Chicken Green Curry

Gaang Keaw Wan Gai

This green curry has become the must-try-to-make curry for my foreign friends, once they get the chance to taste it.

To me, this is one of the very savory curry among many curries we have. It's full of a bunch of aromas from the varieties of herbs using to make this type of curry paste and a richness of coconut milk.

Green curry paste

The question I get most about this curry is " What does make it green? " the answer is the green chilies make the curry paste green. In Thailand some people even add the chili leaves to make it even greener.

Don't freak out when seeing green curry with a thick layer of oil floating on the surface which is released from coconut milk, that is how you tell green curry you are about to eat is made by experienced hands, and it tastes real darn delicious. Those oil can also tell that the curry is made with very fresh coconut milk, in away that the canned coconut milk can never do it .

Make the most out of what you can find.
Japanese Eggplants

- 3 tbsp. of Thai green curry paste - available in most Asian groceries.
- 1 canned coconut milk. (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 3-4 pieces of big chicken thighs - either with bones or boned, cut into a bite size.
- 10 Thai eggplant or 3 Japanese eggplants, cut into a bite size.
- a bunch of basil, using only the leaves.
- handful of kaffir lime leaves.

- 3 tbsp. of fish sauce
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp. of paste or 2 pieces of cake palm sugar.
- 1 tbsp. tamarind water.
- 1 tbsp. of oil
- a cup of warm water

Kaffir lime leaves at mom's edible garden in Thailand.

1. Heat up the cooking pot, add in the oil and green curry paste, saute the curry paste until fragrant - be careful not to burn the paste.
2. Add a cup (half of can) of coconut milk to saute with the curry paste. Keep sauteing them until you can see streaks of oil seeping from under the paste up through the surface.
3. Add chicken thighs to incorporate with curry paste.
4. Mix the rest of the coconut milk with water then pour into the pot.
5. Put the lid on, and let the curry reaches the full boil.
6. Once the curry reaches the full boil, start seasoning with fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind water.
7. Bruise all the kaffire lime leaves with your hands to release the aroma , and add to the curry.
8. Bring the heat down to medium put the lid on, but let it ajar for 15 min.
9. In goes eggplant and cook until the eggplant soft, add basil leaves.
10 Taste your curry and adjust the taste you like.
11. Serve with rice or Thai noodle.

Yum Mommy Yum!

Red Sauce Chicken, Gai Ob Num Dang

Last week my husband and I were watching Lidia's cooking show on PBS. She was cooking pasta and chickens in some kind of red sauce, then my husband turned to me......drooling!!

OK...... it means I have to go to the market the next day.


This recipe is not from Lidia though, it's my family's recipe my aunt used to cook for us quite often when we were little, and of course we eat them with rice - not pasta.

Surprisingly!..our red sauce chicken and Lidia's looks quite similar, but the ingredients we use are a bit different. Ours has a hint of Asian flavor which comes from soy sauce and Thai original chili sauce, Sri-ra-cha sauce, we put in....and oh....we use ketchup instead of canned tomatoes *--*



Chicken Thigh with Bone Rocks!
*I made a big portion though, you can just reduce the portion to suit you.*

- 12 pieces of chicken thigh with bone intact.
- 1 big head of sweet onion, roughly chopped.
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed.
- 3 bay leaves.

- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. white pepper powder
- 1/2 cup, ketchup
- 1/2 cup, Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup, soy sauce
- 1/4 cup, Sri-ra-cha chili sauce
- 1/4 cup, sugar
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
- 2 cups, water
- 1/2 cup, frying oil





1. Toss chicken thighs with salt and pepper powder and keep them marinated for 10 min.
2. Heat up the oil - ready to brown the chicken.
3. Brown all chicken thighs.
4. Pour off the frying oil, in the same pot, goes garlic and chopped onion and tomato paste, saute to incorporate and the onion get translucent.
5. Add ketchup then add 1/2 cup of water, stir to incorporate.
6. Start seasoning with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Sri-ra-cha sauce, sugar and Chinese cooking wine.
7. Add in all browned chicken thighs follow with the rest of water - make sure water cover the chicken thighs, stir a little for everything to incorporate, stick in bay leaves.
8. Put the lid on completely, bring the heat down to low and let the chicken simmering in a sauce for 1 hr. - open and adjust the taste a haft way to an hour.
9. Serve with steamed, oiled green beans, broccoli, carrot and steamed rice.

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.

Beef Noodle, Gui Teaw Neur

When I want some fast noodle as a lunch, I'll go to Chinatown. But, when it comes to a real treat noodle, I'll make it myself. When I say "real treat" I mean the taste that I am familiar with, the taste from home, just like this delicious Thai beef noodle.

In New York, if you want to find the real Thai noodle, you have to go to Queens. There are many Thai restaurants that make very good noodle. In Manhattan, there is the one I recommend, located at downtown on Fulton st. between Gold st. & William St. The restaurant name is the Bennie's Thai Cafe. They make a very delicious beef needle called Gui Teaw Num Tok or Waterfall Noodle, cute:)
dried rice noodle

Make this noodle when you have the whole day for cooking. It takes at least three hours to slowly cook the soup until beefs get very tender and soft, almost melt in your mouth. But, it's all worth it.
Chinese celery

What vegetable to buy?
- Chinese Celery
- Cilantro (with the roots intact)
- Green Onion
- Green-leaf Lettuce, here I used water spinach

Condiment for the soup
- 3 star anises
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 root of galangal, slice
Galangal

Star anises, Cinnamon Sticks


Herbal Paste
- 5 cilantro roots
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 10 black or white pepper

Seasoning
- Soy sauce
- 1 small piece of sugar candy (optional)
- salt

Beef : I use chunk beef stew meat


Note : There is no specific measurement for these one. I made a big pot that would last us for almost a week. The best way is to taste it as you go, so you can make the right portion for yourself.

Making the soup


1. Make the Herbal Paste
2. Put all the meat into a pot, cover them up with water and put on high heat.
3. In goes, condiments and herbal paste to the pot.
4. As the meat start to get hot they will release the oil to the surface, gradually skim those foamy oil out.
5. Reduce the heat to medium and start the seasoning, start with three table spoon of soy sauce, and a pinch of salt, later you can taste and adjust the taste as you like it.
6. After the seasoning, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot with a lid and let them stew until the beef get very soft and tender.

Serving


water spinach

There are quite a lot of things to prepare when it comes to serving noodle.

1. Cut coarsely fresh cilantro, green Onion, Chinese Celery, water spinach or green-leaf lettuce.
2. Boil dried rice noodle (just like boiling pasta).
3. Put soften noodle in a serving bowl, in goes, fresh cilantro, green onion, Chinese celery and green-leaf lettuce or water spinach.
4. Ladle beef and soup in the bowl, top with garlic oil and serve.



Again, you can adjust the taste of your noodle before eating by seasoning them with sugar, white vinegar and fish sauce...oh...also a bit of chili powder is Delicious!!!


I also love to have some extra beef balls to go with this noodle. It is a real treat for me.

Saute Garlic Liver, Tub Tod Kratiem

Last time I did an annual health check-up, my doctor said that I need to add more iron into my dietary list. He said my red blood cell count is a little below normal, and that my body needs more iron to help the process of increasing red blood cells.

Besides green leaves, one of my iron-rich of choice is liver. As we all know, it is also very concentrated source of high-quality protein, vitamins and minerals.


Just like other kids out there, I fed my aunt's dog with livers from my plate as soon as she turned away. I didn't like the smell of it, and the taste was bitter to me. As I grow up, all of the sudden the bitter livers become tasty, and the smell never bother me anymore. I now know how to deal with liver smell......Got Milk?

Since liver is known in high cholesterol, to balancing them out with garlic is a good way to enjoy eating liver. Light soy sauce using as a marinate gives liver a very tasteful dish.

Preparing


- 2 oz. Pork liver or Beef liver
- 10 cloves of fresh garlic, coarsely chopped
- black pepper
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. whisky

1. Cut liver into 1/4 inch thick. To get rid of the liver smell, soak them in milk for 10 min.
2. Rinse off the milk, and then marinate the liver with all ingredients, except vegetable oil, for another 10 min.



Get your saute pan ready

1. Heat up a pan, put in vegetable oil.
2. Add marinated liver to the pan, and saute until no red blood on the liver left. Seasoning with black pepper. Turn off the heat. Serve.

*Be conscious that liver doesn't need to be cooked too long, if so it will become dry and too hard.*


Eat them together with any kind of vegetable dishes and steamed rice. Make your mother proud this time, and listen to her when she say "Eat your liver, they are good for your body."

Grilled Turmeric Chicken, Gai Yang Kamin

I am so happy that I've got to do the dishes today. It means that I don't have to do the cooking, my husband, Noom, is the one who will be wearing the cooking pants, and this is what he's served me - Grilled Turmeric, or Kamin as Thai say it, Chicken.

We use a lot of turmeric in Thai cooking, mainly in curry paste. It is another influence from our neighboring country, India. Besides using them in our food, this miracle yellow herb is used on our skin and body too

turmeric powder

Make the rub
- 1 tbsp. turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp. garam masala
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp. fish sauce

1. Rub 2 pieces of big chicken thigh with the rub ingredient, let them sit for 10 min. *mind you, wear the gloves, this turmeric powder will stain your hand yellow for two weeks*
2. Grill until fragrant and properly cooked in both sides.
3. Serve with green salad and Noom's signature salad dressing, homemade toasts or fried.


Noom's Salad Dressing
This salad dressing happened after we got back from the Moroccan restaurant in the neighborhood. I ordered one of their specials and I just love the dressing, so we'd tried to make it without knowing what kind of ingredients in those dressing, all we had was just the taste, and Noom's come up with this recipe.....nothing new :)


- 2-3 tbsp chopped shallot
- 1 tbsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. salt
Mix them together, can be kept in the fridge for a month.

toasted homemade bread

Son In law Eggs, Khai Luk Koei

The son in law eggs

The word Luk-Koei means Son in law in Thai. Why they are given such a name, I have no clue. I've heard some say that these eggs are traditionally served at the wedding celebration. Well, there is something relevant here, at least.

dried chilies

This is a very delightful dish. Most kids love it, adults ask for it. It is almost like a comfort food from childhood. Sweeten with palm sugar, a hint of sour of tamarind, and fish sauce to complete the taste. Then glam up with fried shallots and fried, dried chilies to challenge the taste buds.

This is not a spicy dish even though there are the fried chilies on top of the eggs. As I said the kids love it because of the sweet taste, so those fried chilies are meant for adults who wants a little kick to wake up their taste buds, and the kids can just pick them out.

hard boiled eggs

Start with hard boiled eggs

- 5 hard boiled eggs
- 3 heads fresh shallots, chopped.
-4-5 dried small chilies
- oil for frying

fried shallots and fried dried chillies

1. put 2 tbsp. oil into a pan, heat it up to medium hot, then in goes fresh shallots. Fry them until they start to be golden, fetch them out, let them rest. Like garlic, shallot is easily burn, so be careful if you don't want to end up with nasty bitter burn shallots.

2. With the same oil, fry dried chilies about 1 min., take them out.

3. Add more a mount of oil into the pan for frying hard boiled eggs. Fry them until the skin turn golden and look crispy.

4. Take them out of the pan, let them cool down before cutting them into a half.


Making the sauce

- 2 tbsp. palm sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp. tamarind puree
- 2 tsp. fish sauce

1. In the same pan, take out some oil and leave about 1 tbsp. in a pan, turn the heat to low, put all ingredients into the pan.
2. Let the sauce simmering on low heat until it comes thick syrup, turn off the heat.




Glam up the son in law
- put the sauce on the eggs, top with fried shallots and fried chilies, serve.
- We eat them with rice along with other foods on the table.

Thai people don't consider eggs as for breakfast only. We eat eggs whenever we want to-breakfast, lunch, dinner, so don't cringe when we say we have fried eggs, boiled eggs for dinner.