Joy’s Thai Food Recipe & Dessert Blog!

There are only few aromatic plants that remind you about things in the past or symbolize something. To most people, there could be a scent of jasmine, Thai ice tea, lemongrass or incense sticks that remind them of Thailand. To me, one of those meaningful scent of the past is Rice Paddy Plant!

The Rice Paddy Plant is called differently in each countries. In Thai language as well, it has more than 6 names. (Phak Ga Yang, Phak Pha, Phak Ka Yang, Phak Ga Om, Ma om, etc…)

In Thailand, we used this kind of plant in a fish in clear sour soup to get rid of the fishy smell. When I was young and lived with my mom far away from town. Those memories were still clear in my head. My favorite cousin (who later turn into monkshood) used to take me and my brother to see my mom and his mom in the rice field, 5 Kilometers on foot.  On his shoulders, he carried a basket which is full of food. It is supposed to be our moms’ lunch. My cousin is 10 years older than us, that’s why he’s the one had to carry the heavy stuff. As a little kid, we were only asked to carry sticky rice.

Three of us walking along the rice field ridge. Some part is not connect, I am not sure why. Anyway, I guess it is because of my cousin loved us so much, he loves to make us laugh by doing so many silly things. Thing like pretending to be caught on his foot and fall. On that same day too, he definitely wanted to make us laugh but bad of luck he drop all the food he carried. We managed to collect most of the dry food back into the food box. As you all can guess, he got yelled by his mom.

Wait for a second, we are so lucky being born in a farmer family. No one had to walk 5Kms. back to make new food and come back. Letting all of the hungry farmers behind was not right! At the rice field, we had some cooking utensils – just for when the emergency situation happened like this case. Cooking food at the field, fresh fish from the farm, salt, tamarind leaves, lemongrass, shallot, rice paddy plant and chilies will do just fine. Those ingredients were fresh from our own veggies plantation.

OMG! (>_<) Those memories are so precious to me. Things were so happy back then when I get to stay with mom. This was a few year before I have to moved to my aunt’s for school at 7 years old and lived with her. It was really sad the day dad dropped me off. I didn’t cry because dad bribed me with food I like…hahaha and never in my life, I discuss how my brother felt on that day. I am thankful to my aunts for taking me though… if not, I would have had married at 12? 15? like the other girls in the village and never have chance to go to university.

Life in Baan Nok (countryside) is really special. Back then, everything was so pure. Things changed now, but I really hope you had a chance to leave a big city behind and live a quite life in Thailand countryside someday.

Fish and Sour Soup Tom Som Pla

Share on Facebook

This recipe is called “Goong Sator Pad Gapi” in Thai. Here’s what you need to prepare for 1 serving.

Prepare:
10 big shrimps
100g fava beans
2 tbsp. sliced long red chili
1 tsp. shrimp paste (mix with 1 tbsp water)
1 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. sliced scallion
2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Sauce ingredients:
6-10 red chilli (depend on the level of spiciness you like)
10 cloves peeled garlic
1 tbsp. sliced coriander root
2 tbsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. sugar

Cooking Instructions:
1. Making the sauce first by finely crush red chili, coriander root and garlic together. Add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. Mix it well.

2. Now, heat up the pan. Add minced garlic and vegetable oil. Fry until the garlic has aromatic smell then add shrimps. Until the shrimps are cooked, add shrimp paste and fava beans. Add water if it gets too dry.

3. Then change the heat to low. Add the sauce we made earlier.  Try 2 tbsp first, then taste it. If you like the stronger taste, add 1 tbsp at a time until you get the taste you like.

4. Next, add sliced long red chili and scallion. Quickly stir for 10 seconds.

Share on Facebook

Many times, I bet that you have noticed Thai dessert has a unique scent even when you were chewing it in your mouth. A scent of candle is the answer for that. Looking close into it, the scent of candle in the coconut milk is not just the only long time secret of cooking that was transfer from generation to generation but scents of flowers as well included in the recipes.

I am going to write about the Scent of Candle Coconut Milk first.

Wait for a second!!! Scent of Candle is not a smell of smoke! Then, How to make Scent of Candle Coconut Milk? Here’s how we do it.

Prepare: A ceramic container – must have a lid
good quality candle
small aluminum cup
coconut milk

Instructions:

1. Pour coconut milk in a ceramic or glass container. Do not use the plastic box or anything plastic because there’s a chance that it will catch on fire. Importantly, the plastic will absorb all the aromatic smell and mix it up with it own plastic scent and then your coconut milk will have a strange plastic smell instead of candle.

2. Light the candle and lay it on the small aluminum cup. Let the fire burn the wax a little bit. Now, float the cup on top of coconut milk. Blow the candle off. Important thing to remember, you should chase away the very black smoke which you will get as the first result after you blow the candle off. That one I call it “smoke”. what come later is a scent of candle.

After you chase away the black smoke, quickly shut the lid and leave it like that for 10-15 minutes. Then, repeat this 3 times.

If you don’t want to go through all this mess (like me), Chao Koh Brand is you solution. I don’t get any commission for advertising their product on my blog… but hey! They are really thoughtful of creating the wonderful artistic scent of Thai dessert. I have a big

This video is not showing hot to make Scent of Candle coconut milk. It is just Thai TV commercial from Chao Koh brand

Share on Facebook

I also don’t like to add MSG into the food. At the same time, I am not good at cooking tasty stock plus having no time. Stock powder becomes one of the most useful and time saving tool when I have to do cooking videos.
The one I am using right now is Rod Dee. Believe it or not, it has 32% MSG in it. 32%!!!!

I have been stopping MSG for 10 years until I have to use this stock powder.. However, I went to the store and the new package and new brand just caught my eyes. Knorr came up with the stock powder recipe with no MSG! That is a really good ides. It has many flavors, pork, chicken and mushroom for you to choose.

KNORR SAVED MY LIFE!

J O Y . . . . . . (^_^)

Share on Facebook

Prepare:

6 chilli peppers / add less if you don’t like spicy
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 big tsp. shrimp paste
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp. sliced shallot
6-10 small eggplants

Cooking Instructions:

1. In a mortar pound garlic, sugar, chili peppers. Add shallot and eggplants and hit them softly till the eggplants crack.
2. Add fish sauce, shrimp paste and lime juice. Mix it well. Garnish it with coriander leaves.
3. Serve this sauce with Cha-om omelet or soft boiled vegetables. Cucumber and long bean will be the best choice.

Share on Facebook

Before we cook the rice, we usually clean the rice with regular water once or twice. Most people, almost everyone, pour it in the drain and not giving it any interest to drink as it is full of dust and dirt. Who would care that the water they let it goes waste would have tremendously benefit to their health and their daily life. This rice water is called “Rice Milk”.

Thai eat rice as their main food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner or even in the dessert has rice as part of the main ingredient. In the past, we saved this water from cleaning the rice. So that water used to clean on the second time, we can drink for our good health. Heard it from my mom, people in the past boiled it and added a little bit of salt to make it a better taste to drink. Babies in a very very poor family had drink the rice milk with sugar added into it as they have no money to buy cow milk.

Beside the uses of it as a kind of healthy drink, rice milk can be used as part of shampoo which help with the dandruff, washing face, cleaning vegetable, washing dish, cleaning fish and get rid of its fishy smell. Other from that, it is really helpful using it to wash your slippery hands from touching clothes detergent.

The easiest way to make Rice Milk is by cooking the rice in ancient time. How? You will only have to boil the rice. Let it boil. Rinse out the water before the rice is cooked and the water runs dry. This kind of Rice Milk is not available in the market, is it?

What we have heard a lot from the media is Germinated brown rice or GABA-rice. This Rice Milk called V-fit made it easier. Mali, my 19 months baby girl, loves this.

Share on Facebook

Nah!!! You are fooled by the title of my post!!!! Yes the name of this egg is literary translated as Preserved Eggs with Horse’s Pee!! but it actually has nothing to do with the horse Pee!!!

As I looked up on the internet, Kai Yiew Ma is originally and accidentally found by Chinese people. It was discovered  in the horse’s stall after it has been cover with hays over and over (of course the horses pee on it!). Someone, as they said,  picked it up, tasted it and happened to “LIKE” it. Then, people form an instruction of how to make Kai Yiew Ma based on the way it was found.

No one ever knows if this story was true.

Honestly, I don’t know how to make it but I found the instruction in Thai language which I could translate it. However, it has many chemical ingredients. Make sure you don’t eat too much Kai Yiew Ma because those chemical will definitely collected in your body and course health problem. It used to be my favorite, but not anymore after I know this.

I used to think the way to make Kai Yiew Ma (preserved eggs) is as simple as making Salted Eggs  and has no chemical. Especially the name that literary means Eggs with Horse’s Pee and pink color make me think this food is friendly to nature and friendly to human body!

If you are insist that you have to make and eat them, here’s the recipe.

Source: http://www.chemtrack.org/News-Detail.asp?TID=4&ID=29
Credit to Department of Science Service, Thailand

Prepare:

32 duck eggs

Ingredients that were used to preserved the eggs:
5 liters of water
80 grams black tea leaves
500 grams salt (Sodium chloride ( NaCl)
300 grams Sodium carbonate  (Na₂CO₃)
750 grams Calcium oxide (CaO)
2.5 grams Zinc oxide ( ZnO)

Ingredients that were used to coat the eggs:
=== Please uses instantly after you made it====
1 portion of Tapioca flour + water
5 portions of white Kaolin clay (same type that is used for beauty re boost because it passed the test for bacteria infection process.)

container must be tolerant to Base (chemistry)

1 big pot used for boiling the ingredients
8-10 liters Plastic container with lid
big flat sponge (use it to cover the eggs and push them under the mixed and boiled liquid)

Instruction on How to make Kai Yiew Ma/ Kai Yeow Ma:
1. Mix water, black tea leaves, salt (Sodium chloride ( NaCl),  Sodium carbonate  (Na₂CO₃) and Calcium oxide (CaO)
in a big pot that is tolerant to Base (chemistry).
2. Boil the liquid until it is boiling.
3. Let it cool off and then use a piece of thin white clothes to separate the liquid and its residue. Then, add  Zinc oxide ( ZnO).
4. Gently stir until the Zinc oxide is dissolved.

***** Be ware that this mix has strong effect from Base. It could give reaction to your skin, so make sure you ware gloves, mask and glasses. ********

5. Arrange the eggs in a plastic container. The eggs must be clean and not having a crack on it.
6. Pour the mixed liquid from step 4 into the container. Use a flat sponge to cover the top or use anything to make sure the eggs stay under the liquid. Cover the container with the lid and keep it for 30 days. (Some say 45 days is ok)

7. After 30 days, remove the eggs and leave them to get dry.

Now, prepare the coating:
The eggs need to be coated in order to keep it moisture and not letting it evaporate.

1. Mix tapioca with water and stir quickly until the flour dissolved.
2. Pour the mix in boiling water and keep stirring until you get the clear and sticky liquid.
3. Now, add light Kaolin clay. Mix this extremely well.
4. Coat the eggs with this mix.

Now you can keep the eggs for 2 weeks. If you put the eggs in a closed plastic bad, you can also keep it for about a month.

Click to see Thai version TV show of how to make Kai Yiew Ma. Fast forward to 1.30.

Share on Facebook

Thailand Rose Apple but White (White Chompoo)

ชมพู่แคระ สีขาว

Ok! Anyone would have known or even have a chance to taste delicious pink/red rose apple, I think it is being called that way because if the color. How about when it’s white? Will it be called Lilly Apple in English??

White Rose Apple with this size is not normally found in Thailand local market. With its sour taste and not having enough meat to offer, many people would find it not worth buying. Believe it or not, some Thai people love to eat this white rose apple with sweet shrimp paste dipping sauce or dip it in Prig Glu-ah (salt and chilli powder).

It is my first time seeing these tiny rose apple in white! So I have to get some and try! It is only 25 Baht/kilo. I tried it, Vern tried, my mom tried (she has never seen it in her 65 years), baby Mali tried some…

Our family voted this fruit for “NO” not recommended but it is never a waste of time to try something new.

(^_^)

Joy Ja!

Share on Facebook

A Little Bit About Thailand!

History

Thailand was called Siam starting in 1939. Thailand as a country has never been colonized by a foreign nation unlike Laos, Cambodia and other Asian countries.

Thailand’s culture, politics, economics and social aspects have all changed in a great procession of steps.

Thailand’s development started in the 13^th century. Thailand amassed a lot of ancient customs and cultures. This blend of customs and culture has created a Thai-ness that is uniquely its own. Thai means free. Thai people call Thailand Bra-teht Thai� meaning country of the free. In English was call it Free-land. It is not quite free – but it is probably at a steeply discounted cost of living compared to your home country!

Geographical Area

Thailand is located in Southeast of the continent of Asia. Thailand’s geographical area covers over 513,000 square kilometers. It runs nearly 1,620 kilometers from the northernmost to the southern most points and over 770 km measuring from east to west.

Thailand borders four other countries: Myanmar (Burma) on the west side; Myanmar and Laos on the North and East sides; and Cambodia and Malaysia (Thais say, Gamboosha�) on the southern side. The longest border Thailand has is with the Andaman sea though! Thailand has many incredibly scenic beaches along the coast.

Thailand is located between the latitude 5^๐37^/N. with 20^๐27^/N. and between longitude 97^๐22^/ E. with 105^๐37^/ E. in the Low Latitude Zone between the equator and tropic of cancer. This means Thailand is in the “tropics”, or the Tropical Zone.

Terrain and Weather

Since, Thailand is in the Tropic Zone, the climate is not too hot, not too cold or not too dry. Therefore Thailand is a warm and rather humid tropical country with monsoonal climate.

Temperatures are highest in March and April with average temperature of 28 degree Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius and humidity averaging between 82.8 percent to 73 percent. There are 3 seasons in Thailand though in certain parts of the country one weather pattern may dominate for the good part of the year.

Rainy Season: mid May to mid November. There are raining in early July and raining all over the country. The most raining is in September, overall. In the southern provinces of Phuket, Krabi, and Trang the rainy season lasts pretty much all year with a slight break in January. The most rain is received in October and November usually.

Winter Season: mid November to mid February. There are heavy raining and flooding in the southern of Thailand. Therefore, this season is not good for traveling along the west bank of Thailand. It never snows in Thailand but if you spend time in the far north during December – February you might be waiting for it. It does get almost
freezing cold during those months in the far north.

Summer Season: mid February to mid May. April is the hottest month in the season. This is when Thais celebrate their new year, Songkran� with a water throwing festival. Its appropriate because the temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius all over the country during this time.

Agriculture: Most of the areas are of a plain topography which is suitable for agriculture.

By far the most important crop in all of Thailand is, as you can probably guess, RICE! This is the main export of the country and Thailand is the top producer of rice across the globe. Thailand’s fragrant Jasmine rice is considered the best in the world.

Other farmed foods include corn, sugar cane, vegetables and fruits. Thailand exports large quantities of bananas, long an, durian, custard apples (sugar apples), grapes, oranges, watermelons, pineapple, cabbage, some Chinese vegetables, tomatoes and more.

Another export that is grown in Thailand is Teak Wood – used primarily to build boats for its strength and water resistance.

Population

Thailand’s population is relatively homogeneous. More than 85% speak a dialect of Thai and share a common culture. This core population includes the central Thai (34% of the population, including Bangkok), Northeastern Thai (34%), northern Thai (19%), and southern Thai (13%). 90% of population have Thai Nationality and another 10 % are of different nationality. The population of Thailand is about sixty-seven million people.

There are smaller groups of local Thais, mountain-dwelling tribes, such as the Hmong and Mein, and Karen hill tribe that number about 200,000 to 500,000.

Language

The language of the central Thai population is the language taught in all schools and used in government. Everyone refers to this as “Bangkok Thai” or Bangkok dialect. Those Thais living near a bordering country usually grow up speaking the foreign tongue as well. My friend here can speak Bangkok Thai, Isaan Thai, Laos, and Cambodian (Khmer).

Government

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with a democratic form of government. If you are not counting the recent military coup which ended in 2007 after lasting one year. For 76 years Kings of Thailand have exercised their constitutional legislative powers through a bicameral National Assembly comprised of a House of Representatives elected by popular vote and a Senate appointed by the King with the PM (Prime Minister’s recommendation. Thai Kings exercise executive powers through the cabinet headed by a prime minister, and judicial powers through the law courts. While not directly involved in Thailand’s political life, Thailand’s King exerts a strong moral influence on carefully selected issues. Thailand’s present King is so well revered that nearly a million well-wishers gathered for his 80^th birthday.

Food and Fruit of Thailand

Thai food is internationally famous both for its taste and aesthetics. Whether hot chili spiced or bland, harmony between ingredients and tastes is the guiding principle behind each Thai food dish.

Thai cuisine is a rich fusion of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely and deliciously Thai.

Perhaps the most famous two food dishes from Thailand available at nearly every Thai food restaurant in the western world are Pad Thai� (stir-fried noodles) and Tom Yum Goong (Spicy and Sour Shrimp soup).

Regions of Thailand tend to flavor their foods and use certain ingredients a little different from other regions. There are generally these distinctions.

Northern Food: such as Nam Prig Num, Hungla Curry and Sai Oury.

Central Food: such as Tai Pla Curry, Nam Prig Ong, Tom Jerd, Geng Som, Nam Prig and Pla Too.

Northeastern Food: such as Lahp� (Minced meat), Som Tam (spicy green papaya salad), Gai Yang (Grilled Chicken), and Bla Rah (fermented fish paste). Isaan is known for it’s spicy chili dishes.

Southern Food: such as Geng Liang, Nam Bpoo Doo, which are hotter than other parts of Thailand, but nothing tops the Northeast (Isaan) region for hot spicy foods. I think the south is more known for it’s sour foods. They ten to like a little bit more lemon / lime in their Thai food dishes.

Share on Facebook