Nutty Corn Cakes with dabu-dabu sambal

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Place half the corn, the peanuts, spring onions, ginger, garlic and cumin in a food processor. Mix until finely chopped and a bit mushy.
• Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the egg, rice flour, red peppers and the rest of the corn.
• Head the vegetable oil in a skillet. Once hot, form the corn mixture into patties and fry both sides until golden brown. I had a bit of trouble with this until I hit on the idea of using an egg ring to hold the patties together until they were cooked well enough.

Serve with dabu-dabu or some other spicy sauce.

Dabu-dabu – the Indonesian "salsa"

I did a little investigating and found several recipes for dabu-dabu. It seems that like any popular dish, there are as many recipes as there are cooks, but the basics remain the same: tomatoes, chilies, lime juice and oil. Common variations include using shallots in place of green onions and the addition of fresh basil. No matter how you make it, be sure to give it a day or more to "ferment" before using. Otherwise it will taste quite "rough".

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Mix all the ingredients together.
• Store in the refrigerator for at least one day before using.

Mangoes and Sticky Rice

(4 Servings)

Sweet Sticky Rice

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.
• I think this dish is best when the rice is still just a little bit warm.

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.

Now, to put it all together, you’ll need the above items plus two ripe mangoes and (optionally) some puffed yellow mung beans (these have a taste and texture like puffed rice, which you could probably use in a pinch).

• Peel the mangoes then cut the meat lengthwise off either side of the large central pit. Further cut the mango into bit-sized pieces and arrange on a plate.
• Spoon some of the sweet sticky rice onto the plate next to the mango.
• Drizzle some of the coconut cream over the rice and the mangoes, then sprinkle some of the mung beans over the rice.

Spicy Pork Salad

Larb is generally classified as a salad by western standards, mainly because it is almost always served at room temperature and with fresh vegetables like cabbage or long beans. This point makes it a good dish for a diner party, since it can be prepared in advance and simply set aside while you make other dishes that need to be served hot.

This version of larb is really the northern-eastern ("Isan") variation on the traditional recipe. It’s perhaps the most liked of all the regional variations, and is the most palpable to Western tastes. One of the key ingredients of Isan style larbs is roasted rice, which is used as a sort of binder. To make it, dry-roast uncooked rice in a pan until it begins to brown, then grind it in a mortar and pestle.

(4 – 6 Servings)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• To make roasted rice, stir some uncooked rice in a hot dry frying pan until it begins to brown. It may puff up a little. Then grind the rice to a powder with a mortar and pestle or a food processor.
• Drizzle four tablespoons of the lime juice over the ground pork. Allow it to marinate for a few minutes. Drain the pork and brown it in a hot skillet.
• As soon as the pork is lightly browned, add the roasted rice, pepper, coriander, shallots and one or two tablespoons of lime juice.
• Once the pork is cooked through and the shallots are soft, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool. Larb should be served at room temperature, or just slightly warm. Sprinkle the mint over the larb just before serving. Note: if the larb is too hot, it will turn the mint black.

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.

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.

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.