Instant noodles come in a wide variety of flavors – enough to fill an entire aisle at most supermarkets – including tom yam, seasoned pork and duck. For the most part, the noodles themselves are dried egg noodles, ba-mee in Thai, but you will also find a few styles of glass and rice noodles as well.

While the various flavors are nice, and I usually have one or two of them around, I also like to use plain noodles and flavor them myself. This recipe is based on a Singapore brand I’ve tried and quite like, but it’s hard to find in Bangkok so I created my own version. Whether using a flavored brand or unflavored generic noodles, I always have some vegetables as well as some cooked ground pork to add into the soup to give it more flavor and substance. Just noodles is rather dull.

Black Pepper Noodles

This vegetarian version is quite good, and will probably have enough ‘meaty’ taste to satisfy non-vegetarians. Broccoli and baby corn are my favorite vegetables to keep around, but asparagus, carrots and others are good. The meaty taste comes from the mushrooms, which I purchase dry. If using fresh ones, they’ll need less cooking. I prefer fresh ground pepper for this recipe.

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Bring a small amount (about one cup) of water to a boil in a small saucepan.
• Add the garlic, baby corn and shiitake mushrooms.
• Once the mushrooms have softened, add the noodles.
• While the noodles are cooking, stir together the black pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl.
• As soon as the noodles have softened completely, stir in the broccoli. I prefer broccoli that is only lightly cooked, so as soon as the colors darken, remove the pan from the heat and pour off any excess water.
• Stir the pepper mixture into the cooked noodles, mixing thoroughly, and then transfer them to a serving bowl.

Chicken and Galangal Soup

The first part of the Thai name, tom ka, simply means “boiled galangal” while gai is the Thai word for chicken. Although the meat most commonly used in this soup is chicken, tom ka can also be made with fish, shellfish and other poultry, but the somewhat delicate flavour doesn’t hold up well against beef or pork.

As with several other Thai dishes, your main challenge here, aside from the herbs and spices, will be the straw mushrooms. Even in Bangkok, they seem to be disappearing from the markets in favor of sturdier ‘foreign’ varieties. For the photo, I had to resort to canned mushrooms, which better approximate the taste and texture that other types of fresh ones.

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Combine coconut milk, Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and galangal in a pot and bring to a boil.
• Add chicken pieces and mushrooms, and return the mixture to a boil.
• Add remaining ingredients: Chicken stock, fish sauce, lime juice, white pepper and roasted chili sauce.
• Pour into serving bowl and garnish with a few leaves of coriander.

Chinese Chives

Chinese chives came into use in Chinese cooking around 1000 B.C. during the Chou dynasty. Even today, for the people of Huizhou in China’s Guangdong province, garlic chives hold an important place. On the day of lixia, which marks the beginning of summer and the time to sow their fields, the people will eat a breakfast of rice, fried eggs and Chinese chives. To them, the Chinese word for chives sounds the same as the word for ‘ever-lasting’, so the meal symbolizes permanent happiness.
 

Pickled Garlic on sale in bulk in a Chiang Mai market.

Pickled garlic is a speciality of many villages around Thailand. One of the more famous is Si Racha on Thailand’s east coast, near the beach resort of Pattaya. No weekend getaway to the beach is complete without a stop at the roadside stalls to pick up several large bottles of pickled garlic for the round jolly lady everyone, including myself, calls “auntie” (ee).

Auntie runs a som tam stall at the low income housing complex near Bangkok’s old Don Muang International Airport. Her daughters, nieces and other relatives run various other stalls, including one that sells the best sun dried beef in Bangkok. Auntie was originally from Chiang Mai, so her collection of stalls is one of the few places in Bangkok where you can get authentic northern foods such as sausage (sai ooa).

You can probably find pickled garlic in a Chinese or Thai speciality grocers, but you can also make it yourself. Note that any recipe needs to be aged before it is used. Some experts recommend that you leave the jar in a sunny place for at least 15 days before refrigerating it.
 

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Simply grind all the ingredients together until they form a smooth paste.

Korean Grilled Beef

I made this for the photo with just a small amount of beef. If I were using the full 500 grams, I would be tempted to double the marinade to make sure the beef was well coated.

The recipe calls for ‘Chinese’ cooking sherry, but strangely I could only find Japanese cooking wine in the supermarket. It also provides a recipe for a dipping sauce, but I found that it was totally unnecessary. With a good coating of the marinade, the beef is quite delicious without the sauce. If you can’t find pickled garlic to use the juice, then just plain vinegar will probably do.

The recipe calls for the white sesame seeds to be roasted. To do this, just spread the seeds out in a hot dry skillet. Shake the pan once or twice to turn the seeds. They will brown in a few seconds.

(4 Servings)

Ingredients

Dipping Sauce

Preparation Method

• Mix all of the main ingredients except the beef together in a bowl.
• Add the beef to the mix and make sure it gets coated well. Marinate the beef in the sauce for at least one hour in the refrigerator.
• If you want to use the dipping sauce, prepare it while the beef marinates. Put the garlic juice, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir together. Microwave the mixture until it comes to a boil. Remove it from the oven and stir in the rest of the ingredients.
• Remove the marinated beef from the refrigerator and cook it on a grill, or hot skillet. It will cook very quickly if sliced thin.
• The beef can be served with the dipping sauce and some steamed vegetables, such as asparagus, whole baby corn and carrot sticks.

Chinese Keys

Chinese keys are long pencil thin roots that grow straight out from a single stem. The taste is pungent, more similar to galangal than ginger. Grachai is used in some curry pastes, although many now leave it out. It can also be used shredded in stir-fries, just like ginger. The root is also one of many Thai fruits and spices now used to make ‘healthy’ wines by several entrepreneurs around the north.

Garlic-pepper fried pork

Fried garlic-pepper pork also does double duty. It can be eaten with a main meal, but is often ordered as a snack, especially at night, when the spicy meat makes a great accompaniment to beer and other drinks. Although the dish can sometimes be served ‘wet’ the more common presentation is quite dry, which makes it easier to eat with your fingers.

Fried garlic-pepper pork is almost always served with a ketchup-like chili sauce. This can either be what is properly called Sri-Racha sauce, or the easier to find chili-ketchup.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Grind together the shallots, coriander roots, garlic and peppercorns.
• Stir in the white soy sauce, then pour the mixture over the sliced pork. Stir to make sure the pork is completely coated.
• Marinate the pork for about 30 minutes, then stir-fry it until golden brown.

I’ve long suspected that some restaurants and stalls deep-fry the pork to get it almost crispy on the outside. If you try that method, be sure to drain it well before serving. It another good reason for making it well ahead of time.
 

Stir-fried Pork with Chili

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Heat a wok over high flame and add the vegetable oil. When hot, add the garlic and stir-fry until its fragrance is released.
• Add the pork and stir-fry until it browns. Add the chillies and onion. Stir just to mix, then season with the fish sauce and sugar.

This can be quite a mild dish. I like to add a little cracked pepper to spice it up a bit more.
 

There are indeed a great many versions of this dish, since the Burmese origins of the name imply an improvised dish, put together with whatever was on hand. Pork is always the meat used in Thailand, but you should be able to substitute chicken or beef with good results.

Burmese pork curry

Curry Paste

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Make the curry paste by pounding all the ingredients together with a mortar and pestle to form a thick paste. Of course, you can do it the "easy way" and use a food processor.

Burmese Pork Curry

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Sprinkle the dark soy sauce over the cubed pork.
• Mix in the prepared curry paste with the meat, and allow to marinate about 1 hour.
• In a large pot, brown the pork over low heat. Add the water, cover the pot and simmer until liquid is reduced.
• Add ginger, garlic and curry powder. Continue simmering until pork is tender and liquid is evaporated.
• Season with the tamarind juice. The taste should be a balance of sour, salty and spicy. If necessary, add salt.

To be completely authentic, Burmese Curry should be served with sticky rice.