Fried Whole Fish with Spicy Thai Chili Sauce

Pla Rard Prik


We've been eating a lot of fish dishes lately. It's just one of those moments when I feel enough of red meat and heavy food, so I stuff my fridge with all kind of fishes, vegetable, soy beans and tofu.

These dish is full of flavors - spicy, tang, sweet rounded it up with a touch of salty with a complement scent of kaffir lime leaves, shallots and garlic. Yum!



Get it fresh from the fish market

- Chose one good size of fish you like. This time the red snapper was smiling at me at the fish stall in Chinatown, so I had her cleaned and brought her home with me.
- Clean it one more time, once it's home, blot it dry with paper-towel, score it on both sides, ready to fry in hot oil

Spicy Thai Chili sauce

- Fresh Thai chili ( as much as you can handle the spicy taste)
- 2 heads of fresh shalot
- 3 cloves of fresh garlic
- 10 leaves of fresh kaffir lime leaf, super fine julienne

Chop up all of these ingredients together except the julienne kaffir lime leaves



- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 tbsp concentrated tamarind water
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp water

1. Fry the whole fish in hot oil until perfectly cook - a bit crispy in both side.
2. In a small sauce pan with low heat, melt palm sugar, tamarind, fish sauce and water together until it reaches full bubbles.
3. Add it chopped garlic, shallot, chili and kaffir lime leave.
4. Taste and adjust the taste that suit you. Turn off the heat.



9. Ladle the chili sauce and top it on the fried crispy fish. Serve.

We eat it with plain rice, steamed Chinese broccoli tossed with a little bit of oyster sauce and garlic oil.

Cooking Sticky Rice in a Microwave

Here comes everybody's favorite rice, the sticky rice. Sticky rice is considered a staple diet for people in the Northern and Eastern part of Thailand when rice is more of staple grains consumed commonly by the rest of the country.

Cooking sticky rice is a bit tricky for most people. As Thai, we all know how easy it is to cook rice - every households have rice cookers which makes no-brainer to have perfect fluffy rice - just pluck-in and press the button. But when it comes to cooking sticky rice, manual mode is applied, and I'm not a master of that.


Last time we went back to Thailand, Noom's mom asked if I knew how to cook sticky rice in Microwave because she's heard that's how most Thai people, including her friends, living aboard cook sticky rice.

It was my first time cooking something in her kitchen, and it happened to be cooking sticky rice for my mother in law who is a master of Eastern food. Even though I wanted to run out of her kitchen, I went for it.


It turned out she loves it. She loves that it's quick and easy compare to the original way which always takes times, and it became my job to do sticky rice when she made Eastern food.

It only takes 12 minutes to cook sticky rice in a microwave.


1. Rinse a cup of sticky rice a few times to reduce the starch.
2. Soak the rice with clean water for 30 minutes.


3. After 30 minutes of soaking, check the level of water. Make sure that there is 1/4 inch. of water above the rice, or check it with your fingers. Your fingers shouldn't be covered with water when the other side of fingers touch the rice.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the microwave for 7 minutes.



5. Take it out of the microwave after 7 minutes. Open the plastic wrap, be careful with the steam coming out. To this point, the rice is not completely cooked, still.
6. Use a fork to fluff up the steaming rice. Fluff it thoroughly.
7. Put the plastic back on again, and send the fluffy sticky rice back to the microwave for 5 more minutes.



8. And there you have it. Easy and delicious sticky rice. Eat with grilled chicken, papaya salad. Best lunch always.

Baoguette Cafe, Vietnamese's close to home

My craving for noodle kicked in, and I didn't have time to make nor to go to Chinatown. So we made our stop short at Baoguette Cafe, Vietnamese sandwich & noodle place - just ten steps away from our apartment.


It's a tiny place - just two small tables, one big table and a counter bar for seating. It's not a fancy schmancy place for a romantic dining, but it is an easy place for a quick stop with a hint of South East Asian ambient you would get from those pictures of street vibes of Vietnam on the wall and the display of Asian ingredients in the kitchen window.

The decor reminds me of a street food vibes back at home in Thailand, and I think that's what this place' s trying to say here.


We went there late afternoon, and it wasn't crowded - still there's no small tables for us, so we got big table at the front just for two of us.

I had Pho Special which has rare beef, brisket, tendon in anise broth, served with raw beansprout, fresh basil leaves and a wedge of lime on the side for $8.

The portion is huge for me. They give a generous amount of tender beef and they are delicious. The broth is tasty - not too strong nor too light, but I am a spicy girl, so Sriracha sauce helps me there.

Also, love the fresh scent of basil and raw red onion in the broth. It helps taming my craving for Thai Guy Teiw Nam Tok.


My husband asked for Baoguette, a classic Vietnamese sandwich which comes with pork pate', pickle, daikon, carrot, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeno for $5. The size of it is still big for me, but it is OK for my husband - just OK.

I will go back and try the sandwich next time. There are a few Vietnamese restaurants in our neighborhood waiting for us to stop by as well.

Rice Soup with Cod Fish

Kaw Tom Pla


My husband and I are not breakfast kind of people. The only time we become breakfast persons is when we are at home in Thailand where breakfast is always ready on the table every morning.....Thanks mom.

Here in New York, we usually have only coffee in the morning and go on our lives. We know that's not a good way to live a good life, so we are trying to get rid of our bad habits and aiming for the right directions.


Now, we're making an effort to have breakfast every day and cutting down a big dinner into small amount of fruits and vegetable and soy milk before bed....sounds good huh?

Still, I am struggling to come up with what we're going to have in the morning...It has to be something that is not too complicate and doesn't take too much times to make. So, I try to think of what kind of breakfast mom would make for us every morning back home, and the one that we usually see on the table is Rice soup and Congee.



One of my favorite rice soup is rice soup with white fish. Just like most rice soup, it is light and easy to make and doesn't take much of the morning time to come up with. So, I'm stocking up white fish meats in my freezer.

You will need

- white fish of your choice. I use cod fish here - cut into big chunks.
- long grain rice
- chicken stock or stock you like
- celery leaves
- garlic oil
- Galangal powder

Soy bean condiment (optional) but it tastes better to have it
- 1 tbsp. fermented soy bean
- a wedge of lime
- a pinch of sugar




1. Boil rice with stock until the grains break. Gradually add a bit of water if it is too thick, taste it, add a pinch of salt if you like.
2. In another small pot with water boiling, put in celery stalks or roots and fish meats. Boil the fish meats for three to five minutes. Scoop out the fish, save the fish water.
3. Making soy bean condiment by mixing all the condiment ingredients together.




Serving
Ladle the rice soup into a serving blow, top with fish meats, garlic oil, celery leaves and sprinkle with Galangal powder. Add the fish water if you feel that the soup is too thick. Seasoning as you eat with a bit of soy bean condiment....my morning is as bright as sunshine.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

We went out for lunch with our friend, Suzanne, at Momofuku Noodle Bar in our neighborhood since we hadn't seen her for a while.

When Suzanne asked us to choose the place, we had no idea what to choose because there are too many restaurants in our area and we don't know anymore which one to pick. So we only gave her two choices - one was Momofuku and another one was Peruvian place called Mancora on 1 Ave.


She loved to try both places, but wanted to check it out at the Momofuku first, and if, as always, the place was too busy, we would move to Mancora. Luck was on our side that day, we only waited for ten minutes to be seated.

We first got to know this place because of my foodie sister, Sam, who lives in Chicago. Every times she comes to New York, she always have the list of all talk-of-the-town restaurants in NYC to go to, and Momofuku was one on her lists. We went there to see what the buzz is all about.


As an Asian, we are always confused when we see Asian food look-like, and it isn't taste like one. That is the Momofuku Noodle Bar for us.

But it's understandable when David Chang, the owner, says that his foods are not considered as an Asian-Asian food, and he doesn't want to use the word "Fusion" either. He says It's just his own creation of food inspired by many culinary cultures.



So it is obvious that Momofuku Noodle Bar is not the place for people who wants to try Asian food because it is not the taste of Asian, it is just a hint of smell of Asian. So you will not be disappointed by it.

But if you want to catch a trend of NYC eat-out, it isn't worse to try, at least their buns would make you happy.



Suzanne is a vegetarian. She ordered prix fixe menu which comes with pork bun, so I ordered Shiitake bun then we switched, and she could have Shiitake and I had pork bun.

I have to say though, I love the pork bun, and if I wanted to go back the pork bun is the reason.

Sago Sai Moo, Stuffed Pearl Sago

I would only make these appetizer when I desperately crave for them, which I try not to let it happens often. It takes too much times to make and too little to put in my mouth, and that is just torturing me because it happens to be my favorite one.

In Thailand these delicious appetizer can be founded easily everywhere - if you see food stalls, chances are you'll find one that sells these stuffed pearl sago.


Before making them, let's make sure that you are not confused between pearl sago and pearl tapioca (tapioca pearl)

Pearl sago is made from starch extracted from Sago palm tree. Tapioca pearl is starch from Cassava roots (Yucca roots). In general, they looks the same, and that how people be often mistaken, the different can be felt in texture. How would you know which is what?....read the label.

Tapioca pearl, size 1 mm.

The original of making Sago Sai Moo is to use pearl sago, but more and more pearl tapioca is used since cassava roots are more easier to grow when Sago palms start to disappear.

At my parents' house, we have a small swamp filled with sago palm trees. We always get a really good use out of them - every parts of the tree can be used. My younger sister and I used to have a play-house our big brother and his friends built for us using sago palm stems to build walls and the leaves to make thatch roof. We even spent a few nights in there.

Later when we needed a new pathway to get to the land, and the only way to get that is to fill the swamp, we decided to fill some small part of swamp just wide enough for cars to pass through, and try to keep sago trees alive as much as we can.

Some small sago trees at my house are growing back after some were cut down to make a pathway.

As expected, I couldn't find pearl sago here in New York, so pearl tapioca went home with me.

Prepare Stuffing
- 1/2 cup ground pork
- 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 preserved radish (found in Asian grocery)
- 1/2 ground roasted peanut
- 1 table spoon herbal paste

- 1 1/2 table spoons fish sauce
- 2 table granulated sugar
- 1 table spoon saute oil

preserved radish

1. Pan on medium heat, add in oil, saute herbal paste until fragrant then add chopped onion, and saute until translucent.

2. Crank up the heat to high, add ground pork, saute until all the pink disappear. Season with fish sauce, sugar.

3. Add ground peanut and preserved radish. Saute all ingredients to incorporate - no liquid left. The stuffing should be a bit sticky together, so it'll hold its shape when forming a ball.

4. Taste it, the stuffing should lead with a bit sweet taste follow with salty, and it should taste a bit stronger than what you think it is because it will be a perfect taste when it is warped with tasteless pearl tapioca.

Set aside and let it cool down completely.


Preparing tapioca pearl

- 1 1/2 cups tapioca pearl (size = 1mm.)
- 1/3 cup or more warm water

Rinse tapioca pearl for a few times. Put them in a medium bowl and gradually add warm water then start to massage them until they're soft and sticking together - add a bit more water if they feel dry.

Cover them with wet paper towel or cheese cloth. Let them sit for 1 hour.
Rinsed pearl tapioca


Shaping, stuffing the balls

Scoop small amount of soaked pearl tapioca with your fingers, flat it out to from a disk shape - about 2 inches wide. Put generous amount of stuffing on and wrap it close forming a small ball - about 1 inch....continue making them.


Lay them on a steamer plate covered with lightly oiled parchment paper - leave some hole open to make sure the steam can come up. (if you can get some banana leave, use it instead of parchment paper. That is what we use in Thailand. It works fantastic for steaming.)

Steam them until they look almost translucent - take about 5 minutes - don't leave them to be completely translucent on the steamer, you will end up with over cooked pearl tapioca.


Tip : Pearl tapioca is sticky while it's still hot. They will stick to everything that comes to contact, so make sure that all tools using to handle it are lightly oiled including the resting plate.

Lightly coating the plate with garlic oil is the best way in this case. It gives Sago Sai Moo a very delicious smell.



It usually serves with fresh green leaves, cilantro and fresh Thai chillies - take a tiny bite for a good kick in a mouth.....
de-li-ci-o-so