Austin

Like somebody else said, there are obviously lots of variations, but to me, rosemary doesn't seem "right". I would try this recipe that uses sage. It's very good. Austin

Bruce: your curry looks excellent, great job! My only advice would be to serve the curry in a separate bowl on the side. The amount of curry you have there looks a bit overpowering! Just take a spoonfull of curry at a time and mix it with a mouthful of rice; that's the way the Thais would eat it. Also, your curry would be complete if you can find the tiny "pea eggplants" always served with green beef curry. Austin

Yeah, I had it in Penang in a couple of Chinese cafes. It looked and tasted a lot like Dr Pepper, if you're familar with that! I found it really good. Austin

Thanks for all your help; I'll be making meself a piri-piri right soon. I live in Thailand so there's no shortage of chilies (I'm assuming I should use the smallest ones I can get?). What kind of dishes would the Portuguese use piri-piri on? Austin

C. sapidus: In terms of fresh chilies, the only ones Thai ever use to make curry paste are the tiny, tiny very hot chilies known as phrik khii nuu "mouse shit chilies". Dried chilies can also be used, and are either dried phrik khii nuu, used for their heat, or the much larger dried chilies, used more for color. The chilies you use depends on on the recipe: some curry pastes call for a combination of fresh and dried chilies, some only dried, some only large dried, some only small, etc. Thai-language cookbooks are specific about this, not sure about English-language ones. Regarding pounding of chili paste, again, this can also vary with the type of curry you're making. Very generally, I would say that coconut milk-based curries should have a very fine curry paste, whereas more soupy/watery curries can have a coarser paste. In general though, you should mash the stuff up until it's quite fine; you certainly don't want your guests (or yourself) to bite into a big fat chunk of curry paste! This post on my blog has a good pic of what a curry paste should look like. The Chinese broccoli mentioned earlier is probably my favorite "Thai" veggie. I make a stirfry with it nearly every week. I have some baby brocolli stems (somewhat similar) waiting to be fried up. I'll try to do a recipe for that on my blog today. Austin

Gee, thanks! Always nice to receive compliments. Nope, never tried cendol (a drink of some kind, I assume?). I did, however, "discover" nutmeg juice! Have any of you tried this? Amazing stuff... Austin

I've only ever eaten Thai food in the US once; don't need to repeat that experience again! Phat wun sen kraphrao seems like a really bizarre combination to me... And yes, menglak is another "Thai basil", although I assumed most people wouldn't be familiar with it. Menglak is usually eaten with khanom jeen, or added to soups, such as kaeng liang, at the last minute. Austin

Methinks you might be a getting the names mixed up: Phat wun sen is a fried noodle dish, but doesn't normally (or ever?) include kraphrao, a kind of basil. Phat kraphrao is a fried dish that doesn't normally (never) includes noodles. Neither uses tofu. Confused? Good. Oh, and as we're on the topic, although kraphrao is commonly referred to in English as "Thai basil", I think this can also include horaphaa, but the two are very different. Kraphrao, a thin, large light green leaf, is almost always cooked, be it fried or thrown in soups at the the last minute. Horaphaa, a thicker, smaller dark green leaf, is almost always eaten raw, with som tam or as a garnish with certain curries. Austin

Scorched Palate: Good stuff, and welcome to the world of khao soi! I was going to include a report on a brand new khao soi restaurant/stall near my house, but it seems to have folded... Guess people in Bangkok don't just understand good eats? Austin

Just did a post on my blog called Eating Penang. Mmm... Some seriously good food there... Austin

Hey, I thought I won this thing ages ago? What's going on here??? Just kidding, it's great to see that Onigiri and I sparked so much interest. A new khao soi place opened recently near my house, I'll be sure to check it out and give you the lowdown. (Although of course it's not going to be as good as mine!) Austin

PauloR: Your version sounds a lot like the Italian olio santo! I'm assuming one needs to crush/blend the chillies before adding them to the oil, and they're consumed along with the oil? How about the addition of vinegar? Austin

We have Crystal Jade now here in Bangkok as well; WOW, those are probably some of the best noodles I've ever had. Austin

I've been doing a lot of Portuguese cooking lately, and the famous chili sauce, piri-piri, seems to be compatible with virtually everything. I'd like to make the stuff, but it seems that every recipe I can find is quite different; some include olive oil, others just vinegar; some use fresh chilis, others dried. I'm quite surprised by the wide variation in recipes, and am not sure where to start, nor which is the "real" piri-piri. Can anybody out there with knowlege of Portuguese food tell me how to make the real piri-piri that is found in restaurants and homes in Portugal? (Cross-posted at the Cooking forum). Thanks! Austin

I was in Phuket recently and was, frankly, quite disappointed with the food there. After having been in tiny places like Krabi and Phang Nga with such excellent food, I was expecting Phuket to the Holy Grail of southern Thai food, but found very little in the way of interesting eats. I should make it clear though that the vast majority of my time was spent in Phuket City, as well as one trip to Paa Tong (a true culinary wasteland--I walked around for about an hour looking for a cheap, basic, local Thai meal, but ended up eating crappy noodles for 30 baht). On the good side, Phuket's morning market was a lot of fun, and probably had the biggest selection of fresh fish and seafood I've ever seen in Thailand. And the night market (in the same place) is pretty good too-some good Thai-Muslim eats. Check my blog for info on southern Thai food and a few pics. 5) Cultural dos and don'ts? (As a total aside) It's pretty ironic that the only weird run in I had on my last trip to southern Thailand was with an irate foreigner at Paa Tong Beach. I'm doing a book on southern Thai food, which will include a bit on beach food, so I though it would be nice to get pics of vendors selling food at the beach. So I make it down to Paa Tong and I notice very quickly that this is definately not a Thai beach (ie-no food!). Anyway, I decide to walk a bit more and a tall white guys stops me, looks at me accusingly and asks, "What are you, Israeli?". Knowing not exactly what the **** he's talking about, or how to respond to this I just stare. "What are you doing?" he asks me angrily. I laugh out loud because it's very, very obvious: I've got a huge digital SLR with a telephoto zoom lens, a gigantic black Lowe photographer's bag, and I'm wearing Patagonia clothes with lots of pockets; obviously I'm a photographer! I say as much and he doesn't believe me, and, get this, accuses me of being a CIA agent!!!! He rants about how I should not be taking photos on the beach, and ends his irate spiel by saying "Have some dignity!". So, don't try to take pictures where there are weird foreigners around--I doubt you would have any problem where Thai people are concerned. Austin

Hand-pulled noodles are amazing, but not something I would try at home without the appropriate supervision! In April I was in Xinjiang, western China, where the Uyghur people virtually live on a hand-pulled noodle dish called laghman (I wrote and photograhed article on Uyghur food in last month's Chile Pepper that mentions and shows both laghman and hand-pulled noodles, buy the mag or download a PDF of the piece from my my website.) Those guys are really experienced and can whip, swing, stretch, pull and twish huge blobs of dough into pencil-thin noodles in minutes! I read afterwards that laghman noodles have oil and salt, but they looked and tasted like plain egg noodles. For the recipe in my article I give a laghman recipe, but recommend that people go out and buy udon noodles; the taste, size and texture are almost identical, and no crazy pulling necessary! Austin

Hi, You've already mentioned two of the biggest highlights: pickled tea leaf salad (lephet thoke) is wonderful, but it's hard for foreigners not be put off by the fact that the vendors use their ungloved hands to squish all the ingredients up! And mohinghya is wonderful, wonderful stuff. Be sure to crumble lots of deep-fried peanut crackers into it! I know an excellent mohinga shop in Yangon, but will have to do some research in order to tell you exactly where it is. Other highlights include dan bauk, Myanmar Briyani. I like the stuff at the Yuzana shop in Yangon, which includes a delicious sour soup side dish. Burmese teashops, especially in Yangon, are lots of fun. The tea is tasty, and the snacks can be very very good at times, but the sanitary standards in these places can be quite low, even for Myanmar! I still recall enjoying some delicious semolina cakes in a Yangon teashop, and ordering seconds, only to see the owner spraying a generous amount of bug spray into the sealed sweets display case! In general, Myanmar food is very, very oily. I enjoyed most of what I ate, and found the country to be a unique culinary experience, but was looking forward to some good old-fashioned Thai food towards the end of my trip! Austin

bottomlesspit: Don't give up on khao soi yet! Frankly, it sounds like you got ripped off! There must be pickled vegetables, and I like two or even three pieces of lime. Try to make it yourself using our three blogs as guides, I'm sure it will be better. I was in Phuket City for the last couple days and was actually let down by the food... There were a couple of good places, but for the most part I found the food mediocre. In general I was surprised to find that downtown Phuket City seems to have fewer Thai restaurants than most other Thai towns! I'm in Phanggna now, which is a tiny little town, but have already consumed more delicious food than I did in Phuket. Austin

Yes, I'm on the road, but I'm not a bum! I'm in Phuket now taking photos for a book on southern Thai food. Khao soi is traditionally only made with chicken or beef, which shows the Muslim origins of the dish. Chicken is the most popular (although I prefer beef) and pork has recently made inroads. P'titpois: I've only had a brief glance, but your khao soi looks fantastic! And I reckon, figuring as you're not Thai, nor are you in Thailand, and considering the fact that YOU ACTUALLY FRIED THE NOODLES, maybe you're the winner? Austin

Wow, an entire new element to the competition! Should we be scared here, Onigiri?

Sorry coming into this late... P'titpois: Really looking forward to seeing your version! Be sure to post the like or the results here. Sanrensho: Yes, you're right, we're both lazy and didn't bother to deep fry the noodles... I reckon this is an essential part of khao soi (buy it up north and you'll always get the crispy noodles), but adding even more oil to the dish was just too much for me! Real khao soi noodles are flat. Onigiri: I've had a total change of heart and would like to declare that, for the sake of khao soi, there be no winners and loosers. Hopefully we can use khao soi as a vehicle to end poverty and create unity and peace in the world. Just kidding... I won! In your face! Nyah nyah nyah ahaha.. Austin

To dispel the apparent fears that the Battle of the Khao Soi is being done to promote our respective blogs (?), I’ve decided to post the results here (as well as at my blog). Enjoy! Khao soi is not necessarily difficult to make, but it is time consuming, as it incorporates a curry (which involves make a curry paste), a great deal of condiments, and noodles. Set aside an entire morning for making it (khao soi, for some reason, is never eaten at dinner in Thailand). The recipe below will make enough khao soi for two hungry people. The khreuang kaeng, or curry paste, is the most important part of a curry. Below are the raw ingredients that will make up my khao soi curry paste: And a list: Cha ko (a kind of spice), shelled 1 Coriander (cilantro) seeds 2 Tbsp Big dried chilies 4-6 Chopped ginger 1 heaping Tbsp Chopped turmeric 1 heaping Tbsp Shallots 9 Salt 1 Tbsp Curry powder 2 tsp Take each of the curry paste ingredients except for the salt and curry powder, and dry-roast individually until fragrant and browned: Using a mortar and pestle, combine all of the curry paste ingredients until they result in a fine, thick paste: This is a long, boring process that will inevitably send pieces of smashed chili flying directly into your eyes. The result is your curry paste. Set it aside. Now prepare the condiments. First, the chilies in oil: take about 30 or so small dried chilies and dry-roast in the same wok until dark and fragrant but not black and burnt. Grind these up quite finely using a clean dry mortar and pestle. Using the same wok, add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, heat until just about to smoke, then add the ground chilies and stir until fragrant, but not burnt, about one to two minutes: Remove to a clean dry heatproof bowl and set aside to cool. Wash, dry, and coarsely chop cilantro and green onions. Peel and chop about 10 shallots. Drain and coarsely chop the pickled mustard greens. Slice a few limes. Arrange all of these on a dish. These are your condiments: Now it’s time for the soup. Take about a 3/4 of a cup of thick coconut milk and heat it in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble and simmer. Add the curry paste ingredients: Continue stirring until the liquid is reduced considerably, and a film of oil has begun to form: This may take as long as 10 to 15 minutes. Be patient! This is a very important step and ensures that the oils of the various ingredients will be released, making a more fragrant curry. When a fair amount of oil has pooled, add your meat, in this case four to six small chicken thighs, and fry in the oily paste for about five minutes: Take another half cup of thick coconut milk and dilute with about three cups of water. Add this to the saucepan: Bring to a light boil, turn the heat down as low as possible, and simmer. After about 10 minutes or so, taste the soup and add salt or see ew khao, a kind of soy sauce, or sugar, if necessary. While the broth is simmering, it’s time to do the noodles. Khao soi noodles, a flat squiggly egg noodle, are notoriously hard to find, even in Thailand. A good substitute is the fresh egg noodles called ba mee. Bring a large pot full of water to a boil, separate the fresh noodles, plunge into the boiling water and boil for about five minutes: Drain well and set aside in colander (the noodles can be made in advance and quickly re-boiled at eating time, if necessary). Put a generous serving of the noodles in a bowl, top with one chicken thigh and lotsa broth, and you’re done! How diners choose to flavor their khao soi with condiments is up to them. Personally, I like lots of lime and lots of chili: So whaddaya got, Onigiri?

Stupid American: Does one refer to yourself or restaurants in southern California? Interested in joining the brawl? Post your pics here, if you dare! Austin

There are many different kinds, with many different names! The most famous is probably chao kuay, a dessert of Chinese origin that uses black jelly-like cubes, mixed with ice and raw sugar. When done well it can be very good and is believed to be "cooling" for the body. I think the squiggly things you mention might be called lawd chong, and are, uh.. squiggly little...things. Not sure what they're made of, but they are coated with a salty/sweet coconut sauce particular to Thai sweets. Austin

Could do, but I find ImageGullet kind of pain. The format offered at my blog is much easier. Fishing for hits? I don't even know how to count how many people visit my blog! Would you mind teaching me how? Austin