Homestyle Thai Cooking; PERIPLUS MINI COOKBOOKS

69 Pages·16.724 MB·English

by  Chat Mingkwan

Measurement Conversions
All our recipes are thoroughly tested in the Periplus Test Kitchen. Standard metric measuring
cups and spoons are used throughout, and all cup and spoon measurements are level.
We have used medium-sized (60 g, grade 3) eggs in all recipes.
International Measures
Volume Lengths Weights
1 teaspoon = 5 ml 6mm = 1/4 inch 28 g = 1 oz
1 UK/US tablespoon = 15 ml = 3 teaspoons 12 mm = 1/2 inch 225 g = 80z
1 Australian tablespoon = 20 ml = 4 teaspoons 2.5 cm = 1 inch 500 g = 1 Ib
We have used international 15 ml tablespoon measures. If you are using an Australian
20 ml tablespoon, the difference will not be noticeable for most recipes. However, for
flour, cornflour or baking powder, subtract one teaspoon for each tablespoon specified.
Cup Equivalents
1/4 cup = 60 ml = 2 fl oz 1 cup raw glutinous rice = 200 g
1/2 cup = 125 ml = 4 fl oz 1 cup grated coconut = 100 g
1 cup = 250 ml = 8 fl oz 1 cup cashew nuts = 120 g
2 cups = 500 ml = 16 fl oz = 1 pint 1 cup breadcrumbs = 60 g
4 cups = 1 litre = 32 fl oz = 1 quart 1 cup sugar = 200 g
Oven Temperature Guide
When using convection ovens, the out- °C of
side of the food may cook too quickly. Low 150 300
As a general rule, set the oven tempera- Moderate 180 350
ture 15°C to 20°C lower than the tempera- Med. Hot 200 400
ture indicated in the recipe, or refer to Hot 220 425
your oven manual. Very Hot 230 450
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Thai
COOKING
Chat Mingkwan
A collection of delectable Thai dishes from delicious
#
Crispy Shrimp Cakes to flavorful Shredded Chicken
Salad and Stir-fried Beef with Basil, this book will
delight all Thai food lovers.
PERIPLUS EDITIONS
Singapore • Hong Kong • Indonesia
Introduction
As the youngest in the family living in Bangkok, I was often left behind to help out in the
kitchen while my older brothers and sisters ran off to play. At first I did not look forward
to cooking, but later learned to enjoy it, as I acquired the skills and joy of cooking. I can
still remember how thrill I was when I intentionally prepared my siblings' meals with
excessive spiciness and still got away with it. The food was so delicious that they were
unsure whether to punish or praise me.
My culinary skills were gained from helping my aunt with the cooking, in the same
way she developed hers from her previous generation, as in any Thai household. Every
Thai family has developed slightly different recipes due to individual tastes and prefer-
ences. In the old days, the housewife was always the matriarch of the family. She would
get up early to prepare breakfast. After seeing her family members off to work or to
schools, she would make a trip to a local market to pick up the freshest produce to cook
for the day. Her dinner menu usually offered 4 to 5 dishes depending on the size of her
family and often included a salad with lots of vegetables, a soup of clear broth or coconut
base, a stir-fried of meat and mixed vegetables, and a sweet dish or fresh fruits for a
dessert. In a traditional Thai family with three generations living under one roof, family
members were often recruited to help in the kitchen. Helpers inadvertently became
apprentices under her guidance and to continue her cooking traditions. Recipes were
sometimes regarded as a family heirloom and a family secret.
Such homestyle cooking is still prevalent throughout Thailand today but is no longer
in the grand scale as it used to be, as Thai families are getting smaller. Family members,
including the housewives, are spending more time away from home and the cooking
chore is naturally reduced both in the time spent and quantity of food. After returning
home, family members usually pitch in to cook their dinner. Homestyle cooking has
evolved to fit new lifestyles, technologies and ingredients. The family's cook doesn't have
to shop every day, as refrigerators are now available to preserve cooking ingredients.
Modern kitchen devices have speeded up food preparations, making the task of cooking
less laborious. Food can now be cooked in small portions for single meals or in large
quantities to last for several meals. New ingredients and cooking techniques introduced
through trade with other countries have added new varieties to Thai home cooked meals.
Homestyle cooking is always considered very specialized, imbued a great deal with the
cook's personality and family preferences. A meal cooked in small portions is carefully
executed in details and the taste is adjusted to the family liking. Ingredients are specifi-
cally selected and the tastes are highly individualized in contrast to restaurant meals that
appeal to the masses.
In this book, I have selected more than 30 Thai dishes that are perfect for homestyle
cooking. These are featured in easy-to-follow recipes that are suited for all levels of skills,
providing you with a useful guide to whip up a satisfying meal for your family.
2 Introduction
Thai basil (horapa) Lemon basil (manglak) Holy basil (kaprow)
Basil is used as a seasoning and garnish in Thai cooking. Three varieties are often used.
Thai basil (horapa) tastes rather like Italian sweet basil with a hint of anise and is used in
red and green curries. It is available year round. Lemon basil (manglak) has a lemony flavor
that goes well with soups and salads, especially with Kanom Jeen curry noodles. Holy basil
or hot basil (kaprow) has distinctive purple-reddish leaves and a mint-like zesty flavor and
is used for stir-fries such as Pad Bai Kaprow. Holy basil is hard to find and mostly available
during the midsummer months. Basil doesn't store well, so buy it just before you intend
to use it. European sweet basil can be used as a substitute for all varieties if you can't find
the Thai varieties. Basil has a strong flavor, so don't use more than the recipe states.
parsley-like flavor. The leaves also obtain thin coconut milk
Dried red chilies
and sometimes the stems are by diluting the thick coconut
added to soups, rice dishes milk with water. Although
and stir-fried vegetables. freshly pressed milk has a
Fresh red chilies better flavor, coconut cream
Coconut cream and coconut and milk are now widely sold
milk are used in many Thai canned or in packets that are
desserts and curries. To obtain quick and convenient.
fresh coconut cream, grate the
Bird's-eye chilies
flesh of 1 coconut into a bowl
Chilies are indispensable in (this will yield about 4 cups
Thai cooking and many dif- of grated coconut flesh), add
ferent varieties are used. The 1/2 cup water and knead
large, finger-length green, red thoroughly a few times, then Coriander leaves
or yellow chili is moderately strain with a muslin cloth or with roots and stems
hot. Dried red chilies of this cheesecloth. Thick coconut Coriander is the most common
variety are ground to make milk is obtained by the same herb used in Thai cooking.
chili flakes or ground red pep- method but by adding double The whole plant is used—
per. Tiny red, green or yel- the water to the grated flesh the root, stem and leaves.
lowy-orange bird's-eye chilies (about 1 cup instead of l/2 Coriander seeds are roasted
are extremely hot and are used cup). Thin coconut milk and then ground in a spice
in soups, curries and sauces. (which is used for soups and mill and used in curry pastes.
They are also available dried. curries rather than desserts) Coriander roots are ground
is obtained by pressing the in spice pastes, while corian-
Chinese celery is much coconut a second time, adding der leaves (also known as
smaller with thinner stems 1 cup of water to the same cilantro or Chinese parsley)
than the normal Western grated coconut flesh and are used for their fresh flavor,
variety and has a very intense, squeezing it again. You may and as a garnish. For storage,
Basic Ingredients 3
wash and dry the fresh leaves using. Thai and European Lemongrass or citronella is
before placing them in a plas- varieties are readily available. a lemon-scented stem which
tic bag in the refrigerator— grows in clumps. Each plant
they will keep for 5 to 6 days. resembles a miniature leek.
Use only the thicker bottom
Fish sauce is indispensable one third of the lemongrass
in Thai cooking. Made from stem, remove and discard the
salted, fermented fish or dry outer leaves and use only
prawns, good quality fish Kaffir lime is a small lime the tender inner part of the
sauce is golden-brown in that has a very knobby and stem. Lemongrass is available
color and has a salty tang. It intensely fragrant skin, but fresh in most supermarkets.
is used in the same way as virtually no juice. The skin
the Chinese use soy sauce. or rind is often grated and
added to dishes as a seasoning.
The fragrant kaffir lime leaves
are added whole to soups and
curries, or finely shredded and
added to salads or deep-fried Palm sugar is made from the
fish cakes, giving a wonderfully distilled juice of various palm
Galangal is a rhizome similar tangy taste to these dishes. fruits. Palm sugar varies in
to ginger in appearance and They are available frozen or color from golden to dark
a member of the same family. dried in Asian food stores; brown. It has a rich flavor
Known as kha in Thailand, frozen leaves are much more similar to dark brown sugar
laos in Indonesia and lengkuas flavorful than dried ones. The or maple syrup, which makes
in Singapore and Malaysia, it dried rind can be reconstituted a good substitute.
adds a distinctive fragrance and substituted for fresh.
and flavor to many Thai dishes. Rice vinegar is mild and
Dried galangal lacks the fra- faintly fragrant, and is the
grance of fresh galangal, and preferred vinegar throughout
most food stores now sell it Southeast Asia. Chinese
fresh. It can be sliced and brands are inexpensive and
kept sealed in the freezer for widely available, while the
several months. Japanese rice vinegar, used in
Krachai or Chinese keys is a sushi, is sweeter and milder.
rhizome widely cultivated in
Thailand. It gives a subtle spicy Rice wine is a relatively low
flavor to dishes and goes well alcohol content "rice beer"
with seafood. Fresh krachai fermented from freshly steamed
is beige in color and looks glutinous rice or millet.
like a bunch of baby carrots. Widely used in Asian cooking,
Green peppercorns are fresh Buy smooth and firm rhi- the Chinese rice wine is
peppercorn berries that are zomes. Store in a paper bag readily available in bottles in
available still on the vine or in the refrigerator for up to a Asian markets. The Japanese
bottled or canned in a brine. few weeks. Preserved krachai rice wine, sake or the sweeter
The peppercorns should be is sold in jars either whole or mirin and dry sherry can be
drained and rinsed before cut into strips. used as substitutes.
4 Basic Ingredients
Glass noodles Kway teow Fresh egg noodles Rice vermicelli
(tang hoon) (rice sticks or hofun) (bami) (beehoon)
Thai noodles are available in many forms, and are made from either rice, wheat or mung
bean flour. Kway teow, also known as rice sticks or hofun, are wide, flat rice-flour noodles
sold fresh in Asian markets and available in dried form elsewhere. If fresh kway teow cannot
be obtained, use dried rice stick noodles instead (these must be blanched for 3 to 5 min-
utes and drained before using). Dried rice vermicelli are very fine rice threads that must
also be soaked before using. Egg noodles (bami) are made from wheat flour and are sim-
ilar to ramen, which may be used as a substitute. Glass noodles, also known as cellophane
noodles, tang hoon or bean threads, are thin transparent noodles made from mung bean
flour. They are sold in dried form and must be soaked in warm water to soften.
paste or it will scorch, becom-
ing bitter and dried.
Tapioca pearls are round
pellets made from tapioca
starch. They are sold in pack-
Shrimp paste or belachan is ets of large or fine pearls. Tamarind is a sour fruit
a dense mixture of ferment- Tapioca pearls have a soft that comes in a hard pod.
ed ground shrimp. It is sold and irresistibly chewy texture Tamarind juice is one of the
in dried blocks and ranges when cooked. They are used major souring agents in Thai
from pink to blackish-brown in making puddings and are cooking. To make tamarind
in color. Shrimp paste added to drinks, as in the juice, mix 1 tablespoon of
should be slightly roasted to case of the well-known "bub- dried tamarind pulp with 2
enhance its flavor before ble tea". Sago pearls (made tablespoons of warm water
using. Traditionally, it is from the inner pulp of a sago to soften, then mash well
wrapped in banana leaves palm) are a good substitute. and strain to remove the
and roasted over embers for a seeds and fibers.
few minutes. It may also be Taucheo or salted soy bean
roasted directly over a low paste is sold in jars and used Water chestnut is a tuber
flame using tongs for 30 as a salty seasoning. It is that resembles a chestnut in
seconds or heated in a fry- made from salted and fer- color and shape. Available
ing-pan, wrapped in alu- mented soy beans that are fresh, processed and canned,
minium foil, for 1 to 2 min- usually brownish in color. this firm and crispy textured
utes. Alternatively it can also Some brands yield golden- Chinese vegetable is easily
be microwaved very quickly brown beans and are labeled sourced in supermarkets and
in a bowl covered with plas- "yellow bean paste". "Sweet" Asian stores. Store soaking
tic for 30 seconds or so. Do and "hot" salted soy beans in water in the refrigerator
not overcook the shrimp have added sugar and chili. for up to a week.
Basic Ingredients 5

Spicy Steamed Fish Parcels
6 large banana leaf sheets, 1 egg, beaten 2½ cm 0 'n) galangal
soaked in hot water until 2 tablespoons cornstarch root, peeled and sliced
soft or 1 baking pan ¼ teaspoon salt 5 cm (2 in) krachai
(20 x 20 cm/8 x 8 in) Sprigs of coriander leaves (Chinese keys) or
Toothpicks or staples, (cilantro), to garnish young ginger, peeled
for fastening and sliced
500 ml (2 cups) water Chili Paste 4 cloves garlic
¼ teaspoon salt 5 to 8 dried red chilies, 6 shallots
300 g (10 oz) Chinese soaked in warm water 1 teaspoon black
cabbage, shredded to for 15 minutes until peppercorns
yield 3 cups soft, stems discarded, 1 teaspoon dried
500 g (1 lb) white fish deseeded shrimp paste
fillets (catfish, snapper, 2 red chilies, deseeded 1 teaspoon salt
grouper or mackerel) and sliced
2 tablespoons fish sauce 2 stalks lemongrass, thick Makes 12 parcels
250 ml (1 cup) thick bottom part only, outer Preparation time: 1 hour
coconut milk layers discarded, inner Cooking time: 25 mins
4 kaffir lime leaves, thinly part sliced
sliced into fine strips 2 kaffir lime leaves
1 Make the Chili Paste first by grinding all the ingredients to a smooth paste in a
blender or food processor, adding some water to keep the blades turning if necessary.
Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2 Cut out twenty-four 18-cm (7-in) circles from the banana leaf sheets. To make a
banana leaf cup, lay 2 circles on top of one another and fold up the edges to form
a cup, fastening the folded corners with toothpicks or staples. Continue with the
remaining circles to make a total of 12 cups.
3 Bring the water and salt to a boil in a pot and blanch the cabbage for 2 to 3 minutes
until tender. Drain and set aside.
4 Mince ¼ of the fish fillets and slice the remaining 3/ into thin pieces. Set aside.
4
5 Combine the minced fish, fish sauce and Chili Paste in a mixing bowl and mix
until well blended. Add l/ of the thick coconut milk, a little at a time, stirring to
2
mix well. Add the fish pieces, kaffir lime leaves and egg, and mix until well combined.
6 Line each banana leaf cup with some cabbage and spoon the fish mixture over
until 2/ full. If using a baking pan, lightly grease the pan and place all the cabbage
3
in the pan and top with the fish mixture.
7 Combine the remaining coconut milk, cornstarch and salt in a bowl and mix well.
Spread 2 tablespoons of the coconut mixture over the fish mixture in each banana
leaf cup or all of the coconut mixture in the baking pan.
8 Place the fish parcels or baking pan in a steamer, cover and steam for 15 to 20 min-
utes until cooked. Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro).
Appetizers and Snacks 7
Crispy Shrimp Cakes (Tod Mun Goong)
500 g (1 lb) fresh 1 To make the Sweet Thai Chili Sauce, bring the
prawns or shrimp, water, fish sauce and sugar to a boil in a saucepan
peeled and deveined over medium heat, and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes,
150 g (5 oz) ground stirring constantly, until the mixture turns into a thin
pork (optional) syrup. Remove from the heat and set aside. About 10
½ teaspoon salt minutes before serving, combine all the other ingre-
1 tablespoon fish sauce dients with the syrup and mix well. Transfer to a
1 tablespoon sugar serving bowl.
¼ teaspoon ground 2 Grind the peeled prawns or shrimp to a paste in a
white pepper food processor. Combine the prawns or shrimp, pork
60 g (1 cup) bread-
(if using), salt, fish sauce, sugar and pepper in a large
crumbs
bowl and mix until well blended.
Oil for deep-frying
3 Wet your hands, spoon 1 tablespoon of the mixture
2 pieces fresh pineapple,
and shape it into a ball, then press it flat to form a
thinly sliced, to garnish
round cake. Coat the cake on all sides with the bread-
(optional)
crumbs. Continue until all the mixture is used up.
Chinese plum sauce, to
4 Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan until hot. Gradually
serve (optional)
lower the coated cakes into the oil, a few at a time,
Sweet Thai Chili Sauce and deep-fry for about 5 minutes, turning occasion-
ally, until golden brown on all sides. Remove and
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons fish sauce drain on paper towels.
100 g (½ cup) sugar 5 Line a serving platter with the pineapple slices (if
½ cucumber, halved using) and arrange the deep-fried cakes on top. Serve
and thinly sliced hot with a bowl of Sweet Thai Chili Sauce or Chinese
1 tablespoon minced plum sauce (if using) on the side.
garlic
1 teaspoon minced red Serves 4 to 6
chili Preparation time: 30 mins
60 ml (¼ cup) rice Cooking time: 20 mins
vinegar
4 tablespoons chopped
roasted unsalted peanuts
¼ teaspoon salt
Sprigs of coriander leaves
(cilantro), to garnish
8 Appetizers and Snacks