Massaman Curry

This curry is one of my favorites in Thailand. Typically, restaurants or stalls run by Muslim families would have this curry as an option. Though the curry part has a long list of ingredients, it really is simple and produces delicious results using things you probably already have in your kitchen if you eat the local food. Try putting everything in your pressure cooker to speed it up or add tenderness to any tough cuts of meat. Fresh lemongrass is becoming more available locally, but if you don’t find it, the pure dried lemongrass tea works just fine. Also, you may notice from my picture that I made the mistake of allowing the dried lemongrass to float freely in the curry. While it tasted great, I would not recommend this unless you want stab wounds in your mouth! It would be good to wrap it up in a small bit of cloth that you later remove from the curry. 

Massaman Curry

500g beef or chicken, sliced thinly

2 cups water + 1 stock cube

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium potatoes, cut into small chunks

Fresh coriander, optional

Curry Sauce:

1 thumb fresh ginger, appx. 1 inch by 2 inches

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons lemongrass, fresh or dried

1 dried red chili (more or less to taste)

¼ cup peanuts or cashews

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin seed

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 cardamom pods, opened

1 teaspoon tamarind paste or lemon juice

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

¾ teaspoon shrimp paste (sub: tom yum paste)

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 can coconut milk

Chop the ginger, garlic, nuts, and black seeds from the cardamom pods as finely as you can. A mortar and pestle does this really well. Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a large saucepan and add all the curry sauce ingredients except the coconut milk. Fry in the oil about 1 minute until the curry paste smells really fragrant. Add the water and stock cube stirring until the curry paste has evenly spread out into the liquid. Add the meat, onions, potatoes, and coconut milk to the pot. Bring to a boil then lower the heat, and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. If you like the curry sauce thicker, then remove the lid after about 25 minutes and allow some of the liquid to evaporate. Check that the potatoes are fork tender. If not, continue cooking a few more minutes. Remove the lemongrass pouch, and serve over rice.

Easy Pad Thai

 Thai food is one of my all time favorites. The variety of flavors that go into almost any Thai dish is what draws me in. I love the combination of sweet, spicy and savory of a good Thai curry or my go to comfort Thai food, Pad Thai. I found a simple Pad Thai recipe a year or so back and it has become a staple in our house. If you are in Asia (or in my case have an Asian supermarket nearby) the ingredients are simple and inexpensive. If you try and get these same ingredients from a conventional grocery store in the states, you will feel like you have spent a minor fortune. But trust me, do a little searching and you might be surprised that there actually is an Asian market near by. I just discovered a second one in our town just the other day!

I found the original recipe on the Eating Well website. They have quite a few simple and delicious, mostly whole food recipes, I definitely recommend the site. I modified this recipe slightly to suit our family a little better.

Here is my beautiful Pad Thai in my beautiful $3 wok (This can be cooked in a regular pan, but when doubling or tripling, which I often do, a wok is your best friend!)

Ingredients
4 ounces dried rice noodles
2 teaspoons peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken (I use thighs because they are so inexpensive. I have also used beef in this recipe)
1/2 cup sliced green onions
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce
2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts
Preparation

1. Soak rice noodles in warm water to cover in a large bowl until they are limp and white, about 20 minutes.
   
2. Heat oil over high heat in a wok until very hot. Add the garlic and stir-fry until golden, about 10 seconds. Add the egg and cook, stirring, until scrambled, about 30 seconds. Add chicken (or beef) and stir fry until cooked through
   
3. Drain the noodles and add to the wok, tossing with tongs until they soften and curl, about 1minute. Add bean sprouts, green onions, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and chile-garlic sauce; toss until the meat is fully cooked and noodles are heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with peanuts and serve immediately.
   
   The best part about this recipe for me is that it is so customizable. Like more vinegar? Go for it. More veggies, less (or no) meat? It all works. I would recommend that if you are using extra veggies like carrots that might take a while to cook, steam them slightly before adding them in or everything else will be overcooked.
   
   Enjoy! 
   

Pumpkin Leaves in Oyster Sauce

My husband bought a clump of weird-looking leaves, and I wasn't sure what to do with them. Turns out, they were pumpkin leaves so I did some searching for Thai pumpkin leaves to go with our Thai Cashew Chicken. I found this recipe on a Thai food website and had surprisingly good results with this interesting food! You could probably do this with just about any type of green leafy vegetable.

Pumpkin Leaves in Oyster Sauce

• 2 cups pumpkin leaves, torn into small pieces
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce, less if you're using something like Kikkoman
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 Tablespoon oil

1. After rinsing the pumpkin leaves, tear them and their stems into small pieces 1-2 inches. Anything that is too difficult to tear or snap with your fingers will probably be too fibrous to eat. I didn't like the idea of the little spines from the pumpkin in my throat so I also scraped the stems with a knife briefly to get some of those off. 
2. In a wok, heat the oil over high heat. This dish cooks in about 3 minutes so have everything ready. Toss in the garlic and stir constantly to prevent burning.
3. As soon as you notice the color beginning to change, throw in the leaves and stir to get the garlic off the bottom of the pan.
4. Once the leaves begin to wilt, add the soy sauce and fish sauce. It might smell weird, but it tastes great.
5. Stir for about a minute until the leaves have really shrunk and the liquid in the pan has evaporated some. 
6. Stir in the oyster sauce and remove from heat. Add additional soy sauce if necessary. I found using the full amount of Kikkoman soy sauce was too salty so if you are using good quality soy sauce keep that in mind. 

Thai Cashew Chicken

The next few posts may be a bit boring because I didn't take any photos. I started the blog after eating them, but they are good recipes nonetheless. This recipe is one of my favorites in Thailand, but I wanted to adapt the recipe to something a little more kid-friendly in terms of its level of spiciness for my two little ones.

Thai Cashew Chicken

• 2-3 Tablespoons oil 
• 500grams/1.1 lbs chicken breast, sliced thinly (partially frozen makes it easier)
• 1¹/₄-2¹/₂ Tablespoons Roasted Red Chili Paste (I used True Thai, but whatever you can find works)
• ¹/₄ piece of a chicken cube like Knorr or Maggi
• ¹/₂ cup hot water (drop the cube in this & mix)
• 1 cup vegetables (peppers, carrots, broccoli--whatever you like)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• ¹/₄ cup oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 dried chiles, ends snipped and seeds shaken out
• ¹/₂ cup cashews, toasted (4 minutes in microwave)
• 1 small bunch green onions, snipped into 2-3 inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• Steamed rice or flat noodles

1. Start by heating 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan or wok and cooking half of the chicken until it lightly browned. Set aside, and add another tablespoon of oil. Cook the rest of the chicken, and place with the other chicken.
2. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and add the chili paste. You may need to temporarily drop the heat and cover the pan with a lid because the oils in the paste really make it splatter. Fry the paste for about 3 minutes until it is fragrant and not in one clump.
3. To this add the water with the dissolved chicken cube, vegetables, onion, sugar, and oyster sauce. Once this comes to a boil, drop the heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes until thickened.
4. Lastly, add the chiles, cashews, and green onions. Simmer covered until heated through. Remove from heat and serve over rice.

Recipe adapted from Cooking for Love