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Whenever Champagne or Ataulfo mangoes are in season, I make Thai sweet sticky rice and mango, mango & rice tart, or the pavlova-inspired mango meringue tart with sweet coconut cream. When the Tommy Atkins mangoes are all I can find, I make this jam. Print Mango Lime Jam Recipe Author: shesimmers.com Recipe type: Condiment Prep time: 10 [...] ....
This is going to sound weird, but as long as I have garlic, coriander roots/stems, and whole white peppercorns (aka the Thai marinade ‘trinity’) around, I feel safe. This combination of aromatics along with other pantry staples, such as fish sauce, saw me through my student days when my food budget was — I verified [...] ....
This may look like nothing special, but the fact that this no-frills home-style dish is a rice-curry shop staple in Bangkok tells you a lot. Kabocha squash, also known as Japanese pumpkin, is the best choice of pumpkin/squash for this, in my opinion. The flavor is mild and sweet. Its low moisture content makes the texture [...] ....
Whenever I get an email from someone asking me to post a recipe for Thai-style noodle soup which they had on their last trip to Bangkok, I always say yes. But then I always feel fearful for both of us. I fear for myself, because I know it’s going to be a lot of work [...] ....
Yesterday afternoon, as I was hacking up a chicken with a cleaver to make this pot of Tom Kha Gai, my mind wandered off to one of my older posts on Serious Eats on chicken massaman curry and the comments it had elicited (which I find very educational). That had led to this impromptu post. [...] ....
With the flavor of Thai tea pairing so well with sweetened condensed milk, I thought a mash-up of the classic tres leches cake would be fun to make. So I made it, and the guinea pigs people liked it. I made it once more a few days later. And once more people liked it. Just [...] ....
I find it hard to believe that the edibles at 7-Eleven stores in Bangkok would make the locals, who are surrounded by far better and fresher foods, salivate. But the ubiquity of these stores in the city makes me question my sentiment. Whether or not it makes sense to you and me, people regularly buy [...] ....
Sometime last year, you might have seen a woman sitting alone in front of a building on Samsen Road in central Bangkok, tranquilizing herself with fried sweet potato balls, rocking back and forth, and mumbling things. That was me giving myself a prep talk. There was no reason why I should have looked like I [...] ....
You see, I just posted something on the blog a couple of days ago, and I should have waited a few days to publish another post. Ideally, this post would have featured a recipe for something sweet — a dessert, perhaps — because I just posted a savory recipe. Also, since the last post was [...] ....
This recipe is an adaptation of the original recipe developed by Kristen Klassen of award-winning, Hawaii-based Madre Chocolate. It has been given to my readers courtesy of the company’s Chocolate Flavormeister, ethnobotanist Nat Bletter. My thanks go to both of them and Madre Chocolate. Enjoy these rustic, full-flavored truffles — a combination of banana foster [...] ....
Felicia Day and Robin Thorsen made my Pad Thai. They’re so adorable. Enjoy. Subscribe to Geek & Sundry while you’re at it. They’ve got good stuff. Related links:Geek & Sundry on YouTubePad Thai Recipe Part One: The PanPad Thai Recipe Part Two: The NoodlesPad Thai Recipe Part Three: The IngredientsHow to Prepare Tamarind [...] ....
Originally, this was supposed to be a short post about KFC Thailand’s fried chicken with green curry sauce, how funny the advertisement for this same menu offering at KFC Malaysia is (“So authentic even the Thais want it“), and how surprised I am to have found recently that it is quite good [1]. But in thinking [...] ....
Somebody asked me a couple of weeks ago what my favorite Thai vegetable was. Based on his loud “Huh?”, I guess he wasn’t prepared for my answer, “Lotus stems.” Before we get to lotus stems and what can be made with them, let’s talk about the incredible versatility of lotus. How incredible is the incredibly [...] ....
This post had been sitting in my draft folder since the first quarter of 2012. Originally, I wanted to post it on May 5th, 2012. However, for reasons too boring to get into, that didn’t work out, and the post that went up on that day turned out to be baked pork tenderloins with gravy, [...] ....
In 2011, I ended the year with a post on the things that I liked (and still do); In 2012, I’m doing the same thing. The randomness which you saw from last year’s post? It’s here too. Anyway, for what it’s worth, here they are: the most memorable food items of 2012, presented in the [...] ....
Are we not done with the Obama menu yet? Apparently, not. We’ve talked about the menu composition; now we’re looking at the dishes. Please go over to Serious Eats where you can find the little piece I’ve written on it with a slideshow: ....
Relish. Dip. Whatever you call it, Thai nam prik (??????? RTGS: nam phrik), in my opinion, has remained the most mysterious type of Thai food among foreigners. And I don’t blame them. Thai restaurants outside Thailand, except those that cater primarily to Thai expats, don’t have relishes on their menus, so those whose exposure to [...] ....
I’ll let other people who are qualified to deal with the other aspects of the US president’s trip to Asia and his stop in Thailand do their thing. I’m all about the food here. So while the economists and political analysts are discussing things such as the US-Thai bilateral trade agreements, I’m turning my readers’ [...] ....
I have a few chef friends who cook and infuse things sous vide (literally, “under vacuum”) all the time when they cook at their restaurants; I have had countless restaurant meals that are cooked sous vide; I have friends who swear by their ice box or beer cooler sous vide apparatus; I just hadn’t had [...] ....
Remember how I was telling you that what is generally referred to as “yellow curry” at many Thai restaurants with English-language menus isn’t what is known as “yellow curry” in the Thai language but a milder, turmeric-tinted curry we call kaeng kari (kari curry)? Now this is the actual “yellow curry” (?????????) which is what [...] ....
Khana Mu Krop has got to be among the top favorites at rice-curry shops (???????????) in Bangkok — even more so at stalls that make food to order (????????????) for you. It’s such a simple dish that’s done in a flash. Definitely one of those minimum-effort-maximum-satisfaction things. You already know how to make it. Remember [...] ....
Here’s a further argument for the fact that once you’ve learned to make one Thai salad, yam (??), you know how to make many. I have said this before in my post on Scallop-Orange-Cucumber Salad, but I’ll recap it here: The most basic yam dressing consists of some lime juice, some fish sauce, and some sugar [...] ....
Of all the recipe requests that have come into my mailbox, the so-called “yellow curry” has got to be one of the top five. I’ve written about it in my weekly column on Serious Eats. But before you head over there, there are two remarks I’d like to make: 1. Nobody in Thailand calls this [...] ....
This is a guest post by the Zealous Water Buffalo, author of The Zealous Water Buffalo who updates her blog very irregularly (i.e. whenever she feels like it). She knows me like I know myself and vice versa. So, I thought, who better to make the announcement I’ve been wanting to make for sometime now? [...] ....
Two years ago, I mentioned one of my favorite ice cream stores (and one of the oldest — since 1946) in Bangkok, Tipparos Ice Cream (??????????????), and quite a few of you have written to ask me where this place is. Well, if you live in or are frequent visitors to Bangkok, go to Tao [...] ....
Not too long ago, as I was sitting all alone at table number 10 in the middle of one of my favorite places in all of Bangkok, Or Tor Kor Market, I thought of you. Sure, I was eating alone, but, no, I wasn’t lonely. One cannot possibly feel lonely with a bag of mangosteens [...] ....
They’re everywhere these little rice cakes with cane sugar drizzle: on the streets, in the supermarket, in snack stores from the upscale ones to the not-so-upscale ones. The only explanation for this is that people like them. A lot. And it’s not difficult to see why. With these sweet rice cakes being so ubiquitous, I’d [...] ....
Before I begin, please allow me to make it absolutely clear that this is a separate issue from whether or not a restaurant can add bamboo shoots, potatoes, and carrots to Tom Kha Gai, whether Nam Prik Pao should be fried, or whether dairy is allowed in Tom Yam, etc. That is the issue of what can/should or cannot/should not [...] ....
Unless you grew up/have lived in a Thai household or are a non-Thai who regularly eats Thai home-cooked meals with a Thai family, chances are you’re not familiar with a family of coconut milk-based relishes called lon1 (???). After all, this is not something readily available on the streets of Bangkok; it’s not something Thai restaurants [...] ....
I’m traveling. Again. I’m rarely home these past several months. But I’m not complaining. So here’s a short post — a link, really — to tide you over until I can write a real post. Check out my corn fritter recipe on Serious Eats. These are delicious! I love them a lot, and I hope [...] ....
I chuckled when reading up on the history of these Chinese crullers, you tiao (??), which have been localized in Thailand into Pa Thong Ko (?????????). According to the widely-circulated Chinese folk etymology, these pairs of dough sticks apparently represent two evil people who deserve to suffer in hot oil. To the Thai people, the [...] ....
As summers if drawing to a close, some of you might be looking for ways to use the red peppers from your garden. You could use them to make Thai sweet chili sauce. Or homemade Thai Sriracha, perhaps? Other than those, there is this jelly version of Thai sweet chili sauce. The Thai sweet chili [...] ....
I’ve been getting lots of emails asking whether it’s okay to use ginger in Tom Yam or Tom Kha when galangal, fresh or frozen, cannot be found. The short, blunt answer is: no, it’s not. The more diplomatic, gosh-there-are-so-many-toes-in-this-world-and-I-don’t-want-to-step-on-any answer is: it depends. If someone wants to make a new soup that is inspired by, [...] ....
If you have made green mango salad with grilled shrimp and cashew or Chinese sausage (kun chiang) and cucumber salad, you already know how to make most Thai salads, including this one. In fact, I bet by this time you’re already a pro when it comes to seasoning your yam instinctively without having to [...] ....
These fried shrimp cakes represent a tamer alternative to the curried Thai fish cakes (which you’re more likely to see at most Thai restaurants). You can find the recipe for this dish here. Make sure you have a bottle or a batch of homemade Thai sweet chili sauce nearby. ....
“Luxury English muffins” at The Flour Station, Borough MarketGreetings from the gorgeous city of London, the place I’ve fallen head over heels in love with. In the next post, I’ll tell you about a good Thai rice-curry shop which I’ve come across and was greatly impressed with. For now, please take a 50-slide tour of [...] ....
This is easy and done in less than 15 minutes from start to finish which means you can whip this up in less time than it takes for the rice in your electric rice cooker to cook. This application is great with fish steaks or fillets. But I can see large prawns in this [...] ....
I’m still traveling, eating, discovering new places somewhere away from home. And it will be several more days before I can get back into the kitchen to cook something. In the meantime, may I please invite you to go over to Serious Eats for this turmeric grilled chicken aka “train grilled chicken”? It’s really [...] ....
Though Miang Kham (????????), the so-called one-bite salad with sweet and sticky sauce, has hogged all the limelight all these years (and rightfully so), it should be noted that it is by no means the only dish in the family of miang (??????) wherein various tiny little things are anointed with a sauce and [...] ....
Salmon Chu-chi You’d think that with it raining almost every day since I arrived in London several days ago, I’d be keeping a collapsible umbrella in my purse. But that’s what sensible people do. Instead, my go-to rain solution has been to run for cover under the closest roofed thing that’s nailed down and taller [...] ....
She broke up a relationship – this Pa Yai. Okay, fine, so that’s not exactly how things went down. But, yeah, this nocturnal Bangkok street food vendor with a huge cult following was indirectly involved in what eventually led to a fermented pork-related breakup. I’m going to assume you want to know the story. Here [...] ....
Agar (or agar agar — why say it once when you can say it twice?) is a classic dessert/snack ingredient used throughout Southeast Asia. It’s not generally viewed as a vegan gelatin substitute as it often is in places where people aren’t familiar with it. Agar doesn’t behave exactly like gelatin, and I don’t [...] ....
Sometimes, I feel like all the brilliant friends I am fortunate to have, but perhaps don’t deserve, should be the ones writing this blog. My friend B very recently allowed me to share her Khao Na Gai recipe with you. Then a few weeks ago, my friend L showed me the only way he had [...] ....
Last week, in the course of interviewing my friend M, who devised this fried rice recipe, I came to realize that, based on the way he was answering my questions, I probably wouldn’t be able to get anything bloggable out of this. But it was too late. The blog post had already been planned, the dish had already been made and photographed, the conversation had already started, and I had imposed upon
The fact that I’ve been happily making this beef curry noodle dish the same way for years would lead one to think that it would have been one of the first recipes to be published here. I’m sorry I’d hidden this from you for three years, but it’s only because I was afraid you cool kids would make fun of me. First of all, it’s made in a slow cooker, not a much more sophisticated pressure cooker or a
After having lent its irreplaceable fragrance to many pots of Kaeng Liang, last year's crop of lemon basil (maeng lak) left me with these. If I was in a more philosophical mood, I would have written something boring about my plan to plant another crop this year with these seeds and how that reminds me of how the death of something must take place in order to make a rebirth possible and all that. B
Fragrant coconut rice, spicy carrot salad, and this saucy baked pork form one of my favorite meal ensembles. The idea of making three different dishes in order to create this one coordinated meal may seem daunting, but these three components go so well together that, as tempted as I am to tell you that you don't need to serve all of them together in this manner, I'm going to encourage you to give
It's a well-known fact among food blog consumers that if you want to learn how to make simple Asian, primarily Chinese, dishes, Rasa Malaysia is a go-to place. Back in 2006 when there weren't as many food blogs as there are now, Bee Yinn Low started her blog as a way of chronicling her attempts to replicate the dishes from her hometown of Penang, Malaysia. The site has grown in leaps and bounds fo
While Pad Thai or Tom Kha Gai, in my opinion, deserve a somewhat extensive tutorial, there really isn't much to say about Pad Ka-Prao (official transliteration: phat kaphrao). It's a dish that doesn't require many ingredients or demand the kind of skill that takes years to develop. And if this dish could talk, the only thing it would beg of you is that you use the ingredient without which it canno
