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.

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.

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.
 

Among gourmets, Kampot pepper is becoming increasingly prized for its strong yet delicate aroma and taste. As with fine wine, it’s all about the climate and soil. Modern mass cultivation began in the 1870s, when the Sultan of Aceh burned his Indonesian plantations to keep them out of Dutch hands and moved production to Kampot. So, the people around these parts have generations of experience in raising pepper.

The tiny flowers of the pepper vine. These will be pepper berries in five to six months.

Any of the tour operators around Kampot or Kep can arrange a trip to a pepper plantation, where of course you can buy pepper in bulk at really good prices. You will also find Kampot pepper in the town’s market, in several shops and restaurant, or you can visit the FarmLink office in town. FarmLink operates as a farmers cooperative, selling Kampot pepper to the world with full traceability.

In the 16th century, pepper was a currency preferred more than gold. According to the Encyclopedia of Spices, pepper was so valuable that dock workers were prohibited from wearing clothing with pockets or cuffs for fear they would make off with a few peppercorns. The Venetians controlled the supply, which was transported overland. Fed up with high prices, the Portuguese set out to find a sea route, which took them to India and later to the Malay peninsula, where the various city-states at the time were vassals of the king of Siam.

Eventually, so fierce was the competition for pepper from southern Siam (modern day Thailand) that it lead in part to a blockade of Bangkok by western powers to force concessions from the king. The output of pepper in Siam around that time was estimated to be around 3,000 tons. The new world’s first millionaire, Elias Derby of the Salem colony, made his money importing pepper and went on to endow Yale University. Even now, pepper accounts for a quarter of the global spice trade.

The Thais typically use pepper that has been washed, which makes it look like white pepper, but the taste is not the same. Coarsely ground pepper like that called for in most western recipes is never used. Thai recipes will either call for whole peppercorns, which are ground together with other spices, or if ground pepper is called for, Thais will use pepper that has been ground to a fine powder.

A number of stir-fry recipes will call for fresh green pepper. This is pepper fresh off the vine, and easily available in markets all over the kingdom. Green peppercorns have a very short shelf life. They will begin to blacken within a few days of being picked. Cooks will typically use whole sprigs of green pepper, without separating the seeds from the vine.