Lard-Na Noodle

The word Lard Na in this dish means to top on, so basically it's the noodle topped with stew-like kind of sauce.

It's a great dish to serve the whole family without breaking too much sweat in the kitchen, and it's so versatile that you can use any kind of noodles you love with this sauce - it's sort of the same idea of making pasta.




I love to make the sauce in advance, mostly Friday night, and just heat it up the next Saturday and Sunday as our lunch or even dinner sometimes, so I don't have to spend most of my summer weekend in the kitchen and rather running around out side.

The authenticity of this noodle is the stir-fried noodle topped with pork and Chinese broccoli in a stew-like sauce, no other meats or vegetable will be added. I would say the pork is the creme de la creme of this noodle dish. To some Thai people, to judge what store has the best Lard-na noodle is mostly judged by how they make the pork. Pork should have taste succulent - almost melt in your mouth, and also has a taste of smoke or slightly burning smell when you taste the noodle, which means they know how to properly stir-fire the noodle to get the burning smell, but the noodle still isn't burned, which requires a personal technique and some experiences to come up with the perfect stir fired noodle and yummy Lard-Na sauce.





In my version of homemade Lard-Na noodle, I don't have a niche to get a perfect burning smell of  stir-fired noodle because of many reason such as finding the right broad rice noodle, the right wok, and the right heat - I have none of the above....but hey!...my pork has its call, at least.

Marinated
- 1 cups of thinly sliced pork, or your meat of choice or tofu if you want to go veggie.
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. corn strach

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl, cover it up and let them marinate in the fridge over night. If you choose to go with tofu, skip the marinate part.

The sauce
- Marinated pork
- 2 cups of water
- 1 tbsp. chopped garlic
- Chinese broccoli, cut into small bite - as much as you like.
- 1/2 cup, canned bamboo shoots
- 1/2 cup, canned or fresh baby corns
- 2 tbsp. of fermented black soy bean
- 2 tbsp. of sugar
- 3 tbsp. of corn strach, mixed with 3 tbsp. of water
- 2 tbsp, saute oil





Making the sauce

1. In a sauce pan with saute oil, add garlic and marinated pork, saute until the pink disappear then add water.

2. leave it  to a  boil, and later lower the  heat to medium low, let it simmering for about 5 minute.
3. Add all vegetables and start seasoning with fermented soy bean, sugar and taste it. If you need more salty taste, add a pinch of salt.

Serving : Heat up the noodle, and top with the sauce. As always, you can still season your noodle at the table before eating, if you like, with vinegar, sugar and fish sauce or soy  sauce.

Lotus Roots Soup With Baby Pork Ribs

Noom mentioned that he missed the caramelized lotus roots his mom used to make as a summer dessert when he was young, they are super delicious eating with ice cream.

Lucky Noom!, there are a lot of lotus roots coming out on the vegetable stalls in Chinatown during this time, but, since the weather outside isn't 80F, instead of caramelized lotus roots with ice cream, let's have a warm delicious soup with sweet fragrant of Chinese herbs and tender baby pork ribs better.

Lotus roots are consumed in most Asian countries with different ways of cooking in their own regions. This time I slow cooked them with some Chinese herbs with the names I couldn't pronounce, really, I only know them by the shapes and smells.

These good and weird looking roots have good health benefits, containing much iron, vitamins B & C. and lots of fiber content that help relieves constipation. In Thailand we also made them into dessert and a cool drink to cool down the body temperature.

- 1 lb. baby pork ribs
- 2 lotus roots
- Shiitake mushroom
- 2 cilantro roots
- Mixed Chinese herbs

- 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar

The set of Chinese herbs I use for the soup.

Just two pieces of each and a handful of Goji berries goes along way. They give a very sweet smell, and your body will love them.

1. Marinate the pork ribs with oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar for 15 minutes.
2. Clean all lotus roots, peel the skin off, cut into 1/4" thick, and rinse one more time.
3. Put baby pork ribs, lotus roots, Chinese herbs, cilantro roots into a pot, covered with water, bring to a full boil.
4. Reduce the heat to low, add shiitake mushroom, and let it simmer for 1 hr. - keep skimming out the oil foam floating on the surface.
5. Taste the soup,  if desired, season it with a bit of soy sauce, check the ribs, they should be tender - almost melt in your mouth.
6 Turn of the heat and enjoy, to this point your house will be filled with a light sweet smell, just like what you get from lotus flower.

Stuffed Cucumber Clear Soup

Gang-Jeud Tang-Gwar Moo-Sub

The temperature here in NYC has dropped suddenly - It' s cold, wet and windy - we even got snow....in OCtober! You are bit early Mr. Snow.

It makes me needed something to comforting my belly, and the clear soup with light taste like this stuffed cucumber with shittake mushroom is the best.

As we know, eating Thai way is that we have a few dishes at once on the table, and we eat them all together - each dish has its own distinctive taste, and will complement each other, and that all the tastes will be balanced.

This soup is one of a perfect soup to tone down some spicy dishes like this dish or some curries.

Preparing the cucumber.
Choose one good size cucumber, clean it, cut into small cylinders, scoop out all the seed and peel off the green skin

Marinate the pork stuffing.
- 1 cup ground pork (You can use ground shrimp if you like)
- 1 tbsp. of herbal marinade paste
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. corn starch

Mix all ingredients well, and let it marinaded for 10 minutes then stuff the cylinder cucumbers with the marinaded ground pork.

Making the clear soup.
- 2 cup water or stock
- soy sauce
- green onion, cut into 1 inch long
- shiitake mushroom

1. On high heat, bring water to full boil.
2. Turn the heat down to medium heat, carefully put stuffed cucumbers into the pot, add shiitake mushroom.
3. Cover a pot with a lid for three minutes.
4. Start seasoning with soy sauce, put the lid on - leave it ajar- for three more minutes.
5. Taste, and adjust the taste. Use a small fork to check if the pork stuffing is cooked through.
6. Add green onion, and turn off the heat.
7. Serve....in a serving bowl, add a small spoon of garlic oil, and sprinkle with powder pepper.

Egg Wrap

Kai Yud Sai

Another comfort dish to eat with steamed rice. You'll get all of everything in this one yummy pouch. I just think it's a great idea to make almost-tasteless-egg into a sheet and use it as a wrap to wrap a very tasteful stuffing, and make it a very well balance taste in one bite.




It might look complicated - with the egg sheet......well, believe me it isn't- a good swirl to a pan will do the job.

- 2 eggs, beaten with 1 tsp. soy sauce, set aside.
- 1/3 cup ground pork
- 2 tbsp. diced carrot
- 2 tbsp. diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp. diced onions
- 2 tbsp. small chopped string beans
- 2 tbsp. chopped green onion

- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. sugar
-1 tsp. ground pepper
- 2 tbsp. saute oil

Make stuffing

1. Small saute pan on hot oil, add ground pork, onion, saute until fragrant.
2. In goes, carrot, tomatoes, string beans (leave the green onion for the last) saute for 2 min.
3. Start seasoning with oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar. Saute to incorporate together for a minute.
4. Add green onion, sprinkle in ground pepper, give a quick stir then turn off the heat.
Set aside.

Next, the egg sheet.

1. A new frying pan on medium heat, add 1 tbsp. oil. Swirl the pan making sure the oil coat the surface including the up rim of the pan.


2. Add the beaten egg to the pan, and quickly swirl the pan, spreading the egg into a thin sheet. The trick is to keep swirling for the egg to gradually spread until there is no liquid egg left. Turn the heat to low heat, and let the egg cook until the rim of the egg start to pull back from the pan. Turn the heat off.

Wrapping
Wrapping the egg sheet when it's still warm is more easier.


Spoon the stuffing on the egg sheet, and fold it close all four sides. Place a serving plate on top of the egg sheet, and flip the pan, so that the folding seams are hided.



Done!....with this egg wrapping technique, you can adapt into other wrapping as well, such as, instead of this stuffing, make fried-rice(without egg) and wrap it with egg sheet. It delicious too.

Spicy Thai Ground Pork Salad

Larbb Moo

Just to mention this dish is enough to make my mouth salivary. Led by tangy, a touch of salty, sweetness of ground pork, and then complements with fresh herbs.

Eat with warm sticky rice and a bunch of fresh green leaves, this dish makes my lunch simply delicious.


- 1 1/2 cup of ground pork
- 1/3 cup of pork liver, cut to small bite and boil for 2 minutes, fetch them out.

- 6 small heads of shallot, chopped.
- 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro.
- 2 tbsp. chopped green onion.
- hand full of mint leaves.
- 1 tbsp. toasted finely ground rice. (toast raw rice in a hot pan until fragrant, grind with coffee grinder)
- bunch of fresh green leaves for eating raw such as Romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, green bean or string bean.

- 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp, fish sauce
- 1 tsp, sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp. chili powder.


Five minutes cooking time.

1. Marinate ground pork with lime juice for 10 minutes.
2. In a small sauce pan on high heat, stir ground pork with boiled pork lever until the pink is almost gone. (keep stirring to separate the pork so they don't stick together.)
3. Start seasoning with fish sauce, chili powder and sugar(optional).
4. Give a quick stir until the pork cook through, taste and adjust the taste. If you feel it's a bit dry, add 1 tbsp. of water. Turn off the heat.
5. Add cilantro, mint leaves, shallots, green onion and toasted finely ground rice. Stir to incorporate. Serve.


Serve with green leaves - break the leaf into small bite sized, and wrap the pork salad with it.

When I wanted to have a full version of Thai Eastern food, this Lardd Moo will be serving along Papaya salad, salty fried chicken or grilled chicken, or BBQ pork, sticky rice and a big bunch of fresh raw vegetable.


They make a great finger food party.

Shrimp Paste Rice With Caramel Pork

Kao Klook Ka Pi

I love this dish. It's a chock-full of flavors and textures in one plate, well balance of sweet caramel pork and gentle salty of shrimp paste rice, touched up with a bit of tang from fresh lime, also the crunchy fried dried shrimps, the softness of egg strands, sweet pungent of fresh shallots and a kick of hot chili....I'm exhausted already.

As the name of the dish stated, Klook means Tossing in Eng. It's the idea of eating this yummy rice. Besides tossing the rice with shrimp paste, tossing the tastes and textures all together at once before eating is the way to enjoy the dish, and you will be surprise how tasty this dish brings to you.


This rice dish will be worth a million when making with good quality shrimp paste, and with all the love, my mom gave me two kilos of her top-notch *O* It's the kind of shrimp paste she's proud of.

Making this dish requires quite a preparing. But!... no need to be intimidated, I will walk you through step by step. So, sit tight and take a sip of red wi.....bull....Yep..! better Red Bull ;) It's a long post, I think.


- 6 small heads of fresh shallot, chopped.
- hot chili (as much as you think you can beat them) chopped.
- 2-3 wedges of fresh lime
- dried shrimps
- 1 cup thin sliced pork.
- 2 eggs, beaten

- 1 tsp. fish sauce
- 2 tbsp. palm sugar (or 1 piece of cake palm sugar)
- 1 tbsp. granulate sugar
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp. black soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. saute oil
- 1/3 cup of water

- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 tbsp. shrimp paste
- steamed rice, portion of two


Step One:chopping up
Chop up fresh shallots, chilies, cut the lime. Set aside.



Step Two: making egg strands.
1. A pan on low-medium heat, heat it up, drizzling in the oil, just to coat the pan.
2. Two eggs in a measuring cup for easy pouring, beat them up and seasoning with 1 tsp of fish sauce.
3. Pour the first half of the beaten egg to the pan, lift the pan up and swirl the pan around, spreading the egg to completely cover the bottom of the pan, making a thin sheet of egg.
4 Let it cooks for 3 minutes.
5. Using a spatula, flip the egg. Let it cooks for 2 minutes. Take it off the pan, let it cool down.
6. Drizzle in a bit more of oil, and do the same with the rest of the egg, making the second sheet.

Leave the sheets of egg to cool down, we'll come back and cut them into small strands later. In the meanwhile let's fry dried shrimps.



Step Three: frying dried shrimp
*Dried shrimps burn easily, so don't take your eyes off.*
1. With the same pan using for the eggs, set on the low heat, add 2 tbsp. of saute oil.
2. Add the dried shrimps, pan-fry them until fragrant and look golden. Fetch them out, and let them cool down.


Step Four: making caramel pork.
1. In the same pan and the oil left off from frying shrimps, on medium heat, (add more 1 tbsp. oil if needed) add the sliced pork. Saute until no pink left.
2. Add 1/3 cup of water, let it reaches full bubble then bring the heat down to low.
3. Add black soy sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar, granulate sugar. Stir to incorporate, and let the sauce simmering on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
4. Taste the sauce. The taste should be very sweet, caramel-ly sweet - sweet one step above the level you think it is because we need the sweet caramel pork to cut the salty rice later. So, don't be scare to be sweet at this point, add more sugar if needed.
5. Stir frequently, let it cooks until the liquid turn into thick caramel, coating all the pork. Turn off the heat.


Now the egg sheets are cool enough, it's time to cut.
1. Roll the sheets into small log, and cut them with a sharp knife into about 1/4" wide. Done!


Step Five: tossing the rice with shrimp paste.
1. Wrap 1 tbsp of shrimp paste with aluminum foil, bring to the open flame, and roast it for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
2. Steamed rice in a mixing bowl, add 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil, or olive oil, and roasted shrimp paste.
3. Use your hand, wearing a thin glove, or a spoon to incorporate the rice, oil and shrimp paste together. Make sure there are no lumps of shrimp paste left.

Now you can wake up!....it's all done

Ready to serve.
Spoon a little of each prepared ingredients to the plate, sprinkle with lime. Now you can adjust the taste of your plate right before eating. The rice has a gentle salty taste, cut with sweet caramel pork and lime, and if you love the kick on the taste buds, don't forget hot chili.

Before eating, toss all ingredients in your plate together - like making salad. That's how you eat Kao Klook Ka Pi.

Note: In Thailand you will find this dish served with chopped sour green mango or some kind of fruits that give the sour taste instead of a wedge of lime like I did. Well, where I live has no luxury of having sour green mango. So, lime is my best friend ;)

Stir-Fried Instant Noodles with Italian Sausages

If you asked me, " What is Asian fast food ?"........ My answer would be Instant Noodles.

You just pour hot water over the dried noodles with the powder condiments and oil that comes with, and it'd be ready to eat in three minutes. If that isn't a fast food, I don't know what else would it be.

Korean instant noodles

So we always have these quick-life-saving noodles in our cabinet to save my lazy days. There are so many kinds of instant noodles - Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai and others.

Each nation has its own taste and flavors when it comes to powder condiments and oils that usually comes in the package.


And that because of these noodle becomes part of our everyday food, in Thailand, they are adapted into many different dishes.

People love to use only the dried noodle to make new dishes and toss away those condiments, re-seasoning and enjoy the texture of the noodle in a new kind of dish.


My favorite one is to stir-fired them with what ever ingredients I wanted to cook with - and most of the time it means adding vegetables and meats. This time I cooked with hot Italian sausages and vegetables...yum!

Serve 2
- two packs of instant noodles (depends on the size of the pack)
- Vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, carrot, green onion, baby corns, snow peas, bean sprout - just any kind of vegetable you like.
- 2 pieces of hot or sweet Italian sausages, casing removed.
- 2 Eggs

- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp. garlic oil
- 2 tbsp. oil for stir fry


Prepare the noodle
1. Put a pot of water to the full boiled.
2. Add in the dried noodle - boil for 2 minutes. (Be careful not to over-cook the noodle. Most directions on the package say cook for 3 minutes for the completely cook, but we will later stir fry the noodle, so it's better to under cook the noodle in this step.)
3 Strain the noodle and coat them lightly with garlic oil. Set aside.




Ready to stir fry.

1. Cut up all vegetables, break the sausages into small pieces.
2. heat up a wok then add the oil.
3. In goes, the sausages. Stir fry for 2 minute then add vegetables.
4. Make small room in the wok, add more oil if needed, crack 2 eggs in and slightly beat them up with a spatula then stir vegetables and sausages to incorporate with the eggs.
5. Add noodles, give a quick stir and start seasoning with soy sauce and sugar.
6. Taste it, and adjust the taste to suit you.