Crab Fried Rice, Koa Pad Poo

Poo is a crab in English.

Whenever I have some crabs left over from the other day, I usually take time to pick all the crab meat out, so the next day I can make this delicious fried rice with it.

Making fried rice is a good way to turn the left-overs into a new dish that is very delicious and easy to make. Next time you have steamed rice left over from your Chinese day, don't throw it away. Make fried rice.



Five minutes, done!
- left-over steamed rice is the best.
- crab meat
- 2 eggs, beaten.
- fresh garlic, crushed.
- carrot, snow pea, green onion, cut into small pieces.
- lemon
- oil

- 1 tbsp. fish sauce
- 1/2 tbsp. sugar
- white pepper powder




1. Heat up a wok, drizzling in oil.
2. Add garlic and saute until fragrant.
3. Put in crab meat, follow with beaten egg. Give a quick stir until crab meats are lightly coated with egg.
4. In goes, steamed rice, carrot, snow pea, make quick stir for everything coming together.
5. Start seasoning with fish sauce, sugar and white pepper powder. Sprinkle with green onion. Taste and adjust the taste you like.
6 Serve with chili fish sauce and a wedge of lemon - sprinkle over it before eating.



Num Pla Prik (Chili fish sauce)

Saute Garlic Chives With Pork Livers

Another great dish of pork liver and chives. I love the soft texture of lever and a mild garlic aroma of garlic chives, which perfectly complement each other.



Seasoning with fresh garlic, black pepper, soy sauce and a hint of rice cooking wine, creating a full Asian flavor for the table, and did I mention that they have a lot of good health benefit.


Any Garlic Chives In The Garden?

- hand full of garlic chives, cut into one inch long.
- 2 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed.
- half piece of pork liver, cut into small bite pieces.

- 1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp. rice wine
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp. oil



1. Heat up a wok until hot, add oil into a wok.
2. Add garlic saute until fragrant.
3. In goes, pork liver, stir and add a half cup of water, keep stirring until liver turn opaque, but still have blood seeping through.
4. Add garlic chives, stir.
5. Start seasoning with soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar and rice cooking wine. Stir until there is no blood on the liver.
6. Sprinkle with crushed black pepper. Turn off the heat.
7. Serve with steamed rice.

Spicy Thai Seafood Dipping.

If you plan to have seafood in Thailand, you might want to try to make this dipping before you go so you'll not surprise when you are there, and you might get a look if you asked for the butter dipping there.

Steamed blue crab full of roe. I bought fresh from Chinatown.

Grill fresh squids, again, full of roe at street stall on Pa-ngan island, Thailand

Thai love to dip their seafood in this tangy and spicy dip. We usually don't season our seafood before putting them on the grill or a steam plate.

We rather let the real taste of the sea to show off then add a kick in a mouth with this dipping.



Fresh Fresh Fresh

- 4-5 Thai chilies (reduce if you are not a big fan)
- 8 cloves of fresh garlic
- 2 tbsp. of lime juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp. fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp. palm sugar
- a pinch of salt




1. pound chillies and garlic together.
2. add palm sugar and pound to incorporate.
3. add lemon juice, fish sauce and salt.

and you are ready to dip in.

Stir-fired Blue Crabs With Coconut Milk.

I am a super giant fan of crabs.
They are de-li-ci-o-s*0*
I can eat a whole biggg tray full of grilled or steamed crabs with spicy seafood dipping by myself. They are my number one of choice when it comes to seafood



For me, the best way to enjoy crabs is to steam or grill - no boiled crabs, no seasoning at all - then later dip them into Thai spicy seafood dipping . It's truly my heaven on earth.

So, when my mom asked what I wanted to eat at a very first day we got home, no doubt, my answer was crabs.

This is how female crabs look like when it's turned


Another delicious way to enjoy a crabs dish is to stir-fire. There are a few different ingredients to stir-fire crabs. This recipe is from my mother. It was one of her crab dish that she had to make it over and over when I was there because I just couldn't get enough of it.....gimme more!

Get crabs and coconut milk ready

At my parent's house, we have enough coconut trees at our land, so we often make fresh coconut milk ourselves by using a coconut grater or Kra-ty, as Thai call, grating coconut meat then pour in a little of lukewarm water and use hands to squeeze the white milk out.



Well, you don't have to beat yourself up making coconut milk as my mom did, just go ahead use your can of coconut milk, it's perfect too.

- Clean the blue crabs, take off the hard shells then cut each of them into a half.
- Cut green onion into one inch long.

Seasoning

- 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp. fish sauce
- 1 tbsp. palm sugar
- a pinch of salt



1. Heat up coconut milk till bubbling, add in crabs, stir a little to make sure all the crabs are coated with coconut milk, turn the heat to medium.

2. Start seasoning with palm sugar, fish sauce and salt, give them a stir to incorporate.

3. Let it cooks until the coconut milk is reduced.

4. Add spring onion, give a quick stir then turn off the heat.


5. Serve with steamed rice....

What a Crab!!

Green Wrap and Thai Desserts

There is one thing (out of a lot of things) I wanted to put in my blog about Thai food as soon as I have a chance to get my hands on it, which is Thai desserts in leaves wrapping, to me it is a very genius way of packing the food.

Kanoom Hua Lan wrapped with banana leaves, belted with coconut leaf, secured with coconut leaf' s vein (a wooden-like, thin, long strip), which is cut into short brochettes to secure the wrap.

Thais use Palm leaves, coconut leaves, Banana leaves, the most common used for food wrapping in Thai cuisine, which I think it is a cool way to use what the nature has given to us.

Kanoom Jaak wrapped in two coconut leaves, which are weaving the leaves into each other, and secured with their vein brochettes.


And in the same way, you are giving nice and clean trash back to the nature without destroy the good benefits of the earth....win win for us and for the earth, and they look pretty, too.

Kanoom Krooy wrapped in banana leaves.


Kanoom Tom wrapped in palm leaves.


with coconut milk sticky rice and black beans inside, yum!

yellow sticky rice with sweet shrimp coconut on top, also wrapped in banana leaf.


These are some of the desserts my mom put on the table for us to have them with coffee each morning when we were there......Love!

Restaurant Week Lunching at Matsugen, Tribeca.

It is great to have foodies around you 'cause they always have nice places to go to, just like my lovely foodie sister, Sam, and our friend, Grim. Finding places to eat is their mission.

Grim suggested that we should get together for lunch at Matsugen, the Soba place in Tribeca. They were offering a Restaurant Week Menu for $24.

Huy and Grim, the graphic designers merge the foodies.

Grim says that she always wanted to go to this place and this is a chance to try the foods there without breaking our wallets.

set of appetizer.
Crispy Shrimp, Spinach Gomae
Yuba Sashimi, Uni with Yuzu Gelee

They're all tasty. I love them all and the spoon too.


Vanilla caramel pudding.

This one too, delicious, even though I'm not a sweet person, I love it, and again that silver spoon, I so want one.

I chose Chicken Nanban ( Soba in a soup) for my main. The broth is rich, not as blend as I expect when it comes to Japanese food, and again, the spoon.



Every time I eat out, the food is one thing, the interior decoration is another that always gets my attention.



Here at Matsugen, the place has a contemporary, sleek decor with beautiful lighting and the streamlined set up plus gorgeous tableware, which I love the most.....impressed.