Thai Cooking at Home, 2005 - 2006

[Kim D]

I love the smell and taste of fish sauce. It's hard to remember back to when I thought the smell was too strong. On my last trip to Thai Grocery, I asked for a recommendation for a stronger smelling fish sauce because Tiparos, Three Crabs and Squid brand weren't cutting it for me.

Before I knew much of anything about Thai, I used to order Pad Talay. Yum! Unfortunately, the Bangkok Star restaurant closed some years back. And I can't quite remember all of the ingredients.

I remember that the sauce was red. I don't remember a strong taste of coconut but it might have been in there. I remember straw mushrooms, fake crab, shrimp, cuttlefish, maybe some red bell pepper.

This weekend I made a batch of red curry paste. If someone has a recipe for Pad Talay, I would be all ears.

- Kim

[SheenaGreena]

glad to see that bruce & kim feel the same as I.

I went to a local thai restaurant last night for dinner and I opted for the green curry with "thai melon", shrimp, green beans, and thai eggplant. It was the first time I had thai eggplant and I absolutely loved it. I thought it tasted like an eggplant with the consistency of a slightly cooked tomatillo - very delicious. I am guessing the thai melon was in fact winter melon.

they had laarb on the menu, but I didn't try it because of the temperature (served room temp) and I didn't know if you were supposed to eat it with rice or just eat in plain. I am still kicking myself, because I think I would've enjoyed the larb more.

[Kim D]

Thai eggplant is my favorite new food. I love the seeds.

We've made The Best Eggplant Dish Ever twice in the last week.

On Sunday, we made chicken with red curry and threw in half a dozen Thai eggplants.

We always throw extra in our Jungle Curry.

I think they steal the show.

- Kim

[C. sapidus]

Sheena: If in doubt, order the larb. I use larb gai as quick way to judge Thai restaurants.

Kim D: Are you using the green golf ball-sized eggplants or the long violet-colored ones for the "best eggplant dish ever"?

Tonight we made David Thompson’s green curry of chicken with baby corn. I’m not sure why the picture is lurid yellow – the curry looked greener in real life. I used fresh baby corn, and thinned the curry with homemade chicken stock. The recipe called for two tablespoons of the curry paste, but I used about five tablespoons to get the flavor right. Next time I’ll probably increase everything in the curry paste except the chilies – the curry had just the right amount of heat, but needed more body.

We served the curry with jasmine rice, and asparagus with a cooked sauce of lime, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and sesame oil.

Green curry of chicken with baby corn (geng gwio warn gai)

[Kim D]

Kim D: Are you using the green golf ball-sized eggplants or the long violet-colored ones for the "best eggplant dish ever"?

The golf ball-sized eggplants.

Kasma Loha-unchit's Easy Green Curry recipe calls for pea eggplants. When I asked at Thai Grocery why I hadn't seen them in a while, I was told that they could no longer import them. Why would they be banned?

I also asked when they were going to get in coriander with the roots attached. I was told that Florida didn't have any yet and that coriander from Mexico has to have the roots cut off.

[jmolinari]

I found coriander with roots jsut last week here in Atlanta, either i hadn't noticed it before as i wasn't specifically looking for it, or it just showed up recently.

Now i have to figure out what to do with the roots (which i froze well wrapped, since i won't be around for hte next 10 days)

[C. sapidus]

Kim D: Are you using the green golf ball-sized eggplants or the long violet-colored ones for the "best eggplant dish ever"?

The golf ball-sized eggplants.

Kasma Loha-unchit's Easy Green Curry recipe calls for pea eggplants. When I asked at Thai Grocery why I hadn't seen them in a while, I was told that they could no longer import them. Why would they be banned?

Kim D: Thanks – I like halved or quartered Thai eggplants in green curry, but I have not used them for an eggplant-based dish. Unfortunately, I am the only one in the family that likes the texture of long-cooked eggplant. I would love to try the pea-sized eggplants, too, but I have never seen them in the stores.

I found coriander with roots jsut last week here in Atlanta, either i hadn't noticed it before as i wasn't specifically looking for it, or it just showed up recently.

Now i have to figure out what to do with the roots (which i froze well wrapped, since i won't be around for hte next 10 days)

jmolinari: Lucky you! This past summer we grew cilantro mostly for the roots. If no roots are available, we just use the stems in curry paste. I have not done any side-by-side comparison, so I’m not sure how using cilantro roots or stems changes the complex flavors of a Thai curry.

[Kim D]

Sometimes I just have no idea what I'm doing in the kitchen. So I just wing it.

The first time we used lemongrass, we had no idea how much of it to use. We probably threw away more than we should have.

The first time we used cilantro in curry paste, we had no idea where the root started and where it ended. When does the root start being the stem? And are those hairy things that hang off the root to be used or not?

We didn't know. And since no one was watching, we used the bits we wanted. And it tasted great.

[C. sapidus]

The green curry leftovers made a delicious breakfast. The colors in this picture are closer to reality - I'm still not sure why the picture upthread came out fluorescent yellow.

[Manager note: this conversation continues in Thai Cooking at Home, 2007 - 2012]