KennethT

Yeah, here they can be like $5 for a mediocre specimen. I have to wait for the occasional (once a year if I'm lucky) trip to the tropics to feed my addiction.

If I had access, I could definitely eat my body weight in passion fruit!

Cut in half, scoop out the flesh and enjoy!!! Or, if still unsure, you can send them to me!!!

Salmon with Thai green papaya som tum.

Teochew Bak kut teh noodle soup. Pork broth made healthy using chicken breast.

Last night's dinner, I was feeling nostalgic for dinner in Saigon at the "chicken corner".... Too bad I don't have access to a really good banh mi (just the baguette not the sandwich).... Fish sauce marinated chicken thigh on a bed of rau ram (from the garden), homemade pickles and dipping sauce (not pictured) consisting of salt, lots of Vietnamese peppercorns, garlic, chili, lime juice and a touch of fish sauce.

Spaghetti with chili and mint (from my garden)

We walked down to Chinatown to have dinner and support the area a bit. A group in NYC donated these modular seating areas to a couple blocks - mostly Mott St south of Pell. Plexiglass dividers between the tables Gailan with oyster sauce A very crispy and tasty scallion pancake and rice rolls with oyster sauce and peanut sauce. It had a sweetness making me think it was made with peanut butter Shrimp spring rolls Hong Kong style noodles with gailan and wontons with pork and a whole shrimp.

This is the palm sugar I like.... Let me know what you think of the one you have - maybe I'd like it even more?

You can just use your knife to shave thin slices off the block - it takes longer to dissolve in curries or som tum than the stuff in the tub, but it's not terrible. For most non-curry things, Andy Ricker in his Pok Pok book recommends pounding the palm sugar in a mortar with stuff like chilies and the garlic, and the liquids released will dissolve the palm sugar.

That's the video I was thinking about... personally, I find the palm sugar that comes in the tub the easiest to deal with.. no chopping - it's pretty scoopable - depending on how fresh it is, sometimes it harder, but 10 seconds in the microwave makes it soft again... I'll try to take a photo of what I use tonight when I get home from work - it's usually available in the shop on Mosco St. or at Kalustyan's....

I had the Thai Kitchen a long time ago, and I just thought it was relatively flavorless... and the Mae Ploy just tastes like salt. The Nittiya is by far the best that I've ever had, but it's become hard to come by in the last few years. My typical Thai store has it in stock for about a day and then he's sold out. I always wondered if that was the case why he doesn't bring in more at one time.. but that's another question. Other than that, I find the Maesri (in the can) is the best that is always easily available, imo...

hot-thai-kitchen.com has a lot of info for palm sugar - in one section, she goes into a full explanation of it, and explains the differences between different brands - how some are 100% palm sugar, some are cut with regular sugar and some aren't really palm sugar at all...

BTW - where did you order from?

btw - do you have shrimp paste? No Thai curry will taste right with out it. Also, what about palm sugar? It has a totally different flavor to regular sugar and in things like som tum (any kind - doesnt' matter what vegetable you have), one of the primary flavors is that of palm sugar and tamarind.

I like the Aroy-D UHP coconut milk - it's much better than canned, and I think it's even better than the really expensive frozen stuff I get at the Mosco St. market. Just make sure your is 100% coconut milk - evidently, they make different versions - some with stabilizers and some w/o. I buy 2-3 6 packs at a time from Amazon. I'm not a huge fan of Thai Kitchen curry pastes. I like the canned Maesri better, and even better than that (but almost never available) the refrigerated curry paste from Nittiya. The nice thing is that the Nittiya paste already has the shrimp paste included - but just about every other paste I've seen you have to add it separately.

David Thompson's works are great. I agree. I find Thai Food is fascinating but I don't find myself making anything from it. I like Andy Ricker's Pok Pok book - it's good for northern Thai and some Isaan. He also has a good discussion on substituting chilies that are typically used in Thailand with ones we can find in the NY area. I also like https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/ or her You Tube channel. I'm not usually a fan of her non-Thai recipes, but her Thai ones ahve been reliable and tasted similar to what I've had in Thailand.

I've never tried the Twin Marquis noodles. I recently got some Shanxi style knife cut noodles (in the refrigerated case) at H-mart. I made 2 servings (out of the 10 in the package) and had them as a noodle soup and quite enjoyed them. I thought they had good texture, but I wound up undercooking by a minute or two as compared with the directions on the package.

what about fermented black beans and doubanjiang?

I'd slice after reheating unless you're trying to slice SUPER thin... Less chance of overcooking when reheating the slab rather than slices.

@liuzhou I hope you get better soon. It sucks that you're immobile for a few days but I'm more concerned about the fainting. I hope it was just a random thing and not a sign of something more serious! At least you're eating well!

I'm curious as to what will happen. Yesterday I planted 4 nubs of cilantro stems with a bit of root still attached. It looks like there is a small leaf forming in the center of each stem bundle but that could well be my imagination right now. Fingers crossed. I am very jealous of those who can get cilantro at their local market for like 35 cents a bunch. The going rate in every market within rational walking distance is 1.99. The only place I know of that's significantly cheaper is (was) the Essex market in the lower East side, but that's not really walking distance for me. My grocery store mint is doing really well - just repotted out of the solo cup yesterday. It's very fragrant.

What she said....

I find that there's more flavor in the stems than there is in the leaves so I use the stems in lots of things I want that fresh cilantro flavor. Roots are very flavorful too, but they need to be pounded - they're too tough... but they're a common ingredient in thai curry pastes because they have so much flavor.

I wish I could find that brand here... all I can find are the cubes - not really helpful when you just need a pinch or two.