Mock Pomegranate Seeds

(4 – 6 Servings)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Mix a few drops of food coloring in enough water to cover the chestnuts. Soak the water chestnuts for about 10 minutes, then drain. Don’t worry if the color is quite dark, it will lighten considerably when cooked. Coat the wet chestnuts with the tapioca flour. The simplest way is to put the flour and wet chestnut chunks in a plastic bag, seal it and shake!
• Bring a medium pot of water to a rapid boil. Drop the floured chestnuts into the water. When the chestnuts float to the top, they’re done and can be skimmed off the boiling water. Immediately drop the chestnuts into some iced water. The chestnuts will be a little cloudy when first removed from the hot water, but will take on their jewel-like quality when dropped into the cold water.
• Combine the sugar with ¾ cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue boiling until it becomes syrupy. Add the coconut milk, stir to combine and remove from heat.
• To serve, spoon some of the mock pomegranate seeds into a small serving bowl, top with some of the sweet coconut milk and crushed ice.

I dressed this dish up a bit for the photograph with the addition of a few slivers of jackfruit, which is quite a common addition to this dish.

Jade Sticky Rice – The Christmas Version

(4 – 6 Servings)

Sticky Rice Layer

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Before cooking sticky rice, it must first be washed. Rinse the rice in a strainer until the water is clear. Traditional wisdom in Thailand is that it takes three washings to properly clean the dust off the rice.
• Here’s the tricky part: the rice must be soaked overnight (in other words, about eight hours or more) before cooking.
• Next, sticky rice must be steamed, not boiled, so you cannot use a traditional rice cooker unless it has a strainer to keep the water separated from the rice. You also get the best results if the rice is a uniform depth when cooking. I’ve gotten my best results using a round cake pan with a mesh bottom placed in a vegetable steamer. The pan allows the rice to be smoothed to an even depth, while the mesh bottom allows the steam through without letting the rice fall out. Steam the rice about 20 minutes.
• While the rice is cooking, stir together the sugar, coconut cream, pandan flavoring and food coloring. Use just enough coloring to give the mixture a light creamy green color. It helps dissolve the sugar if you warm the coconut cream for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before stirring in the sugar.
• As soon as the rice is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl and pour the sweet coconut cream over it. Stir it to mix and let it set. If you seem to have too much liquid, strain the mixture to remove the excess.
• Once the mixture has cooled slightly, you can transfer it to a pan or individual serving dishes. Keep it in the refrigerator to make it firm.

Coconut Cream Topping

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• To create the coconut cream second layer, mix together the coconut milk, rice flour and salt in a pan. Heat to boiling over medium flame, stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat and spoon onto the top of the first layer.
• Store in the refrigerator.

Serving note: If you refrigerate this dessert – which you will want to do if you’ve made it well ahead of time – be sure to take it out well enough ahead of time to be served at room temperature. The dish doesn’t taste very good cold, and needs to be room temperature or warmer.

I was surprised to find on my return home to Bangkok that there weren’t many references – on-line or in print – for Cambodian foods. As a result, I had to guess at the recipe, and I don’t even know what the name of this dish is, since a transliteration of it was not included on any menus I glanced at. In future trips to Cambodia, I’m going to have to look into this and see if I can find some local references. If you know the Khmer name of this dish, please leave a comment.

Chicken with Lemongrass and Holy Basil

(4 Servings)

Preparation Method

• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet or wok. Add the lemongrass, onions and spur chili, and sauté over medium heat until the onions are wilted.
• Add the chicken; continue to saut&eacut; until the chicken is browned. Add the oyster sauce and chicken stock.
• Allow to simmer for a few minutes until the liquid is reduced to a sauce.
• Stir in the holy basil leaves and continue cooking for a little while longer, until the holy basil leaves are wilted.

Crispy Basil Leaves

Some crispy basil leaves make a nice garnish for this dish. In Thailand, where holy basil is cheap and plentiful, some chefs like to completely smother the dish in these leaves. Making them is easy. Simply heat some oil in a skillet or wok until it’s very hot, then drop a few leaves into the hot oil. They will fry up in just a few seconds, so you need to remove them quickly and place on a paper towel to drain. It doesn’t take much oil, but it does take a bit more than you’ll need to stir-fry this dish. I set aside the excess oil for future use, since it will take on some of the fragrance of the holy basil.

Lemongrass on sale in the wholesale market

The English name for this herb comes easily from the lemony aroma it gives off, especially when cooked. Along with fresh lime juice, it is the key ingredient in the ever-popular Tom Yum soup, as well as with many other Thai dishes. The oil that gives the plant its aroma is supposed to be a good cure for upset stomach and indigestion. Lemongrass juice, or tea, is a popular herbal drink in Thai traditional medicine. The tea also makes for a natural insect repellent that can be used to water house plants to discourage bugs. Since only the white bulbous base of the stalk is used in cooking, the tea is an excellent way to make use of the rest of the lemongrass stalks.

Lemongrass is native to southern India and Sri Lanka. It was most likely bought to Thailand by Indian and Sri Lankan traders, who settled in southern Thailand and helped to found the ancient city of Ligor (modern-day Nakorn Si Thammarat), capital of the kingdom of Lankasuka, around the second century. Around the 13th century, the Theravada form of Buddhism, now practiced by more than 90 percent of the Thai people, entered Thailand from Sri Lanka through Ligor. From here it spread to Sukhothai and Chiang Mai.

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!

Sweet sticky rice "cake" with coconut cream "frosting"

(4 – 6 Servings)

Sticky Rice Layer

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Before cooking sticky rice, it must first be washed. Rinse the rice in a strainer until the water is clear. Traditional wisdom in Thailand is that it takes three washings to properly clean the dust off the rice.
• Here’s the tricky part: the rice must be soaked overnight (in other words, about eight hours or more) before cooking.
• Next, sticky rice must be steamed, not boiled, so you cannot use a traditional rice cooker unless it has a strainer to keep the water separated from the rice. You also get the best results if the rice is a uniform depth when cooking. I’ve gotten my best results using a round cake pan with a mesh bottom placed in a vegetable steamer. The pan allows the rice to be smoothed to an even depth, while the mesh bottom allows the steam through without letting the rice fall out. Steam the rice about 20 minutes.
• While the rice is cooking, stir together the sugar and coconut cream. It helps dissolve the sugar if you warm the coconut cream for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before stirring in the sugar.
• As soon as the rice is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl and pour the sweet coconut cream over it. Stir it to mix and let it set. If you seem to have too much liquid, strain the mixture to remove the excess.
• Once the mixture has cooled slightly, you can transfer it to a square pan – an eight-inch one works well. Spread the rice out to form a flat layer about a half-inch thick. Keep it in the refrigerator to make it firm.

Coconut Cream Topping

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• To create the coconut cream second layer, mix together the coconut milk, rice flour and salt in a pan. Heat to boiling over medium flame, stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat and spoon onto the top of the first layer.
• Store in the refrigerator.

Serving note: If you refrigerate this dessert – which you will want to do if you’ve made it well ahead of time – be sure to take it out well enough ahead of time to be served at room temperature. The dish doesn’t taste very good cold, and needs to be room temperature or warmer. You can cut the dessert into oblong pieces, or use an egg ring as I did for the photo to make a larger portion – leaving lots of leftover bits to spoil your dinner with.

In the 1904 book The Kingdom of Siam, prepared for Thailand’s grand pavilion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis, U.S.A., a former assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, W.A. Graham, Esq. wrote:

"The Siamese are, before all things, an agricultural nation. From time immemorial, the valley of the [Chaophraya] has been one vast rice-field, and the present inhabitants of the country continue to plow, sow, and reap in it after the same methods, and with the same kind of implements, as were employed by their predecessors a thousand years ago."

With such a long history, it’s no surprise that rice has become deeply ingrained (if you’ll pardon the expression) in Thai life. Entire books can, and have, been written about the importance of rice in Thailand. Rice is associated with times of plenty, it’s given as offerings to monks and at temples, and it has woven its way into every day language. A well-off person or village may be described as having "leftover rice", while the early infatuation stage of a relationship is sometimes compared to "young rice." It may then come as no surprise that the common phrase for having a meal translates to "eat rice."

Fragrant Jasmine rice on sale in a fresh market.

The rice eaten by Thais is mostly the long grained "Jasmine" strain, named for its flowery fragrance when cooked. In recent years, Thai Jasmine rice has become so coveted that Thailand had to go to court in the United States to block attempts to patent the strain by an American company. Cooked rice is usually simply referred to as khao suay, which literally translates to "beautiful rice." Thais will normally rinse rice before cooking it. Traditionally, the rice is rinsed three times in a row before being placed in a pot for cooking. The amount of water added for cooking is quite important, and varies slightly with the exact quality of rice used. A good rule of thumb for the higher grades of rice purchased in stores is to use two cups of water for every cup of rice. Rice is cooked until all the water is absorbed, which should be around 20 minutes. The rice should be allowed to ‘rest’ covered at least a few minutes before serving.

Essential equipment for cooking sticky rice: a traditional rice steamer.

In the north of Thailand, as well as the north-east, Thais traditionally eat glutinous "sticky rice" which is called khao neeo. Sticky rice has shorter, whiter grains than jasmine rice. Oddly, sticky rice becomes more translucent when cooked, while the jasmine rice becomes more opaque. Sticky rice is less common than it was many years ago, but it’s still easy to find in the north, where certain foods "just can’t" be eaten without it.

One of the reasons for sticky rice becoming less common may be its more complex preparation. First, the rice must be soaked overnight in cold water, then rinsed thoroughly. The rice is then steamed by placing it in a conical bamboo basket that fits snugly onto a purpose-made pot. You can cook sticky rice in a regular steamer, after lining it with cheesecloth to make sure the rice does not fall into the water.

Rice was traditionally planted in May, after the rainy season has begun in earnest. Farmers would usually plant some fast growing rice, to replenish dwindling stocks from the previous planting season, as well as slower growing varieties that will mature later but provide a greater amount of rice per plant.

In days gone by, as many as 100 different rice strains were grown in the Chiang Mai valley, but in recent years this has shrunk to less than 20 as high yield strains have gained wide acceptance. The rice is started out in seed beds, but then transplanted to the rice fields after 30 to 50 centimeters of water has accumulated in the paddy. Once the backbreaking work of preparing the fields and transplanting the young plants is completed, relatively little work is required until the rice is ready to be harvested. The flooded fields don’t require any weeding.

On the street, you’ll find rice at the curry stalls of course, but you’ll also find a couple of "specialty" stalls selling some specific rice dishes that are favored by Thais. You’ll also find places where you can order rice stir-fried to order.

Jasmine Pudding, served in a Martini glass; definitely not dry!

If I had to pick just one Thai sweet as my favorite, it would have to be this apparently simple recipe for a two layered sweet. The bottom layer consists of a nearly clear gelatin-like substance that typically has bits of something crunchy in it. The traditional crunchy bit is provided by water chestnuts, but you can use lotus seeds, sweet corn, steamed peanuts or even chunks of mature coconut. You can also try bits of fresh fruit, such as lichee, longan or mango.

The top layer is another sort of pudding made with just coconut milk and rice flour. It has an opaque snow white appearance, which might make it a quite appropriate sweet for the winter holidays. Since the top layer hides whatever is in the first layer, it makes these sweets something of an adventure. Most stalls that produce these sweets with several different bits of fruits or nuts in the first layer will place a bit of the fruit on top of the coconut layer.

You probably don’t have access to a pandan bush to source the raw materials for the boxes, and you may not wish to spend the time making the number of boxes that this recipe will fill. In that case, try to find some small foil cups for muffins or petite fours. Another possibility is to use something like a Martini glass, which makes a more elegant serving container.

Some additional ingredient notes: Corn flour is a perfectly acceptable substitute for tapioca flour. The two serve exactly the same purpose and have almost the same taste (which is pretty much none). There is no substitute for the rice flour. See the recipe for jasmine water to find out how to make it, as well as what to do if your jasmine bush isn’t in bloom. If you can’t find pandan juice, or extract, I suggest you just leave it out. I prefer the color of the dish without it. I’ve seen any number of descriptions of how to get coconut cream out of coconut milk, but frankly, the canned stuff works the best and tastes great.

(6 Servings)

Jasmine Pudding

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• To create the first layer, bring the sugar and plain water to a boil and cook until the sugar is dissolved, then reduce heat.
• Stir together the 40 grams of rice flour and tapioca flour. Mix in the jasmine water and pandan juice bit by bit. Pour slowly into the sugar mixture. Add in the water chestnuts and stir to mix through. Quickly pour the mixture into the leaf boxes, or whatever you are using to serve the dessert. You have to work fast, since this mixture will gel quite quickly.

Coconut Cream Topping

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• To create the coconut cream second layer, mix together the coconut milk, rice flour and salt in a pan. Heat to boiling over medium flame, stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat and spoon onto the top of the first layer, filling the leaf boxes, or whatever.

Serving note: If you refrigerate this dessert – which you will want to do if you’ve made it well ahead of time – be sure to take it out well enough ahead of time to be served at room temperature. The dish doesn’t taste very good cold, and needs to be room temperature or warmer to allow the jasmine fragrance to come out.