pim

Mamster is right. That's what I meant in spirit. I was just referring to Gluten because it was better known from bread baking etc, just to get the message across. It's sort of similar to refering to Caffeine in Tea, which in fact has no caffeine at all, only theine. Sorry for the confusion. umm..Mamster, our salary is $0, so Jason could easily double it, or even triple...we still wouldn't get anything.

Perhaps you should give it a try. I don't think Galangal would be very good after having been frozen though. The Massaman curry is not supposed to have a very strong citrusy undertone at all. The red curry, on the other hand should have a much stronger citrus taste compared to the Massaman. Cardamom leaves are not essential. They are nice to have but you could easily skip it and just add a pinch of cardamom to the finished curry, just a pinch though.

Yes there are definitely differences between the different color pastes. The yellow paste is much more mellow than the other ones. The main use for the yellow paste (Nam-prik Gank Kari) is to make a Gang Kari Gai, chicken in mild yellow curry, which is served with Ajad (cucumber relish). The Massaman paste has more of an "Indian" flavoring in it, betraying its provenance. The red curry paste (Gang Dang/Gang Ped) has a bit stronger citrus quality than the green, and is used for different type of curries. The Gang Dang or Gang Ped curries are sometimes garnished with julienned lime leaves, to accentuate the citrus flavor in certain seafood curries. I have the same problem you do about Pad Thai in Thai restaurants outside of Thailand being too sweet too. The recipe in this class was Mamster's, I haven't made it myself. But you can easily control the sweetness of your padthai by adjusting the taste of the sauce. You don't have to put as much sugar as asked for in the recipe. Just trust your own taste. I'm not sure what that is. The name sounds Vietnamese, I wouldn't be able to tell what it is unless I either see it or know the Thai name. Next time I go to the market I will look for it. Most vegetables are labeled in both the Chinese and Vietnames names around here. I'll tell you what it's for if I could find it. When I get around to making Mag's Ped Krapow and write down the recipe I will send it to you as well. The basic Pad Krapow recipe can be adapted for Duck (Ped) or Chicken (Gai).

Hmm...well if there's enough request we may be compelled to have one. About the fiery nature of Thai food. I think it's a bit of a misunderstanding about Thai food being so very hot. Though it is true that certain dishes are fiery in nature, but a Thai meal is a balancing act of all flavors. A few things may be hot, but there are always other milder or even sweet dishes to accompany them. This is so that you can take a bite of something hot, then something mild, and so on. This way the meal is much more pleasant and less resembles a game of dare!

You're welcome, Maureen. I'm not sure what the pastes you refered to are specifically, as they are so many different types of pastes that it would be difficult for me to identify each one without the Thai names. The pastes in general can be stored at room temperature, or even in the fridge, but never in the freezer. Kaffir lime leaves and zest are different. You can substitute regular lime zest, or mandarin zest for the kaffir zest. The sour sausage is probably from the Isan (northeast) region of Thailand. I've never made it myself as I am from Bangkok, but I bet I could look up a recipe for you when I get home. The crispy rice is actually a clever way of using left over rice. In the old days, rice was cooked in large quantity in a giant wok like pan. After the rice was cooked and served there would be a layer of rice crust that was stuck to the pan. The crust would be taken out of the pan, air dried, and subsequently broken into smaller pieces and deep fried to be served with other dishes. One of my favorite snacks is a sort of relish of shrimps, minced pork, shallots, peanuts cooked in coconut milk (Na Tung). The sweet/salty relish is served with Kao Tang, or crispy rice cakes. I remember seeing rice cooked in those giant woks at my granfather's company when I was little . Back in those days we fed the workers for free. In fact one of my earliest food memories had to do with those woks, I remember thinking that the Kitchen Mother (a Thai equivelent of "cook") could deep fry me in one of those things!! A tad morbid I'd say, especially for a 4-5 yr-old. I go to Ranch 99 (in Milpitas near my office) and the New May Wah on Clement st. I find that between these two places I usually find pretty much everything I need.

I do have some idea. Pad Krapow is a simple dish that can be made with different types of protein, chicken, pork, shrimp, duck, etc. I think the dish you were addicted to was made of roasted duck, which was then stir fried with garlic, chilli, and Bai Krapow (Holy Basil). Sometimes a few leaves of holy basil are also deep fried and strewn on top of the dish. I can try to make the dish when I get a chance. I promise I will send you the recipe when I'm done.

Lunch was usually a simple meal. Sometimes it was a noodle dish, or a fried rice. These single plates were always served with a little something else to go with, perhaps a snack or a soup, followed by a small plate of fruit or cold fruit cocktail. Sometimes, especially on the weekends we had more elaborate lunch of a set meal. They were considered one-dish meal in Thailand but they should have been called a one-theme meal instead because they usually comprised more than just one thing. These “one-dish” meals were more like a set, like Kao Chae (Iced fragrant rice soup set). The iced-cold rice soup was fragrant with jasmine and other flowers, and was served with many things on the side, such as Kapi-Kua, Nuea Wan, Prik-yuak Sod Sai, and vegetables. Kao Chae was, and is, my favorite thing to eat in the summer. Another example for a lunch set was Kanom Jeen Nam-ya, a dish of fermented noodle and spicy fish curry. Dinner was more elaborate. We always had a curry of one kind or another. The type of curry then dictated a few side dishes to go with it. For example, a Chicken Green Curry was always served with Crispy Fish (Pla Salid) and Five Spice Egg Stew (Kai Palo). Also, there was usually a Nam-prik (relish), again depending on which type of Nam-prik there would be other side things. Nam-prik Long Ruea, for example, was always served with sweetened pork stew. There was always a soup, sometimes bland, sometimes spicy such as a Tom Yum or Tom Som. There was also a vegetable of some sort, either stir fried, stewed with coconut milk, or served fresh (cut up and sometimes carved) with relishes. We normally had 7-10 things on the dinner table. After dinner we had fruits or perhaps desserts, but mostly fruits. Grandfather preferred sweet things in the afternoon more than at dinner time. The meals I had growing up are improbable by today’s standard. They were possible then because of the social situation in Thailand. When I was little I lived in my maternal grandfather’s house. My parents occupied another house in the same compound, as did my two aunts. Everyone had meals together most of the time. The meals were cooked in a large communal kitchen. My Aunt Chawiwan supervised the kitchen, with a full time cook. Other servants helped in the kitchen before meal time. This was why the meals could be elaborate, my aunt had all the help she needed. This fact was never more evident to me than when I tried to use Aunt Chawiwan’s recipe for roasted chilli paste. The instruction had me slicing 1 kilo, each, of garlic and shallots by hand! My aunt insisted that the garlic and shallots must be sliced, as chopping would bruise them, giving them a bitter taste. An hour after I started, I was still there, in the kitchen, obediently slicing, only one more kilo to go…..

The Molcajetes I’ve seen are usually shallower than the Thai Krok. Also, I think the Molcajete is made for grinding rather than pounding, so I would be careful with using the pestle part of the Molcajete to pound on things. It might not stand up for such abuse. Another problem is that the shallow receptacle would allow the curry paste ingredients to fly around easily—this would be dangerous for your eyes. Honestly I don’t actually know since I haven’t really tried. I’m just conjecturing here. Why don’t you give it a try and let us know how it turns out, Jason?

If the only thing standing in the way of making your own curry is the problem with pounding your own curry paste, by all means use the pre-fab variety. Doing so with care would still likely be better than what you get at most Thai restaurants (which btw largely use pre-made paste anyway).

Thank you. About the coconut milk question, it's kind of difficult to say because it depends on which brand coconut milk you use. The Thai brands, like Chao Koh and Mae Ploy are the ones that separate into cream and milk. The other ones don't always do that. The fancy brand you get at Whole Foods definitely don't. The Mae Plaoy and Chao Koh are about half and half milk and cream, give or take. Whatever you do, don't even think about-- gasp-- low fat coconut milk! Coconut oil is good fat, why bother with the low fat variety? I'm not near my kitchen (in a hotel room in London) so I can't tell you the exact size of the can, but I say three regular size cans or two large cans will do. I can be more specific when I get home, or perhaps Mamster can help us out here.

I can't really speak for Mamster (but that's not going to stop me ), but I rather doubt he would suggest such a thing. The pre-fab curry paste is definitely acceptable, but I don't think it will be better than the fresh made ones. I guess a case could be made that if you couldn't get all the required ingredients, or if they were in questionable shape (as in frozen or old), perhaps you would be better off using pre-fab. It is really easy these days to find these ingredients in any big city in the US or even Europe. Yes it requires a bit of patience, perhaps tenacity, to pound your own curry paste, but you will be amply rewarded.

The potato is optional. I should have put that in the recipe. My personal preference is without any potato, just becuase that's how it was done in my family. If you want to add potato, I suggest partially-cooking the potato in a separate pot, otherwise the starch will change the texture of the curry. Potato away Jason. Pim

Interesting. I think I am the only one not happy with La Regalade anymore. The last meal I had there was horrendous. This was late summer last year. Before that, I had been going there a few times a year since about 1994. I had not been very happy with the visits a couple of times before my last meal there, but the last one I had just turned me off completely. I had gone to Paris on a short notice, as is customary for me, and managed to get a late seating at 9.30. The restaurant was busy as ever, and the service even worse. The food we got was so horrible I wondered if the chef was even around. Among other things, we had Coquille St Jacques with leeks that were rubbery, and the leeks almost burnt to a crisp. We also had foie de veau (veal liver), which was also too well done and came buried in a huge mound of chives. For dessert I ordered Fraises des Bois, served “nature” as in unadorned. I don’t have a problem with serving fruits alone, but those Fraises have been away from the Bois so long they were withered, shriveled, and just plain sad looking. We did have a delicious lobster dish, but the quality of the other ones were just so bad, and the service even worse, that I decided that would be the last time for me. The whole experience was so bad, and I was so disappointed, that I couldn’t even managed to utter a few nice words when the chef emerged from the kitchen to see how things were going. Our table was nearest the kitchen entrance, so he came to us first, asking how we liked the food----I couldn’t even bring myself to lie just to be nice. If you are looking for inexpensive bistro meals like La Regalade, I suggest you try either L’os à Moelle or La Repaire de Cartouche. These three chefs trained together under Christian Constant at the Crillon. In a way I do think Yves Camdeborde is arguably the most talented of the three, and this was perhaps the reason why I was so disappointed by the unevenness in quality of his food. My expectation of him was just too high. L’os à Moelle or La Repaire de Cartouche both, on the other hand, are still my favorites. The menus are smaller than that of La Regalade, and the quality almost always superb. At L’os à Moelle for example, you only have three choices give and take for each course. Incidentally, you may want to also consider lunch at Café Constant. I went there on Loufood’s recommendation last month, and will be there again next week. The food is great, simple, and homey in the best sense of the word. And, hey, why not try to the food of le maître, chef Constant himself, now that you can eat his food even if you couldn’t, or wouldn’t afford the check at Le Violon (his current restaurant, one star).

Interesting. Where did you get this recipe, might I ask? I see a few ingredients in there that I'm not sure about. Green onions? I have never seen a curry paste with green onions, shallots yes, but never green onion. Gapi, shrimp paste, which is a crucial ingredient in curry pastes, is missing here but I do understand if you had to do it because of certain dietary restrictions. Also, the proportion of cumin/coriandar to the other ingredients seem quite high. This would make your curry smell pretty Indian in my opinion. You are right about the basic ingredients of most curry pastes. Yes they are quite similar, but there are always differences in proportion and ingredients that are specific to each type of curry. For example, wild ginger (Krachai) is an important ingredient for green curry, especially ones with fish or seafood. One more thing, I wonder why you add lime juice to green curry. Sour is not really a flavor component in classic green curry. Green curry is supposed to be hot, spicy salty, with a slight aftertaste of sweet.

Got it. Since I'm an ABC, I grasp this perfectly well. But Teo Chew? C'mon. Granted I don't speak any dialects, but I'm really curious which dialect has Teo Chew as the name for Chaozhou. The hard consonant 'T' seems a pretty far reach if I'm reading the transliteration correctly. hmm....that happened to be the ethnicity of one of my grandfathers, who was originally from the Santow region of Canton. The word Teo Chew, as far as I know, does not follow a particular transliteration method, but is the pronunciation in the original dialect of the name people from that region. Chiu Chow is Wade-Giles for Teo Chew. The hard T is quite prevalent in that dialect. My grandfather's last name, in fact, was Teo. In Mandarin dialect that character is pronounced Zheng. The Teo Chew chinese diaspora took them mostly to Southeast Asia, and in turn to Paris. A large part of the Chinese population of Paris are actually Teo Chew.

I've mostly found pork liver in Asian food. Hing lung in Chinatown in San Francisco serves a yummy hot bowl of jok with the silkiest slices of pork liver. Sweet!

Yes, such a person is here. I think. I've always loved durian growing up in Thailand. My grandfather's favorite fruit was durian, and he was very picky about the quality. He refused even to eat durian that has been out of its shell for longer than five minutes, claiming that it would "smell like the wind". I've never found durian of fine quality in the US. Period. The problem maybe that durians found here have been frozen for transport. As other delicate fruits, durians do not freeze, or rather, thaw, well. The result, I've so far found durian of good enough quality that I would cook with. I've made stewed durian here on a number of occasions and found them to be acceptable. I have yet to find durians that I would eat outright though.

I have to disagree with Tonkichi when he said the best durian comes from Malaysia. The best ones are from Thailand! In fact, the more expensive they are, the less "stinky" the smell. Not that they smell any less. Only that they have more of a perfum and an odor One of my favorite desserts in Thailand is Kao-niew Durian, which is sweet sticky rice served with stewed durian. Put some durian in coconut milk, add a little palm sugare and a little salt, cook it slowly until soft and the durian scent has permiated the coconut milk, that's how you make a stewed durian. Take a bowl and fill it with sweet sticky rice, top it with stewed durian. Yummmm

One secret of keeping Pak-boong (in Thai) or On Choy (in Cantonese) from turning chewy is super hot wok. You must let your wok heat until super hot, then throw in the veggie with seasonings, the a couple of turns and immdediately off the heat. I never cook On Choy stir fry at home because I don't think I could ever get the wok to be hot enough in my kitchen. And chewy on choy is yucky in my opinion.

In Thailand we make mooncake with durian filling. Yum! Really they are! Those of you who live in or near LA can try the durian mooncake at Bangluck Market in Hollywood.

I had dinner at the Timgad with a Parisian friend. I thought the meal was wonderful actually. I had the Tajine of farm chicken with onions and dates, as well as the Machoui. Both were delicious though I prefered the chicken. I have to say though that I am not an expert on Moroccan or Algerian food, but I had a long conversation with an Algerian cab driver who drove me from Gare du Nord to my hotel in Montparnasse and got him to recommend a few places. He gave me a list of names that include Timgad, Mansouria (which I knew from Pudlo's review), and Chez Omar. I have to say Chez Omar is my favorite. It looks like a standard Paris brasserie, but the thé a la menthe on every table top gave a clue that there was something different here. The scent of cous cous in the air was another clue. The food was great, the atmosphere very relaxed and the service very good. Chez Omar is on Rue de Bretagne, in the 3e

On Loufood's recommendation I had a meal at Cafe Constant and loved it. The chef kept popping in and out of Le Violon just down the street to check at the cafe, and I found that so endearing. Au Bon Acceuil looked very good, I didn't eat there but breezed by on a Segway Thanks again Lou <edited for typo>

Rather missed the point for you didn't I? c'est pas grave.. Don't worry about it. Sorry I was a bit before. Must have still been bitter about the >400euro I had to shell out for all those beets!.

You are too funny I had liver last night at Cafe Constant (thanks Loufood for the rec.) and I kept thinking about your comment. The conversation in my head was like this... (Tana said animal diaper Yuck ymmm but this is so good hmmmm but she said...... ) Fortunately it didn't stop me. It was way too good, and le Mâitre himself was popping in and out, looking over at my plate and asking if it was ok everytime he went by. No way I was going to leave anything on my plate in that case...I'd rather tip the remainder of my plate into my gucci bag! Luckily it never came to that

Well but that's not the point of my post now, was it? If I were a picky eater it would have been a different thing. And I did try the beets, in both courses. My main complaint was about the composition of the dégustation menu itself. No matter how fond Passard was of beets, I didn't see a point of putting beets in two courses. Nor have I seen similar practice at other starred restaurants. The point of ordering the dégustation menu for me is not only to try many things, but also to let the chef design the prosession of the food for me. Batterave en gelée followed with Batterave Rôti was just too much, except perhaps for a dégustation menu of beets, but that's not the case here. Gee you sound like my mother......