Thai Cooking at Home, 2005 - 2006

[FoodMan]

I tried the chicken and galangal soup for dinner last night from Thompson's book and was very happy with it. It was simple to make and had great flavor. BTW, bouight the mushrooms fresh from the Asian grocery store for a very good price. the label just said fresh mushrooms but what are they really called? I think they are the fresh version of the typical brown round dried ones.

I really wanted to try making some type of rice cakes with my newly acquired glutinous rice, but I had no time.

Elie

[SuzySushi]

BTW, bouight the mushrooms fresh from the Asian grocery store for a very good price. the label just said fresh mushrooms but what are they really called? I think they are the fresh version of the typical brown round dried ones.

Elie

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From the photo, it looks like they're shiitake mushrooms. Did they have an earthier flavor than regular white mushrooms?

[FoodMan]

I didi some looking online and yeah, I think they were shiitake's. They definitly and an earthier flavor and aroma. I guess I was surprised since they were pretty cheap (1.97 for about a 1lb package), I thought these mushrooms are supposed to be more expensive.

Elie

[BarbaraY]

I have a small Kaffir lime tree. It lives in a huge pot in the house in the winter. When I put it out next week it will start putting out fresh leaves. These are the ones that I use for cooking since I find the old leaves are way to strong, almost acrid.

After bringing it back in to the house in the fall, it will start growing again for a short time.

Seven years old and has never produced fruit. Maybe because it has to be housebound all winter.

[Susan in FL]

Welcome to the eG Society, Barbara. I like where you chose to make your first post!

I am trying to find out where I can buy a Kaffir lime tree within Florida. You would think that would be an easy task with all the citrus that is grown here, but so far I've had no luck. Supposedly I can't get one by mail order because with the big deal about disease that strikes citrus it is not legal.

[BarbaraY]

Thanks Susan. I don't know where this tree was purchased. My late hubby got it for me from a mail order source.

[FoodMan]

Well, I did not exactly "cook" any Thai food but I finally got to make Thompson's chili jam and it is so freaking good I cannot wait to use it on/in/with something. I actually even made my own dried shrimp to use in the jam since I had a bag of raw shrimp in the freezer, the process was pretty simple fool proof with a great end result.

Here are the pics of the raw ingredients, then fried and then a large jar of flavorful jam:

Elie

[lovebenton0]

Welcome to the eG Society, Barbara.  I like where you chose to make your first post!

I am trying to find out where I can buy a Kaffir lime tree within Florida.  You would think that would be an easy task with all the citrus that is grown here, but so far I've had no luck.  Supposedly I can't get one by mail order because with the big deal about disease that strikes citrus it is not legal.

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hi Susan! try out this link to an online nursery in Largo, FL for their Kaffir lime trees. as long as it's grown in your state they can ship it to you. happy hunting...

[Behemoth]

Well, I did not exactly "cook" any Thai food but I finally got to make Thompson's chili jam and it is so freaking good I cannot wait to use it on/in/with something.

I can barely keep myself from eating it straight out of the jar. Actually, with some rice and a steamed egg it is a pretty decent lunch. Yum.

[Susan in FL]

hi Susan! try out this link to an online nursery in Largo, FL for their Kaffir lime trees. as long as it's grown in your state they can ship it to you. happy hunting...

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Thank you!!! I will be getting a Kaffir lime tree!

After those rave reviews, I can't wait to try that chili jam.

[tryska]

wow this thread is really interesting. Peanutgirl - i'm scared of you! that's a heck of a blizzard dinner.

here are my questions....so far i've tried the Mae Ploy Green paste with a chicken and eggplant curry, and i tried fried tofu in the Mae Ploy panang curry.

i followed the directions on the little tubs both times, and i just can't replicate what i taste at good thai restaurants. (creamy, redolent of coconut and nicely spiced).

mine have come out harshly spicy, not redolent of coconut at all, and very salty.

the panang curry i made i actually doctored with some brown sugar, and a smidge of peanut butter. it started to taste better, but is still tearing up my insides and the texture was kind of gloppy.

is it just a matter of dropping the paste ratio down a bit? are there other ingredients that y'all add that isn't included on the container directions?

and out of curiosity - i rodered mango and sticky rice forma restuarant once - and i was at a loss as to how to eat it. it came in a sticky rice patty, and it was kinda crunchy and dried out around the edges, and was really chewy but i couldn't figure otu hwo to combine it with the mango slices and coconut sauce. (which tasted quite good together).

[trillium]

Start with a good canned coconut brand, like Chaokoh or Mae Ploy. You might try boiling down your coconut cream until the oil seperates, and then fry your paste in it, and then add the rest of the liquid. That helps with the creamy part. I used to use the premade pastes, but I've never followed the directions on the tubs so I'm not sure what they say, but they are very salty. You can add a little palm sugar to taste for balance. Check out It Rains Fishes, Kasma's first book, I think she has a recipe for making green curry from the canned pastes in there, and I don't remember that any other spice/herb was added. I would go for that over instructions from the tub.

When I ate sticky rice and mango in Thailand the rice was never ever dried out, I think that's sloppy restaurant food, not the norm. You eat it with your fingers, a ball of rice, a bit of mango, and a dunk in the coconut cream, then pop it in your mouth.

regards,

trillium

[tryska]

thanks trillium!

yeah i figured the dried out part was sloppy cooking on the resto's part. but you learn something new every day. I will look for Chaokoh brand Coconut milk.

I've never seen Mae Ploy - but so far i've used Roland and some Sri Lankan milk which wasn't good at all.

Edited May 27, 2005 by tryska (log)

[Kim D]

I am so totally hooked on Hot Sour Salty Sweet's Green-Wrapped Flavor Bundles . We've made them three times in the last two weeks. Once for guests. What fun!

I love being able to assemble my own little lettuce "burrito" with as much of the fillings (pork, ginger, lemongrass, scallions and sticky rice) as I like.

- kim

p.s. I just looked at the recipe (page 269) and it's from Laos. Not Thailand. To stay on thread topic, we also love "Our Favorite Noodles with Greens and Gravy" (page 116). We haven't quite figured out how to cook the fresh noodles so they don't stick together but that's just a detail. We do know that leaving off the Chile-Vinegar Sauce (oops) makes a huge difference and we won't be doing that again.

[Susan in FL]

Kim, thanks for the post... Laotian, Thai, whatever! I will look that one up, and check it out. I love getting such recommendations.

[Chris Amirault]

Dove back into David Thompson's Thai Food again this weekend for my birthday party dinner. Along with the green mango and smoked trout salad in Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, I made one of Thompson's pork sausage recipes, the cucumber salad, the grilled eggplant salad, and a grilled shrimp curry in banana leaves. All of them were just outstanding.

I also really confirmed the radical difference in texture between a food-processor ground paste and a paste that had been pounded in the mortar. The ingredients in the pounded paste have a far more silky, smooth texture; no matter how much you process, the ground paste is not really similar.

[jmolinari]

Quick question on the usage of an item. The yellow bean sauce that is used in a few thai dishes....Thompson calls for "rinsed" yellow bean sauce. Does this mean i take the bean sauce, rinse it off, and use the whole beans left behind? Is this to be done to all bean sauces? I have one that is from the dragonfly brand in a bottle, and i've seen some from Yeo's that don't seem to have the same texture as the ones in teh bottle.

Do i mash these beans up? That is what i've been doing so far...so that the flavor can go into the sauce, instead of having little salty pellets of salted beans.

thanks

jason

Edited July 14, 2005 by jmolinari (log)

[bbq4meanytime]

Quick question on the usage of an item. The yellow bean sauce that is used in a few thai dishes....Thompson calls for "rinsed" yellow bean sauce. Does this mean i take the bean sauce, rinse it off, and use the whole beans left behind? Is this to be done to all bean sauces? I have one that is from the dragonfly brand in a bottle, and i've seen some from Yeo's that don't seem to have the same texture as the ones in teh bottle.

Do i mash these beans up? That is what i've been doing so far...so that the flavor can go into the sauce, instead of having little salty pellets of salted beans.

thanks

jason

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Jason, I had the same question since the yellow beans I get are somewhat whole (halves) in a thin paste. I posted somewhere on this in the Asian section.

Anyways, I usually rinse the beans and then use the rinsed beans in the dish, sometimes giving them a little mash. I have also tried using the beans unrinsed and I'm not sure that there is much difference (at least with respect to the brand of yellow beans I use).

[trillium]

The Yeo's brand is a Singapore/Malaysian version, so it's a little different from the Dragonfly brand. It's mainly just whole fermented soya beans, where the Thai "sauces" in bottles are more mashed up. There is a little difference in saltiness between Healthy Boy brand soya bean paste and the Yeo's (the two I use), but you're cooking to taste anyway, right? Healthy Boy is a little more fermenty tasting, and a little less salty. Most Thais I saw cooking just added it directly to the dish without any rinsing. If you use Yeo's in a Thai dish, then you can mash it up a little with some of the liquid to make it more like the Thai style sauce, or not. I don't think it really matters that much. It's just like fermented black beans, you can do it according to mood and dish. Sometimes I really like "little salty pellets of salted beans" in something, instead of an underlying flavor profile.

regards,

trillium

[jmolinari]

thanks guys.

[Susan in FL]

It's been way too long since I posted here. Last night I gave us something to post about! Actually this dinner may be considered more Vietnamese style than Thai, but in my opionion, that counts here.

I was most pleased with the noodle salad, my favorite home version yet.

We also had grilled beef with lemongrass. The beef was a London broil cut of top round, which had been marinated in (really, more like rubbed with) a mixture of lemon grass, shallot, hot red chiles, garlic, ginger, and vegetable (soy bean) oil. These were served with a nice big salad plate of lettuces, fresh herbs, cucumbers, shallots, and tomatoes, and a nuoc cham dipping sauce. I was really proud of this dinner. Everything turned out cooked and seasoned perfectly.

I'm also proud of our lemongrass, which was used in the dinner. I haven't gotten a kaffir lime tree yet, but most of our herbs are growing beautifully. We grow a few of them in our yard as part of the "landscaping," besides in the garden. This is the lemongrass; it's on the far right in the picture, which is the back of our house by the porch. It must be the perfect harvesting time right now; I cut it right at the ground level and it chopped up very easily.

[jmolinari]

Susan, would you post the method/recipe for the noodle salad? It looks awesome.

jason

[Susan in FL]

I posted it in RecipeGullet. Thanks for asking. I didn't want to forget what I did, so that was the nudge I needed.

[peanutgirl]

wow this thread is really interesting.  Peanutgirl - i'm scared of you!  that's a heck of a blizzard dinner.

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Thanks tryska, nice compliment! Right now that blizzard is a cold, frozen nightmare. Lounging by the pool has erased that pain for now .

I've been lurking mostly.... pim kind if intimidated me with her comments about my interpretation of larb.

Not to worry... I'm still larbing and experimenting and cooking away. I was intmidated... but not offended. I'll just call my attempts Thai-inspired from now on .

Hubby had oral surgery a few weeks ago and larb was one of the things he actually requested .

Susan, lovely pictures as always.

I'm revived!

Hope to post something good soon.

Edited July 26, 2005 by peanutgirl (log)

[Susan in FL]

wow this thread is really interesting.  Peanutgirl - i'm scared of you!  that's a heck of a blizzard dinner.

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Thanks tryska, nice compliment! Right now that blizzard is a cold, frozen nightmare. Lounging by the pool has erased that pain for now .

I've been lurking mostly.... pim kind if intimidated me with her comments about my interpretation of larb.

Not to worry... I'm still larbing and experimenting and cooking away. I was intmidated... but not offended. I'll just call my attempts Thai-inspired from now on .

Hubby had oral surgery a few weeks ago and larb was one of the things he actually requested .

Susan, lovely pictures as always.

I'm revived!

Hope to post something good soon.

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I am so glad you are back, and glad to hear you are still cooking Thai, or Thai style, or Thai inspired. You've been missed. I'm looking forward to more posts.