C. sapidus

Sure, the recipe is Choo chee red curry shrimp with kaffir lime leaves and basil (choo chee gkoong), from Kasma Loha-Unchit's wonderful Dancing Shrimp. We substituted fish for shrimp. I hope you enjoy it.

Chris – I hope you will have some help eating that feast. Boys had other plans, so Mrs. C and I had a quiet evening at home. Choo chee curry fish with jasmine rice and salad.

Thanks to all for the kind comments. Tom kha gai is one of those dishes that I rarely make the same way twice, but here is the general idea. Start with roughly equal amounts of coconut milk and chicken stock. Simmer with sliced galangal, angle-cut lemongrass, and torn lime leaves. Add fish sauce, roasted chile paste, palm sugar or brown sugar, lemon juice or lime juice, and bite-sized chunks of chicken and continue simmering until the chicken is nearly done. Add sliced mushrooms and crushed Thai bird chiles and simmer until ready to serve. The amount of fish sauce will depend on the saltiness of your brand, but try somewhere around a quarter-cup of fish sauce to 6 cups of soup. We probably use around 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, 1-3 tablespoons of roasted chile paste, and maybe a quarter cup of lemon juice or lime juice initially. As with many Thai dishes, the secret is the final adjustment of hot, sour, salty, and sweet flavors. Adjust until it tastes great to you. Potential variations abound. Some recipes call for putting the citrus juice and roasted chile paste in the serving bowls, and then topping with the soup. You can add some of the coconut milk, or the lemon juice or lime juice, at the end to preserve the fresh flavor and aroma. Chunks of fish or shellfish can replace the chicken. Garnishing with cilantro or fresh lime leaves adds another aromatic kick. We grow a potted lime tree so it is easy to harvest fresh lime leaves whenever needed. Kim – Thank you. I continue to gaze longingly at your biscuits. rotus – Thank you also! The Napa cabbage stir-fry is simple. Mash up several cloves of garlic in a mortar and stir-fry briefly over medium-high heat. Add sliced Napa cabbage, stir-fry for a minute or so, and then simmer for another minute or so with a few tablespoons of chicken stock and a little palm / brown sugar. Add a tablespoon or two of fermented soybean paste, stir-fry another minute or two, and then serve. We use Healthy Boy brand fermented soybean paste (dtow jiow, tao jiew, etc.), but Kasma Loha-Unchit’s brand recommendations (click) are highly trustworthy. Fermented soybean paste is salty, beany, satisfying goodness on vegetables.

It is ridiculously easy to make if you have the ingredients. Don't tell anyone I said this, but it is even good if you have to substitute ginger for galangal. Different, but good. Um, so I hear.

lochaven – Thank you, I will pass along to Mrs. C – she was the tortilla lady. Paul – Lovely collection of flavors on that plate! Mrs. C picked up some beautiful galangal So I had to make tom kha gai (coconut chicken soup, a.k.a. “boiled galangal soup”). Napa cabbage with fermented soybean paste and jasmine rice

Ham and feta cheese omelet, topped with more feta and Red Death Ghost Chile sauce. Buttered rye toast not pictured.

Kim – that coffee cake looks great! Slow-scrambled bricklayer’s eggs – with apologies to Diana Kennedy - toasted pasilla de Oaxaca and guajillo chiles, soaked, blended, and fried with white onion and garlic. Queso cotija and oregano added for flavor, and then garnished with more queso and onion. Pasilla de Oaxaca are smoked like a chipotle, which adds a nice twist.

patrickamory – That looks good, too! Finishing up the chipotle and pasilla sauces from earlier this week Pasilla-mushroom tacos - Shiitake mushrooms and cilantro, garnished with white onion and queso cotija Chipotle steak tacos – Grilled strip steak, muy picante! Fried plantains – I found some extremely black plantains, and they fried up nice and sweet. I’m not accusing anyone, but most of the plantains were gone before dinner *coughMrs.C.cough* Lettuce not pictured, but enjoyed on the tacos. Flour tortillas, 'cuz that's what the boys like.

patrickamory – Thank you for those very kind words! I have been (heh) admiring your bean meals lately, and the beans borrachos look and sound divine. robirdstx – nice job on the crispy chicken

Kim, that sounds really good to me Mexican here tonight. Mrs. C arrived home very late from work, which worked out because this was originally planned as a leisurely weekend meal. Veal and sweet potatoes in pasilla-honey sauce – Dry-roasted garlic, toasted and soaked pasilla and ancho chiles, oregano, black pepper and cumin, all pureed in the Preethi. Brown the meat, strain and fry the chile paste, add stock, simmer with cubed sweet potatoes, sweeten with honey, and garnish with cilantro and white onion rings. Delicious! Sauteed zucchini with garlic and lime – slowly-browned garlic slices, tossed with zucchini and cilantro, and then finished with a squeeze of lime. One of my favorites. Cheater red rice – jasmine rice with peas, chicken stock, and a jar of enchilada sauce. Very popular.

Very nice, Chris - kudos!

Kim – Thank you! I could definitely get comfortable with your comfort meal. Wow, I go away for a few hours, and the number of amazing meals that appears overwhelms my ability to comment. Beef Panang with sliced red bell peppers, Jalapenos, onions, and lime leaves, over jasmine rice. Elder son was in a hurry to eat and go out, so I put him to work slicing and dicing. Stir-fried gai lan with black bean sauce, garlic, chiles, and fish sauce. Improvised, after I realized we were out of oyster sauce.

percyn – sounds like you inherited your love of breakfast, and clearly you continue to do the family tradition proud. Clean-out-the-fridge chipotle shrimp with eggs. I made a pot of sauce with chipotle in adobo, roasted garlic, tomato, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Most of the sauce went into the fridge for future use, but I cooked chopped-up shrimp in the remaining sauce, scrambled in a couple of eggs, and then added half-and-half and mayo to enrich the sauce and temper the fire. Topped the shrimp-egg concoction with chipotle guacamole and a dollop of the chipotle sauce.

I appreciate all of the shout-outs for the smothered onion recipe, but all credit should go to Marcella Hazan. Chris, yours looks nice! Chris, I am enjoying your adventurous cooking very much and will be sorry to see this blog end.

Soba – thanks! Smothered onions were probably be best sauce I had never heard of before. The combination of sautéed mushrooms, green garlic, and poached egg sounds (and looks!) divine. Shelby – is sixish a good time to drop in? Scotty Boy – That looks like a glorious meal Welcomed Mrs. C home with a simple dinner. Black beans with chorizo and pork loin – with Poblano chiles, cilantro, and a dollop of leftover tomato-habanero sauce. Arroz blanco plus – jasmine rice with white onion, garlic, Poblano chiles, peas, corn, and parsley Apologies for the lousy pic – I inadvertently left the camera on ISO 1600

Chris – This is great fun, although I am exhausted just following along. One of these days I will get an outdoor wok set-up. I think the whole family will appreciate it when dried chiles hit hot oil. Kudos to your wife on the action shots.

percyn – Recipe adapted from My Bombay Kitchen (with considerable inspiration from your luscious soft-scrambled eggs). I have yet to see ramps around here, but I will keep an eye out at the spring farmer’s markets. Thanks for the tip. I have to ask - was your uncle making the "6-7 other things" himself? If so, he was far more energetic in the morning than I am.

Scotty Boy – Like the Wizard of Oz, your pousin transformed from black and white to glorious Technicolor. Nice! dcarch – Your blackened catfish and happy vegetables look great! Shelby – After all we have been through, I am hurt that you didn’t invite me to your Fat Tuesday extravaganza. Not the most colorful meal, but elder son added both recipes to his database of “Things Pop Should Cook for My Friends.” Marcella Hazan strikes again. Spaghetti with smothered onions sauce – Six cups of thinly-sliced onions, slowly cooked down for an hour in butter and olive oil, and then browned, deglazed with white wine, seasoned with parsley and pepper, and tossed with grated parmigiano reggiano and spaghetti. I was fascinated by the sloooowly-fried onions, so similar to many Indian preparations. Pan-roasted chicken with rosemary, garlic, and white wine – The softened whole garlic cloves became the cook’s treat. Salad

Wow, lots of meals that make me regret my lack of an auxiliary stomach. I always get a hankering for Mexican food in winter, when ripe tomatoes are a summer memory. Just the boys and I this week, so we will probably have a simple salad with most meals. Filetes de pescado a la Campechana (Campeche baked fish fillets) – sea bass baked with lime juice, cilantro, and sauce of fried white onion simmered with tomato and habanero chiles. Frijoles charros (quick cowboy beans) – with bacon, tomato, garlic, pinto beans, pickled jalapenos, and cilantro. Edit: splelngi

The sauce is good stuff. I’ll let the proprietor know that he may be missing a market segment. Parsi soft-scrambled eggs on toast – with ghee-fried onions, garlic-ginger paste, Thai bird chiles, and cilantro. Plates were licked, and licked clean.

Pulled pork omelet with feta cheese . . . . . . with a little of this, grown and made by a co-worker

:laugh: Nice meals! Dejah – Holey moley, that’s a major league appetite! Mrs. C made most of tonight's dinner, I just made the carrots and grilled the steak. Carrots were cubed, boiled, and then tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, and parsley. I thought they were delicious, but nobody else liked 'em.

I agree - sounds like Thai basil. Makes me hungry just thinking about the lovely anise aroma. See comparison picture on Wikipedia, with Thai basil on the right. I often see Thai basil with purply-tinged leaves.

Wow, spectacular meals! I followed patrickamory down a Mexican path: Carnitas estilo Urapan – chunks of pork butt, simmered with onion and garlic. The pork is drained when tender and then simmered again with orange juice and milk. When the liquids are fully reduced, the pork fries in its rendered lard (sorta like Mexican rendang ). This would make a killer taco filling. I added Tapatio salsa liberally after picture time. Arroz verde con rajas – jasmine rice cooked with roasted chile Poblano strips and pureed spinach, parsley, cilantro, onion, and garlic. Calabacitas picadas con elote – chopped zucchini and chile Poblano strips sautéed with corn, tomato, onion, garlic, and cilantro. I love feta cheese with Mexican vegetables, so I crumbled some on top.

Simple meal again tonight - pork fried rice for two. Sliced pork loin, marinated and seared. Leftover jasmine rice stir-fried with ginger, shallots, roasted chile paste, fish sauce, eggs, and scallions. Eternal cucumbers, tomatoes, and limes alongside.