Thai Herbal Marinade Paste

When I was watching Daisy from the Daisy Cooks talking about her Sofrito, the herbal mixture she uses for her cooking, it surprised me how close the Spanish and Thai cooking is.

As for Thai cooking, these three pals, Cilantro roots, Garlic and pepper, play a very important part as a marinade paste to give a freshness, herbal scent to your nose, especially for meat that have a strong meaty smell. If you wonder what those distinctive fragrant in Thai grilled chicken or Barbecue Pork is, the secret is here.


Now that you love cooking Thai food, from now on, stop throwing away cilantro roots. Those are the gems. Here in the US, in most super markets, cilantro roots are more likely cut off, only the leaves and stems are left for use. That makes me cry.

Many time I have to use the cilantro stems to substitute for the roots, the part of cilantro that give out the strongest fragrant. Whenever I get cilantro with the roots are still intact I save them up by making them into this marinade paste and freeze them up to use it later.

Thai barbecue pork marinated with herbal paste

Only easy pounding is needed

Clean the cilantro roots with water thoroughly, use mortar and pestle, pound cilantro roots, garlic, black or white peppers and a pinch of salt into a paste. Use them to marinate meat, fish and seafood as the recipes call for.

Chinese Fried Bread, Pa Tong Go

As far as I remember eating this bread, I've never known before that it is Chinese's. We, Thai, also growing up with them, call them Pa-tong-go or Ja Qwai in some part of the South. I now know more that Chinese call them You Tiao and some others different names......You will never learn enough about food you eat every day.

As a Thai, every day waking up in the morning, it is quite common to see a plate of Pa-tong-go on the table along with everyday breakfast. Every morning, either my mom or aunty will get up early and go to the market or to a nearby stall that sells these yummy bread and buy them for the house.

Pa-tong-go with Jok


We eat them with Jok or Soy milk or other warm drinks as a breakfast . Since I've moved to New York, I long for them. I now know that they are Chinese breads, I went to Chinatown hoping to find them, but it is too difficult to communicate. Chinese are so diversity in their own language, different region speak different Chinese, as well, these fried bread has so many names in Chinese. I gave up!....

Pa-tong-go with Clam Chowder

I started to search for the recipes, and there are tons of them out there. The original recipes of making these bread mostly call for Ammonia powder, and I have a hard time finding it. I searched for more and got lucky with this recipe, posted on Thai community website by Thai woman living in another country, my bad that I don't remember exactly what the site was.

Her recipe is simple and doesn't call for Ammonia powder. I am dancing with this recipe. Even though this recipe is not exactly as the original Pa-tong-go has, the taste is as good as its original, and I like it already.

Making the dough Serve for three people

- 1 1/4 cups of Self-Rising flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup of warm water
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil


1. Mix the yeast with warm water until it becomes foamy.

2. Mix flour and oil together, and in goes the yeast mixture.

3. Mix them well to from a dough.

4. Flour the surface of your kitchen top, put the dough and kneel them with hands for 3 min.

5. Leave it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap for the rising for 1 hour.

6. After the dough get a good rise, take it out on the floured surface and kneel it a bit more then start to shape it into a long strip dough.

7. Cut the long strip dough into small strips about 1 x 2 inches.

8. On one strip, use your finger tip touch a bit of water and apply on one side of the strip, stick two strips together, water will act as a glue to hold them together.


Fry the Dough

1. Heat oil to the high, then reduce the heat to medium high, in goes the doughs.
2. Fry them until golden, take them out, and rest on the rack.
3. Enjoy.


They are good with
Milk, soup, porridge, dip with sweet condensed milk.

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."

Thai Fragrant Cookies, Kanom Kleeb Lumdual

Kleeb Lumdual, Thai Cookies

I wish you could smell and taste these delicious yet beautiful Thai cookies. I don't know exactly when it started, but I know that these fragrant cookies have been around in Thai cuisine for many decades.

Rumduol or Lumdual is the name of the national flower of the kingdom of Cambodia. The plant belongs to an Annonaceae family. The flowers have a very lovely sweet scent. I remember when I was a little, I used to play under the Annonaceae shrub we call Nom Maew or Cat's nipples flowers because of the size and....have you ever seen cat's nipples? The Cat's Nipples flower is a close cousin of Rumduol flowers only that they are much smaller than Rumduol.

Rumduol Flowers

What makes these lovely Thai cookies distinctive, besides their look, is the way they are scented. Since most traditional Thai desserts have very simple ingredients, flour and sugar, they need to be scented after finished.

The Thai fragrant candle, or Tien-Ob, in Thai, is a candle that is made out of bee wax mixed with a bunch of dried fragrant herbs and frankincense, is used for scenting Thai desserts since the old time.

Thai Fragrant Candle, Tien Ob

Even though these cookies are made out of very simple ingredients, they are quite pricey because of the times and effort put into making them. I used to whine a lot when I knew how much I had to pay per gram for these cookies.

From now on, I will keep my mouth shut if I had to buy them again because I now know how much effort I have to put in to shape up each flowers.


It needs gentle hands and patience to shape them into delicate flowers resembling the real Rumduol flowers.

Believe me, my version, as you see here from the pictures, is not even close to those that is made by professional which are smaller, look more delicate and prettier than what you've seen here, and that is the price you pay for.


But, hey, my mom already cried seeing I can make these kind of delicate Thai dessert.

Simple ingredients kill.
Make about 30+ flowers

- 2 cups, all purpose flour
- 1 cup, sugar powder or icing sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- Thai fragrant candle for scenting

1. Mix flour, sugar, salt together.
2. Gradually drizzling in the oil. Mix them throughly. Be careful not to make the mixture too wet.

* Testing by grabbing a small handful of mixture and squeeze it tightly in your palm, shape it into a small ball. If you cannot shape a ball, the mixture is too dry. Little by little, add more oil. If you feel the oil in the ball, it is too wet, add little flour.*

3. After the mixture is well mixed, start making Rumduol flowers.

Making delicate flowers.


1. Shape the mixture into one inch balls, or if you wanted to feel like a pro, make them a half inch ball.
2. Cut the ball in to four pieces to form petals.
3. Attach three petals together, using your finger tip to smooth out the top where they are met, so the petals won't separate when baked.
4. Make a tiny tiny ball, attach it into the middle of the three petals, slash the tiny ball open with a sharp knife.
5. Put them on a cookie baking sheet. Send them to the pre-warmed oven with 350F for 12 minutes. These cookies should look off-white, not yellow crispy kind of cookies.
6. Take them out of the oven, let them cool down completely on a cookie rack before scenting.

Scenting the cookies


1. You need a wide open jar with a lid.
2. Place a small dipping bowl at the center, inside the jar.
3. Piece by piece, carefully place each flowers into the jar.
4. Light both of the candle wicks, make sure they are well burned to the wax before blowing them out.
5. As soon as the candle is blew out, place it on the small dipping bowl inside the jar, close the lid right away, keeping the candle smoke lingering inside the jar until faded.
6. Your lovely edible Rumduol flowers are scented.


The best Kanom Kleeb Lumdual cookies should be off-white in color, but here I used unbleached flour, so the color is not that white, and it supposes to melt in your mouth when you eat it.

I do really wish you could smell it...Loveeeeely!

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

Chive Cake, Kanom Guui Chy

I just got a good looking bunch of chives from the market. My mind flew back to a street where my university is located. There was a smoke filled stall on the side walk in front of the university gate selling these filling appetite called Kanom Guui Chy or Chive cake in English.
Fresh Chives

As an art student, I normally spend long period of times in each classes-painting, sculpturing, printing, and more often had little times to eat before running to another class. To tame my hunger before a next meal, I would run out to grab these chive cakes, sizzling in a flat, wide, hot pan, bathed with dark, sweet spicy sauce. They are tasty and filling kind of appetizer made with very simple ingredients-flours and chives.


You need three kind of flours
The cake part
- 1 1/2 cups rice flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 cup glutenous rice flour
- 2 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

The chive part
- 200 gram chives, cut into one inch long
- 1/4 baking soda
- 1 tbsp. black soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp. mince garlic
- 2 tsp. sugar


Saute the chives
1. In a small bowl, combine backing soda, black soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar together.
2. In a frying pan, put in vegetable oil, heat it up to medium heat.
3. Put in mince garlic saute until fragrant.
4. In goes chives and sauce mixture.
5. Saute until chives are wilted and incorporated with sauce, turn the heat off.
6. let them cool down.

- Prepare a steamer, bring it to boil, get ready for steaming.
- lightly oil a small brownie pan, set aside.

Mix the flours
1. Mix all flours together.
2. Mix in vegetable oil, and gradually add water, stir until incorporated.
3. Mix in saute chive, stir.
4. Pour the mixture into a oiled pan.
5. Bring it into a steamer. With the lid close, steam for 20 minutes, until the mixture looks almost translucence.
6. Bring it out, let it sit and cool down before cutting.


Now they are ready to eat, or sear them in a hot oil pan to make skin crispy like I love.

Black Sweet Dipping Sauce
- 1-2 crushed small chilies.
- 2 cup sweet black soy sauce.
- 1/4 soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. white vineger.
- 2 tbsp. sugar.

1. Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan, bring it to medium heat to incorporate.
2. Turn off the heat, serve.

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.