Siamese Chicken In Coconut Cream

I've made this recipe from my old Thai cookbook, The Love Of Thai Cooking, many times and I haven't gotten tired of it. It is just that yummy! I purchased the hardbound cookbook in late 1988; it was originally published in 1978 and currently out of circulation.

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Thai Tofu Green Curry with Lotus Rootlets

I love browsing the aisles of the Asian grocery stores. I always find something interesting such as the jars of lotus rootlets or stems either pickled or in brine. I got one jar in brine and searched from one of my Thai cookbooks for a recipe and lo and behold, there's a recipe for tofu green curry with lotus rootlets. Perfect!

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Pork Hocks in Coca-Cola Sauce

This dish by the late Thai prime minister and chef Samak Sundaravej, has been bookmarked since 2008 but I never tried making it until now. The reason is I didn't know what pong palo was. At the time I couldn't find the word either on the web or in all of my Thai cookbooks and I have forgotten about the dish. I just discovered here that pong palo is Chinese 5-spice powder which I always have in my pantry. This delicious salty sweet pork dish is a relative of our Filipino-Chinese Pata Tim and humba (hong-bah).

Pork Hocks in Coca-Cola Sauce
adapted from Samak Sundaravej's recipe
3 pounds pork hocks
24 ounces Coca-Cola
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon fish sauce
5 cloves garlic, chopped
three cinnamon sticks
coriander root
ground pepper
3 tablespoons pong palo (five-spice) powder
fresh shiitake or wild mushrooms, stems removed and sliced in half
see-uan (a sweet, dark sauce)
chili and vinegar dipping sauce

• Place the pork hocks in a large pot. Pour over the Coca-Cola and bring to the boil. Add the coriander root, garlic, pepper, salt, fish sauce, pong palo and cinnamon sticks. Add enough water to cover. Add the mushrooms. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least three hours. Make sweet sauce with see-uan (I combined dark soy sauce and dark brown sugar). Serve with chilli and vinegar dipping sauce.

Bangkok Dangerous And Tom Yam Gung

tom yam gung

Bangkok Dangerous B

I love watching cheesy Nicholas Cage movies on DVD. In Bangkok Dangerous Nicholas has a really weird dyed black hair that looks greasy and stringy (almost mangy), and at the beginning of the movie I thought his receding hairline has been painted on with black make-up or tar which makes the movie all the more cheesy. He plays an assassin named Joe who, in his supposed to be last assignment before retiring, grows a heart when he falls for a pretty deaf-mute Thai girl. He does not want to finish the fourth assassination job which results in an all out war with his employer. I know, lame premise but whatever...the movie is entertaining. It has enough action and a little gore (such as a severed arm) although pretty tame IMO. The directors, the Pang brothers, contrived to show what every tourist (including myself) must experience when in Bangkok: heavy traffic, floating market, giant golden Buddha, tuk-tuk, jewelry shops, and most importantly, spicy food. When Joe went on a date with the deaf-mute girl he starts sweating profusely while eating spicy Thai food, and was encouraged by the girl to take some Tom Yam Gung which is extremely spicy. She offered some basil or mint leaves to cool him off but then she kept giggling (silently) at his expense. The movie is full of cliches and unnecessary subplots but I really enjoyed it. Highly Recommended (to those who have low expectations and just want to be entertained).

After watching the movie I got hungry for Thai food. Tom Yam Gung is one of the easiest dishes to make and since I had the ingredients except for straw mushrooms which I substituted with fresh oyster mushrooms, I prepared it and in less than 20 minutes I was slurping spicy and sour prawn soup.

Tom Yam Gung
a little more than ½ pound medium prawns, shelled with tails on
2 stalks lemon grass, cut into 2 inch pieces and bruised
3 birds eye chili, sliced
6 cups water
1 small piece fresh galangal, sliced
2 tablespoons fish extract
½ cup lemon juice
1 cup straw mushrooms
coriander leaves, for garnish

• Boil the water in a saucepan, add lemongrass and galangal, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the prawns, chili, mushrooms, and the fish extract and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, taste, and add more fish sauce if needed. Transfer into a serving bowl and garnish with coriander. Note: the lemongrass and galangal are not meant to be eaten but to flavor the soup.

This simple sweetish spicy savory Thai chicken dish is one of our favorites, we never get tired of it. It is strange that we have never seen this dish in any Thai restaurants in my area or maybe I don't now its name in Thai.

Minced Chicken With Basil

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound minced chicken
1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons fish extract
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
80 Thai basil leaves
6 birds eye chili, sliced

• Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan and fry the garlic for 1 minute. Add the chicken and stir fry for 4 minutes. Add the soy sauce, fish extract, and sugar and mix thoroughly. Add the basil leaves and the chili. Stir fry for 5 minutes. Transfer into a serving dish.

Cooking With Pandan

Reading Ruy's blog got me drooling for chicken wrapped in pandan. This is a very popular appetizer which I had countless of times in Thai restaurants but have never cooked it because it seems tedious to prepare. It takes time to wrap the chicken pieces and I am not a deep-fry enthusiast but the finished dish is rewarding in its yumminess. Unbelievably, my 2 Thai cookbooks both don't have a recipe for this dish and searching on the web is frustrating because there are several versions of it. I used the ingredients that I like from 2 recipes and made my own marinade. It is so finger lickin' (and pandan-licking) good and does not need any dipping sauce. All you need is plenty of steamed rice.

Chicken Wrapped In Pandan
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, thinly sliced and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons finely minced cilantro with roots
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
1½ tablespoons fish extract
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon palm or regular sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine
pandan leaves, thawed and well cleaned
peanut or grapeseed oil

• Mix all ingredients except pandan and oil. Marinate for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator. Form pandan into little pockets and fill with 1 tablespoon of the marinated chicken, or simply wrap a few pieces of chicken with pandan. Fry in medium hot oil until pandan has turned brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain well and serve immediately.

finger and pandan-licking good

Pandan is used extensively in Asia: Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and I think, India. They all use pandan to flavor sweets and savory dishes. In the Philippines it is used to flavor rice cakes, chiffon cakes, ice cream, gelatin, hopia, polvoron, barquillos, and any sweets you can think of. My mother used to add a leaf in boiling rice for its fragrance and flavor. It also makes the house smell good that you want to dig in as soon as you get inside.

Tod Mun Pla

These Thai fish cakes have been one of my favorite dishes since I first tasted them over 20 years ago at Flavours & Spices in Makati (which I learned from a friend had already ceased operation for several years now). When we try new Thai restaurants here and when we were living in Hong Kong, I check them out the moment the menu card is handed to us. If they're not on the menu, or if the server has never heard of them, then I consider the restaurant NOT authentic Thai. When we first came here in the US 15 years ago there were very few Thai restaurants, most of them didn't serve tod mun pla. We later learned almost all the Thai restaurants here in the Washington D. C. area at the time were owned by Chinese and their cooks were Chinese. There are several new Thai restaurants now that are owned by Thai people and some have these in their menu. I guess they are not popular with Americans because of their chewy texture which is precisely why I love them. The cakes are served as appetizer but I have them as main course, eaten with steamed rice and cucumbers with sweet and sour chili sauce.

Tod Mun Pla
1 pound fish paste
1 tablespoon Thai red chili paste
1 tablespoon fish extract
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup sliced green beans
3 fresh kaffir lime leaves, sliced thin (optional)
½ cup oil for frying

• Combine the first 4 ingredients in a food processor for 1 minute, add egg and process for another minute. Add green beans and lime leaves, pulse 5 times or until just combined.
• Heat oil in a skillet, fry about 2 tablespoons of fish mixture, flatten with spatula while frying. Flip and fry on other side until golden brown.

Cucumber Salad
2 mini cucumbers, sliced
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 red chili, finely minced
½ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

• Combine vinegar, sugar and chili. Mix in the sliced cucumbers. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle peanuts on top.

Son-in-Law Eggs

I'm not sure why the Thais call this dish son-in-law eggs. hmm. This is one of the simplest but tasty egg dishes to make, the ingredients are few and preparation is so easy. With very fresh tip yuchoy you can have a meatless dinner that's healthy and satisfying.

This recipe is from The Thai Cookbook by Pannipa Dibbayawan and Guy Cox, published in 1988

Son-in-Law Eggs
6 eggs
light olive oil
2 tablespoons fried shallot flakes
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons nam pla (fish extract)
2 tablespoons vinegar or tamarind water (1 teaspoon tamarind paste + 2 tablespoons water)

• Boil eggs for 8 minutes, cool immediately in cold water. Peel them then cut in half, you can leave the eggs whole but you will need more oil. Cover a big frying pan with 1/3 inch oil, fry the eggs cut side down until brown or slightly blistered but do not overcook. Arrange on a serving dish fried side up. Remove all the oil and throw in the shallot flakes, fry for a second, then remove them. On low heat stir brown sugar, nam pla and vinegar, bring to a boil then pour over the eggs. Sprinkle fried onions evenly on top. Garnish with chopped chilis and serve with steamed rice.

*I fried only the egg yolk side and did not wait until they are golden brown in color as eggs become rubbery when overcooked. I think frying the eggs whole until golden brown will make the dish more visually appealing.

fresh and crunchy steamed tip yuchoy seasoned with sea salt

Thai Chicken Masaman Curry

I never liked Indian food, I find it too strong that even the desserts seem to taste of curry. I went to an Indian restaurant once in Manila and almost barfed. The spices and the smell were overwhelming and I never stepped in another Indian restaurant again. However, here in the US, I went to a Pakistani fast food of sorts like a turo turo (point point) and surprisingly loved the food. It has Indian taste but somehow different or maybe my palate was already changing then and I started liking Indian and Pakistani cuisine. I even bought garam as well as chana masala to add to vegetarian chickpeas stew and regularly make it now. But the one I really love is the Thai masaman curry with coconut milk. It has Indian influence but distinctly Thai, it is much more to my liking. I made chicken with yukon gold potatoes and added egg halves to the finished dish and it is fantastic. I used the ready made canned masaman curry soup, added boneless skinless fat trimmed chicken thighs, simmered for 40 minutes then added the potaoes and simmered for another 20 minutes. It can easily be made full vegetarian by substituting seitan and fried tofu for the chicken. My daughter suggested to use this masaman curry with the chickpeas stew. I ate so much I feel like my tummy is bursting. Now I need some Lindt dark chocolate truffles for dessert. Mmmm.

Thai Green Curry

Thai cuisine has been a favorite since I tasted my first Pad Thai and Tod Mun Pla (fish cakes) at Flavours and Spices restaurant at Mile Long Shopping center when the place was just a tiny hole in the wall, where you can watch the cook prepare the food you ordered. This was 20 years ago, before they moved to that big place at Greenbelt. (I wonder if they are still in business with Thai restaurants mushrooming in Manila like crazy). My office mates and I would go to Makati from the old Asian Development Bank Headquarters at Roxas Blvd in Pasay City, ignoring the traffic and the mild reprimand of our bosses for getting back late from lunch. In my opinion nothing can match Flavours and Spices (in the Philippines and US) in authenticity and taste except of course, in Thailand where the best Thai food I had was in a very small restaurant in Patpong, yes the red light district Patpong in Bangkok. Last night I made beef and tofu green curry, I think I overcooked the tiny eggplants and my sauce always comes out green/brown because I use the Thai ready made green curry paste which is a little brownish. It does not matter, the curry tastes excellent. I usually prepare Thai curry with lots of sauce to pour over rice. I'll never get tired of this food.

Thai Beef Green Curry
½ pound sliced thin very lean beef
1 brick cubed firm tofu
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
2 tablespoons fish extract
3 makrut lime leaves, fresh or dried
10 halved Thai tiny green eggplants
1 cup fresh Thai basil (no substitutes)
1 large can coconut milk.

• If using tougher cut of beef, boil in ½ cup of thin coconut milk for 30 minutes. While boiling, saute curry paste in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 1 minute, add coconut milk, lime leaves, tofu and fish sauce or extract, simmer for 15 minutes, then add the beef, eggplants and half of the basil, simmer for 5 minutes, add the rest of the basil, turn off heat. Dish up and serve with hot steamed jasmine rice.