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Gai Yang Ta Krai or Chicken Lemongrass Skewers

Gai Yang Ta Krai or Chicken Lemongrass Skewers is another outdoor summer food, but you can still have this dish on a rainy day by using oven grill or pan grill. You can have different kinds of meat for this dish – like pork, lamb or beef. The overall process of making this dish is pretty easy.

If you have the fat lemongrass then you can cut the lemongrass into half lengthwise, it is good in a way so you can get more favour and scent from lemongrass on your meat.





Ingredients

2              Large skinless boneless chicken breast (about 500 g) cut into chunks (3⁄4” x 2” x 2 ½“)
6              Lemongrass, cut into 6 -7 inches long
3 cloves  Garlic 
Lemongrass sticks
3              Coriander roots
1 tsp        Fresh ground pepper
1 tsp        Crashed coriander seeds
1⁄3 tsp      Salt
1 tbsp      Honey or palm sugar
2 tbsp      Thick cream of Coconut milk
2 tbsp      Soy sauce
1 tbsp      Oyster sauce
1 tbsp       Vegetable oil

Instruction


  1. Pound garlic, coriander roots with mortar and pestle or chop very fine.
  2. Marinate chicken with garlic, coriander roots, ground pepper, crashed coriander seeds, soy sauce, salt, honey or palm sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, oil and water  for 2 -3 hours.
  3. Cut lemongrass into 6 -7 inches, and cut the smaller end of each lemongrass into pointy shapes.
  4. Thread the meat into the lemongrass sticks – 3 pieces for each stick until finish all and ready to grill.
    Skewers on charcoal
  5. Serve with Cucumber pickles (see recipe) and steamed rice or sticky rice, and or just serve with cold beer.

Hor Mok Ta Lay or Seafood Curry Custard

Hor Mok (literally, wrap and hide and “Ta Lay” is from “Ah Han Ta Lay” means seafood) is a steamed curry custard in banana leaves. This dish is a common food in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, each country’s Hor Mok has some slightly different ingredients but Thai Hor Mok is always with seafood and some kinds of fresh water fish.

You can find this dish at Khoa Kheng Shop or and street food vendors to luxury Thai restaurants. The process is pretty straight forward even it has lots of different kinds of ingredients.

  • It is better to use uncooked seafood for this dish so that it will mix and blend into fish and herb purée well. You can use any kind of seafood for examples (the popular ones in Thailand) are shrimp, mussel and squid. You can either have only one kind of seafood or mix seafood in this dish.
  • In traditional way we use banana leaves for wrapping or making bowls for the size of one serving, but nowadays many chefs use nice little glass or ceramic dipping or sauce bowls for this dish.
  • You can have your Hor Mok more texture by adding more chunks of seafood meat in purée besides indicating in the recipe. This is where the name of Hor Mok (wrap and hide) from – the chunks of meat are wrapped and hidden in the custard.


 12 servings
Ingredients

14                Shrimp (size 31 – 40) uncooked and thaw cut in half
14                Mussel uncooked and thaw cut in half
42 leaves     Sweet basil
Mussel, shrimp cuts
4-5 leaves   Coriander, garnishing
4-5 leaves   Kaffir lime leaves, slice very thin for garnishing
4 tbsp          Thick coconut milk
½ tsp           Potato or corn starch
Banana leaves enough for making 12 bowls.

*First part - herbs
1                  Large long chilli, slices for garnishing
10               Dried large long chillies, soft in warm water and remove seeds
5 roots         Fingerroot
2 roots         Coriander
Ingredients
2 tbsp          Lemongrass, slice
1 tbsp          Galangal, cut into small pieces
1–2               Fresh Thai chillies or Prik Kee Noo (optional, if you like spicy food)
3                  Shallots
3-4 cloves   Garlic
 1                 Kaffir lime, skin( 1 small one or ½ for a big one)
1 root          Turmeric, about 1” long
1⁄3 cup         Water or coconut water

**Second part
100 g           King Mackerel, remove bones and skin
2                  Eggs
1 tsp        Palm Sugar
1 tsp            Shrimp Paste, roasted (wrap in foil and roast on the element of stove)
½ tsp           Fresh ground pepper
1 ½ cup       Coconut milk, the thick one from a can
3 tbsp          Fish sauce

Instruction


  1. Making banana bowls (if you use glass (pic. below) or ceramic bowls then skip this part), cut banana leaves into 5 x 5 inches. Fold each corner and secure with staples until finish for 4 corners.
    Bowls
  2. Pur̩e the ingredients of first part Рherbs until smooth, and add the second part blend together until smooth. Pour into a mixing bowl and add shrimp and mussel and mix well. Store the mixture in the fridge for 10 Р15 minutes to set.
  3. Heat a steamer on high heat.
  4. Mix 4 tbsp of coconut milk with potato or corn starch well on medium heat until thicken or you can cook it in microwave. Set a side.
  5. Place 3 basil leaves on the bottom of each bowl, scoop 2 tablespoon full of the mixture into the bowls (you can put more or less of the mixture, depending on the size of the bowls). The mixture of each bowl must have meat and sauce purée combined.
    For garnishing



  6. Steam in boiling hot steamer for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat garnish with coconut milk sauce, long red chilli slices, kaffir lime leaf stripes and coriander leaves. And serve hot with steamed rice.
With glass bowl

Tod Man Pla or Thai Fish Cakes

Tod Man Pla or Thai Fish Cakes with red curry favour is a popular and well known dish. You can find this dish at street vendors to fancy restaurants in Bangkok. Original or in Thailand this dish is made from Clown featherback or Clown knifefish which is Southeast Asian fresh water fish. The textures of fish cakes from this kind of fish are tough, firm and resiling so this kind of fish is ideal for making fish cakes and fish balls. Fish balls in Thailand, are original from Chinese cuisine, and are made from king mackerel or mackerel family fish.

Some Thai people use mackerel fish the kind that we have in Thai sea for making fish cake as well but it’s not that popular, because people have fixed the idea to the original one. Here we can find fresh king mackerel easily at a market so I use king mackerel for my fish cake recipe. The results from these two kinds of fish - Clown featherback and king mackerel, are very similar.

For the curry paste, we use red curry paste for the favour but it is not as spicy as the red curry. We use the same curry paste as Chu Chee curry, you can see the recipe on page Chu Chee curry- here.

In Thailand most people will deep-fry their fish cakes but you can also pan-fry the fish cakes as well.
*** I found the information of king mackerel substitutes:  Spanish mackerel OR shad OR bluefish OR herring OR small trout, the fish that has similar texture. 




For 13 - 14 pieces of fish cakes / size 2 ¼ inches x 1⁄3 inch

Ingredients

300 g                Fillets of king mackerel
4 tbsp               Curry Paste (see recipe from Chu Chee curry)
1                       Egg
1⁄3 cup              Snake Beans, cut into ¼ inch
6 – 7 leaves     Kaffir Lime Leaves, cut into very thin stripes
½ tsp               Potato or tapioca starch
Snake bean and Kaffir lime leaves
4 – 5 tbsp        Cold water (or about 1⁄3 cup)
2 tbsp              Fish sauce
Oil for frying

Instruction

  1. Remove fish’s skin and bones by scratching it with a spoon. Ground the fish in mortar with pestle or food processor until paste like.
  2. Remove fish paste to a mixing bowl, and add egg, fish sauce and potato starch. Start kneading, in the same time add cold water gradually 3 - 4 times, and knead and grab the fish dough throw it back to the bowl, basically beating the fish repeatedly until the mixer tough and bouncing. (This process originally, the bowl with the fish mixer will be sitting on the ice. Beating the cold fish mixer will create a nice bouncing texture – bouncing fish cakes. The same process is for making fish balls as well) 
    The process of making fish cakes
     
  3. Add snake beans and kaffir lime leaves, and mix well
  4. Heat a frying pan or wok on medium heat, and add oil. Mould the mixer into 2 ¼ inches x 1⁄3 inch or shape like cookies. And fry both sides until nice brown colour or cooked. Remove and drain oil on paper towels.
  5. Serve with cucumber pickles (see recipe below)
 Cucumber pickles 
1              Cucumber
2 tbsp      Coriander, chopped
1⁄3 cup     Peanuts, ground (optional)
1              Fresh Thai chilli, chopped (optional)
½ cup     White vinegar
½ cup     Sugar
1 tsp       salt

Instruction

  1. Mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a pot on medium heat. Boil until bubbling for 1- 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set a side until it is cool.
  2. Cut cucumber into quarter in lengthwise and slice into ¼ thick. Pour into vinegar mixer in a serving bowl. Add chilli and peanuts, and mix well.
  3. Garnish with coriander.

Chu Chee Salmon

Chu Chee or Choo Chee is the sound of sizzling in Thai, and because of the amount of curry is small comparing to other kinds of curry so the sound is loud.  The curry paste for this dish has the same ingredients as red curry paste, except it is not as hot as red curry because there are no fresh Thai chillies or Prik Kee Noo in Chu Chee curry paste, but there are only dried big chillies which are mild. If you’d like your Chu Chee dish spicy, you can always add some Prik Kee Noo in your curry paste.

Chu Chee Curry is commonly with fish, but you may find some restaurants’ Chu Chee menu with shrimp as well. The curry sauce is supposed to be thicker, saltier and sweeter than ordinary curry as the fish is plain so you need the sauce to give some favours to the fish.


Chu Chee dish is pretty common and popular dish in Thailand as you can find this dish from street vendors to luxury restaurants.




For 2 - 3 servings  Spiciness: mild

Ingredients

1  lb.            Salmon Steak, slice into 2 pieces or 2 Salmon Fillets
3 tbsp          Curry paste (the recipe below)
2 tsp            Palm sugar or sugar
4 leaves       Kaffir Lime leaves, cut into very thin stripe
7                 Thai basil or sweet basil
¾ cup          Thick Coconut milk from a can
1-1  ½ tbsp   Fish sauce
1 tbsp          Vegetable oil
1⁄3 cup          Water

Curry Paste
Ingredients – for about ½ cup of curry paste

7                  Dried big chillies, remove seeds and soak in water until soft and chop into small pieces
1-2               Fresh Thai Red chillies, chopped (optional)
2 tbsp           Lemongrass, chopped fine
2                  Shallots, chopped
2 tbsp           Garlic, chopped
2 tsp             Galangal, chopped fine
1                   Kaffir Lime, skin only about 2tsp, chopped fine
½ tsp            Ground pepper
2 - 3 roots     Coriander, chopped
 3⁄4tsp            Shrimp paste, roasted
¼ tsp            Salt

Instruction


  1. To make the curry paste, wrap shrimp paste in foil and roast two sides on the stove element until fragrant.
  2. Paste dried chillies, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, galangal, kaffir lime peel, ground pepper, coriander roots, shrimp paste and salt in mortar and pestle, and pound until smooth.
  3. Grill 2 sides of salmon on frying pan on medium heat until golden brown but not cooked. Remove salmon from the frying pan.
  4. To make the curry sauce, the same frying pan on medium heat, add vegetable oil until hot and add curry paste, stir-frying until fragrant. Add coconut milk, palm sugar, fish sauce and water, mix well and cook until bubbling and becomes a thick curry sauce.
  5. Add salmon into the curry sauce and let salmon sit for a few bubble each side until salmon absorbs the favour of the curry sauce. Remove from the pen to a plate and garnish with kaffir lime leaves and basil. Serve hot with Jasmine rice. 

Yam Makeua Yao

Yam Makua Yao or Eggplant Salad is one of healthy and yummy popular “YAM” Thai dishes. Some recipes may have hard boiled eggs in this dish. For people who can not eat pork or don’t like pork then you can just simply change it to be chicken.




3 - 4 Servings. Spiciness: Medium

Ingredients

2                         Large egg plants (Chinese Eggplants)
200 g.                  Pork mince
1 tsp                   Soy sauce
2 cloves              Garlic mince
Pinch of salt
12                       Shrimp (size 31 -40 or any size)
3                         Shallots, slice thin or ½ cup of red onion
3 tbsp                 Lemongrass, slice very thin
2 tbsp                Kaffir Lime leaves, cut into thin stripes (about 4-5 leaves)
10 – 15 leaves     Mint
3                        Fresh Thai chilli or Prik Kee Noo (spiciness is adjustable)
1 tbsp                 Nam Prik Pao or Chilli paste with soya bean oil
3 tbsp                Lime juice
2 tbsp                Fish sauce
2 tbsp                Water

Instruction

  1. Marinate pork with soy sauce, garlic and salt.
  2. Roast or grill the eggplants either on charcoal or in the oven until soft and cooked. Peel the skin and cut into 1 ½ inch long. Remove to a mixing bowl.
  3. Heat a frying pan or a small pot over medium heat. Add the marinated pork and 2 tbsp water cook until changes colour and breaking up any lumps, before pork is cooked add shrimp and cook until pork and shrimp are cooked (you can cook  pork and shrimp separately also).
  4. Making salad dressing, combine Nam Prik Pao, lime juice, chilli and fish sauce, and mix well or until Nam Prik Pao dissolved.
  5. Combine eggplants, pork, shrimp, shallots, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and mints. Pour into salad dressing and mix well.
  6. Serve with steamed rice.

Yam Tuna with Herbs

Yam Tuna with Herbs or Tuna Salad with Herbs is a healthy dish. Nowadays more and more people think about healthy diet – less process, less oil, less sodium and or no chemical but contains with all nutrition.  In Thai food, there are many different Thai dishes that are considered in the category of healthy food.
                                                   
For me I am always careful what to make for my family and I to eat, the food that I make have enough nutrition or is healthy enough or not. Some people say coconut milk is not good for your health but people in many tropical countries who consume coconuts (original they used coconut oil for cooking) for hundreds of years but they don’t have cardiovascular disease or obesity problem more than others, actually coconuts have some good nutrition. Over all I think beside what we eat we should think how much quantity to have for our body base on the input and output energy of each person. In general we don’t have an obesity problem in adults in Thailand but there are more and more overweight children, especially children in cities that have less active activities but with lots of corner shops and western junk food restaurants (in Thailand, going to the import western junk food restaurants is a privilege and it is popular). It becomes a global classic problem.

One of the most important ingredients of this dish is Piper Sarmentosum leaves. The leaves, are commonly used in traditional medicine, contain the antioxidant naringenin and in cuisine are used to wrap Miang Kham or a traditional snack. Miang Kham, is a bite size snack, made of roasted shredded coconut, roasted peanuts, shallot cubes, small ginger cubes, dried shrimp, a small piece of lime, small pieces of fresh chilli and a drop of thick sweet and salty sauce wrapped in Piper Sarmentosum so this Yum Tuna dish adapted the idea of Miang Kham snack.

This yam tuna dish is typical Thai, array of flavours that addresses all 5 taste senses – sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter. You can taste only a slightly bitterness at the end of the palate so it doesn’t really bother your enjoyment but it creates the sense of (all) good for your health.

***Piper sarmentosum is available at Asian grocery stores.


2 -3 servings

Ingredients

130 g.                   Tuna (solid) in oil
2                           Small shallots, slice thin (see picture)
2 tbsp                   Lemongrass, slice very thin
2 tbsp                   Ginger, cut into very thin stripe about 1 inch long
2 tbsp                   Galangal, cut into very thin stripe about 1 inch long
2 tbsp                   Kaffir lime leaves, cut into very thin stripe
2 tbsp                   Fingerroots (see picture from the link), slice into thin diagonal slices
12-15 leaves         Piper Sarmentosum
Herb cuts

Salad Dressing

2                           Fresh Thai chilli (spiciness is adjustable)
3 roots                   Coriander or cilantro
½ tsp                     Sugar
1 tbsp                    Fish sauce (saltiness is adjustable, depends on sodium in tuna and your palate)
2 tbsp                    Lime juice

Instruction

  1. To make the dressing, crush fresh Thai chilli and coriander roots (cut into small pieces first) with mortar and pestle. Remove the mixture into a sauce bowl and then add sugar, fish sauce and lime juice, and mix well or until sugar dissolve. 
  2. Remove the floating oil from tuna if there is too much oil (the tuna in a can I got in Ottawa is pretty dry and it is just perfect).
  3. Combine all herb cuts or slices in a mixing bowl with tuna and pour into the dressing and mix well.
  4. To serve, place a spoonful of the mixture on a piper leave and fold into a bite size. You can serve this dish as salad or finger food (snack). If piper leaves are not available – can be replaced with Chinese Napa or lettuce. 

Pla Scallop

“Pla”, “Yam”, Tam”, “Laab” are kinds of processing food in Thai cuisine, all these processes are similar to the process of salad in Western cuisine, the dishes from these processes usually combine the balancing of 4 tastes – sourness, sweetness, spiciness and saltiness. We consider the food from these processes is healthy food as it is less processed, less oil and always combined with fresh herbs.

Not only “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes are healthy food but more over than that it doesn’t consume a lot of time to make which is an ideal for people who have a busy life and aim to live healthy.

All Thai people love “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes, sometimes we feel we have no appetite because of the weather as the weather is warm all round year in Thailand or other reasons, but as soon as we see “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes our mouth is watering.





Ingredients

300 g.                   Scallop
1⁄3 cup                  Lemongrass, slice very thin
3                           Shallots, slice thin
5                           Kaffir lime leaves, chop into very thin strip
8                           Mint leaves
2 - 3 pieces          Iceberg lettuce

Salad dressing
2                           Fresh Thai chilli, chopped fine
1 tbsp                   Nam Prik Pao or chilli paste with soya bean oil
1 ½ tbsp               Lime juice
1 tbsp                    Fish sauce
?  Sugar (there is only one brand of Nam Prik Pao in my city and it is sweet enough for this recipe.)


Instruction


  1. Grill scallop in a frying pan or grill pan on both sides. Set aside.
  2. To make the salad dressing, combine Nam Prik Pao, lime juice and fish sauce and stir until (sugar and) Nam Prik Pao dissolves, and add chilli. Mix well.
  3. In a mixing bowl, combine scallop, lemongrass, shallots and kaffir lime leaves, then pour in the salad dressing and mix well.
  4. To serve, spoon the mixture onto Iceberg lettuce on the serving plate, garnish with mints. Serve as salad or healthy finger food.
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