Thai recipes

[delawang]

Yes, it is the chest. I went to the store before I read Makiy0’s post so I bought the wrong part of the chicken :-(

I have one small wok and one small frying pan. The only big thing in the house is the rice cooker. I understand your recipe and I think I can do it, but I don’t understand the part about putting the chicken into a ball before I soak it. How do you do that? Is it like making a snowball? Also, do you think it is ok to use fish sauce (¹Óé»ÅÒ) instead of soi sauce?

[Talu]

Quote[/b] ]but I don’t understand the part about putting the chicken into a ball before I soak it. How do you do that? Is it like making a snowball?

55555! LOL! please excuse my English.... I can do wonders with words. I meant bowl not ball.... 5555! I can't believe I did it! silly me!
So now you can soak it alright!

Quote[/b] ]Also, do you think it is ok to use fish sauce (¹Óé»ÅÒ) instead of soi sauce?

Well, I'm not a big chef, but I don't think you can do that. I mean, you can add 1-2 tablespoons to the vegetables, but you still need the soy.
However, you can change the style of the dish:
fry the chicken in mustard powder/garlic powder or cornflour. Don't add too much sugar, and add more fish sauce to the vegetables. I haven't tried it before, but I would have.
That won't be a sweet dish...

Maybe better if you get that soy sauce after all?

[delawang]

This is too funny! I would have invented a new dish: “Snow ball chicken”

I really need to take a cooking class, or at least get some soy sauce. All I have are a few little packets, not enought to soak a chicken.

[Talu]

Now here it is: Green Curry with Chicken

Now, this recipe needs only one tablespoon of green curry paste (depends on how spicy you like it), thererfore it is better if you can buy the paste already done.
however, if you'd like to make the paste on your own, tell me and I'll post the recipe for that one too.
The amounts here are for 1-2 persons.

Ingredients
1 cup coconut milk, separated into half cup of thik and half cup of thin
(now, if you don't have it, you can use soy milk, or fresh milk)

1/3 cup chicken breast, thickly sliced (that's about a whole breast)
1 tablespoon green curry paste
1 medium eggplant, stem removed, and cut into 12 pieces
(but hey, who's counting?)
5 small eggplants, stem removed (that would be the Thai eggplants)
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
10 leaves of sweet basil
kaffir lime leaf
1 large red chili, cut into thin strips (will be used to garnish)
1 tablespoon fish souce


Preparation:
1. Mix the curry paste, sugar, and fish souce together and set aside.

2. place the thick coconut milk into a sauce pan turn and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the coconut oil starts to separate out.
(if you're using soy milk, then heat just oil, the milk will be add in step 5)

3. Add the curry paste, sugar, and fish sauce, continuing to stir until you can smell the aroma of the heating curry paste.

4. Add the chicken breast and stir until the outside of the chicken pieces turn white, then add the thin coconut milk (or the soy milk).

5. bring the mixture to boil, and add the eggplant and kaffir lime leaf. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

6. Add the basil leaves, and stir to combine.

7. Remove from heat and served garnished with a large red chili and basil leaves.


Good-Luck na!

[delawang]

Thanks so much for posting this. I have some technical questions about the eggplant.

(1) Other than cutting the stem off, are there any other parts I should not use, like the skin or seeds?

(2) Is it best to cut the eggplant into little blocks or long slices?

(3) Would you say the total quantity of pre-cooked eggplant is about 2X the amount of chicken?

Eggplant is rather advanced, but I am looking forward to trying this recipe. Thanks again!

[Talu]

Quote[/b] ]Thanks so much for posting this

And I have to thank you too, delawang!
After posting that recipe I got eager to cook!
in fact I cooked this dish this afternoon, together with plain rice.
Everybody seemed to like it, and nobody needed any medical treatment after it (yet).

I had to make the curry paste myself, and I used tofu instead of chicken.
I doubled the amounts in the recipe, and used soy milk instead of coconut milk.

(1) I used half of a big "farangish" eggplant. I chose to skin it, but it's only optional. You can use it as it is after cutting the stem.

(2+3) the amount of eggplant was almost similar to the tofu.
Every time I cut an eggplant I start from the stem to the bottom. this time I cut it into half, and cut one half into little blocks (also the tofu), so that they wouldn't "drown" in the curry soup. But in my case, the eggplant was the main element of the dish. If you use chicken, you can use less eggplant and cut it any way you like.


I didn't use kaffir lime leaf, and had my "own version" of palm sugar. but still - it was quite a success.

Quote[/b] ]Eggplant is rather advanced, but I am looking forward to trying this recipe.

eggplants are easy! I don't know what type of eggplants you use, but I use the BIG purple ones in my country (the small Thai ones are not available).
I just choose the least heavy one, that has the greenest stem.

Cut of the stem, wash the eggplant, and a whole new world of recipes is before you.

chok-dee/Good-Luck, and tell me how it turned out.

[delawang]

The curry turned out just great! I was a little frightened about the eggplant, but it was no problem. I left the peel on and the colors were really pretty: Green and red and purple on a plate of white rice. I didn’t have much luck separating the coconut milk. I tried using a strainer and ended up with two half-cups that looked exactly the same.

I never knew Thai food was this easy to make. It seems to take more work at home, but that is because we always make at least half a dozen dishes. If you are just going to make one thing it is fast and easy. You just have to have good recipes and the right stuff in your kitchen.

[Talu]

Quote[/b] ]The curry turned out just great!

I'm so happy to read that!

Now, got ant ideas for Thai deserts? sweet and easy to make?

TNX.

[delawang]

The success with the eggplant gave me confidence, and today I tried to make sticky rice. When the rice in the bottom of the huat was done I went to flip it and something happened. I ended up with a big ball of crunchy khao neio.

I suspect the problem is a defective huat, or maybe it is because huats only work in Thailand and do not function well in North America.

Desert? How about http://www.thailandlife.com/r_mango.htm
looks tasty, but of course it requires the cook to be able to make khao nieo

[CanuckJonny]

Quote[/b] ]I ended up with a big ball of crunchy khao neio.

Hehe Delawang, that's kinda funny actually. But don't lose heart - sticky rice is *ridiculously* easy to make!

Alls you gotta do is soak the sticky rice in cold water for at least four hours, and preferably overnight; it just lets some water enter into the grains and remove excess starches, resulting in a product that cooks quickly and isn't overly starchy.

Then you drain off the excess water and wrap the soaked mess of rice in a big cloth - like a length of cheesecloth, or even a *really really clean t-shirt. Then, just put it into a steamer (not a rice cooker!) and cover it. It'll take between 20 and 40 minutes to cook, depending on your altitude. On average, it's 30 minutes for nice, hot, sticky rice.

Jonny

*Once, I thought it was freshly washed....but no, it was just used as a workout shirt. So you can probably imagine what it smelled like!