Come to Study Chili in Thai Foods

Chili(Prik) is the main spices of Thai foods seasoning that make the tasteless of food become spice up and tasteful.

Chili is one of spices which important for Thai cuisine for long time. Every meal always has chili that seem it cannot separated from Thai foods so every household will keep it as dried chili, chili powder and fresh chili.

Now, I make you known to chili which often use in Thai Foods.

1. Bird chili (Prik Ki Noo)
It has both green and red everyone give a nickname to it “bantam chili” because of its small shape but very very hot and spicy. Do you believe superman can cry!!. Bird chili often put to papaya salad (Som Tam) and sometime put it on side dishes with sago ( Sa Koo Sai Moo).

2. Dried chili (Prik Hang)
Dry chili is bird chili that dried by the sun, it has good smell and proper to make chili sauce and put it on side dishes with Thai rice noodle. Sometimes we spinning it as chili powder and use it for season in noodle.

3. Sweet chili (Prik Whan)
Sweet chili or jumbo chili, like its shape. It has 3 color ; green, red and yellow. Taste of sweet chili is little spicy so we often eat with vegetable salad or fried it like tempura. With the colorful of it, make it more appetizing.

4. Large chili (Prik Chee Fah)
Large chili has native land in tropical area of America, its shape round-long and sharp tail. It has many colors ; green, red and orange. We often use it in fired rice because it has little spicy and sometimes we grill it for make chili sauce, it has good smell. Before use it should core its seed.

Chili is make a good appetite.

Rice Noodle with Catfish Curry (Kanom Jeen Numya)

In Northeast Thailand(Isaan), Rice Noodle with Catfish Curry is not commonly sold in noodle shops! Instead. Kanom Jeen Nam Ya is most famous food of Thailand local, it’s easy for cooking and delicious.

Ingredients:

- 1 pound dried guilin noodle (small size)
- 4 cups water
- 1 stalk lemon grass (cut into 1 inch lengths)
- 3 slices galanga (1/8 th inch thick)
- 5 kaffir lime leaves
- 1/4 pound ginger root (remove skin and cut into 1/8 th inch thick slices)
- 2 tablespoons shredded krachai
- 3 dried chili pop peppers (remove seeds)
- 3 medium-sized shallots
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 pound catfish fillets
- 1 can coconut milk (13.5 ounces)
- 1/2 pound fresh bean sprouts
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon basil (bai maengluck; can substitute Thai basil)

Instruction ;

1. Fill a soup pot with water and bring to a boil. Add guilin noodle and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until soft. Drain in cold water and make little bundles out of the noodles. Cover with plastic wrap to keep moist and set aside.

2. In a soup pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add lemon grass, galanga, lime leaves, ginger, krachai, chili pop, shallot, salt, fish sauce, and catfish and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Remove lemon grass, galanga, and lime leaves from the mixture and place the remainder, including the water, in a food processor (or blender). Mix the ingredients until they turn to a paste and set aside.

4. Skim off the coconut cream from the can of coconut milk and place in a soup pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add the paste from the food processor and cook until oil droplets appear, approximately 3-5 minutes. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

5. To serve, place several bundles of noodles on a plate and top with catfish curry, bean sprouts, and lemon basil (or Thai basil). Serve warm with lots of fresh vegetables, such as sliced green beans, sliced cabbage, and mint leaves.

Serve; 6 servings

Chicken Green Curry - Kang Keaw Wan Gai

This is a green curry made with minced chicken and small green aubergine. Chicken Green Curry is popular foods in Thailand, You can cooking it yourself.

Ingredients;

- 200 gms. Chicken Mince
- 50 gms. Green Curry Paste
- 400 ml Coconut Milk
- 2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Sugar
- 50 gms. Small Green Aubergine
- 5 gms Basil
- 2 Red Chilles
- 2 Kaffir (Citrus) Leaves

Preparation

1. Put a medium sized pan on the heat, add the coconut milk and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add the green curry to the pan and stir it untill mixed, bring to the boil.
3. When the curry is boiling, add the chicken mince using a teaspoon. The aim is to make round ball shaped mince balls.
4. Cook for 10 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
5. Add the fish sauce, salt, sugar, red chillis, aubergines, citrus leaves, basil (basically all the other ingredients) and stir it for a few seconds over the heat to warm them through.
6. Turn the heat off and serve it warm with hot rice or rice noodle.

Pad Thai or Thai Stir-Fried Noodles

Pad Thai is the one of Thailand best known noodle dishes. It is eaten as a light meal at any time of the day or night, and is especially popular at the night markets throughout the country.

Ingredients:

- 8 oz (250 g) rice noodles (sen lek)
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 3 garlic cloves (kratiem), minced
- 1/4 cup dried shrimp/prawns
- 1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) fish sauce (nam pla)
- 1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) sugar
- 2 tablespoons tamarind juice (ma-kaam piag)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 cup fried tofu
- 2 tablespoons dried unsalted turnip, cut into small pieces
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup 1-in (2.5-cm) lengths chopped chives
- 1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) ground roasted peanuts
- 1 cup bean sprouts

Garnish:

- 1/2 cup bean sprouts
- 1/2 cup chopped chives
- 1/4 small banana blossom, cut into strips
- 1/2 lime, cut into wedges

How to cook:

1. Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 30 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet until hot, then add the oil. Add the garlic and dried shrimp, and stir-fry. Add the noodles and stir-fry until translucent. It may be necessary to reduce the heat if the mixture is cooking too quickly and the noodles stick.
3. Add the fish sauce, sugar tamarind juice and paprika. Stir-fry the mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the tofu, turnip and egg.
4. Turn the heat to high and cook until the egg sets, stirring gently. Thoroughly combine the mixture, and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes until most of the liquid is reduced.
5. Mix in the chives, peanuts and bean sprouts. Place on a serving dish, arrange the bean sprouts, chives, banana blossom and lime attractively and serve.

Serves for; 4

Kao Chae - Thai Foods for Songkran Festival in Thailand

Summer comes again so lots of people try to alleviate swelter. Many think of some cooling food like ice-cream, Nam Kang Sai (Thai dessert) another tasty Thai food with unique character, Kao Chae.

Now Kao Chae is catered both on roadside-shops and in restaurants. Kao Chae actually isn’t Thai food. It originated from the people of Mon, cooked to sacrifice Songkran God. Making an original Kao Chae is a complicated procedure. “Kao Chae Sawei” or “Royal court Kao Chae” which we generally know nowadays is Kao Chae with jasmine water, it is served with side dishes which are fried shrimp paste and many color of boiled vegetable. We called “Kao Chae Sawei” because the royal court attendant offer Kao Chae to King Rama V and it became one of his favorite dishes. After 1910, AD Kao Chae become well known widely in villagers and become special menu on Songkran festival.

Momluang Neung Ninrat, the cook for King Rama V , she first brought recipe of Kao Chae to the ordinary thai society. Secret technique, making Kao Chae become a specialty is the way jasmine water is made. We use jasmine to float on the water to give the water fragrant. In the past rain water is used but today mineral water is used instead. Water is kept in clay pot to keep it cool before wasn’t commonly used. Ice was used later on when it was made more easy to find.

Fried shrimp paste is the heart of Kao Chae. People will decide whose Kao Chae is best by tasting fried shrimp paste. We will eat Kao Chae with fried sweet pepper, sweet fish, salty beef, onion, and pork chop mix with fish. Moreover there are boiled vegetable such as cucumber, mango, goat pepper etc. to served with Kao Chae. How to eat Kao Chae… Bring rice pour into jasmine water and add some ice. Have side dish first then follow with fragrant rice.

“Kao Chae” shows Thai culture of consuming which is artistic and neatly culture. Kao Chae is the Thai heritage so we, Thai people should conserve this culture for eternity. Thai food has been accepted all over the world. It is deeply synchronized with the Culture. Kao chae is another wonderful and unique Thai food that has reasonable supports of its origins. It shows the cleverness of adapting to the hot and humid climate (like the Thai house).

[Source from; at-bangkok.com]

Jao Bong - Anchovy Dip

This is a traditional Isan [North East Thailand] dip for barequed meals, steamed fish and vegetable dishes.

The Thai traditional method of cooking the anchovies is as shown below: if you prefer you can wrap them in aluminum foil and roast them in a medium oven for 15 minutes. You can also remove the heads and backbones first. You can also use tinned anchovies (drain and use - they are already cook).

Ingredients.

- hakf a pound of anchovies
- quarter cup lemon grass
- qarter cup shallots, chopped
- quarter cup kha (galangal) chopped
- 3 tablespoons prik ki nu (green birdseye chilis), sliced
- quarter cup of tamarind juice (or rice vinegar)
- 5 bai makrut (kaffir lime leaves), shredded
- 3 tablespoons of garlic, sliced

Method.

Wrap the anchovies in banana leaves, and place on the embers of a charcoal brazier until the leaf blackens. Remove from the fire and unwrap. Discard the heads and backbones of the fish.

Combine all the ingredients in a mortar and pestle or food processor.

Will keep for about 3 weeks if refrigerated.

[Source from; chetbacon.com]

How Many Ways to Cook Thai Foods

Thai Foods have many ways to cook and each way help its taste difference. This is all the ways to cook Thai foods.

1. Pound means mix the food to mortar and beat it with pestle. Something pound for food such as papaya salad ( Som-Tam) but something pound for cooking such as shrimp powder etc.

2. Salad means bring vegetable, meat and sauce blend together until it combine. Taste of Thai dressed salad is sour ,salty and sweet example for Thai dressed salad is vermicelli dressed salad, water mimosa dressed salad and sausage dressed salad etc.

3. Curry means vegetable and meat which cook in spicy sauce mix water or coconut milk.

4. Stew means meat or vegetable which cooks slowly in a small amount of thicken coconut milk and eat with fresh vegetable. Example for stew is salted soya beans stew, pickled fish stew etc.

5. Toast means cooked by put a food above the fire and make it crispy such as banana toast, rice crust etc.

6. Grill means cooked by put a food above the light fire and always turn over it until inside cooked and outside still soft, it take long time for good taste such as grilled fish, grilled pork etc.

7. Boil means put the food to pot and add water then put it on the stove, wait until it boil and the food cooked such as boiled egg, boiled vegetable etc.

8. Stir means mix liquid food together and put on the stove then stir it fast and strong until it sticky such as Thai pudding, Thai toffee etc.

9. Roast means cooked it by oil, sweep the pan with little oil then turn over it until it cooked such as deep-fried pancake.

10. Larm (Thai word) means cooked the food in bamboo joints. Before Larm should close bamboo by banana leave. Example food is sticky rice with coconut milk.