Austin

Bruce: Let me know if you have any questions about making any of the dishes you mentioned. Think you'll have a chance to post the results on the Thai Cooking at Home thread? Austin

ChefCrash: Afraid I can't answer that... If you'll refer to the latter pages of the Thai Cooking At Home thread, I mention that I have an infamously black thumb! Perhaps Bruce (C. sapidus) can shed some light on this? Austin

Ptitpois: Yes, even here in Thailand, chili spiciness can sometimes be inconsistent! Personally, the only chilies I deseed are the large dried phrik chii faa before using them in curry pastes (the seeds are hard to grind up!). Bruce: Phrik chii faa tend to be about four inches long, and are very thick-skinned. I'm not familiar with Mexican chilies, but would say that the mirasols you mentioned don't really look the same. The phrik karieng shown in the pic are actually quite long. The ones I'm familiar with are much shorter (about 1" long) and are usually somewhat wrinkled looking, and are somewhat wide near the stem. They are thinner, and spicier and more "sharp" than phrik khii noo, I would say. Again, they're most commonly used dried. Austin

If you haven't yet noticed, I've done as promised, and have posted a guide to the different chilies commonly used in Thai cooking. It can be seen at this thread, or at my blog. Enjoy! Austin

There have been some interesting questions around here lately regarding the different chilies used in Thai cooking. To address some of these concerns I put together a short illustrated list of the most common ones. I've tried to describe how the chilies look, how spicy they are, and how they're used. The most commonly used chilies in Thailand are undoubtedly phrik khii noo, literally, "mouse dropping chilies": These are generally also the hottest chilies in Thailand, and can range from tiny in size (as pictured above), to almost 2-3 time the length shown above. They are used in almost every conceivable way: ground up in curry pastes, smashed up and added to stir fries, smashed up and added to soups or salads, or used in nam phrik, Thai-style "dips". Dried phrik khii noo are used in curry pastes to add a spicy taste. Another common kind of chili are phrik chii faa, literally, "pointing at the sky chilies", apparently for the way they grow: Phrik chii faa generally range from mild to slightly spicy, and come in three colors: green, red, and orange. They are most commonly used as a garnish. They can be sliced into rings and preserved in vinegar as a condiment for noodle dishes, or sliced or julienned and used to garnish curries such as kaeng phanaeng. Sometimes they are used fresh in curry pastes, but this is generally to add color or body, rather than spiciness. Phrik chii faa are also dried: Dried phrik chii faa are an essential ingredient in most curry pastes, and provide red color and body, although, as mentioned above, not a lot of spice. Another chile that is most commonly used as a garnish are phrik yuak: These are usually mild, and are almost always the pale green color shown above. Sliced, they can garnish a variety of dishes, and are especially popular in Thai Muslim cuisine, where they are somtimes stuffed with fish and steamed or boiled. Phrik karieng: can at times be the spiciest Thai chilies of all. They are recognized by their yellow and orange colors (although they are normally somewhat shorter than the ones shown above). They are eaten fresh in some northern and northeastern Thai dishes, but are more commonly dried: and ground up to be taken as a conidment with noodle dishes. Phrik num: are almost exclusively associated with the northern Thai dish, nam phrik num. This dish sees the chilies grilled along with shallots, garlic and tomatoes, and then pounded together into a spicy "dip". The chilies are typically longer than phrik chii faa, and can range in spice from hot to very hot. In northern Thailand, they are often a darker shade of green than shown above. And finally we have bell peppers, or phrik yak ("giant chilies"): These are virtually only used in stir-fried dishes of chinese origin, and are very mild.

snowangel: Looks brilliant! If you really want to go Thai, try slicing bits of long bean into your phai kraphrao ("chicken with holy basil"), and serve it with a fried egg on top! You have first-hand experience eating in Thailand, which is better than any cookbook. I'm not too familiar with HSSS, having only flipped through it once, but it looks pretty good. I'm a lot more sceptical about Thai Food, having borrowed it from my library here. Although it's big and appears well-researched, some of the recipes are definately quasi-Thai, and some of the substitutions downright bizarre. I tried making only one dish (a savory coconut-milk based "dip" known as lon, and frankly, it was disgusting. Normally when making Thai dishes I tend to disregard the amounts given in recipes, going instead by my experience and the flavors I prefer. But when making Thompson's lon I followed the recipe to the exact amount, and the result was bland, watery and insipid. (I later made a fantastic lon using a Thai-language $2 cookbook!) Don't want to slag the book off, as again, I've only made one recipe, but my impression is that it's really overrated and underwhelming. Austin

Thanks Bruce, that's wonderful, I'll definately look into trying again. I've made a couple more Thai dishes and have posted the recipes on my blog: plaa som, a southern-style fried fish with a spicy/sour sauce, and phat khanaa fai daeng, "flame fried Chinese broccoli". Again, I apologize for redirecting to my blog--I find eGullet very un-intuitive, and I can't be bothered to post things twice (and for you conspiracy theorists out there, no, I'm not simply fishing for more hits to my blog, I don't even have a counter). Enjoy! Would be curious to see the results if anybody else tries them! Austin

No problem! How long will you be in BKK? PM or email me if you'd like to meet up for some eats. Austin

Bruce: I'm crazy busy at the moment, but when I get a chance I'll go to a market and take pics of the different kinds of Thai chiles, describe how they're used and post the results on my blog (sorry, but I find eGullet a pain). I've been meaning to do this for a while anyway. Your "greenhouse" plan sounds awesome. Conversely, I tried to grow western-style herbs (thyme, rosemary, Italian parsley, oregano) outside my house here in Thailand and it was a miserable failure! I do want to try again though, so maybe we can exchange info later? Austin

I'd have to see the bottle; Golden Mountain, if I remember correctly, makes both "white" and "black" soy sauces! I'd go with unrefined cane sugar/syrup. Not sure about the glucose... Maybe they're just referring to regular, white processed sugar?

I thought the strange English in the recipe might be a problem! In Thailand there are two kinds of soy sauce: sii ew khaow ("white soy sauce") and see ew dam ("black soy sauce"). See ew khaow is a bit sweeter and thicker (but not white in any way!). Molasses as in the west doesn't exist here. I'll bet they mean unrefined cane sugar. Austin

Abra: I should begin by admitting that I've never actually made this dish, but I've eaten it heaps of times and know how it should taste! The first recipe looks waaay off, I'm sure there's neither coconut milk nor turmeric involved in the marinade. The second is somewhat closer, but the dipping sauce recipe is not even close. After a bit of searching I found this: Gai Hor Bai Toey, which looks to be quite accurate. I'll try to do it when I get some time and post the results on my blog. Austin

If you've got the time, make it fresh--it's fun. Otherwise the combination of red curry paste and plain old curry powder is an "acceptable" substitute. Austin

You can do lotsa stuff with pandan leaves! Taxi drivers in Bangkok like to put a bunch behind the back seat, as it makes the taxi smell nice. You'll probably want something more practical though... You can boil them to make a nice juice (you have to boil them for a really, really long time), or throw a couple small pieces in the pot next time you make rice (as I think you mentioned). Pandan tends to give more of a fragrance than a flavor. While cooking coconut milk or syrup for desserts, Thai often throw a couple knotted pandan leaves in. This is also done for deep frying, especially southern-style fried chicken and deep-fried bananas. As for the kai hor bai toei, I've only ever had it deep-fried. It can be really, really good, but you'll need the right marinade for the the chicken, and the right dipping sauce. Ask your neighbors for the details! Austin

ecr: I've been in Xishuangbanna and didn't notice any khao soi-like noodle dishes there, although of course that doesn't mean they don't exist! And yes, you're right, despite what even many Thai people think, khanom jeen is Mon, not Chinese (incidentally though, the words are in fact pronounced with the same tone!). Although the noodles are made virtually everywhere in Thailand nowadays, the first time I ever witnessed it was in the predominately Mon town of Sangkhlaburi on the Thai-Burmese border. The fermented rice "mush" is squeezed through a seive (similar to a large garlic press) into boiling water. The noodles are then carefully removed from the water, gathered together, and stored in permeable baskets. Very interesting stuff... Austin

Susan, your dishes looked great, especially the stir fried chinese brocoli with fermented soybeans. I make that at least once a week! You make that dish with a variety of veggies, including phak bung "morning glory", or yawd fak maew "chayote/mirlton shoots". I'm not familiar with the recipe for the eggplant dish you made, but it looks somewhat similar to yam makhuea yaang, a "salad" of roasted long eggplants topped with ground pork, hard-boiled eggs, and the requisite fish sauce and lime juice. When done well it can be very good. I don't think makhuea proh, the round eggplants you used, really "work" in that sort of dish. Austin

The Thai Hot Dragon Chilies look like a common form of phrik khii noo. They're much bigger than the "real" phrik khii noo, which are very small, but are still used very often. The Thai Giant Chilies don't look like anything I've ever seen here! Regarding the other three, they don't really look very much like anything used here either, although I imagine you could use the Piquin as a substitute for the "real" phrik khii noo. Bell peppers are not used in any curries, at least not in Thailand! Here they are only used in Chinese-style stir fry dishes. A good Thai cookbook should be specific about the type of chilies to be used, especially concerning dried chilies. The Thai language cookbooks are obviously very clear about this and there is never any ambiguity, but many English language cookbooks will say something vague like "add five Thai chilies". Dried? Large dried or small dried? Fresh? Which kind? It's really important, as different chilies are used for different reasons! Austin

That's great that you chose to make this dish--probably one of my favorite Thai dishes of all time! However, I think what Thompson is referring to is laap khua, literally "fried laap". This is indeed an indigenous northern Thai-style dish (not only found in Chiang Mai), but Thompson's apparent suggestion that it is of Burmese origin is "interesting" to say the least! Laap khua does use a variety of herbs/spices, however the most important ingredient is makhwaen, a tiny black seed that, if I remember correctly, he suggests substituting with Szechuan pepper in his book! I can't even imagine what this would taste like, not to mention the fact that lack of makhwaen would fail to give the dish its usual "black" color. Ma khwaen is only used in northern Thailand, and has a very strong smell that I would actually compare to that of gin. Laap khua typically uses a variety of unusual cuts of meat: heart, liver, skin, fat, etc.--the ground pork is minimal. (A popular version of this dish uses raw ground pork and pork blood. It's known as laap lueat, "bloody laap"!). And finally, a tiny bitter/spicy herb called phak phai is thrown in towards the end of the frying process. This is really one of those dishes that, if you don't have the right ingredients, you're not going to even get remotely close to the real thing. I can't even find a good version in Bangkok! I just wish Thompson was a bit more knowledgeable about some of his recipes--to suggest that his "Chiang Mai Pork Larb" recipe is authentic is misleading.

Smithy: yes, I think there are lots of possibilities for the apricot oil, just not sure where to start! Like I said, it has a sweet "candylike" aroma, quite unilke anything I've ever experienced! The people in Huza pour it over a sort of "cake" of fresh chappati, homemade cream cheese, and chopped herbs. Amazing stuff. The sunflower oil I buy here is "virgin" and has a really strong...uh...sunflower flavor. I normally use it for deep-frying, and I've used it in one (rocket, I think?) salad. I'll be using it more for sure. Austin

Having been in Thailand for so many years I've actually never heard of pistachio oil! I'll bet it's wonderful. Sometimes I'll use virgin sunflower seed oil that's available here, is this commonly used for salads in the west? I was in the Hunza Valley, northern Pakistan, a year ago and picked up a couple bottles of apricot kernel oil. This is a staple of the people there, who are said to have one of the healthiest traditional diets in the world. The stuff is made by "massaging" ground up apricot kernels until a golden oil begins to emerge. The people in Hunza use it as a topping for several dishes, as well as a hair conditioner! The oil smells truly amazing, but its very sweet, almost candylike. I've used it in baking wholewheat apricot bread, but have yet to attempt it in any salads. Would be interested in hearing any suggestions. Austin

The recipe above, and a couple pics to illustrate it have been posted at my blog. Nam phrik kapi is a very common Thai dish, and one that is easy to make, so I would encourage everybody to try it. Austin

Try the nam phrik kapi. It's one of the most common Thai dishes, and is very, very easy to make. Here's an adaptation of recipe I wrote that will be publishedin Fiery Foods magazine in a month or two. You don't have to make the fried vegetables, it's also common to eat nam phrik kapi w/ fresh veggies.: Nam Phrik Kapi with Fresh and Fried Vegetables Nam Phrik Kapi is probably the most well known nam phrik in Thailand. As the name suggests, it is made with kapi, a salted and fermented paste of fine shrimp known as khoei, and is always served with fresh and/or parboiled vegetables, as well as egg-battered deep-fried vegetables, as described below. The amount of ingredients listed below for the nam phrik are largely for reference; a Thai chef would virtually never use measuring instruments to cook, and a dish is usually made to taste, keeping in mind a desired balance of the four tastes: sour, spicy, salty and sweet. 3+ phrik khii nuu (very small Thai chillies) 1 tablespoon garlic 1 tablespoon sugar 1 squeezed lime (about 1 tablespoon of juice) 1/4 cup Kapi (Thai shrimp paste) 1 tablespoon water 2 tablespoons makheua phuang (pea-sized Thai eggplant) 4 eggs 1 Chinese or Japanese eggplant, sliced into 1 cm thick rounds and put in a bowl of water mixed with 1 tablespoon of vinegar to prevent browning 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 bunch of cha om (a pungent vegetable sometimes available frozen in Thai grocery stores) An assortment of fresh Thai vegetables, such as eggplant, cabbage, carrot, wing bean, long bean, all cut into long bite-size pieces Using a mortar and pestle, grind the phrik khii nuu with the garlic until a rough paste is formed. Add the sugar and the lime juice and grind together. Add the shrimp paste and continue grinding until a paste forms. Add water. If the mixture is still too thick, add additional water, a teaspoonful at a time (nam phrik kapi should have the consistency of a slightly watery paste). Taste and add more chilies, lime or sugar, to taste. Add the makheua phuang, breaking slightly, but not grinding, with the pestle. Put nam phrik kapi in a serving bowl. Beat eggs with a few drops of fish sauce or a pinch of salt, divide into two bowls and set aside. Drain eggplant and mix thoroughly with one of the bowls of egg. Heat cooking oil in a wok and taking two or three slices at a time, fry the eggplant in oil on both sides until crispy. Set on paper towels to drain. Remove the tender cha om leaves and blend with the eggs. Fry mixture in hot oil as a thick omelet or frittata, turning over to cook on both sides. Drain on a paper towel until cool then slice into bite-sized squares. Arrange the fresh and fried vegetables on a plate and serve with rice and bowl of nam phrik kapi.

Since this is a Thai thread, we should go by the Thai name of the yellow-flowered veg, which is phak kwaang tung, literally, "Cantonese vegetable"! It is not usually stir fried, but rather put in soups (especially bamii, egg noodle soup), or par-boiled and eaten with nam phrik (Thai "salsas"). The second one, the Chinese broccoli, is called phak khanaa in Thai, and is almost always stir-fried. I like to flash-fry it with chilies, gratuitious garlic, oyster sauce and fermented soybeans known as tao jiaow. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, although it's actually Chinese in origin. Those eggplants I see in the back look similar to the ones used in curries, but actually there a bit different, and most Thais would eat them raw, again with nam phrik. Can't see the basil. Judging by what you have, I would suggest using the lemongrass and galangal to make tom yam. Stir fry the khanaa, and maybe make or buy some sort of nam phrik to eat with the phak kwaang tung and the eggplants. If you have shrimp paste, you can make nam phrik kapi, a very simple mixture of shrimp paste, garlic, chilies, lime juice, sugar, and a tiny bit of water to thin it out. Parboil your phak kwaang tung, and serve with raw cucumbers, the raw eggplants, raw carrots, whatever you have around. I'll try to do recipes for both flash-fried khanaa and nam phrik kapi on my blog soon. Austin

Hey, Austin: I didn't see any sage in that recipe. There appears to be a boatload of sausage, however! ← Briarhill: The first steop of the instructions say that you "Cook beans according to recipe for Fagioli Lessi." The recipe for Fagioli Lessi (click on "Related Recipes", sorry that wasn't 100% clear) involves cooking the beans in water with fresh sage, peppercorns, and a bit of olive oil. So the recipe I linked to is essentialy the "second" steop. Very basic, but very good. Austin

I wrote an article about khao soi that is available at my site (download the PDF titled "Dish in a Bowl"). In it I mention the fact that the Thai word khao soi almost certainly comes from the Burmese word khauk hswe, which simply means "noodles". There is a Burmese dish (possibly of Shan origin) called ohn oh khauk hswe, "coconut noodles", which is very similar to the Thai version of khao soi, but without the spices. I reckon that ohn oh khauk hswe was introduced to northern Thailand by Muslim traders, who probably made the dish using the dried spices they traded and were so fond of. Austin