There are those that would insist that som tam can only be made with green papaya, but in fact Thais have created an almost infinite number of variations on the dish, using a variety of fruits and vegetables. This one offers an interesting way to dress up a simple vegetable like fresh green beans.

String Bean Som Tam

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Blanch the green beans by boiling them for just a minute or two, and then drain them and let them cool.
• Stir together the lime juice and sugar. It’s usually better to set it aside for a few minutes or more to give the juice time to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the tamarind sauce, chilies and garlic.
• Pour the dressing over the beans and stir to mix lightly, then pour the mixture onto a serving dish.
• Sprinkle the cherry tomatoes, crushed peanuts and optional dried shrimp over the top.

Instant noodles – often called Ramen noodles in the US – are a very popular light meal or snack in Thailand. While they may be something you thought you left behind when you left college, chances are you never ate this well back in school.

This is not a very common dish, but I have seen it on the menu of some Thai restaurants, although not those that cater to westerners. The Thai-language version I translated this recipe from called for shrimp paste and fermented fish sauce (and by ‘fermented’ they mean rotten). Since I’m not a big fan of overly fishy-tasting foods and prefer lighter dishes that can be vegetarian, I’ve adjusted the recipe.

Traditionally, the garlic and chilies would be mashed together in a big mortar and then the other dressing ingredients would be stirred in. You can get quite satisfactory results by just mincing them. You can also use shallots instead of garlic. Tamarind paste (or sauce) is very sour, so you may need to use more sugar if you add it.

Instant Noodle Salad

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Stir together the sugar and lime juice. It’s best to leave this to set a little while to allow the lime juice to dissolve the sugar. Then stir in the chilies and garlic, as well as the tamarind paste if you decide to use it.
• Cook the noodles, then drain them and set aside until they’re warm enough to touch. Pour the dressing over the noodles and stir together.
• Transfer the noodles to a serving dish and then arrange the tomatoes on top.
• I like this dish when the noodles are still a little warm, but it’s good at room temperature.

Use whatever type of lettuce you prefer. I like red coral but regular iceberg works nicely as well.

Thai Tuna Salad

Ingredients

Dressing

Preparation Method

• Mix all fo the ingredients for the dressing together and set aside for a little while.
• Arrange the lettuce of a serving plate.
• Drain the tuna and spoon it onto the lettuce.
• Pour the dressing over the tuna and sprinkle the coriander on top just before serving.

Glass Noodle Yum Salad

For this recipe, the peanuts are usually pan-roasted. Heat a heavy skillet and toss the peanuts in, shaking the skillet until the peanuts are darkened in spots. You can do this well in advance of needing the nuts.

Ingredients

Dressing

Preparation Method

• Prepare the dressing first. Mix all of the ingredients together and set aside.
• Mix the noodles, cooked ground pork, mushrooms and corander together – hands work best!
• Pour the dressing over the noodle mix and stir.
• Transfer to a serving dish or bowl. Sprinkle the crushed nuts and fried garlic over the top.

Glass Noodles Stir-fried with Mushrooms

To make this dish completely vegetarian, just leave out the fish sauce. I usually do anyway, since the soy sauce makes it salty enough for my taste.

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• If using dried mushrooms, soak in warm water to soften. Trim off any hard stems and slice.
• Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the glass noodles, stock and both types of mushrooms. Stir well to combine.
• Season with the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Stir to combine and then add the celery. Allow everything to cook through and then transfer to a serving platter.

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.
 

Like many northern Thai curries, this recipe calls for the chillies, shallots and garlic that make up the spice base of the curry to be roasted. Thai cooks will often use a barbecue to roast the ingredients, but an oven broiler or toaster oven will work as well. Cook the spices until they begin to blacken, turning as necessary to roast through. The outer layers are then peeled off the spices before using.

Perhaps the most unusual ingredient in this dish are the Szechuan peppercorns, the small pink seeds that look like, but aren’t really, peppercorns. They come from a completely different plant family. While pepper grows on a vine, Szechuan peppercorns come from a small shrub in the prickly ash family. You should be able to find them in Chinese grocery stores.

Northern style pork salad (Larb bab neua)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Peal the roasted shallots and garlic. Grind together with the chillies and salt. Add the galangal, coriander seeds, lemongrass and Szechuan peppercorns. Grind to a fine paste.
• Mix the finely chopped or ground pork with the curry paste and pork stock.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or skillet over high flame. Add the fried garlic and fry a few seconds to release the fragrance. Add the pork mixture and stir-fry until cooked through. Season with added salt if needed, then add the mint and sawtooth coriander.
• Transfer the cooked larb to a bowl. Mix in the spring onions and coriander. Transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle some fried garlic on top. Serve with a selection of fresh coriander, spring onion stalks, long beans, sliced cucumber, mint, cabbage and pickled vegetables.

Stir-fried pork with holy basil and garlic

The dish is most commonly made with chicken or pork, but can also be made with minced prawn or beef. I’ve even seen it on offer made with frog or pigeon. You can add more vegetables to make it a bigger dish that serves more, or leave them out entirely if you plan to serve it with several other dishes. As I said, this is an infinitely variable dish, so use your own creativity to make your own signature dish.

(4 Servings)

Preparation Method

• Heat the vegetable oil in the wok. Put in the finely chopped garlic, mouse-dropping chillies and meat, and stir-fry until cooked.
• Season with soy sauces, oyster sauce, sugar, spur chilli, fresh hot basil leaves and vegetables.
• Transfer to a serving dish.

Black rice pudding with coconut cream topping

(4 Servings)

Black Rice Pudding

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Black rice must be soaked before it is cooked. The longer you soak it, the faster it will cook. At a minimum you should soak it at least 12 hours (overnight) but I’ve found that letting it soak for up to 36 hours will shorten the cooking time to an hour or so.
• When you’re ready, bring 2 cups / 440 ml of water to a boil, then add the rice and reduce heat to a simmer.
• Cook the rice covered for 30 minutes or so, then remove the lid. Continue cooking until most of the water is absorbed. This can take several hours if you haven’t soaked the rice very long.
• Add the palm sugar and stir the mixture constantly until it is dissolved. This can take a few minutes.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool. The pudding is best served warm, but it can be refrigerated and re-heated in a microwave.

Coconut Cream

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Heat the coconut cream over low heat, then stir in the rice flour and salt. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken, then stir in the sugar. Remove from heat as soon as the sugar is dissolved.

To serve, spoon some of the rice pudding into a dessert dish, then cover with a little coconut cream.

I tend to be hit or miss with dressings, but this one turned out fairly well for a first attempt. I was originally thinking of trying something close to salsa – chopped tomatoes, coriander, lime juice, etc. – but when I found the sun-dried tomato pesto in the supermarket, it seemed like a simpler solution to give a little tomato taste to the dressing.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

If you can’t get long beans, regular fresh green beans will probably do just as well. I used dried black beans, although canned will also do.

Ingredients

Dressing

Preparation Method

• Make the dressing first. I prefer to add the vinegar to the spices and let it soak for a while, then add the oil just before using.
• Mix all the vegetable together, then pour the dressing over and mix it in.
• Like many cold bean salads, this one improves after a day or so in the refrigerator.