Homemade Sushi Night!

Having a change from Thai (just a brief one- promise!) Homemade sushi with the best ever tasting sushi grade fish from Kazari

Miang Kham (Wrapped Bites)

Something totally different today, thanks to another trip to Siam Smiles Thai supermarket in Manchester yesterday. We had some more amazing food there and will do a write up on the next post. The main ingredient for this dish- the bai cha plu (wild pepper leaves) we picked up there, it’s something I’ve yet to come across in the UK and seeing how it’s essential for miang kham, it would have been a shame to not grab a pack at just £1.65.
Miang (wrapped) kham (bites) are made of of the glossy wild pepper leaves (incorrectly often confused with the stimulant/carcinogenic betel leaf). They have an incredible perfume and taste which I found hard to describe as they seem to be made up of so many elements. Initially they have spicy hits of star anise then something akin to kumquat with a bitter-sweet citrus note. Exciting stuff!
Into the leaves comes an assortment of sweet, sour, spicy, salty, bitter, fishy, chewy and crunchy goodies- your mouth won’t know what’s going on- but it’ll want another one!!
This recipe will make around 20 pieces.
Start by making the sauce:
Bash together in a mortar:

• A small handful of dried pink shrimp
• A small handful of peanuts, toasted in a wok until lightly browned
• A small handful of fresh or dried coconut, toasted in a wok until lightly browned.

Then pour this mix into a small saucepan with

• A very big splash of nam pla (fish sauce)
• Half a cup of water
• A tablespoon of palm or light brown sugar

Cook this mixture down until it’s quite thick and sauce-like. While it’s cooking, prepare the fillings…

• A big handful of peanuts
• 6-10 red and/or green small chillies, finely sliced
• A big nobble of ginger, peeled and diced fine
• A big handful of fresh or dried coconut, toasted in a wok until light brown
• 8-10 peeled and diced shallots
• Half a lime, skin left on (if you like the bitterness), peeled otherwise, cut into very small segments
• A handful of small dried pink shrimp

Serve everything together, make a cone shape of the stalk end of the leaf, load up with a couple of pieces of each of the fillings then spoon over some sauce, roll the leaf up and experience a mouthful of flavour madness!

 

Night Market (Pasar Malam) Food Stalls, Padang Matsirat, Langkawi
We spent 3 days on the island of Langkawi. The night markets take place every night at a different spot round the island. For the princely sum of £3 we came away with carrier bags stuffed full of hot snacks, stir fried noodles, sweet pastries, spicy salads and fruit. Heaven!

Preparing young coconut for sale at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Making coconut milk at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

An emotive picture; shark for sale at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh leafy vegetables at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Pungent dried squid at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh fish at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh mangoes, dragon fruit and rambutan at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh blocks of tofu at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Lady selling petai/sator (stink beans) at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fiery chillies by the crate and long beans at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Fresh rhizomes, herbs and beautiful torch ginger at Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Limes & Chillies at Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

Limes and chillies, Pudu wet market, Kuala Lumpur. I took this as part of our photo-tour- look out for many more amazing food images of our journey!

Thai Store-cupboard Ingredients

No recipes just today I’m afraid! We’re just about to put our house on the market so unfortunately I’m having to lay off cooking so many strong smelling dishes as apparently it’s ‘not popular’ with potential buyers to have a house smelling of fish sauce and curry pastes!! It does mean I’m getting to eat lots of Som Tam (green papaya salad) and other Thai salads but recipes for these can already be found on the blog.
Instead, here’s a run down of what I consider to be my basic Thai store cupboard ingredients; things I couldn’t do without and recommend you buy if you’re serious about cooking Thai food. I stopped buying little bottles of sauces ages ago as I was just going through them too quick!
From L-R:

• Palm sugar (nam tan puk)- rock hard and needs to be chipped off, somewhere in between white and brown sugar in taste.
• Soy sauce (see ew)- light soy is used more commonly than dark but and adds saltiness; dark soy adds colour but is less salty.
• Roasted chilli paste (nam prik pao)- a thick sticky jam like paste that’s actually quite mild and contains other ingredients for flavour.
• Fish sauce (nam pla)- the most commonly used condiment in Thailand. Adds salt/fishiness- the lighter the better, dark fish sauce is often old.
• Tamarind paste (makham)- a puree of tamarind fruit,  provides a sweet/ sour element. Easier to use use in this form than the solid block type.
• Shrimp paste (kapi)- extremely pungent fermented shrimps, keep sealed in the fridge and use is small quantities as it easily overpowers.
• Yellow soy bean paste (tao jeow)- fermented soy bean paste adds a deep savoury/salty flavour, Used for Khao Man Gai or Rad naa
• Oyster sauce (nam man hoi) a thick dark sticky sauce, commonly used in stir fried dishes. It’s slightly fishy, salty and a little sweet
• Massaman paste (gaeng Massaman)- Milder southern Thai curry paste that contains lots of spices typically used in India.
• Green curry paste (gaeng khiao waan)- a hot green curry paste from central Thailand,lots of green chillies and fragrant herbs go in it.
• Red curry paste (gaeng ped prik)- another hot curry paste made from dried red chillies, also the most used and versatile of the curry pastes.

Bu Pad Gratiem Prik Thai (Crab Fried with Garlic and Peppercorns)

A week or two ago now, we had a visit to Manchester which gave me chance to visit China town which has some fantastic food stores and restaurants. I’ve been cooking up a whole bunch of new recipes with the ingredients I picked up from Siam Supermarket this is the first of four to come. The supermarket also features a cafe called Siam Smiles which we ate at and it really did make me smile! It was a typically casually affair, like all good Thai cafes and I was thrilled to see a flavour caddy on the table (way better than regular salt and pepper) and a little pot of nam prik pao (chilli paste). I ordered the Laab Mu (chopped pork salad) which was meaty (pork and I think, liver), lots of herbs, sour and salty and a perfect amount of chilli. My husband chose the Khao Pad Moo Grob (deep fried pork fried rice) which I have re-created for a recipe later this week. The verdict- wonderful flavours, definitely not Westernised, great value for money- absolutely perfect and definitely one to return to the next time we’re back in Manchester.
Now back to the recipe; this is a dish that’s quick to prepare and cook, looks great for a special occasion or party but does require you to get hands on and messy when eating.
For two people use:

• 500g or thereabouts of fresh crab claws
• 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• a few stems of fresh green peppercorn, pulled off stems
• 1 large red chilli, sliced
• a big splash of oyster sauce
• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• vegetable oil for frying

Prepare the crab claws first by individually wrapping each in a tea towel and lightly crack them with a pestle or heavy rolling pin (discard any small shell fragments).
Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a large wok and when hot, throw in the garlic and chilli, stir frying for 20 seconds or so before adding the crab claws and peppercorns. Stir fry for 3 minutes before adding in the sauces. Fry for a further minute to make sure everything gets well coated and serve.
Don’t even attempt to use cutlery with this- it’s fingers all the way!

Som Tam Mamuang (Sour Mango Salad)

Hopefully by now, if you been following me for a bit you’ll know how much I love Thai salads and som tam (unripe papaya salad) in particular. I heard about this version a while back but while I can get unripe papayas fairly easily in my home town, it’s much harder to get sour mangos- about a year ago I came across what I thought were sour mangos at an Indian community shop but they turned out to be young mangos (i.e. pale yellow but still sweet). Nice but not quite right. Last weekend I had a fantastic trip to Thai superstore RaanThai on the Wirral, Merseyside where I got stocked up on a range of Thai ingredients including quite a few I’ve never see before (recipes to follow). Anyway, they did have sour mangos in stock,meaning I could finally make som tam mamuang (also known occasionally as yam mamuang). Just a word- they’re called sour for a reason- which for my tastes, is just perfect.

For a huge portion (enough for 3-4 as a side dish/starter) use:

• 2 small sour mangos (they should be hard and green skinned), peeled
• juice of 1 lime
• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)
• a big pinch of sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 red chillies (more less if you want)
• a small handful of peanuts, lightly crushed
• a very small handful of dried shrimp (optional)

In a pestle and mortar, pound together the garlic and chillies into a rough paste; add this to a bowl. Use a julienne peeler or try the Thai way (hacking strips with a cleaver) to shred the mangos into the bowl. Throw in the shrimps and peanuts, sugar and lime juice and fish sauce. Give everything a fairly rough stir/mash about for a few moments to break up the mango a little. Have a taste and add more lime/fish sauce/sugar as to your tastes, if you feel it needs it.

Stock up at Nong Fern, Leeds

Took a trip to Nong Fern Thai Leeds yesterday for supplies. Picked up some exciting Thai ingredients so this week will be making banana blossom and chicken salad (Yam Hua Plee Gai) and Tapioca pearl coconut pudding (Sa Coo Mapraw)

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.