“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
- Grill
scallop in a frying pan or grill pan on both sides. Set aside.
- 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.
- In a
mixing bowl, combine scallop, lemongrass, shallots and kaffir lime leaves,
then pour in the salad dressing and mix well.
- To
serve, spoon the mixture onto Iceberg lettuce on the serving plate,
garnish with mints. Serve as salad or healthy finger food.
Goong Ob Woon Sen or proper name – Goong Ob Woon Sen Mo Din
(literally, shrimp baked with mung bean vermicelli noodles in clay pot) is
originally a Thai-Chinese dish (created by Chinese in Thailand).
Goong Ob Woon Sen is well known and popular dish – it is a restaurant and food
catering dish, you don’t see it at street vendors.
We have very famous and popular food catering businesses in Nakhon Pathom
Province. Nakhon Pathom
Province is one of the central provinces of Thailand,
is about 58 km. away from Bangkok.
When we talk about Nakhon Pathom we will think of 2 things from this province,
one is Phra Pathom Chedi, a chedi commissioned by King Mongkut in 1870, it is
one of the tourists’ destination and the other one is food catering, this style
of catering is called “Dto Jiin” or Chinese Table means Chinese food with a set
of 10 -12 dishes including dessert, are served at the round tables for 10 -12
people per table. I don’t know how many food caterers are in Nakhon Pathom
exactly but it’s a lot. The caterers will carry pots, pans, chairs, tables and
necessary utensils or kitchen wares with them in a big truck and they do it for
any occasion across Thailand
in a very reasonable price with fresh made food from scratch.
One of popular dishes on the food catering menus is Goong Ob
Woon Sen. This dish normally we use the large size of Tiger shrimp or fresh
water shrimp. The frozen tiger shrimp and fresh water shrimp from Thailand
are available at Asian grocery stores.
*** If Chinese celery is not available, it can be replaced
by coriander or cilantro.
For 4 servings
Ingredients
240 g (Dried) Mung Bean Vermicelli noodles
1 ½ lbs. Shrimp (size 31 – 40 /lb or larger)
1 root Ginger 2 ½ inch
long, slices
10 - 12 slices Fat pork
1 cup Chinese Celery, cut into 1 inch long
1 tsp Ground peppercorn
6 roots Coriander or cilantro
4 cloves Garlic
2 tbsps Soy Sauce
2 tbsps Oyster Sauce
2 tbsps Sesame Oil
½ cup Water
Instruction
- Soak
Mung bean vermicelli noodles in lukewarm water for ½ hour or until soft
and drain, and cut into 4 inches long. Set aside.
- Pound
peppercorn, coriander roots and garlic in a mortar and pestle (chop
coriander roots and garlic first before put in the mortar and pestle so
that it’s easier to be broken in small pieces but not paste like yet)
 |
| 1. Lay fat pork and ginger over bottom. |
- In a
mixing bowl (see picture), combine shrimp, Mung bean vermicelli, mixer
from 2., soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil, and mix well. Set aside.
- In
clay pot (see picture), lay fat pork over clay pot bottom and layer ginger
slices on fat pork.
- Transfer
the mixer from the mixing bowl to the clay pot and let shrimp stay at the
bottom (see picture) and noodles on the top, before put on the heat pour
(spread) ½ cup of water on noodles and cover with the lid.
 |
| 1. Mix in a bowl. 2. Transfer to clay pot. |
- Bake
on the stove burner over medium heat until steam coming out and continuing
for another 2 -3 minutes or until shrimp is cooked. Stir in Chinese
celery.
- Remove
from heat and serve immediately.
Moo Daet Diao (literally, a day of sunshine pork) is Thai
style pork jerky. We have two different kinds of pork and beef jerky in Thailand, the first one we can find in China town, on
Yaowarach road, this one we don’t call Moo Daet Diao but it is called Moo Pen,
means pork sheets, this Moo Pen is sweet jerky. Pork and beef jerky in China town, Bangkok has been selling for nearly hundred
years and has been very popular. I remember when I was a child living in
Southern Thailand, every Chinese New Year my young adult brother or sister who
worked in Bangkok
would come home and bring us pork jerky in the red bright colourful tins. Nowadays
you can find pork and beef jerky from China
town at the luxury shopping centers in Bangkok
or other big cities and also it is one of the most popular souvenirs for the
tourists who visit China
town in Bangkok.
The other one, Moo Daet Diao, is normally found at Som Tum
vendors or Issan style restaurants. Som Tum or Papaya salad is one of Issan or
North-Eastern Thai food so it is understood that Moo Daet Diao is Issan or
North-Eastern Thai food. North-Eastern of Thailand is a biggest part of the
country and is a flat land, growing rice is main economic activity, and
majority of population are farmers. This Moo Daet Diao is perfect food for the
farmers base on the style of work in the field all day and tropical climate
which is warm all round year so they need the food that will not go bad easily,
and they use a few ingredients like fish sauce and salt as the preservatives
and flavour.
And for restaurants and street vendors, they develop the
simple Moo Daet Diao from upcountry to be more cities’ style with more flavour and taste by
adding more kinds and differences of ingredients.
Ingredients
1 kg. Pork lion, cut into long stripes about ½ inch x ½ inch
thick
3 cloves Garlic, chopped fine
2 tsps Ground black pepper
3 tsps Coriander seeds, roughly crushed
4 tbsps Sugar or Honey
½ tbsp Salt
2 tbsps Soy sauce
3 tbsps Oyster sauce
2 tbsps Vegetable oil (add this oil if using roasting in oven
method)
Vegetable oil for deep frying (deep-frying method)
Instruction
- Marinate
pork with garlic, ground pepper, coriander seeds, sugar or honey, salt,
soy sauce, oyster sauce and 2 tbsps oil (add oil in marinade if you bake it
in oven) marinate over night in the fridge.
- Spread
on a rack and dry in the sun for a few hours and deep fry in hot oil until
nice brown colour. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. OR
- Bake
in oven at 70 °C/160 °F for 3 -4 hours or
until cooked.
- Serve with steamed sticky rice.
Pad Prik Khing is one of popular Khao Khaeng dishes. Raan Khao Khaeng is a type of traditional Thai diner; the style of this diner is similar to cafeteria that all the food, it can be 20 – 30 different kinds of items are ready made and display for customers to choose and food will be served to you at the table.
Raan
Khao Khaeng is one of food services that play a big part of city life; people
who living in cities from low level labours to white collars rely on it as it
is served as a breakfast, lunch and or dinner for many people. Every time when
government increase the price of cooking gas (In Thailand, the price of cooking
gas is controlled by government) and the prices of Khao Khaeng food will
increase as well. Often the prices of food increase more than cooking gas by
percentage because it’s easy to take an advantage of increasing the price of
food each time by 5 baths rather than 1 or 2 bath base on the part that
increased. The gas price increased last time was in February 2013 and the
prices of Khao Khaeng food are still at 25 – 40 baths per dish. (Bath is, Thai currency,
about 30 bath= 1 USD) We use the prices
of Khoa Khaeng measure the economy in a sense of everyday life of cost living
so the inflation rate in Thailand
is still pretty good as Khoa Khaeng food prices are not much different than
many years before.
This recipe, I use curry paste from a can instead of making curry paste from scratch so that people who don’t have much time on cooking will be able to enjoy some Thai food. Some time I will post another recipe with homemade curry paste on this blog as well.
*** Prik Khing curry paste in a can is available at Asian grocery stores.
Level of spiciness - mild
For 2 – 3 servings
Ingredients
2 Fresh squid tubes, about 300g.(or 2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts)
1 ½ cups Snake beans, cut into 1 inch
2 tbsps Prik Khing Chilli Jam or Prik Khing Curry Paste (114g./can)
5 Kaffir lime leaves, chop into very thin stripes
2 cloves Garlic, chopped fine
2⁄3 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Fish sauce
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
2 – 3tbsps Water
Instruction
- Clean the squid and cut the squid tubes in half lengthways. Cut a criss-cross pattern on the inside of squid. Cut into 1 ¼ inch x 2 inch. Or if use chicken breasts, cut into ½ inch x 1 ¾ inch.
- Heat the steel wok over high heat with 1 tbsp oil and swirl to coat. Add squid or chicken and chopped garlic, and stir-fry for 2 minutes and add curry paste. Mix well.
- Stir in snake beans, sugar, fish sauce, the other tbsp of oil. Stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes during the process adds 1 -2 tbsp of water before remove from heat stir in kaffir lime leaves.
- Serve with steamed rice.
Khao Pad Goong (literally, fried rice with shrimp) is one of
the most popular kinds of fried rice. This style of fried rice is original from
high-end Cantonese Chinese restaurants and nowadays you can see on the menu at
higher end Thai restaurants as well. The style of this fried rice is simple and
normally with more expensive meat like shrimp or crab.
There is another style of fried rice that is also popular
and normally you can find this dish at street vendors and Raan Ah-Han Tam Sang
(another kind of short order food shop beside Raan Khao Khaeng). This style of
fried rice is a one dish food, in the dish contains with vegetable like Gai Lan
or Chinese broccoli, tomato and onion and the meat will be pork or chicken, and
serve with some slices of cucumber. People in Thailand eat fried rice as a
breakfast, lunch or and dinner.
My recipe here is from the first style of fried rice but I
make this recipe as a one dish food as it covers all category of food.
For 1 serving
Ingredients
1 cup (packed) Steamed Jasmine rice
1 Egg
5 Shrimp (31 – 40 PCS /lb) (Or any size you wish)
1 clove Garlic, chopped fine
1 Small spring green onion, chopped into ¼ inch
¼ tsp Ground pepper corn
1 tsp Soy sauce
1 tsp Oyster sauce
1 tbsp and 1 tsp Vegetable oil (1tbsp would be enough, if you
concern about your health)
3 slices Tomato
3 slices Cucumber
1 wedge Lime
2 Fresh Thai chilli, chopped
Fish sauce
Instruction
- Heat
a steel wok over high heat, add 1 tbsp oil and swirl to coat. Add the egg
and cook for a few second then use a spatula cut and break the egg to be
pieces.
- Add
garlic and shrimp, and mix well. Add steamed Jasmine rice, breaking up any
lumps and stir into the mixer. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce and ground
pepper, and while swirling and mixing, add 1 tsp oil on just edge of the
mixer. Swirl and mix 1–2 minutes or you can see every gain of rice stay
individually with slightly golden brown colour.
- Just
before remove from heat, add spring green onion and mix well.
- Serve
with slices of tomato, cucumber, (squeeze) the wedge of lime, and chopped
fresh chilli in fish sauce.
Chilli in Fish Sauce
Cover chopped
chilli with fish sauce (squeeze a wedge of lime juice if you wish)
***A whole process happens very fast and on high heat only
so that it produces good fried rice.
***Jasmine rice is the best for making fried rice as fried
rice suppose to be dried but soft
*** Some people prefer lime juice mix in fish sauce and
chilli rather then squeezing it on the rice.
Khai Luk Koei, Kai Leuk Koey or Kai Look Koey (literally, son-in-law eggs) is a dish that commonly found at Raan Khoa Khaeng or short order Thai restaurants. Khai Luk Koei or Son-In-Law-Eggs made of hard boiled eggs and we also have Khai Luk Sa Pai or Daughter- In-Law-Eggs made of over easy fried eggs but Son-In-Law-Eggs seems more popular.
Eggs are a common food for everyone, we simply turn the eggs to something more interesting, and it is for families especially for kids. In Thailand we consider Khai Luk Koei is a kind of comfort food and also it is a kid friendly dish as it contains a little sweetness, saltiness and sourness but is not spicy. Many people asked me what ages of kids can eat or learn to eat spicy food – I think it depends on each kid his or herself some can eat spicy hot food at very young age like 2 -3 years old and some can eat only mild spicy food even they are adult. We both my husband and I be able to eat very spicy food but not our son, he can eat mild spicy only. I was surprised he loved my Massaman Curry; this curry is mild hot in a sense of spicy hot from chilli pepper but it has the strong flavour of the spiciness of other different spices like cumin, for example.
Ingredients
Tamarind Liquid
½ cup water
Break and knead tamarind in water until the mixer thickens
6 Large eggs
½ cake Palm sugar
6 tbsp Tamarind thick liquid
2 tbsp Fish sauce
½ cup Oil for frying
1 Large shallot, slice thin
2 tbsp Chopped coriander
1 Big long red chilli or Prik Chee Fah, sliced (optional) this kind of chilli is mild hot.
Instruction
- Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold tap water and boil at high heat for 12 minutes (boil 10 minutes from tap water in Thailand).
- Remove from heat, drain the hot water and rise and soak with cold tap water in the same time shake the pot so the eggs will be cracked from hitting to each other and peel the shells.
- Put oil on a small frying pan over medium heat until hot. Add egg one at a time if using small amount oil in the pan and roll and turn the egg to brown totally until finish all.
- In the same frying pan with the same oil, add sliced shallot, fry until slightly golden brown and drain oil on paper towel.
- In the same frying pan, remove all oil, reduce the heat to low and add tamarind liquid, fish sauce and palm sugar and cook until palm sugar dissolves and the mixer thickens slightly.
- To serve, slice the eggs and arrange on a serving plate. Pour on the sauce and garnish with crispy shallot, red chilli slices and chopped coriander. Serve with steamed rice.
"PLA" is kind of processing food, by using acid from lime juice, without cooking, normally it is for raw meat; beef or seafood, basically the process is the same as "YAM", and Goong means shrimp. Original this dish is made from live tiny shrimp krill but nowadays many Thai restaurants in Thailand use roasted or grilled shrimp to for this dish.
This dish is considering a healthy food and it doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare and make it, it’s perfect for people who have a busy life and love healthy and Thai food.
Ingredients
12 Shrimp (size 31 -40)
2 - 3 Fresh chilli, chopped fine
3 tbsp Lemongrass, chopped very fine (see picture)
3 Shallots (about 1⁄3 cup), slice thin
8 leaves Mints
1 tbsp Kaffir Lime Leaves, chopped very fine (see picture)
1 tbsp Nam Prik Pao or chilli paste with soya bean oil
? Sugar (there is only one brand of Nam Prik Pao in my city and it is pretty sweet so I don’t add more sugar in it.)
2 tbsp Lime juice
 |
| Herb cuts |
1 tbsp Fish sauce
Instruction
- Grill shrimp on pan grill or charcoal both sides until shrimp turns prink.
- Combine fresh chilli, Nam Prik Pao, (sugar), lime juice and fish sauce and stir until sugar or Nam Prik Pao dissolved.
- Add shrimp, lemongrass, shallots, mints and kaffir lime leaves. Mix well.
- Serve with steamed rice or eat as appetizer or salad.
*** This dish can be served as appetizer, place each piece of shrimp on a rice cracker and put a small piece of lettuce between shrimp and the rice cracker to prevent the crackers being wet, or just simply place shrimp on a piece of belgain envide as a healthy finger food.
