Phad Thai

This might well be the most famous Thai dish of them all... In Bangkok, you can hardly walk a street without encountering a small stand where it is freshly prepared in front of you. Having tasted "the real deal" plenty of times there I did not think it was possible to recreate it yourself. Yet with the recipe below (again from the Blue Elephant), you actually stand a chance of bringing Bangkok into your home!

For the vegetarians among you, just leave out the dried shrimp, fish sauce and fresh shrimp and add more tofu and salt (the fish sauce is however what makes part of the taste...).

Ingredients (serves 4):

10 tiger prawns (raw)

4 eggs

320g dried rice noodles

8 tbsp vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves

4 small (or 1 big) shallots

4 tbsp fresh tofu

4 tbsp ground roasted peanuts

4 tbsp sweet turnips (pickled - skip if not available)

2 tbsp dried shrimp powder (or entire dried shrimp)

8 stems of thin spring onion

120g fresh beansprouts

4 tbsp white sugar

4 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp tamarind juice

1 tsp chilli powder

2 limes

Fresh coriander

Preparation:

First, soak the rice noodles in cold water for 20 minutes.Meanwhile, start preparing the ingredients: quarter the prawns (not mandatory), cut the tofu into small cubes and the spring onion into 4-cm long pieces. Thinly chop the garlic and shallots.

In a wok, heat the oil on low heat and stir fry the garlic and shallots until an aroma develops (careful not to burn them). Then add the prawns and fry them until they start to turn pink. Push the mix to the side and crack open the eggs into the wok. Wait until the egg white starts to cook (i.e. turn white) and then scramble it. Once the egg is all scrambled, mix in the prawns and add the tofu and sweet turnip. When they are well mixed, add in the noodles (without the water!) and turn up the heat while stir frying the mix. Lower the heat again and add the seasoning: fish sauce, vinegar, tamarind sauce and half of the sugar (keep the rest for garnish). Continue to stir gently until all ingredients are well mixed. Add the dry shrimp powder and half of the chilli powder and ground peanuts. Finally, throw in the beansprouts and spring onion and mix with the rest. 

Transfer to a serving dish and add the lime, chilli powder, sugar and peanuts on the side. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. 

Red Curry with Chicken

Today's recipe comes to you more or less directly from the kitchen of the Blue Elephant Cooking 

School in Bangkok... It's what I prepared for lunch today!

Another classic staple in the Thai kitchen, this red curry with chicken is prepared with homemade red curry paste. Once you have tried the fresh version, I promise you'll never want to use the pre-made one again!! The ingredients are relatively easy to obtain and you can store the paste easily in the fridge (see below). So let's get started!

Ingredients for the red curry paste:

1 coriander root

5 garlic cloves

4 very small shallots (or 2 bigger ones)

1/2 tbsp galangal

1 1/2 tbsp lemongrass (= 1-2 stems)

5 dried big red chillies (Serrano chilli)

1/2 tbsp kaffir lime zest (you can use kaffir lime leaves instead, if you can't find the fruit)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds

1/2 tsp ground roasted coriander seeds

1/2 tsp white pepper powder

1/2 tsp shrimp paste

Preparation:

Soak the dried chilli in water for 15 minutes, then squeeze out the water and chop. 

Peel and crush the garlic cloves and shallots and put them in a mortar. Chop the coriander root and add to the mortar. Start pounding. Slice the galangal and lemongrass finely and cut off the zest of the kaffir lime (the white of the lime is bitter, so don't use it!). Add to the mix together with the chilli and pound. Then add the salt, cumin, coriander and pepper powder and the shrimp paste. Pound until you obtain a smooth paste. You can also use a blender to do this, but the aroma are not the same (and you need to add some water to blend better). You can "refresh" a pre-made curry paste by adding pounded garlic cloves, coriander root and white pepper powder. 

Storage:

The paste can be kept in an airtight container (or plastic bag) in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or one month in the freezer. For longer periods, add more salt.

Ingredients for the chicken curry (serves 4):

8 tbsp red curry paste

8 tbsp vegetable oil (don't use olive oil for Thai cooking)

350g chicken breast

300g (fresh) bamboo shots

600 ml coconut milk

200 ml water

8 kaffir lime leaves (fresh if possible, otherwise soak dry ones in water)

1 bundle of Thai basil

6 big red chillies (Serrano chillies) - cut out the seeds to make it less spicy

2 tbsp palm sugar

4 tbsp fish sauce

Jasmine rice

Preparation:

Cut the chicken breast into thin pieces and the bamboo shots (if fresh) into slices. Tear the kaffir lime leaves into small pieces (first remove the stem by folding them in half). Slice the Serrano chilli (use only 4 and keep the rest for decoration).

Heat the oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the curry paste and stir fry until an aroma develops. Laddle in a spoonful of coconut milk. Stir continuously until the oil separates from the liquid. Add another laddle and repeat. Add a third laddle and once the coconut milk is boiling, add the sliced chicken and simmer until it is half cooked. Add the bamboo shots and then the seasoning (palm sugar and fish sauce) and kaffir lime leaves. Stir until the palm sugar is dissolved. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and later the water. Add the chilli and sweet basil leaves. Continue cooking for about a mnute, then pour the curry into a serving bowl. Decorate with basil leaves and thinly chopped chilli and serve with rice.

Tom Kha Kai

The first of a series of recipes directly imported from their country of origin has to be a good one.

So this is it - the soup of all soups ;-). Tom Kha Kai or the coconut soup with chicken. At least for me, a definite favourite (until I met its cousin, the Tom Yum Kung... more about that later). Hence it was obvious that I would pick a cooking class where this creamy coconut soup featured in the menu. And I haven't stopped tasting it everywhere I go here in Thailand. The good news is that it's easy to make at home - the bad news: the ingredients might be a bit tricky to get (at least where the wind blows me...). But I will just start an import business for galangal then. And seaweed on the side. Never forget about sushi ;-).

So here comes the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients (for 1):

100ml coconut milk

80ml chicken stock (best made yourself by boiling chicken bones)

60g chicken breast

20g young coconut meat (see my point about the ingredients?) - or alternatively any kind of mushroom

1 coriander root (or 3-4 coriander stems) - save the leaves for decoration

2 small shallots

5 bird's eye chillies

1 lemongrass stem

3 cm galangal (5 slices)

3 kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp white sugar

1/2 tbsp tamarind juice

1/2 tsp lime juice

Chilli oil ("nam prik phaow")

Preparation:

First, prepare the ingredients: slice the chicken breast thinly, crush the coriander root, onion, chillies, lemongrass and galangal and tear the kaffir lime leave (fold it in half to remove the stem, then tear it into smaller pieces). Then bring the chicken stock to the boil (at medium heat) in a saucepan. Add the herbs (coriander root, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and onion) and continue boiling until an aroma develops. Add the coconut milk and bring the soup to the boil, but don't boil it for too long as it will separate. Add the chicken breast and, once the chicken is half cooked, the coconut meat. Simmer for a few minutes until the chicken is cooked. Add the fish sauce, sugar and tamarind juice (not all at once as you might find it too sweet/sour). Mix well and season to your taste. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice and crushed chilli. If you wish, remove the herbs before serving the soup. Pour the soup into a serving bowl and add some chilli oil and coriander leaves for decoration. Serve hot. Voilà - that's the secret. 

The Asia adventure...

... aka "a foodie's trip to paradise".

Finally. I am here. I have arrived on the continent of my (foodie) dreams. Following my heart and giving this obsession with Asian food a reality check, I have decided to embark on a 3 months long trip to the food heavens in the far east. Stops are foreseen in Thailand (from where I currently write), Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, South Korea and last, but certainly not least, Japan.

I think it's needless to say that I have not been disillusioned with the food here. Quite on the contrary - as you may have guessed (or already know from personal experience). If Thailand is not a foodie paradise, then I really don't know. The millions of food stands that just pop up wherever you go, the freshest and exotic ingredients, the Thai traditional tea... I could go on and fill pages with the impressions. But rather than do that, I will follow up on the promise that I have made to plenty of people: share my experience with you through recipes that I am gatherirng here - be it through cooking classes or just sitting next to the cook and watching. I hope that it will bring some fresh spices to your kitchen and encourage some of you to replace that take away order with the real deal...!

Enjoy!