ilovenycfood

Thanks for such a great site. One comment though, there is no catergory for the vast Southwestern region. I teach Thai cookng classes in New Mexico , My daughter takes them in Denver and I've seen them listed in Arizona. You might want to add Southwest to your site. Also, I think most folks would not consider Austin to be in the South, rather the Southwest. We have a vast country going on here, so it gets confusing. ← Hi Chow Guy, Thank you for the kind words about the site! We actually have just created the categories on the fly, as needed, so when you have an upcoming class in the Southwest please let me know, as for now it is a hand made page with no fancy database stuff just yet! So thank you for correcting my geography, not the first time I have been caught out.

We are attempting to update this page every other month; hopefully it is of use to Egullet readers. if anyone knows of more Thai cooking classes please visit this page and click on the link at the bottom of the page: http://www.templeofthai.com/cooking/thai-cooking-class.php Thanks!

Hello Pan, I don't know exactly what type of fish; but if you are in the USA the only way to do this would be to try to find the 'tai plah' in a jar I believe; or perhaps it is even available frozen now adays? Maybe Eric can persuade Pam Real Thai Food to tell their secret? I will also check if anyone is interested... Also I wonder where the restauranteers are from?? Most Thais residing in the USA are from Bangkok and Northern parts of the country (Chiang Mai and Issan); I think the South may be one of the least represented in America. So to find the Southern dishes on a menu is a pleasant suprise. Regarding language, only Thai speakers for the most part in the South of Thailand. Yawi is the Muslim dialect and is in the deep South on the Malay border, which last I heard is about 2% of the population of Thailand? The Southern dialect is known as 'Pahk Thai' and is distinctive from Bangkok Thai which is the official language of the country. Fast and clipped and somewhat lyrical perhaps.... My Thai husband later explained that the reason he does not make this curry is that he and his family don't really like it! In fact they have yet another version- they use Nohm Gahtee (Coconut milk) and cook the Kee Plah (after it has fermented only 2-3 days) in it - I am forgetting now the other ingredients he said they used....coconuts are a daily part of the diet of islanders! A day without coconut curry is a day that never should have happened!

The fish dish in question here is known in the South of Thailand as Gaeng Kee Plah or Gaeng Tai Plah, and you can either do it yourself by gutting the inexpensive Plah Too, I believe a type of mackeral (which is the same kind of fish you sometimes find in bamboo baskets ready to steam in the freezer section of good SE Asian markets) or you can get it in a little plastic jar already to go in Thailand (not sure about in the USA?). After it is removed from the fish - it is the stomach actually, not the kidney - it is salted with sea salt and kept in jar for 4-5 days (or longer). The curry is prepared by making a curry paste similar to jungle curry, which is lemongrass, garlic, sea salt, prik haeng (dried chilies), tumeric (fresh) and kapee (shrimp paste, but not very much because kee plah is strong in flavor already). This is added to the fish in boiling water just to cover; add makeau (small round green thai eggplant), pumpkin (thai is like kabocha squash) or potato (for you westerners); long beans and bai horapah (thai basil). Also you can add bamboo shoots if you like but get the ones from Thailand because for whatever reason they are far better then the Chinese ones that you typically get! Kee means droppings, Plah means fish. You can read more about that on Kasma's website: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/kee.html Also YummyTaste is a very good looking Thai food website which mentions this curry: http://www.yummytaste.com/ingeneral/region...isine_south.htm Maybe I can talk my Southern Thai husband into cooking this for dinner tonight? I don't remember him ever making it as it a little fussy; but we have a Thai woman friend who can make it from scratch. The most famous place to try this dish is perhaps Nakhon Si Thammarat - an ancient city of the South - if you plan to travel to Thailand, a very interesting place. Lonely Planet's book World Food Thailand says "Don't miss the pungent and spicy kaeng tai plaa" regarding traveling in the South. Here is also one more interesting alternative way to make it: http://www.thaifolk.com/doc/cuisine/kaengt...ngtaiplah_e.htm

How about Thai tea? It is not really a connoisseur's drink but it is some what unusual; we have taken to drinking it hot for breakfast, as we decided coffee was giving us the jitters. But normally everyone goes for it on ice, sweetened with condensed milk (it's popular in Thai restaurants). Also I love inexpensive Red Label tea- either Brookes brothers or Lipton from the Indian shops. You can add whole cinnamon sticks and green cardamon pods, for flavoring. Served with milk, I guess it is known as 'cha'.

Kasma's Dancing Shrimp cookbook is worth it just for the introduction describing Thai ingredients; but also she goes into great depth to explain the mysteries of Thai cooking with detailed recipes; I saw Dancing Shrimp available at ecookbooks.com today which suprised me because unfortunately it is now out of print (so get one while they last)!