Thai

Pad Kee Mao aka Drunken Noodle


Drunken noodle is the favorite dish of wasted Thai folk because its so packed with spice and flavor that even someone as wasted as Elysia can still taste it. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: the trick to this dish is to use an excessive amount of basil and hot peppers. If you're not sweating like Bread when you try it, add more spice. If you're not as basiled as Dylan on a hot tin roof, add more basil.


Ingredients:
Wide rice noodles from Thai Phat
Hoisin Sauce
Holy basil
Secular basil
Hot peppers galore (serranos will do the trick)
Garlic (duh)
Your favorite seasonal stir fry veggies


First things first: soak the rice noodles in warm water for 45-60 minutes, or until white and soft. Drain the noodles, then fry them up in the hoisin sauce and a bunch of garlic until they soak up the sauce and have a nice light brown color. Remove the noodles from the frying pan, and then stir fry the veggies, hot peppers, and more garlic. Don't overcook the veggies, please. Next, toss the noodles in with the veggies, add the holy basil, and fry for a few minutes. Right before you serve the dish, VIGOROUSLY chop the secular basil and mix it in raw.

 Thai Curry Sloppy Rice with Pineapple

      1  fresh pineapple

·         3  cups cooked rice, preferably several days old (Tip: if fresh, leave for an hour or more in the refrigerator uncovered)

·         3-4 Tbsp. chicken stock

·         2 shallots, finely chopped

·         3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

·         1 red or green chili

·         1 egg

·         ½ cup frozen peas

·         1 small carrot, grated

·         ½ cup roasted unsalted whole cashews

·         3 spring onions finely sliced

·         1/3 cup fresh coriander

·         STIR-FRY SAUCE:

·         2+1/2 Tbsp fish sauce, OR 3 Tbps. soy sauce if vegetarian

·          Thai or Regular curry powder

1.       If using old rice, pour 1-2 tsp. coconut oil or other vegetable oil onto your fingers and then run fingers through the rice, separating any chunks back into grains. Set aside.

2.       In a cup, stir the soy sauce/fish sauce together with the curry powder. Set aside.

3.       Drizzle 1-2 Tbsp. oil in a wok/large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, garlic, and chili, stir-frying until fragrant (1 minute). Whenever the wok/pan becomes dry, add a little stock (1/2 to 1 Tbsp. at a time to keep ingredients sizzling).

4.       Push ingredients aside and crack egg into wok, stirring quickly to cook (like making scrambled eggs).

5.       Add the carrot (if using) and peas. Stir-fry 1 minute in the same way, adding more stock if needed.

6.       Now add the rice, pineapple chunks, cashews, and raisins/currents. Drizzle the fish/soy sauce mixed with curry powder over and gently stir-fry to combine over medium-high to high heat until the rice "dances" (begins to make popping sounds) - about 3 minutes. Tip: Avoid adding any more stock from here on, or your rice will turn out soggy. Add a little more oil if pan becomes too dry (this is how the restaurants achieve that special 'shine' on their fried rice).

7.       Remove from heat. Do a taste-test for saltiness, adding more fish sauce or soy sauce until desired taste is achieved. If you happen to over-salt the dish, add a squeeze or two of lime juice.

8.       To serve, scoop rice onto a serving platter or individual plates and top with spring onions and coriander. ENJOY!

Thai Mango Chicken

Ingredients:
2-3 Ripe Mangos
2 lbs Chicken
Coriander
Basil
Hot Peppers
Soy sauce
Fish Sauce
Chopped Cashews

Red bell pepper
Garlic
Red Curry Sauce
Lime Juice
Lime zest or leaf
Flour
Salt, Pepper
Oil

Dice up the chicken into bite size pieces and then cover all the pieces with flour, salt and pepper.  Cook the chicken in skillet over medium high heat until cooked and nicely browned.  Set aside.  Next cut the mango away from skin and pit and but 3/4 of it into processor.  Add hot pepper, garlic, red curry sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce lime juice and zest, coriander and basil to taste and blend up. Make sure you taste it to make sure that you have achieved the perfect balance of spicy and sweet.  Heat mango sauce in skillet till it boils, turn down heat and add chicken, left over mango chunks and red bell pepper.  Cook for about 5 more minutes, top with cashews and serve.


Green Papaya Salad


This is apparently a popular street food in Thailand.  Because of this, it is important that you serve this fresh.  As soon as it is made, it should be eaten, otherwise it gets all mushy and watery.  I had the leftovers the next day--not nearly as good.  Still good, but just made me really want the freshies.

One large papaya
About four medium carrots
A few handfuls of dried shrimp--yes, dried shrimp.  It's the beef jerky of the sea.
A handful and a half of green beans
Four or five mediumish tomatoes
A few hot peppers
A few cloves of garlic
A few tablespoons of:
      fish sauce
      apple cider vinegar
      brown sugar
      cilantro
A few teaspoons of:
      salt
      black pepper
      fresh ginger
      lime leaves
5 or so cloves

First, put the black pepper, cloves, hot peppers, garlic, ginger, and dried shrimp all in a bowl.  Grind this all together like using a mortar and pestle.  Get creative--I just used the end of a rolling pin to grind it in the bowl.  Once ground, add the green beans--cut into 1-inch pieces--and the tomatoes--cut into bite-sized wedges.  Lightly crush these into the mix.

So make sure you get a green, or unripe, papaya.  I learned this week that papayas turn yellow when ripe, and they have a bunch of black seeds inside (who knew?!).  Anyway, you want to peel, deseed, and shred the papaya.  Shred the carrots as well and add both.  Lightly bruise the papaya and carrot in the mix.

Then add the rest of the ingredients, mix it up, and eat!