Although it is perhaps not so well know among Western Thai food fans, this dish, made with either pork or chicken, makes a frequent appearance at the street stall. You can also make it with beef. If you can only get dried wood-ear mushrooms, soak them in warm water for a few minutes to soften them up.

Stir fried pork, ginger and mushrooms.

Variations: If you’d like the dish less spicy, use banana chilies instead of the much hotter spur chilies. They give the dish a distinctive flavor that I like. You can also use sweet peppers if you’d like the dish to be not spicy at all. You can also make a purely vegetarian version by leaving out the pork and fish sauce, and using more mushrooms.

(4 Servings)

Preparation Method

• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet or wok. Add the pork and onions, and stir-fry until the pork is browned.
• Add the ginger, mushrooms and chilies. Mix well.
• Stir in the sugar and fish sauce. Allow it to cook for just a bit, then stir in the spring onions just before removing from heat.

Time to take a break from Thai food and try a little Balinese cuisine for a change. While Thai dishes tend to be quick light stir-fries, many Balinese and Indonesian dishes often take a bit more time and are a bit heavier.

Balinese Pork & Ginger in Sweet Soy Sauce served with cooked rice.

I got this recipe from the Bali Post, which in turn got it from Bali Guide’s food section. I’ve adapted this recipe a bit by using thin-sliced pork and shredded ginger, which are commonly available in Bangkok supermarkets. If I were serving this as a main dish at a party, I would garnish it with a little of the fresh ginger as well as the chilies. I also added the chilies with the chicken stock so they cooked with the sauce, which made the dish very hot. I love it that way, but if you have a limited capacity for spiciness, then use fewer chilies or use them as a garnish only.

(4 Servings)

Preparation Method

• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet or wok (I prefer a skillet for this dish). Add the shallots and garlic, and sauté over medium heat until lightly colored.
• Add the pork and ginger; continue to saut&eacut; for two more minutes over high heat. Add the soy sauces and crushed black pepper; continue to stir-fry for another minute.
• Pour in the chicken stock (and, optionally, the chilies), lower the heat, and simmer for about an hour. When fully cooked, the meat will be dark and shiny, with very little sauce remaining. If you didn’t cook the chilies with the pork, use them as garnish.

A large pile of fresh ginger on sale in the market, with some shredded ginger behind.

Ginger is grown in northern Thailand as well as the central and eastern regions. The variety used in the various regions are slightly different in general appearance, but taste more or less the same. The northern variety is specifically called king puak, for its light creamy color. In the markets, you will often find ginger sold at stalls along with cloud ear mushrooms. Both are products of the forest. The cloud ear mushrooms grow on the sides of mature trees, which is why they are sometimes called "wood ear" mushrooms, while ginger grows in the shady ground around the trees. Customers have the option of buying whole roots of ginger, or they can purchase it already shredded (called in Thai king soy) for use in stir-fries. A whole kilogram of shredded ginger costs around just one U.S. dollar.

Thais use ginger medicinally as well as in their cooking. While doing the photography for this site, we stopped at a temple outside of Lamphun that I had not visited for many years. The temple is composed of a large monastery at the base of a hill, at the top of which is a large pagoda surrounded by prayer halls, monk’s quarters and other buildings. When I last visited the temple about 15 years ago, there was only a dirt road up the back of the hill, and so we ended up climbing the 409 stairs to the top, which then had only the still-under-construction pagoda. Now the road is paved, and being 15 years older I readily agreed to be driven to the top. In the parking area behind the pagoda, a lady had set up a stall to sell tea powders. Her big seller was ginger tea, which is quite delicious hot, and is believed by Thais to be good for the digestion as well as the throat. International studies on the effects of ginger show that it may be good for the circulation as well.

The exact origins of ginger are unclear, although most assume it was first cultivated in Southeast Asia. It was one of the first Asian spices introduced to Europe, having been known to both the Greeks and Romans. Apparently, during the middle ages it was even thought to be a cure for plague!