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Thai Recipe: Why Rice is Nice in Thailand and How To Cook Thai Jasmine Rice

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Rice, especially the fragrant Thai jasmine rice, is the essential staple of the Thai diet.  Unlike other countries, Thailand is not a large producer of wheat or potatoes.

Rice is the center point of the meal and Thai food is especially designed to be eaten with rice – the neutral taste of rice serves as a counterpoint to the often piquant Thai dishes.  To eat Thai food is to eat rice with other food.

Language lovers note that the Thai word for rice is a synonym for food.  A common greeting among friends in Thai is “have you eaten rice/food yet?”  I often answer in the negative in case the person greeting me has something delicious they want to share!

A row of different brands and quality levels of rice at a Thai supermarket

Rice is eaten with every meal, whether it be steamed jasmine rice (or sticky/glutinous rice in some parts of Thailand) or rice noodles or rice incorporated into desserts. Rice can be made into a homemade wine or a type of whiskey.  Many folk sayings incorporate the word for rice (the expression “rice waiting for rain” means the speaker has waited a long time for something to happen).  Rice is also used in religious ceremonies, whether as an offering to Buddhist monks on their daily alms rounds where they are offered rice and other foods by faithful followers, or rice is placed as an offering for animist spirit shrines to ask the spirits that protect the land to watch over the inhabitants.

Since rice is the foundation of Thai cooking, here is an outline on how to best prepare Thai jasmine rice.  I most often use an electronic rice cooker.  If you do not have such a machine, you can easily make Thai rice on top of the stove.

Different grades of rice available at an open air market in Chiang Mai Thailand

PREPARING THE JASMINE RICE FOR COOKING – THE HARDWARE YOU NEED

  • measuring cup for the jasmine rice
  • electric rice cooker or pot with a lid for cooking the rice
  • colander or strainer for helping rinse the starch off the rice

MAKING RICE – INGREDIENTS

  • 1.5 cups of raw dry jasmine rice (about 200 grams dry weight or enough to fill a metric measuring cup to 350 ml)
  • 2 cups / 450 ml of water for cooking the rice
  • more water for rinsing the starch off the rice

METHOD

Step 1: Prepare the rice

Thai jasmine rice must be rinsed before cooking to get ride of any excess starch on the rice – failing to rinse the rice will result in the rice being too sticky.  The cooked jasmine rice grains should be fully cooked with each rice grain separate but not sticking together.

For this recipe, the 1.5 cups of raw jasmine rice made almost four cups of cooked rice – it expands considerably when cooked.

Step 1:  Rinsing the raw rice grains:

Wash jasmine rice thoroughly to get most of the rice starch off each rice grain.  Place the amount of rice you wish to cook in the cooking pot and fill the cooking pot with water to a couple of inches (5 cm) above the water. Massage the rice grains in the water with your hand to loosen the starch and drain off the water in a colander or strainer.  Repeat this between three and five times until the water being poured out of the bowl runs clear.  The amount of starch on the rice can vary according to the brand, so use your own judgement on how many times you must rinse the rice.  Strain the rinsed rice to get rid of the water and return the rinsed rice to the cooking pot.

Cooking the rinsed rice using an electronic rice cooker:

Place the 1.5 cups of rinsed rice in your cooking pot and add the two cups of water.  Plug in the rice cooker and flip the switch to the “On” or “Cook” position – the machine does the rest.  The rice cooker will keep the rice warm and ready for eating.

Cooking the rinsed rice in a pot on the stove:

The cooking pan you use to make rice on top of the stove will influence how long the rice must cook.  I used a thin pan and the rice came to a boil rapidly. A thicker pan may absorb more of the heat and your cooking time may be longer.  As always, experiment with the equipment you have at home so you can control the outcome.

If you are preparing the rice in a cooking pot on top of the stove, bring the rice and water to a soft boil over medium heat with the cover off.  Cook for eight minutes or until the water has evaporated and the rice looks dry on top.  Again, this time will vary according to how much heat your stove produces and the thickness of the cooking pit you are using.

Reduce the heat to low, cover the cooking pot and cook for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, lift off the cover of the cooking pot.  If the rice looks like it has absorbed all the water, turn off the heat under the cooking pot, remove the cooking pot from the stove with the cover on so the cooked rice starts to cool.  If the rice is still moist, cook for an additional couple of minutes, then remove from the stove to cool.

If you have excess rice after your meal, you can store the rice in the refrigerator and use it to make stirfried rice dishes or rice soup.

Julia Child Still Inspires Me

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A used book store can be a portal to another world and a treasure trove.  Amidst the thrillers and chillers and books about vampires who shop too much or the like, I was so pleased to recently find the book My Life in France by Julia Child and devoured it one sitting.  Julia Child was an American who lived in France from 1948 to 1954 and immersed herself in traditional French cooking and later popularized French cooking in America starting in the 1960′s with many cookbooks and a television show.

She admits she had a healthy appetite but had not been encouraged to cook when growing up in California.  She did some cooking at home after marrying Paul Child, a diplomat employed by the United States Information Service, but her husband noted “her first attempts were not altogether successful” with brains simmered in wine a notable failed experiment.

Once she and her husband moved to France, she became enraptured and engrossed with French food, the vibrancy of the markets and the expertise of seemingly everyone she met.  The food mattered to the French people.   Her food epiphany occurred at her first meal in France.  She tasted sole meuniere – “a morsel of perfection” she wrote.

She loved French food so much she attended the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris and set up her own French cooking school.

This experience in part lead to this American embracing, comprehending and communicating the glory of French food for millions of people.  She and two French colleagues wrote a best selling classic French cookbook in English titled Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

This led to her having a hugely popular cooking television show on public TV in America and writing ten other cookbooks.  Her enthusiasm and common sense cooking were appealing and highly influential to several generations of American home cooks and professional chefs.  I used to watch the cooking show when I lived in America and owned most of her cookbooks and tried to learn the French classics from her well trusted recipes.

Julia Child in her kitchen

The intensity of interest, pride and debate about what constitutes good food and correct techniques for coaxing the best flavors from ingredients is the same in Thailand as in the France described by Julia Child.  Since my principal joy in Thailand is eating and making Thai food, I have been inspired by Julia Child to learn more and share what I learn.

As an aside, Thai culinary expert Sirichalerm Svasti or “Chef McDang” notes in his own cookbook that he was influenced to abandon a career as a diplomat in training at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and become a chef when he saw Julia Child on television.  “Then Julia Child came along.  Let me tell you, she was a hoot.  Funny, totally natural, completely unafraid of making mistakes on television.  The way she came across was very inspiring,” he wrote in the introduction to his popular cookbook The Principles of Thai Cookery.

Julia Child on television - entertaining, informed and unafraid

WHAT I LEARNED FROM JULIA CHILD

1.  Read every recipe twice before you make it to ensure you have the tools, ingredients and understand the techniques so the food is as good as it can be.

2.)  Make each dish several times before serving it to guests so you understand how to replicate the recipe in your own kitchen with your own equipment.  At the first real dinner party I ever hosted, I tried to make the fabled French dish coq au vin (chicken stewed in red wine) for some friends.  Success was achieved eventually, but I had not really understood the recipe nor made it before so dinner was an hour late arriving to the table.  Careful reading and practice would have made me realize I should have cut the chicken into smaller pieces, had more wine for the stew and should have made it ahead of time, thus avoiding the embarrassing and agonizing wait (Susan, Jim and Mary – thank you for your patience back in 1987)!

3.  If writing a recipe for someone else to prepare, test the recipe many times with a view that the recipe reader might not have the same equipment, that the heat from a stove can vary, ingredients common in one area may be scarce in another and you cannot assume that the reader knows that one ingredient could be substituted for another.  Research the traditional recipes and test, test, test while keeping the recipe simple but authentic.

So today I will test and retest some recipes, just as Julia Child did.  As she wrote, “I learned why good French food is an art, and why it makes such sublime eating: nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.”

Thai cooking class where I was told I’m “hilarious”

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A recent visitor to the Thai cooking classes described me as “hilarious” in her travel blog (and she wasn’t even referring to my chubby face or the fact that my shirttail always seems to come untucked out of my pants).  I appreciated the compliment as I try hard to make the Thai cooking classes both informative and fun.

 

I had a visitor to the Thai cooking class named Nadine Sykora, a twenty-something Canadian who has created her own niche as a video blogger / world traveler / Internet personality.  Nadine has made hundreds of videos and has a huge number of subscribers on YouTube and Facebook.  I was so impressed she had the self- confidence and creativity to make informative and often very funny videos and blog posts.

 

Nadine was invited by the Contiki travel tour company to enjoy and document many trips, including a visit to Thailand.  Contiki offers travel adventure trips in over 40 countries for travellers ages 18 to 35.  Nadine and a group of jolly and inquisitive Contiki visitors joined in on a Thai cooking class.  We made Southern Thai Massaman curry (the recipe for this dish is included in this blog) as well as some other dishes.

Chef Nadine

Make it Simple, Make it Informative and Make it Funny
I try to make the class informative and entertaining by stressing the basic techniques of Thai cooking with some jokes thrown in to keep the attention of the students.One thing I emphasize is “it is easier to add heat to your cooking pan than subtract – keep the heat under the pan on low to medium so the ingredients don’t burn – burned curry paste will make the whole dish taste bitter” when making a dish such as Massaman curry.  I tell the students “If you have your heat too high, then the ingredients will burn and then tears will fall down like rain” as I gesture to my eyes.  After the third repetition of this crying act the students usually chuckle.  We take our laughs where we can get them and I get the point across that not all Asian cooking has to be done on the highest heat – sometime achieving the most flavor in a Thai dish is a marathon and not a sprint.

Nadine artfully decorated her Massaman with toasted peanuts and coriander leaf

Nadine has inspired me to make more videos and more blog entries – thanks Nadine and best of luck in your travels!
You can learned more about Nadine at her website:  www.nadinesykora.com
You can learn more about Contiki tours at their website: www.contiki.com

Thai Recipe: Bananas Stewed in Coconut Milk Dessert or Bananas Ordained as Nuns

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Bananas in Coconut Milk with Mint Topping

 What Do Nuns and Bananas Have To Do With Each Other?

 Thai Name:  Bananas Ordained as Nuns or กล้วยบวชชี

Many Thai dishes have a straight forward name that tells the ingredients and how they are cooked.  This dessert has a unique name as it uses the word “nuns” and does not specify the cooking method. The ingredients and cooking method have nothing to do with nuns, but I have heard the story behind the name “Bananas Ordained as Nuns” or bananas cooked in coconut milk. 

The most common explanation is because Thai Buddhist female nuns wear white clothes while they are living at a temple (while the male monks wear a saffron colored robe). So this recipe resembles the white clothes worn by the nuns, or so I’ve heard.  Other than that, the name is a mystery to me.  Regardless, it is one of the easiest Thai dessert to make and helps clear and sweeten the palate after a spicy Thai meal.

For this recipe, I cooked the bananas in the coconut milk and then cooled the dessert in the refrigerator.  Then I added the mint and took the photo.  For me this is the most satisfying taste and presentation.

However, the dish can be eaten warm, at room temperature or after being cooled in the refrigerator.  The mint decoration is attractive but not necessary.

NOTE:  No One Size Fits All

The challenge of writing recipes is that ingredients can vary considerably.  This recipe requires coconut milk.  Since most cooks must use a commercially made product, the sweetness in the coconut milk can vary according to the manufacturer.  Also, there are many types of bananas, each with a different level of sweetness and density.  Thus, you can play with the recipe to get the level of sweetness you like.  No one size fits all, but cooks who like to experiment understand that once they understand the method, they can adapt the recipe to the ingredients they are able to find.   

INGREDIENTS

  • coconut milk, 1 1/4 cup or 250 ml.  I used the Thai CHAOKOH brand for this recipe.
  • bananas, one large, cut down the middle and then into 1 inch chunks / 3 cm pieces so the bananas can get submerged in the coconut milk for cooking
  • sugar, 1 tablespoon  / 15 ml measuring spoon 
  • salt, 1/4 teaspoon
  • mint for garnish (optional but tastes good and looks pretty)

EQUIPMENT

  • saucepan (for this dish a saucepan is preferred over a wok as it gives greater depth for cooking the bananas in the coconut milk)
  • cutting board
  • knife
  • measuring cup
  • measuring spoon
  • bowl for serving
  • spoon for tasting
  • spoon for eating

METHOD

  1. Measure the coconut milk into the saucepan.  Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.
  2. Add the sugar and salt and stir and dissolve in the coconut milk.
  3. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the banana pieces.
  4. Cook at a gentle boil until the bananas are soft around the edges but still have a firm texture.  The bananas should have a little hardness but not be boiled so long they are mushy. Test a banana piece with a fork to see if it is tender.  Once tender, remove from the heat and place in a serving bowl.  Depending on the ripeness and density of the bananas you use, the cooking time can vary from one minute to five minutes.
  5. Let the dish cool in the refrigerator and then garnish with a mint leaf.

This dish can be served hot, warm, room temperature or chilled, according to your preference.

Thai Recipe: Northern Thai Pork & Tomato Dipping Sauce – Naam Prik Ong

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Northern Thai Pork & Tomato Dipping Sauce ready to eat

This Northern Thai style pork and tomato dipping sauce is a popular dish that is served with fresh sliced vegetables such as cucumbers, green beans and cabbage.  It is often served with steamed sticky rice but can also be served on a sliced baguette “bruschetta” style or even on pasta as a sort of distant Thai culinary cousin to Bolognese sauce - sort of “East Meets West” for dinner.  I learned this recipe in Chiang Mai from my buddy “Chef Jeep” when I should have been doing my Thai language school homework.

I recorded an instructional video on www.youtube.com under the cheftummycooks page for one version of this recipe – please take a look.

The Thai name is “Naam Phrik Ong” or น้ำพริกอ่อง

Ingredients for the dish including vegetables to help you eat it

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE

  • Pork, minced, 14 ounces / 400 grams or about 2 cups
  • Tomato, 3 to 4 large, seeds removed and the tomato flesh chopped into small pieces, about 12 ounces / 350 grams or 2 packed cups
  • Garlic, minced, about 5 cloves, or about 2 tablespoons / enough to fill a 30 ml measuring spoon
  • Shallot or red onion, minced, about 2 tablespoons  / enough to fill a 30 ml measuring spoon
  • Vegetable oil, 3 tablespoons / 45 ml
  • Red chillie paste, 1 tablespoon or enough to fill a 15 ml measuring spoon
  • Water, 4 tablespoons / 60 ml
  • Fish sauce, 2 tablespoons / 30 ml
  • White cane sugar, 1 teaspoon / enough to fill a 5 ml measuring spoon
  • Coriander, one sprig to add as a garnish (optional but it adds a little color contrast to the red tomatoes)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SIDE VEGETABLES

  • one large cucumber, skin removed and cut into diagonal slices (a diagonal slice helps give more surface area for scooping up the food).
  • green beans, broken into 3 inch / 8 cm pieces

You can slice cucumbers, green beans, cabbage or lettuce to scoop the dipping sauce into your mouth.  The vegetables help cool the spice from the red chillie paste, as does serving this dish with sticky rice.  This dish is also served with sticky rice and pork cracklings. 

As you can see from the final dish display photo in this recipe and the ingredients photo, I took the skin off a cucumber and used a fun Thai serrated cutter to make a cucumber slice for using as vessel for eating the finished dish.  I also used some fresh green beans – you could try lettuce leaves or cabbage as well.

METHOD

Step 1:  Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or saucepan over low to medium heat and swirl the oil in the pan to coat the inside of the pan.  Add the minced garlic and shallots and saute until the shallots and garlic are softened, about 1 minute.

Step 2:  Add the red chillie paste and saute it with the shallots and garlic until the aroma is released, about 15 seconds.  Don’t let the chillie paste or shallots and garlic burn – you can always turn down the heat or just remove the cooking pan from the heat if the pan gets too hot.  Since every stove and pan are different, be watchful to not let the ingredients get too hot.

Step 3:  Add the minced pork to the cooking pan and stir it well with the chillie paste, shallots and garlic.  Add the water and fish sauce to help disperse the other ingredients and keep pressing and flipping the ingredients in the pan so they cook evenly for about a minute. 

Step 4:  Add the tomatoes and sugar and continue stirring until the pork cooks through and the tomatoes become soft.  Depending on the thickness of your pan and the heat on your stove, this will take five to seven minutes. 

Step 5: Give the dish a taste;  if it is too spicy, you can add more sugar to reduce the spice in the dish.

Step 6:  Once you are satisfied that the pork is fully cooked, remove from the heat and place into a bowl for serving.  Add some coriander leaves as a garnish if you like.

You can also place on the table a bowl with the cucumber slices and other vegetables.  Thai cooks often add some ice to the bowl with the vegetables to keep them crisp and cool.

THAI COOKING TOOLS

Inexpensive Thai kitchen tools for slicing vegetables

These inexpensive kitchen tools can give your dishes a Thai touch.  Thai cooking supply stores offer a number of cooking tools for making decorative shapes and designs for Thai food.  The photo shows a blue peeler that makes cute serrated edges when peeling a cucumber and the red handled cutter makes ridged slices – a fun thing to bring home from a trip to Thailand.  These items are also available for home delivery from the various Thai food import firms.

EAST MEETS WEST FOR DINNER

East meets West for dinner - the Thai dipping sauce on pasta

This dish vaguely resembles Italian Bolognese sauce in that meat is cooked with tomatoes.  True Bolognese sauce uses veal or pork with tomatoes or tomato paste and is served on pasta.  So I decided to boil some pasta until it was al dente and it tasted pretty good, although much more spicy than the traditional Italian Bolognese!

Thai Recipe: Stirfried Shrimp with Thai “Pesto” – Coriander, Peppercorns and Garlic Paste

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Thai Shrimp in Coriander, Garlic & Peppercorns "Pesto"

Thai Name:  Kung Gratiem Phrik Thai Sot

INTRODUCTION

The chillie has become an icon of Thai cooking but the fruit is not native to Thailand.  Food historians chart the journey of the chillie from the Americas to Asia by Portuguese or Spanish explorers in the 1600′s.

Before the arrival of the chillie, Thais were living on rice, fish, vegetables and fruit – a nutricious but somewhat bland diet.  So, they invented a paste to enliven their food.  One such paste is a combination of peppercorns, coriander and garlic pounded in a mortar.  This resembles a Thai version of the traditional Italian “pesto” paste, except Thai cooks don’t use cheese in their cooking, but I like the way it sounds anyways.

Despite the rise in popularity and availability of chillies, this paste is still used but is not often seen in Thai restaurants outside of Thailand. 

For this recipe, I substituted dried white peppercorns instead of the fresh green peppercorns that are commonly available in Thailand.  Both white and green peppercorns give the paste a spicy taste; since fresh green peppercorns are sometimes not available, the white peppercorns are a great substitute.  Green peppercorns that are preserved in brine make this dish sour; black peppercorns make the paste look like it has little ants in it, so the white peppercorns are preferred if you cannot find fresh green peppercorns.

INGREDIENTS

  • vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons / 30 ml
  • peppercorns, white dried peppercorns, 20 corns, approximately 1/2 teaspoon
  • garlic, 1 tablespoon / enough to fill a 15 ml measuring spoon
  • coriander / cilantro. 1 cup loosely packed (see note below on coriander / cilantro)
  • fish sauce, 1 tablespoon / 15 ml
  • shrimp, ten (see note on shrimp preparation below)

CORIANDER OR CILANTRO – A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Coriander and cilantro are the same plant – just a different name but I include both as the name can vary depending on the country where it is sold.  The highest concentration of flavor in the plant is in the root and stems, not the leaves. 

In Thailand, the plant is sold with the roots on, while in other countries the roots are trimmed off.  If you can get coriander with the roots on, you are blessed.  Rinse off any dirt, and scrape off the outer brown layer and the small tendrils – then you will have concentrated coriander flavor for the paste.  If coriander is sold without the roots, you can use the lower stem to give flavor to the dish.

SHRIMP PREPARATION

  • shrimp, ten medium in size, head and scales removed, inner veins removed and the spiky thorn removed from the the tail.  You can retain the tail of the shrimp in case your guests want to eat the shrimp with their hands.  Alternatively, you can remove the tail and serve the pesto covered shimp using a toothpick or on a bed of steamed jasmine rice.

    Remove the head, shell, guts and the thorn from the tail as shown above

PASTE PREPARATION

  1. Place the peppercorns in the bottom of a mortar.  Use the pestle to firmly crush the peppercorns until they are partly cracked – if you pound with too much vigor, the peppercorns will fly out of the mortar and tears will fall like rain from your eyes.
  2. Add the garlic and press into the bottom of the mortar – again, start with pressing into the garlic with the pestle so the garlic gets crushed and doesn’t leap out of the mortar.  Once the garlic is crushed, then begin to pound so the garlic and peppercorns become a uniform paste – this takes about a minute.
  3. Add the coriander / cilantro leaves, stems and roots to the mortar and slowly press the pestle into the mortar to crush the contents.  Once you are satisfied that the coriander will not escape, begin the process of pounding the stiff coriander into the peppercorn and garlic.  You want to achieve a smooth paste, so keep pounding the coriander and pause occasionally to scrape the sides of the mortar with a spoon.  The result you want is a smooth paste, so keep pounding until the coriander stems and leaves blend into the peppercorns and garlic. The result is a vibrant green paste. 
  4. Heat a wok over medium heat for 30 seconds.  Add the vegetable oil and swirl it in the wok.  Add the paste and mix it with the oil so the paste breaks apart.  We want the paste to evenly coat the shrimp. 
  5. Add the shrimp to the wok and mix in with the paste and oil.  Turn the shrimp often in the paste in paste and oil, making sure each part of the shrimp touches the hot pan.
  6. The shrimp should cook until they are a uniform white/pink color.  You can check that the shrimp are done by artfully cutting into the center of a shrimp to check the color.
  7. Once the shrimp are cooked, turn off the heat in the pan and add the fish sauce.  Mix the shrimp and fish sauce and then arrange the shrimp on a serving plate. 

Thai Recipe: Steamed Fish with Lime & Coriander Sauce

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STEAMED FISH WITH LIME & CORIANDER SAUCE 

Using a Whole Fish

Thai Name:  Plaa Neung Manao (literally “Fish Steamed Lime”)  ปลานึ่งมะนาว

Steamed Whole Fish with Lime & Coriander Sauce

 INTRODUCTION

This steamed fish dish is a snap to make and is served all over Thailand using ocean and freshwater fish. 

For this recipe I used a whole red snapper – it looks great as a presentation piece for when you have a dinner party.  The head and bones in the fish also impart a deeper flavor that you lose when using fish fillets.  Using either a whole fish or fish fillets makes for a delicious dish. 

The Thai name for the dish highlights the use of lime to brighten the flavor of the fish, plus fish sauce for a salty and savoury taste, chillies and garlic for spice and sugar to temper and balance out the spice.

 INGREDIENTS

  • 1 whole fish with head and tail intact.  The best choice is a firm fleshed white fish such as red snapper, sea bass, sea perch or whatever fish you can get with the body intact that will fit in your stove top steamer.  
  • If you are buying fish whole from the market, look for clear eyes, red gills and a briny smell – signs of recent habitation in the water and a fresher taste.  Scrape off the scales from the fish body. Cut open the fish along the belly and remove the internal organs.  Rinse the fish well in running water.  Score the flesh of the fish several times along the body at even intervals on each side so the steam penetrates the flesh.  You can see an example of this preparation in the photos below.
  • 1 stalk lemongrass – we trim off the outer layers, bash the lemongrass to release the flavor and stick it in the mouth of the fish to perfume the fish – it also looks really cool.  We will retain the outer layers of the lemongrass to serve as a base so the fish doesn’t stick to the steamer – it makes it easier to remove when placing the fish on the serving plate.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS

  • 3 garlic cloves, minced, about 1 tablespoon (15 ml measuring spoon)
  • 6 small Thai chillies, minced, about 1 tablespoon (15 ml measuring spoon)
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice (45 ml)
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce (30 ml)
  • 1 teaspoon white cane sugar (5 ml)

SET ASIDE THIS GARNISH

  • coriander / cilantro leaves, about enough to fill 1/2 cup or a small handful

FLAVORING THE FISH

  • lemongrass, 1 stalk about nine inches / 23 cm long, the tough outer skin removed (but do not throw away these outer layers).  Bash the lemongrass to release the flavors inside and reserve for putting inside the fish to flavor it.  We will use the lemongrass outer skin as a base to place on the steamer basket so the fish does not stick to the surface.

EQUIPMENT

  • steamer – I use a stainless steel steamer because it is easier to clean versus a bamboo steamer
  • knife for cutting lemongrass and other ingredients
  • cutting board
  • measuring spoons
  • bowl for combining sauce ingredients
  • spoon for stirring sauce ingredients
  • spatula for lifting cooked fish from the steamer to the serving plate
  • serving plate

Put water in the bottom, the fish in the middle, slap on the top and you are ready to cook

 

METHOD

  1. Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. 
  2. Reserve the coriander / cilantro leaves as a garnish to toss over the cooked fish.

Note to the chef:  You may adjust the contents of the sauce to suit your own palate.  If your preference is for less incendiary sauces, you can lessen the number of chillies, use chillies lower in spice or add more sugar.  If you tone down the chillie heat in the sauce, you can adjust the other ingredients accordingly so they are in balance by adding less of each.  The prevailing flavors should be sour/tangy and spicy.  

Fish cleaned, scored along the body and ready for the lemongrass

 COOKING METHOD STEP BY STEP

Whole Fish Method 

  • Prepare the fish as detailed above.
  • Cut off the root and upper third off of 1 stalk of lemongrass so it is about nine inches / 23 cm long.  Peel the outer couple of layers to get rid of the woody covering and retain these layers.  Bash the trimmed lemongrass stalk with a cleaver or knife blade.  This releases the essential oils inside the lemongrass.  Place the trimmed lemongrass inside the fish to give it a perfumed and lemony flavor.  Depending on the size of your lemongrass stalk, you may have to fold it so it remains inside the fish cavity.  

    Fish with lemongrass in the mouth - ready to steam

  • Your steamer has a bottom part for putting in the water for steaming, a middle part for placing the fish or other food and a top.  Place the outer layers of the lemongrass evenly across the bottom of the steaming basket and place the cleaned fish on top of these lemongrass stalks. 
  • Place your steamer pot atop the stove and add enough water so the water level is about an inch below where the steamer basket rests.  This will keep boiling water from leaping up and overcooking the bottom of the fish.  Turn the heat under the cooking pot to medium high.   Once the water boils, place the fish on steaming basket inside the steaming pot.  Add the cover and steam for 10  minutes or until done.  The thickness of the fish body will determine when the fish is fully cooked so this time may vary – fortunately, steaming is a very forgiving way to cook so don’t worry about checking the fish every ten seconds. 
  • You can check that the fish is fully cooked by poking a knife through the fish; if it remains opaque in the center by the fish skeleton and spine, steam for a few more minutes until the fish is a uniform color all the way through.  I like to check to see if the fish is completely cooked by cutting along the spine of the fish and looking at the fish meat next to the bones – if it is an even white color, the fish is cooked.  You can see in the photo below I inspected the fish along the spine and lifted up a flap of the fish to make sure it was not in the sushi stage. 
  • In the example pictured in this recipe, I also kept the small flipper near the fish head on the fish – when this flipper becomes loose, it also shows the fish is cooked thoroughly. 

    I lifted up part of the fish by the spine to make sure it was cooked through

When the fish is cooked to your liking, remove the fish from the steamer and place on a serving dish.  Spoon the sauce over the fish.  Scatter the coriander leaf / cilantro leaf on top as a garnish.

Serve warm with steamed jasmine rice.

Serves two persons as part of a multi-dish Thai meal.

Thai Recipe: Thai Omelet of Joy – Crispy Goodness and Easy to Make

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Thai omelet with coriander garnish and The Sauce of Life on the side

How often has this happened to you – you get home from work and there is nothing to eat.  Will you suffer the indignity of instant noodles, again?  Order food for delivery and moan with hunger until it arrives? 

I teach cooking classes and sometimes have time to eat and sometimes I don’t.  So I arrived home the other day and opened the refrigerator to find two eggs, some cooked cold rice, a lime and lots of air.  Did I despair?  No.

I made a Thai omelet – it took only five minutes and I ate it with the rice and the blessed naam bplaa prik Sauce of Life (recipe in this blog).  All was well with the world,  A smile returned to my face.  I thought happy thoughts.  I showered and went to bed satisfied.  Life was good.

This traditional Thai omelet is crispy on the sides and light in the middle.  It is not the soft all over European style omelet.  The loads of oil and high heat make the omelet have more texture and the accompanying sauce make is a simple meal to eat with rice, or as a side dish as part of a multi-course Thai meal.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 eggs
  • fish sauce, 1 teaspoon / 5 ml
  • lime juice, 1 teaspoon / 5 ml
  • rice flour, 1 tablespoon / 15 ml (corn starch or potato starch work as well)
  • vegetable oil, 3/4 cup / 200 ml (do not use olive oil – it smokes and burns easily and tastes nasty when heated over high heat)
  • steamed Thai jasmine rice on a plate ready to serve as a canvas for the omelet
  • sauce:  see the recipe in this blog for the quintessential Thai Sauce of Life made of fish sauce, lime juice, finely chopped chillies and sugar to pour over the cooked omelet
  • coriander leaf for garnish (optional but it makes the dish look pretty)

All the ingredients you need for a quick and delicious Thai style omelet

 EQUIPMENT

  • wok or 10 inch saucepan
  • ladle or slotted spoon (helps the oil drain off the cooked omelet)
  • mixing bowl – I used one nine inches across and three inches deep so I could really whisk the corn flour into solution with the eggs without it slopping over the sides (use a bowl approximately 23 cm wide and 8 cm deep)
  • whisk (helps get the rice flour evenly mixed into the eggs)
  • measuring cup for the oil
  • measuring spoons for the fish sauce, lime juice and rice flour
  • plate for the rice
  • spoon to eat the food
  • an apron in case any oil splatters on you

METHOD

  1. Place your cooked rice on a plate.
  2. Crack two fresh eggs into the mixing bowl. Crack the eggs on flat surface and then break into the bowl – if there are any contaminants on the outside of the egg, this trick lessens the chance they will mix in with the egg white and yolk. 
  3. Add the fish sauce and lime juice.
  4. Whisk the eggs, fish sauce and lime juice until they are well mixed.
  5. Sprinkle the rice flour over the liquid contents in the bowl and whisk with vigor until the dry rice flour is absorbed – keep on doing this to eliminate any lumps of dried rice flour as these lumps will taste dry and chalky on your tongue.
  6. Heat the wok over high heat for 1 minute.
  7. Add the oil and let the oil heat until it is smoking.  The oil must be very hot so the omelet puffs up, so be patient.  In my wok it took two minutes for the oil to heat until it was smoking – your stove and wok may produce a different result, so seeing the smoke is a better measure than time.
  8. Once the oil is smoking, pour the egg mixture into the hot oil in the center of the wok.  It will immediately start to sizzle. 
  9. Wait 25 seconds as the omelet cooks in the oil.
  10. Deftly flip the omelet with a spatula or slotted spoon and wait another 25 seconds. 
  11. Remove the omelet from the oil and give it a shake to help any excess oil drip back into the wok or saucepan.
  12. Place the cooked omelet on top of the jasmine rice and serve with some spoons of the Sauce of Life (fish sauce mixed with lime juice, finely chopped chillies and sugar – the recipe for this is in this Blog).

Note:  You can drain and strain the excess oil out of the wok and reserve for use in frying something else.