Pumpkin in Coconut Milk - Fug Tong Gang Buad

In Thailand, pumpkins are available year round where in the US you can only enjoy them in fall. This will make a nice warm dessert in the fall.

Many Thai desserts involve cooking rice, sticky rice or flour in sugar and coconut milk. However, pumpkin in coconut milk belongs to a class of dessert called 'gang buad', which refers to cooking vegetables, legumes or fruits in coconut milk with sugar.

4 Servings

---

1	cup	water
1/2	teaspoon	salt
2	cups	pumpkin
1/3	cup	palm sugar
1/2	cup	coconut milk

Skin the pumpkin, remove the seeds and julienne into pieces of 2" x ½" x ½".

Add water and coconut milk to a pot and heat over low heat. Add salt. I would recommend adding half of the sugar and tasting before adding more. If you find it to be too sweet, add more water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the pumpkin. Let it boil and let the pumpkin cook. Serve hot, warm or room temperature.

The key to this dish is using thin coconut milk. The top layer of coconut milk or cream will curdle when boiled. If your coconut milk is creamy, dilute it with water.

credit from:http://www.thaitable.com

Coconut Milk Sticky Rice - Kow Neuw Moon

Sticky Rice is a core ingredient of thai desserts and northeastern thai food. Here's how you make it easily.

---

2	tablespoons	sugar
1	cup	sticky rice
2	pinches	salt
1	cup	coconut milk

The Traditional Method Using a Steamer:
Soak the sticky rice in enough water to cover the rice for at least an hour and even overnight. Take your steamer, put water in the bottom and cover the steam section with cheese cloth or muslin cloth. Pour the sticky rice on the cheesecloth, cover with the lid and put it on the stove on medium to high heat. The sticky rice should take about a 20 minutes of steaming to cook and will become translucent when done.

The Microwave Method:
I learned this method from my friend who has mastered microwave cooking to such a high level of proficiency that she has earned the title 'the microwave queen'.

Soak the sticky rice for 10 minutes in warm water in a bowl. Soaking the rice is very important. I have tried this method without soaking the rice first and it was disastrous. The rice was undercooked and inedible. The water level should be just above the rice, which comes out to be 1 cup of rice and a little over 1 cup of water (about 10% more). I recommend using a non-plastic container because you may melt the plastic in the microwave. Cover the bowl with a dish and cook in microwave for at full power 3 minutes. Stir the rice around to move the rice from the top to the bottom. You will notice that some of the rice is translucent or cooked and some still has white center or the uncooked portion.

Heat it up again for another 3 minutes. Check and see if it is done. When cooked, all the rice should be translucent. If it needs more cooking, I recommend heating up and checking every 3 minutes or so. How long it takes to cook really depends on your microwave.

Putting it together:
Heat the coconut milk in a pot over medium heat. Stir constantly and let the coconut milk simmer. Hard boiled coconut milk will curdle. Add sugar and salt. Remove from heat. Pour 3/4 of the hot coconut milk over the hot sticky rice. Let it sit for 5 minutes. The sticky rice will absorb all the coconut milk. The rice should be a little mushy. Spoon the rest of the coconut milk on top of the rice at serving time.

credit from: http://www.thaitable.com

Mango on Sticky Rice - Kow Neuw Mamuang

Mango on sticky rice is a traditional summer dessert because mangoes are in season during the summer months of April and May. When I think of mango on sticky rice, I think of the days when school is out--the carefree summer.

2 Servings

1

mango, peeled

Make the coconut milk and sticky rice below.

Peel and slice ripe mango. Place sticky rice on a small plate and top with mango. Spoon the coconut milk on top of the mango and sticy rice.

credit from:http://www.thaitable.com

Spicy Budoo - Nam Budoo Song Kreung

At my parents' house, we make extra rice when we know that spicy budoo is included on the menu. Everyone stuffs themselves silly.

Spicy Budoo is made from budoo sauce, a traditional food people in southern Thailand are proud of. The sauce is eaten with vegetables from the South such as stinky beans, fern shoots (similar to fiddleheads) and other vegetables available throughout Thailand. The fun is in experiencing the combinations of flavors and textures of different vegetables with the sauce and rice.

2 Servings

---

3-5		Thai chili pepper, sliced
2		shrimp, minced
1		shallot, thinly sliced
2	tablespoons	nam budoo
1		lime
1-2	stalks	lemon grass, thinly sliced
2		kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced

Peel and devein shrimp. Cut the shrimp up into small pieces. Heat budoo sauce over a medium heat. Let it boil and add shrimp. Remove from heat when shrimp is cooked. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

Slice shallot, lemon grasses, kaffir lime leaves and chili peppers thinly. I use two stalks of lemon grass for small stalk and one for a large one. Squeeze the lime juice in the pot. Add the sliced ingredients to the pot or serving bowl. Mix well. Serve with rice and vegetables such as Thai eggplants, stinky beans, cucumbers, green beans and any leafy vegetables.

How to eat: Pile your spoon with rice, whichever veggies you want for the bite, and top with the sauce. My favorite vegetable for nam budoo is Vietnamese mint. And I like to add a little bit of the mint to every bite.

Learn more about this and other similarly prepared Sauces served with fresh vegetables (Nam Prig) recipes

credit from:http://www.thaitable.com

Pad See Ew - Pad See Ew

Pad see ew is a standard lunch fare among Thais and is very popular here in the US. My sister's favorite too. It is not difficult to make and tastes great.

As kids, we loved pad see ew. It is a comfort food; nice and warm. Normally people make it spicier at the table (not in the wok) by adding red pepper sauce.

2 Servings

---

1	tablespoon	sugar
1/2	cup	pork, thinly sliced
2	tablespoons	light soy sauce
2	cloves	garlic, chopped
1	lb	fresh flat rice noodles
1		egg
1	tablespoon	dark soy sauce
1	lb	Chinese broccoli

f your fresh flat rice noodles are not pre-cut, cut them into strips of 3/4 inch wide. Cut Chinese broccoli into 2 inch long pieces. Halve the stems lengthwise because thick stems take longer to cook. You are going to want to cook them at the same time.

Heat a wok to high heat and then add 2 tablespoons of oil. Drop in the chopped garlic and stir. Add the sliced pork. Stir to cook the pork. When the pork is somewhat cooked or turned from pink to light brown, add rice noodles. Stir to break up the noodles. Add light and dark soy sauce and sugar.

Stir to mix the seasonings into the noodles and pork. Open a spot in the middle of the pan, and drop the egg in. Scramble the egg until it is almost all cooked (not watery any more). Fold in the noodles and mix them all. Add the Chinese broccoli, stems first. I usually add half of the Chinese broccoli and stir until it wilts and then add the rest. But if you have room in your wok, you can cook all the Chinese broccoli at once. As soon as the Chinese broccoli is cooked, turn off the heat.

Put on a serving plate and sprinkle white pepper on top. Serve with the usual noodles condiments; sugar, fish sauce, vinegar and dried ground pepper. I usually like mine with ground chili peppers and vinegar.

Pad see ew that you find in Thailand is little sweeter than mine because many street vendors add more sugar than I prefer.

credit from:http://www.thaitable.com

Laab - Larb

Laab, also known as Larb and Laap, is a northeastern food. It usually eaten as a part of a set (laab, papaya salad and sticky rice.) The set is accompanied by string beans, sliver of cabbage, water spinach and Thai basil. It can be served as an appetizer. It can also be served as a main course along with other non-northeastern food.

There are variations of laab, duck laab, chicken laab. Some people like my brother love to include a few pieces of liver in laab.

1-2 Servings

---

1	tablespoon	toasted rice
1/4		shallot, thinly sliced
1-2		limes
1/2	lbs	ground pork
1/4	tablespoon	ground dried chili pepper
3	tablespoons	fish sauce
5	sprigs	cilantro, sliced
3	sprigs	spearmint	Optional
1		green onion, sliced	Optional

Squeeze juice from 1/3 of the lime on to the ground pork. Mix well and let it marinade for just a couple of minutes until you are ready to cook it.

For this dish, people normally use a small pot; I use my cast iron pans because they can be heated up really hot, they retain heat well and heat evenly.

Heat up a pan on high until it is very hot. Add two tablespoons of water and then immediately add your marinated pork and stir. The pork will stick to the pan at first, but then the juice will come out and the meat will loosen from the bottom. Keep stirring until the pork is well done. Traditionally, the pork is undercooked, but I do not recommend undercooking pork for health reasons.

Put the mixed ingredients in a serving bowl, garnish with spearmint and sprinkle the rest of toasted rice on top. Serve with vegetables like cabbage, green beans, lettuce and Thai basil.

Put the pork in a bowl a large mixing bowl that will hold all the ingredients. Add fish sauce, green onion, shallot, cilantro, the rest of the lime juice, ground chili pepper and almost all of toasted rice into the bowl. Save some toasted rice to sprinkle on top for garnish. Mix well and taste. It should be a little bit hot. You should be able to taste tartness from the lime juice and the fish sauce. If you need to add more fish sauce or lime juice, don't be afraid. Getting the flavor balance right is a trial and error process.

credit from:http://www.thaitable.com

Chicken Curry - Gang Gai

Chicken curry is so common that you will find it at any to-go curry vendors in Thailand. Chicken curry is eaten with rice or 'kanom jeen' noodles.

You can see chicken curry's popularity when you go to a temple in Thailand; Thai people frequently bring the classic dishes like chicken curry to feed the monks and other temple patrons.



2-4 Servings

---

3	cups	water
3-5	sprigs	Thai basil
2	tablespoons	fish sauce
1/2	lb	eggplant
1	tablespoon	red curry paste
1	cup	coconut milk
1		chicken breast

I use Thai eggplants, the golf ball size ones. But, they can be difficult to find. Regular eggplants that you find in supermarkets are a good substitute. If you have the Thai eggplants, cut them up into quarters. If you have the regular eggplants, cut them into bite size pieces. Wash and pick the basil leaves.

Cut up the chicken into bite size pieces. If you have this dish in Thailand, you will see that the chicken comes with bones. All parts such as legs and thighs can be used. The bones make the curry more flavorful.

Pour half of the coconut milk into a large pot, over low to medium low heat. Add the red curry paste. Break up the paste and mix it with coconut milk. Stir constantly. Lower the heat if it splatters too much. Add chicken when you see red oil bubbling on top. Stir and coat chicken with curry sauce. Add the eggplant when chicken starts to turn white. Add the rest of the coconut milk and water and the fish sauce. Let it boil until all the eggplant pieces turn dark and tender. The longer you boil the curry, the thicker the curry becomes because the eggplant disintegrates and thickens the sauce. Add the basil leaves just before you serve and make sure the leaves are submerged quickly in the curry to preserve the color.

Serve hot with rice or rice noodles.

credit from:http://www.thaitable.com

Homemade Coconut Ice Cream (I-Tim Ga Ti)

This is classic rich coconut ice-cream, served in a Thai style. Thai ice-cream isn't really iced cream, it's often made from non dairy products. This recipe contains taro, a root vegetable whose starchiness gives the ice-cream a soft smooth texture. You can also use sweet potato if you cannot obtain taro.
This recipe is much easier if you have a hand blender, during the preparation you will need to blend the ice-cream repeatedly as it freezes, this is done to break up the ice crystals that form. It is much easier to do that with a handheld blender or egg beater. Finally, the decoration is made from a gummy coloured mixture of cooked sticky rice flour, this is also very typical Thai, but you can use whatever toppings you like, although not strictly Thai, rum soaked raisins are popular in my house among the adults.

Ingredients
800 ml Coconut Milk
200 gms Sugar
5 gms Salt
100 ml Skimmed Milk
75 gms Taro or Sweet Potato
5 gms Corn Flour
Ice-water To Rapidly Cool the Mixture

Preparation
1. Chop the taro or sweet potato into large cubes and steam until cooked through.
2. Heat the coconut milk in a sauce pan on a very low heat (about 55 degrees celsius, this is nowhere near boiling, it is simply hot to the touch).
3. Mix the corn flour with 100 ml water and add to the coconut milk in the saucepan.
4. Add the sugar, salt, and skimmed milk, to the saucepan and stir until everything is dissolve.
5. Warm it to 65 degrees C and keep stirring it. Do not let it boil.
6. Mash the taro cubes with a fork and add into saucepan and using a hand blender blender the contents of the pan until the mixture is completely smooth and the taro has disappeared into the liquid.
7. Warm the pan a little higher to 80 degrees C for 4 minutes. Again it must not boil. This is to cook the flour through, without permitting it to become a thick sauce.
8. The mixture should be cooled quickly and then put in the fridge, the best way to do with is to empty it into a containing that is sitting in ice water.
9. Once it is cool enough, put it into the freezer until frozen.
10. While it is freezing ice crystals will form, every few hours you should remove it from the freezer and blend it with a hand blender to break up the crystals.

Sticky Rice Ball Topping (Ruam Mid)

These are used as the topping, they have a gummy texture and a rose smell, if you prefer you can use vanilla essence in water for a vanilla smell or other fruit essences. You can use coconut essence if you really want to emphasize the coconut taste.

Ingredients
Red, Green and Yellow Food Colouring
9 Tablespoons Sticky Rice Flour (3 tablespoons for each colour)
4 1/2 Tablespoons Rose Water (1 1/2 tablespoons for each colour)
300 ml Cold Water
Water for boiling

Preparation
1. The colours need to be made up separately, steps 2 - 4 should be repeated for the red, green and yellow shapes in separate cups.
2. Drop the red food colorings into a cup and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of rose water.
3. Add 3 tablespoons of sticky rice flour to the cup and mix to a paste.
4. Pinch off small amounts of the paste and roll into tiny (corn sized) balls, or small sausages.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 for yellow and for green food colouring.
6. Boil water in a saucepan and drop the balls and sausages into the boiling water.
7. They will swell slightly when cooked, it only takes a couple of minutes. One cooked, scoop them out with a sieve and drop into the cold water.
8. Mix a few with the ice-cream just before serving.

creditfrom:www.khiewchanta.com

Fried Chicken with Chilli & Basil ( Pad Kaprow Guy )

This is a simple fried dish that's quick to make and easy to prepare. Typically served with fragrant rice, prepare all the ingredients carefully first including the rice, cook it quickly then serve and eat immediately. It originates from central Thailand and is medium hot.

Ingredient , For 2 People
300 gms Chicken
3 Tablespoons Oil
4 Cloves Garlic
5 Red Thai Chillies
1 Small Onion
2 Spring Onions
A Pinch of White Pepper
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
10 Basil leaves

Serve With
Fragrant Rice
Sliced tomatoes & sliced cucumber

Preparation
1. Clean and slice chicken into small bite sized pieces.
2. Peel and chop garlic and chillies finely, an electric blender is best but hand chopping is sufficient.
3. Chop the onion into slices.
4. Chop the spring onion into short 2-3cm strips.
5. Put oil in the frying pan and put it on a high heat. The pan should be hot before adding the ingredients.
6. Fry garlic and chilli for a few seconds to bring out the smell of the garlic.
7. Add the chicken pieces, together with all the remaining ingredients except the basil.
8. Stir until the chicken is cooked, then take it off the heat.
9. Add the basil.

Remarks
It is common in Thailand to add a fried egg, sunny side up, ontop of the dish.

credit from:www.khiewchanta.com

Shrimp and Vegetable Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 7 ounces medium rice stick noodles
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons palm sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate, optional
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil
• 12 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup diced firm tofu
• 1 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps
• 1 cup mung bean sprouts
• 2 large carrots, cut into matchstick-sized strips
• 1/2 cup matchstick-sized red bell pepper strips
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup diagonally sliced green onions
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• Sriracha (Thai hot sauce), for serving

Directions

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Place noodles in a large bowl and cover with the boiling water. Allow noodles to soak for 5 minutes, drain, and rinse with cold, running water for 30 seconds. Drain well and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, red pepper, coconut milk, and if desired, the tamarind concentrate, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

Heat the sesame and peanut oils in a wok or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Just before the oil is smoking, add the shrimp and cook until pink, stirring constantly. Add the tofu, mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrots, red bell pepper, garlic, and reserved noodles, and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.

Pour the sauce mixture into the wok and toss until combined. Cook until the mixture is steaming and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the peanuts and green onions and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Remove the wok from the heat and season with the lime juice and cilantro. Serve hot with Sriracha, if desired.

credit from:http://www.foodnetwork.com

Red BBQ Pork Fried Rice

Ingredients 200 g. red barbequed pork 2 sticks Chinese sausage 5 cups cooked rice 2 eggs 1 cup diced carrot ¼ head onion 3 green onions 2 Tbsp oyster sauce 1 Tbsp thin soy sauce 2 tsp seasoning soy sauce 1 Tbsp sugar 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preparation
1. Peel onion, cut green onion roots, wash dirt, and pat dry. Dice onion and slice green onion, set aside.


2. Slice Chinese sausages and set aside.


3. Dice red barbequed pork and set aside.


4. Beat eggs in a large mixing bowl, add cooked rice and stir thoroughly.


5. Heat oil in a wok on medium heat. When oil is hot, add diced onion, stir fry until fragrant and getting cook, then add diced carrot and stir fry well.


6. Add sliced Chinese sausages and dice red barbeque pork, stir fry thoroughly and season with all ingredients.


7. Stir fry until all ingredients mix thoroughly, add prepared rice, and stir fry well.


8. When all ingredients mix together, taste for your own favor, then add sliced green onion, stir quickly, and remove from heat.


9. Put the fried rice on a plate, serve with green onion, sliced chilies and a wedge of lime.

from:http://www.ucancookthai.com