OnigiriFB

Yay! Welcome Mangosteen. That's my all time favorite fruit. I haven't had since I was in Thailand though We used to eat those by the kilo. I can't wait to see how your khao soi comes out! I hope you will share your results with us and of course pictures must be shared.

RFOL! Oh My God, I forgot about that line. Heheh MizDucky you never cease to make me smile.

The green curry or the stir fry curry? After I read they were fried I wasn't sure how it would be in green curry. The fish balls I normally get or just normal white colored balls found in the frozen food section of the Asian market. I usually get fish balls, meat balls, pork balls, and shrimps balls; when I get home I put them in a gallon sized plastic bag and when I'm making ramen or asian noodle soups I just toss a hand full into the pot. Yummy, satisfying, and filling.

My all time favorite is Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, I can watch that movie 50 millions times and not get sick of it. In fact, it's been awhile I might to go dig it out. I have it on VHS and should go get the DVD I'm probably wearing it out.

Timh - Good to see you back! Sorry to hear about your difficulties. Being part of the New Orleans rebirth would be cool. I hope you keep up updated on where you land. I'd love to read your book sounds like it would be interesting.

You could make Thai green curry. Fish balls is actually common in green curry.

V. Cool! I'm going to have to try that really soon.

That sounds yummy. I saw that on amazon.com. I think I'll try and pick up now. I forgot about tea smoked duck. I've never smoked anything. Is it hard? Do I have to get a smoker? Any tips? THanks Andisenji

Thanks GG!

Hi all, I did a seach and couldn't come up with anything. Does anyone have any good recipes that uses tea? On the Japanese forum there is a tea/coffee jelly I want to try and I've heard of tea eggs. What else can we do? Thanks in advance.

I haven't had coffee jelly in ages!!! Oh yum. I have to try and make that. Thanks all. I love eGullet! I'm also just getting into gourmet teas so I think I might try some experiments on using my teas. hrm.....

Good question. In our family it was common for our cook to make a few non spicy dishes or soup for the children. It was rare for her to doctor any of the spicy dishes for the kids. There were a couple of times she would do so if especially requested like on someone's birthday (we got to choose the menu that day). Generally Thai kids learn to handle spicy foods quite early. I had a few cousin that ate spicier than I did when they were eight! I joke around that I'll be eating at the kid's table when I come home since living in the states I know I'm used to Thai spiciness anymore. What I recall my cousins doing when they introduced their children to spicy dishes was to get a lot of rice, a little of the spicy dish, and mix it well. The rice will tone down the heat. They also made sure there was a bit of something non spicy on the plate. Other than that I don't remember doing much. Thai kids are exposed to spicy dishes since they are young. We generally let them begin trying it when they wish to. They learn quickly whether or not they can handle a certain dish. [Not sure if you know this if so ignore my mini lesson: Thai people usually serve 3-5 dishes at dinner consisting of a curry, a stirfry or two, a yum, some condiments, and veggies. Big serving bowls/plates are put in the middle of the table and we each have a plate of rice. We will take a bite sized portion of whatever we feel like from the bowls/plates in front of us via a serving spoon and put it on our rice. YOu eat you bite sized portion and then try something else. This way everyone gets something of everything and you get quite a broad spectrum of flavors. It's considered rude to put a non bite sized portion on your plate as you are seen as selfish and a glutton. I used to get scolded by my aunties because I had too much on my spoon and it was unladylike! I guess Thai ladies are only supposed to load up their spoons about halfway. Oh and Thai people eat with a fork in the left hand and a large spoon in their right. We used the fork as a pusher and eat with the spoon. ] I think I know what Sanrensho is referring to Ptipois. Those pictures are prettied up with a swirl of coconut milk for presentation. You add it right before serving and swirl it in a little. That way the milk stays pretty white and you have a nice constrast for presentation.

Yay!! Another converted to the joy of khao soi! Umm, I've always used water. I don't recall using chicken stock much unless we are making a non-spicy soup. To make coconut milk you grate the coconut and then add water and squeeze the coconut milk out of it. So I think it makes more sense to just add water. I've always found this dish to be pretty mild. You get to decide the spice level with the addition of the chili pepper in oil. Compared to green or red curry this is way less heat. It should have a little kick in the back not much over all spiciness. I hope this becomes a something your family enjoys. Great to know that the kids liked it. I never thought about it but it would make a good transition into the spicier curries.

I just saw at my korean/japanese market (strangely the vietnamese one didn't have it) an extra hot Siracha sauce. It has a different color cap then the normal one. Anyone try this one? I'm also a lover of siracha sauce but have not thought to use it as creatively as many of you. I think it has a good kick as is but I'm tempted to try the extra hot.

Wow everyone has done an awesome job of asian soups. I haven't forgotten about this cook off just been a bit too busy to make anything lately. I'm still tossing ideas around about what to make. So far I've narrowed it down to three different Thai noodle dishes. Hopefully next week will be less hectic and I can make it down to the asian store. Good job everyone!

Yum!

I like grocery shopping too. There's something theraputic about wandering up and down the aisles for me. I do wish there were green groceries like they have convenience stores here. In Thailand it was also easy to pick up fresh veggies. There were usually fruit and veggie stands near your home so making a quick stop isn't a problem. Susan - what I do is use the Glad (i think) fresh protect plastic bags and paper towels. I try to prep all my veggies as soon as I get home from the grocery. I'll wash most (I don't wash fruit until I'm going to eat it) of the stuff, make sure it's uber dry, cut it up some things, and then wrap some in paper towels and store them in the plastic bags. That seems to keep most of my veggies pretty happy for a bit longer than it used to.

I'll be happy to share the recipe. I actually got it off the back of a package of five spice powder I got from the Asian market. It had this dish specifically on it and is from Thailand so I thought I'd give it a try. Which actually is how a lot of my cooking comes about. Unfortunately I never got the recipes from my aunties and some of them are now getting old and not doing so well mentally. Our cook got married a few years after I left for schooling so I'm not even sure if I could get a hold of them now. *sigh* I'll dig it out tomorrow and try to post it since it's my bedtime here. Even if you don't try it now you never know someday another pork belly craving might hit. One thing Emeril says right, "Pork fat rules!" Rebecca - yes it has hard boiled eggs in it. You precook the eggs and then when you stew the pork belly you add the eggs and tofu and they all take on that wonderful flavor and color of the sauce. It's sweet, fatty, and salty all at once. Like many braises it taste much better the longer it sits. One of my favorite "kiddy" Thai recipes. My dad used to make it for me all the time so it brings back memories. We didn't eat too often in Thailand unless we had a lot of kids around that needed something non spicy to eat as it's a little more time consuming than the standard non-spicy soups we serve to children. A prettier presentation would have been to take the eggs out and quarter them and then arrange them around the bowl with the pork belly and tofu in the middle.

Wow I guess there are more dressings than I thought I'll definitly keep an eye out on my next trip to the Korean market (we don't have a Japanese one but a lot of Japanese in town shop there). Now I'm curious to try all the other flavors. What does the green perilla taste like?

You could do the recipe I did in the regrettable dinner thread your remarked on. It won't give you crispy skin but it is delicious. You stew pork belly in a five-spice powder and soy sauce marinade. Let me know if you would like the recipe and I'll go dig it out. Edited to add picture in case you forgot.

Thank you. Could you tell me the difference between yuzu and ponzu. I've had ponzu dressing and it's one of my favorites. I get it in a pre-made bottle from the Korean store. It has japanese writing on it so I'm assuming it's a Japanese product. I don't think I've seen yuzu or had yuzo though.

Nice to see you can get some good Iowan meats out there. One thing I'll miss if I move away from Iowa is the great meats and dairy we have. This is the only place I've lived where I will actually drink the milk. Is the meat at your market expensive? It looks a little more than what I would pay here but thats probably a given. The sushi looked divine btw. *sigh*

What is aojiso? I don't think I've heard of that. My rusty japanese can only translate the ao (blue?) part. Is ginger dressing not japanese?

I tried making cream puffs for the first time today. I found this recipe to be awesome except mine also burned on the bottom. Not bad just a little more brown then I would like.

ai ya!