It's been a full year away. Kind of amazing, but it was a pretty crappy year so go figure. All that is fading into the past now, and it's back to cooking.
This is an attempt at a rich yellow Thai curry -- and it worked beautifully. The flavors could probably be enriched by using tamarind over lime and a Thai basil over Italian, but all that just creates trouble getting it done with a visit to the local store. And it's actually quite good enough as is.
In a dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons of butter and immediately begin sauteing 1.5 medium red onions. Add to that 4 sliced jalapenos, seeds and all. You could moderate the heat here, but it's Thai -- so don't. (Also note that these jalapenos are the only source of heat, so don't skimp.) Dash on both raw sugar and salt here.
As the onions cook through, chunk up 4 or 5 potatoes -- russets worked fine and added to the overall sweet notes to the dish. Also slice 4 or 5 large carrots. When the onion is mostly translucent, add those and toss to coat.
While that is cooking down a bit, mince 4 (large) cloves of garlic and an equivalent amount of ginger. Add those as you can with perhaps a bit more sugar.
When all that is combined, add 1 quart chicken stock and 3 stalks lemongrass (if using dried). Juice 1 lime into the pot and heat to a simmer. Keep cooking until the potatoes are done and have acquired plenty of spicy-sweet flavor.
To finish, add 1 can of coconut milk (just go for full fat) and a very generous amount of rough chopped basil. Serve over rice.
Showing posts with label thai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thai. Show all posts
Jan 3, 2012
Jun 27, 2010
Pad thai
I've done this a few times now. It isn't what you get from a Thai restaurant. Apparently it's also even closer to the real thing than what you can get in this country.
I based this largely on several readings of this extensive post. It's really good. And then I ignored much of the advice and came up with the following.
So, two parts: sauce and assembly.
Sauce
Prep
As per suggestion, I've decided that woking up one serving at a time is the best way to go. Not only does it let you customize to the taste of your fellow eaters, it just comes out better.
But first, noodles. I've used pho. Soaked in hot tap water for less than about five minutes. Make sure these are ready to go.
Take your choice of proteins. I like chicken for this; beef is too aggressive, I hate shrimp, and I don't much care for tofu. If you're going to use shrimp, be sure to add it later than you would the chicken (which goes in first).
Slice your chicken, preferably breast for this (trust me, you won't miss the fat), quite thin. This is rather important, as you really don't want any single serving to be in the wok for more than, say, 90 to 120 seconds.
Crush some peanuts, preferably unsalted. The easy way: put a bunch of peanutes in a ziploc bag and either use a rolling pin to roll them into near pulp or, say, a cast iron pan. Either works.
Dice some green onion.
Chiffonade some basil, preferably Thai or purple, but we've talked about those before.
Wash some bean sprouts. More than you think.
If desired, let about an egg per serving come to room temp. I also hate egg, so I don't add this myself, but it's not only traditional, it's almost required to be "real" pad thai.
Assembly
Heat peanut oil, plenty, in a wok. Toss in any non-seafood with a small ladel-full of the sauce. Cook that nearly through as quickly as possible.
Add noddles and bean sprouts.
If using egg, push everything in the wok to one side save some of the sauce and basically scramble the egg very quickly on the bottom of the wok.
Add shrimp here and make damn sure the heat is high enough to cook quickly.
Add peanuts.
Add more sauce, probably a few ladels if your heat is high enough.
Finish with basil, green onion, etc.
Serve with lime slices and more peanuts for maximum effect.
Mmm. Realish pad thai.
I based this largely on several readings of this extensive post. It's really good. And then I ignored much of the advice and came up with the following.
So, two parts: sauce and assembly.
Sauce
- 1/2 cup fish sauce, more or less. The stuff is salty so take that into account.
- 1/2ish cup -- maybe more -- rice wine vinegar. This was basically because tamarind paste is hard to find; I'm sure it's better done the right way.
- Pure cane sugar -- more than expected
- Sriracha (plenty)
- Garlic-chili paste (also plenty)
- Water to take salt down and get a sauce that will reduce properly under very high heat
Prep
As per suggestion, I've decided that woking up one serving at a time is the best way to go. Not only does it let you customize to the taste of your fellow eaters, it just comes out better.
But first, noodles. I've used pho. Soaked in hot tap water for less than about five minutes. Make sure these are ready to go.
Take your choice of proteins. I like chicken for this; beef is too aggressive, I hate shrimp, and I don't much care for tofu. If you're going to use shrimp, be sure to add it later than you would the chicken (which goes in first).
Slice your chicken, preferably breast for this (trust me, you won't miss the fat), quite thin. This is rather important, as you really don't want any single serving to be in the wok for more than, say, 90 to 120 seconds.
Crush some peanuts, preferably unsalted. The easy way: put a bunch of peanutes in a ziploc bag and either use a rolling pin to roll them into near pulp or, say, a cast iron pan. Either works.
Dice some green onion.
Chiffonade some basil, preferably Thai or purple, but we've talked about those before.
Wash some bean sprouts. More than you think.
If desired, let about an egg per serving come to room temp. I also hate egg, so I don't add this myself, but it's not only traditional, it's almost required to be "real" pad thai.
Assembly
Heat peanut oil, plenty, in a wok. Toss in any non-seafood with a small ladel-full of the sauce. Cook that nearly through as quickly as possible.
Add noddles and bean sprouts.
If using egg, push everything in the wok to one side save some of the sauce and basically scramble the egg very quickly on the bottom of the wok.
Add shrimp here and make damn sure the heat is high enough to cook quickly.
Add peanuts.
Add more sauce, probably a few ladels if your heat is high enough.
Finish with basil, green onion, etc.
Serve with lime slices and more peanuts for maximum effect.
Mmm. Realish pad thai.
Jun 8, 2010
One of my best yet most failed experiments of all time
(Part 2 in a series that I consider a challenge from my cousin.)
I love pad prik khing. There's this phenomenal place in Littleton, CO that does it just right: Wild Ginger.
The basic idea: a protein of your choice with green beans and a red sauce that could probably remove paint. Oh, and a bit of basil for balance.
Basic marinade:
But at about that point, you want to parboil the green beans. For god's sake, don't cook them through. But blanch them a bit; they'll come out greener that way.
Toss said ingredients in a wok and start stir frying like mad. Add sriracha like crazy. Add a bit of soy just because. Add some fresh ginger. Add more sriracha.
And then start reducing. Add sriracha as needed to make the consistency right. Maybe some water might be called for as well.
Meat should be done. Tofu should be done whatever that means. But just leave it in.
As the sauce reduces, well, do the "logical" thing and keep adding sriracha. A bit of cane sugar is also a nice touch. Nothing bad could come of that, right? Right?
Eventually, you'll have a thick sauce of tofu, chicken, some sort of sweet red sauce, and hopefully a whole ton of green beans. Garnish with fresh basil; thai basil if you can get it, purple if you can't, and normal if you can't get that.
Maybe you should have made substantial amounts of rice as well.
I couldn't finish my chicken. I think I lost about a gallon of water through my eyes and forehead. My mother, the other victim/scientist, did about as well with her tofu. Even the beans, which were absolutely awesome and at peak season, couldn't be touched (well, not true, we ate a half a pound of them).
But that, people, was a good prik khing. And no, not pad prik khing; we did use rice.
But wow was that a meal worth remembering.
I love pad prik khing. There's this phenomenal place in Littleton, CO that does it just right: Wild Ginger.
The basic idea: a protein of your choice with green beans and a red sauce that could probably remove paint. Oh, and a bit of basil for balance.
- I would recommend going to Wild Ginger and you're a fan of Thai food if you're anywhere in the area. The tom yum gum is also amazing even though I have a deep detest for shrimp. And that should tell you something.
- Do not go to Wild Basil and please do not get them confused.
Basic marinade:
- Small amount of sugar
- LOTS of sriracha sauce
- Small amount of fish sauce (no, trust me, it's good when cooked)
- A couple of spoonfulls of that nice Thai hot garlic paste; brand so far hasn't mattered
But at about that point, you want to parboil the green beans. For god's sake, don't cook them through. But blanch them a bit; they'll come out greener that way.
Toss said ingredients in a wok and start stir frying like mad. Add sriracha like crazy. Add a bit of soy just because. Add some fresh ginger. Add more sriracha.
And then start reducing. Add sriracha as needed to make the consistency right. Maybe some water might be called for as well.
Meat should be done. Tofu should be done whatever that means. But just leave it in.
As the sauce reduces, well, do the "logical" thing and keep adding sriracha. A bit of cane sugar is also a nice touch. Nothing bad could come of that, right? Right?
Eventually, you'll have a thick sauce of tofu, chicken, some sort of sweet red sauce, and hopefully a whole ton of green beans. Garnish with fresh basil; thai basil if you can get it, purple if you can't, and normal if you can't get that.
Maybe you should have made substantial amounts of rice as well.
I couldn't finish my chicken. I think I lost about a gallon of water through my eyes and forehead. My mother, the other victim/scientist, did about as well with her tofu. Even the beans, which were absolutely awesome and at peak season, couldn't be touched (well, not true, we ate a half a pound of them).
But that, people, was a good prik khing. And no, not pad prik khing; we did use rice.
But wow was that a meal worth remembering.
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