vinegar


• about 50 ml of water


• ½ a big red chilli, sliced


• a sliver of red onion/ 1 shallot, very finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and let them steep in the vinegar while you make the rest of the curry


Finally, for the curry, use:

• 200g of lean pork leg, cubed


• 8 new potatoes / 2 big potatoes (peeled), cut into bite size pieces


• 1 white onion, cut into bite size pieces


• 200ml of coconut milk


• 300ml of water


• a splash of liquid seasoning (stock/ maggi/ a stock cube etc)


• a big pinch of sugar


• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)


• fresh coriander for garnish.

In a wok, heat the coconut milk on high, try not to stir and after a few minutes it should start to split,and the oils will become visible. At this point add in the curry paste and stir well. It should become a very thick sauce. Cook for a minute before adding in half of the water, the stock, the pork, onions and the potatoes. This bit takes the longest; depending on your potatoes, it can take up to 30 minutes for the potatoes to soften. Keep an eye on the liquid, and keep topping up the sauce if needed. When the potatoes have softened, add in the sugar and fish sauce and have a taste. If everything’s fully cooked and to your liking, serve with fluffy rice or even flatbread and sprinkle over the coriander, serving the ajaad on the side.

Yam Neua Yang Nam Tok (Waterfall Grilled Beef Salad)

Leafy bland western salad VS pungent, fresh, filling Thai salad= no competition.

This dish shows why I love Thai salads so much. They’re incredibly healthy (yes lean beef is healthy) they punch weigh above their weight in flavours- mouth wateringly sour and tangy from the lime, aromatic and cleansing from the herbs, crunchy and crisp from the veggies, vibrant and warming from the chillies and feeling full afterwards.

There’s various debates about why this is called Nam Tok (waterfall) some say it’s because the meat is cooked rare and the juices drip out during the grilling, others because the beef is so juicy. If you’ve been following my blog recently, you’ll see this dish shares a lot of ingredients with the larb moo recipe that I posted a few weeks back.


Anyway, enough talk, for two people use:

• 2 small, very lean steaks


• ½ red onion, thinly sliced


• a big handful of coriander leaves


• 1 large red chilli, sliced


• 1 lemongrass stalk, trimmed, outer layer peeled off and sliced fine


• juice of 1 big lime


• a big splash of nam pla (fish sauce)


• a tablespoon of khao khua (toasted rice powder- see below)


• a few slices of cucumber (for the side of the plate)


• a small splash of dark soy sauce


• a small splash of light soy sauce


• a bigger splash of nam pla (fish sauce)

You want to get your steaks marinating first off. Pop them in a bowl, adding the two soy sauce and a good splash of fish sauce. Leave this for a while, while you prepare all the other ingredients and make the toasted rice powder.

For the khao khua (toasted rice powder); put a small handful of plain white rice into a dry wok and turn on the heat. Keep gently moving the rice round and after a few minutes, it will start to toast and have a good nutty smell. Once it’s reached a light brown colour, quickly pour the rice into a mortar before it starts to burn. Grind up the rice into a fine powder and keep in a sealed tub for when you need it.

So after the meat has marinated, lets say an hour or two. Heat a non stick frying pan up (no oil) or turn on the grill (whichever method you prefer). You want to cook the steak for only a minute or two either side so it ends up rare- medium rare. After the steak is cook, slice it into fine strips and put it, along with any juice into a bowl. Throw in the rest of the ingredients (onions, chillies, coriander, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce and the rice powder) mix very quickly together and serve on a plate with the cucumber slices on the side.

Tom Kha Gai (Galangal Chicken Soup)

As it’s getting to winter and getting pretty cold and foggy here in North Yorkshire it’s time to step up the comfort factor. Tom kha gai is a herbal chicken and mushroom soup that hits all the Thai flavour notes- sweet, sour, salty and spicy. It shouldn’t be too spicy and certainly shouldn’t be too sweet although as ever, with all Thai food, these can be customised to your particular preference. As it’s a soup the liquid should be quite thin, not thick like a curry sauce. This dish shouldn’t cause too many problems as most of the ingredients can be found in a regular supermarket.


For two- three bowls use:

• 2 skinless, trimmed chicken thighs/ 1 breast- chopped small


• 1 small red onion, cut into chunky wedges


• a big handful of oyster mushrooms, ripped up


• 2 tomatoes, cut into chunky wedges


• 200ml of  coconut milk


• 200ml of water


• a splash of chicken stock/ 1 stock cube


• some red small chillies (I used 3) cut into a few pieces


• a handful of fresh coriander leaves


• a small chunk of galangal, cut into thin slices


• 6 kaffir lime leaves, ripped (use lime peel if you can’t get leaves)


• 2 stalks of lemongrass, trimmed, outer layer removed and cut into a few pieces and lightly bashed.


• juice of 1-2 limes


• a splash of fish sauce (nam pla)


• optional chilli flakes for serving

Start by heating the coconut milk up gently in a pan and throw in the tough herbs- galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves and chillies. Once it’s hot, cook for about five minutes and add the chicken, poaching in the soup. Give this about 5 minutes, making sure at all times the coconut milk doesn’t boil. Add in the water and stock, onions and mushrooms. Cook for another 5 minutes, watching it so it doesn’t boil and stirring gently from time to time. Next add the tomatoes and a splash of fish sauce. Give it just five minutes more and while it has it’s last few minutes on the stove, squeeze the lime juice equally amongst the serving bowls. Divide the soup out on top of the juice and top each bowl with a few coriander sprigs and (optionally) some chilli flakes. When eating it’s up to you if you want to eat the tougher herbs; I tend to eat it all apart from the lemongrass!

Laab Moo (Chopped Pork Salad) Version 2

Laab Moo (Pork Salad) version 2


Some of you that have been following me since the early days may have seen my first incarnation of laab which although I really like this version, isn’t quite laab, though it does share some similarities. I guess this version demonstrates that less is sometimes more. It’s crunchy, tangy, spicy and fragrant and ridiculously easy to make.



For two use:

• 200g pork mince


• half a red onion, finely sliced or 8 Thai shallots


• 2 spring onions, finely chopped


• a handful of mint leaves


• a few sprigs of coriander, roughly torn


• a spoonful (your choice) of chilli flakes or chopped red chillies


• juice of 1 lime


• a big splash of fish sauce


• a pinch of sugar


• a spoonful of ground toasted rice (see below)


• a small amount of oil for frying

Heat a wok and add the spoonful of uncooked rice, keep the rice moving and toast it until it turns to a light brown and smells nutty. Pour the toasted rice into a mortar and grind into a reasonably fine powder. Set aside for a moment.

Back in the wok, heat the oil and when hot, fry the pork, breaking it up as it cooks. When it’s cooked turn it out into a bowl along with all the other ingredients. Mix well and serve.

Yam Som O (Pomelo Salad)

I wasn’t totally won over by this one; some of the flavour combinations weren’t totally to my taste. You wonder why then am I posting it, well everyone’s tastes are different- I think it was the slightly bitter and sweet combo that didn’t do it for me but it was very easy to make and had nice bright colours to it. It is pretty healthy too so give it a go, and see if it works for you- it is totally unlike any other Thai salad I’ve posted so far.


For a big one person portion use:

• a handful of raw or cooked big prawns
• a pomelo or red/pink grapefruit, peeled, segments skinned and flaked
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• half a red onion, sliced
• a small handful of peanuts
• a small handful of coriander, roughly torn
• 2 red chillies, finely sliced
• juice of a lime
• 50ml of coconut milk
• a small splash of fish sauce (nam pla)
• a pinch of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of nam prik pao (roasted chilli paste) optional
• small splash of vegetable oil for frying

Fry the red onion in the oil for five minutes or so until they get a bit crispy and golden. Throw them into a bowl. Cook/heat through your prawns, cooking raw ones fully. Add them to the bowl. Add in the garlic, chillies, peanuts and pomelo/grapefruit and torn coriander. In a separate jug/ jar mix up the dressing- optional roast chilli paste, coconut milk, lime juice and fish sauce. Pour this over the ingredients in the bowl and mix everything briefly together. Serve quickly otherwise things start to get a bit limp…. so to speak.

Thought for the day!

brandmentalist:

Purchase the print

Available in 6 colors.

Nice thought for the day :)

Khao Soi (Curried Noodles)

This is another new favourite- my husband has requested this as a regular in our house.

In other news (and I’ll come back to the noodles very soon) I’m soon to be relocating back to my home city in Lancashire :) which means I’ll no longer be stuck in a small town in North Yorkshire! Sadly this will mean an end to my Thai food stock up trips to Nong Fern in Leeds but does mean I have two Asian supermarkets on my doorstep! The very good news is, the recipes will all be continuing!

Back to the Khao Soi- for once I wasn’t lazy and did make the simple curry paste from scratch- you could use a yellow or red Thai curry paste but it’s worth giving this one a go as it’s a bit different due to the roasting process. Khao soi is a northern Thai dish and is said to take a lot of it’s influence from nearby Burma. It’s a creamy, rich satisfying noodles dish, not too hot at all.

For two people use:

• 2 skinless small chicken breasts/ 4 thighs, chopped into small pieces


• 400ml coconut milk


• 100ml water


• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)


• a big pinch of sugar


• 2 sachets of egg (yellow) noodles


• vegetable oil for deep frying


• a lime, halved

For the curry paste, use:

• 4 cloves of garlic


• 2 stalks of lemongrass (ends trimmed and outer layer peeled off)


• 6 lime leaves


• a finger sized piece of fresh tumeric


• a finger sized piece of ginger


• 3 red chillies


• a small handful of coriander roots or stalks

• 4 red shallots/ half a red onion cut into a few bits


• 4 brown/ 10 white cardamom pods


• a small handful of coriander seeds

Start out by placing all the curry paste ingredients into a packet made from tin foil. Place this foil packet over a low-medium heat hob- I did this on electric, gas works best. Don’t let the foil packet sit for too long, keep it moving to stop the contents from burning. After 5 to ten minutes, take a look inside; there should be some charring and everything should have softened up. This provides a really nice smoky flavour to the paste. Pop everything into a pestle and mortar and pound, pound, pound away until you have a course paste. I cheated a bit after a while and transferred the pounded paste to a mini herb chopper, just to get it really fine. 

Once the paste is done, heat a wok and pour in the coconut milk. Let it sit for quite a while, until reduced by half and the oils are visible on the surface. Add in all the paste and stir fry for a few minutes until cooked down. Add in the water, fish sauce, sugar and chicken and let it cook for at least ten minutes, more if you like a thicker sauce.

While the curry is cooking, boil water for the noodles, cooking for as long as needed. In another small pan, heat the oil until hot. Take a few strands of cooked and well drained noodles at a time and gently drop them into the hot oil. They will fizzle and puff up instantly. Scoop them out, and drain on kitchen paper. 

Assembly time- place the drained noodles in the bottom of a serving bowl. Spoon over a ladle of the curry. Place some of the crispy deep fried noodles on top and finally squeeze over the lime juice.