Big Fat Meanie, or others...

[FarrahWaters]

BFM, you're the Thai food guy, right? What would you suggest for a complete Thai meal? I'm thinking of starting with that spicy coconut soup (I don't remember the name, it's got lime kafir leaves or galangal or some such thing), but beyond that, I only know how to make pad thai (but my pad thai isn't even that great) and red or green curry. I'm looking for a meat dish, noodle, maybe a veggie dish, and a dessert. Any ideas/recipes?

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by FarrahWaters

BFM, you're the Thai food guy, right? What would you suggest for a complete Thai meal? I'm thinking of starting with that spicy coconut soup (I don't remember the name, it's got lime kafir leaves or galangal or some such thing), but beyond that, I only know how to make pad thai (but my pad thai isn't even that great) and red or green curry. I'm looking for a meat dish, noodle, maybe a veggie dish, and a dessert. Any ideas/recipes?

The spicy coconut soup is good but the classic Thai Tom Yum soup is easier to make and generally is more impressive. There are all kinds of Tom Yum recipes out there but for any Tom Yum you make in the U.S. you will need to use a Tom Yum paste. You can mix and match the remaining ingredients to suit your taste and to suit what you can find (e.g. lemongrass is sometimes hard to get but the soup can still be good without it). What I like in my Tom Yum:

- Mushrooms (You need the straw mushrooms which usually come in cans in the asian store.)
- Shrimp
- Cherry tomato quarters (gives the soup a real tanginess)
- Lemon grass (found in asian stores)
- Kaffir lime (found in asian stores)

I've got to take a phone call now. I'll come back and talk about various meat dishes in a sec.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

The spicy coconut soup is good but the classic Thai Tom Yum soup is easier to make and generally is more impressive. There are all kinds of Tom Yum recipes out there but for any Tom Yum you make in the U.S. you will need to use a Tom Yum paste. You can mix and match the remaining ingredients to suit your taste and to suit what you can find (e.g. lemongrass is sometimes hard to get but the soup can still be good without it). What I like in my Tom Yum:

- Mushrooms (You need the straw mushrooms which usually come in cans in the asian store.)
- Shrimp
- Cherry tomato quarters (gives the soup a real tanginess)
- Lemon grass (found in asian stores)
- Kaffir lime (found in asian stores)

I've got to take a phone call now. I'll come back and talk about various meat dishes in a sec.

I would love a good recipe for Tom Yum. (with quantities). Thanks in advance.

[BigFatMeanie]

OK, back again.

I'll post a good Tom Yum recipe after consulting with Mrs. Meanie later tonight. She got the base recipe off the internet and then I tasted it and had her tweak it until it tasted like I remembered from Bangkok. I'll have her write down what she does.

As far as a meat dish goes: I like the meat dishes of northeast Thailand - they are usually zesty and flavorful. The classic northeastern meat dishes are laab (sometimes romanized as "larb" - same thing) and Nam Tok. Laab is easy to make and has some good pizazz that makes a complete meal.

Laab:


This recipe from Thai Table is pretty good but it needs some tweaking:

- Toasted rice powder isn't generally worth making by hand because you use so little of it but you can find packets of it in Asian stores. Look for "nam tok seasoning" or "laab or larb seasoning" on the packet:

The big drawback about using the pre-made toasted rice powder is that the packets often contain MSG.
- The recipe lists ground pork. Ground chicken is also good and is a little less greasy. I actually like ground chicken better than ground pork. When you cook the chicken/pork, do your best not to let the meat clump up.
- I would NOT let the mint be optional. The dish just isn't any good without it. The fresh mint adds a kick and flavor that is the signature flavor of the dish so don't make it unless you can get fresh mint. Dried mint just doesn't do the dish any justice.
- Red onion is a good substitute for shallots if you can't find shallots.
- Don't leave out the green onion either. It adds zest to the dish
- Fish sauce can be had at any asian store. Don't leave it out even though you may think it is gross.

We don't serve this dish over vegetables like the recipe suggests (although that is the traditional way it is served in Thailand). We usually serve this dish as a main course over rice. (Get the scented Jasmine Rice - there is no substitute. You can buy this at Sams club, in most grocery stores, and in every Asian store.)

Satay is also a fun dish to make:


I haven't tried this particular recipe from Thai Table but it looks decent. Be sure to make the dipping sauce without a sweetened peanut butter.

Another dish is Nam Tok which has a similar flavor to Laab but is made with sliced beef instead of ground pork or chicken. This recipe from importfood is pretty good. The tamarind paste can be hard to find even in asian stores but the dish is still good without it. Like with the Laab, you can use the Toasted Rice Powder you find in packets in the asian stores if you dont mind the MSG. I would leave out the sesame seeds. I don't like the flavor that sesame adds to this dish. Traditionally this is served with sticky rice but it is hard to find the right kind of rice and nobody usually has a rice steamer (not the same as a rice cooker which boils the rice) so we just eat it with plain rice (always the Jasmine kind though).

Those are my favorite Thai dishes but there are tons more you can make. Generally the recipes you find at Thai Table are a pretty good place to start. You can always tweak them until you get them to taste how you like.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Thanks, BFM. I will give them a try.

[FarrahWaters]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to give a couple of those a try. I had no idea about the toasted rice powder, I'll look for it, but it doesn't look too hard to make either.

One more question: How hot are Thai chili peppers? Up with the habaneros, or more like a jalapeno?

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by FarrahWaters

Thanks for the info, I'm going to give a couple of those a try. I had no idea about the toasted rice powder, I'll look for it, but it doesn't look too hard to make either.

One more question: How hot are Thai chili peppers? Up with the habaneros, or more like a jalapeno?

They're not as hot as habaneros. I would say they're a little hotter than fresh jalapenos (canned jalapenos don't seem that hot to me). In Thai cooking, the chilis are generally added at the end of the process so you can always start out conservatively and add more chilis later to make it hotter. It's hard to get fresh Thai chilis so we usually use the red chili flakes.

[FarrahWaters]

BFM, I made the Nam Tok (waterfall beef) you posted, and I really liked the mint and lime flavors in it. But, I think the marinade might have dried the meat out a little, there was no oil in it.

I didn't have trouble finding any of the ingredients except for the kaffir lime leaves for the coconut soup. If Jeff Lebowski is still interested, I can post the recipe I used.

I didn't put peppers in anything, because there were kids and an adult there who didn't like spicy foods.. but I made a hot sauce to put over the pad thai and the soup to make it spicy. I heated up a can of coconut milk, added a couple Tbsp of red curry paste, blended up 10 thai chilies with a little water, and added that to the coconut milk with 1 Tbsp of fish sauce.

So thanks! I'll keep experimenting.

[Mrs. Meanie]

First you need to head to your favorite asian market to get a packet of Tom Yum soup paste. I like the Asian Home Gourmet brand. Follow the directions on the packet and add these extras:

-One whole bunch of cilantro (I am lazy and I don't separate the leaves from the stems and once it is washed I just chop of the top part that has the majority of the leaves on.)
-The recipe on the back only asks for a half a pound of shrimp, but if you like shrimp, I say put in a whole pound.
-Two stalks of lemon grass cut into one inch lengths. (take the outer layers off the lemongrass and cut off the bottom and the top. Then you cut the stalks into one inch lengths. Make sure you smush them up a bit to release the flavor. You won't eat the lemon grass it is just there to add flavor.)
-One can of straw mushrooms or any type of mushrooms you like.
-Either cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half. No specific amount, I just put in a handfull
-You can put in a couple of Kaffir lime leaves for more flavor or you can put in a little lime juice.
- Fish sauce - just a few squirts

That is about all I do when I make this soup. It is pretty easy and quick to make. As you experiment with it you can make it however you like.

[marsupial]

Originally Posted by FarrahWaters

BFM, I made the Nam Tok (waterfall beef) you posted, and I really liked the mint and lime flavors in it. But, I think the marinade might have dried the meat out a little, there was no oil in it.

I didn't have trouble finding any of the ingredients except for the kaffir lime leaves for the coconut soup. If Jeff Lebowski is still interested, I can post the recipe I used.

I didn't put peppers in anything, because there were kids and an adult there who didn't like spicy foods.. but I made a hot sauce to put over the pad thai and the soup to make it spicy. I heated up a can of coconut milk, added a couple Tbsp of red curry paste, blended up 10 thai chilies with a little water, and added that to the coconut milk with 1 Tbsp of fish sauce.

So thanks! I'll keep experimenting.

As I was fortunate enough to be one of Farrah's guinea pigs, I can tell you that everything was fabulous!