Food - 3/15 - i should log off

Foodie Friday: Thai Cooking Class

December 10, 2010 By Jillian

A guy we met in Turkey asked me what my international food personality was. Without a single missed beat I responded Asian, specifically Thai. I absolutely adore Thai food, in fact it was a Thai restaurant that Danny took me to on our first date. So it’s been a long history between Thai food and I and no surprise that I wanted to take a cooking class in Thailand. So we signed up for a full day cooking course, six courses including dessert. A full day of deliciousness thanks to the Thai Kitchen Cookery Centre.

The class started with a trip to the local market, which although we’ve been in hundreds of markets, was interesting to have a little discussion on the varieties of chilis and things and what they could be used for. Most interesting perhaps was the presence of Chinese snakehead fish, a significant threat to out waterways in the Mid-Atlantic area of the US. After a trip down market lane, we returned to the cooking center and started on our first dish. Fortunately mine was an easy Pad See Eew with chicken and a few minutes later I sauteed up rice noodles, chicken, garlic and some veggies. Although the texture of raw rice noodle is a little weird, a few minutes in the wok and everything was delicious.

Here’s the menu I made:

Pad See Eew with chicken
Green Curry (including my own paste from scratch!)
Chicken with basil
Spicy Papaya Salad
Chicken in coconut milk soup
Black sticky rice with coconut cream

Actually Thai food was really easy to make, surprisingly easy in fact that it was sort of a disappointment to have taken a whole class. Almost every dish involved some sort of stir fry technique, and the most challenging was trying to figure out the specific types of ginger and other spices in English. Nearly every type of special herb or vegetable the instructor told us wasn’t easily available in the West. Doubtful, there are enough ethnic grocery stores in America. Then again it is hard to even find quinoa in a regular store…hmm.

Of course the best part of the day was the eating. After each dish we were able to sit down and enjoy it, delicious! Becka and Danny made their own menus (we had three options in each category to choose from). The overall favorite of course was the banana’s and ice cream at the end, closely followed by the noodles, curries, oh well practically everything!

Foodie Friday: Spit or Swallow

December 3, 2010 By Jillian

Not all adventures of cuisine are good. You remember China. Now let me tell you about Laos.

The last night of our motor-bike adventure we stayed at a local homestay near the Konglor Caves. I have no idea how this got set up, but there seems to be some sort of local cooperative running a homestay program- tourists just show up at the boat dock and ask for a homestay. Laos maintains most of its cultural traditions and signs all over the country instruct tourists on acceptable behavior. We were interested in finding out what it was like to be in a traditional Laos home and of course the food.

Wait, this is foodie friday, right? Alright I’ll skip to the “good” part. We knew dinner would be an event, the best food on this whole trip has been at home-cooking and we expected this to be no exception. My sister is a vegetarian, but she’s not too strict, especially when faced with being a gracious guest in someone’s home. Dinner was already cooking on a fire when we arrived at the wooden house, but when I went to make friends with “mama” in the kitchen I was quickly shooed to the outhouse in the backyard. I guess she thought I was looking for the toilet…

Dinner was served on a special metal tray and it was clear from the get-go that we were being treated as honored guests. The family was wonderful to us and having read up on Laos table manners and customs we were pretty confident we’d impress them or at least not make any serious faux-pas that would send our hosts over the edge.

Baskets of rice, bowls of unidentifiable stews and vegetables were laid out in front of us. Digging in, my first bite wasn’t so rewarding. In fact it was awful. A blended grizzle of meat, bones and definitely organs, the cold meat stew-like dish tasted like rotten dirt and made me want to vomit in my mouth. Grabbing a handful of rice, which interestingly enough they roll in a ball and dip just like African’s do with n’sima, I tried to get it down. Trying desperately to swallow as my eyes watered and my natural gag reflex kicked in, I was horrified that I might actually spit out the food. Pretending to pick bones out of my mouth, I got most of it down or on the plate without incident. In fact I did so well that Danny didn’t even notice my choking, gagging or watery eyes. Needless to say, I was hesitant to go for the veggies, but with the grandfather pushing the plate at me over and over again there was nothing I could do but dip my ball of rice in. This time it wasn’t so bad and although it was far from delicious I got a few soaked rice balls down.

Becka somehow got through the meal without touching the “cold brown meat sludge.” Danny wasn’t so fortunate and since he missed my theatrics he also succumb to our hosts and tried it. Fortunately he was more cautious than I was and only dipped a small bit of rice in the sludge before declaring himself full.

I’ll never know what the cold, brown, meat sludge was, but if I EVER see it again I’ll be sure to run. I can’t say I’ll be looking for a Laotian restaurant in DC…

Foodie Friday: Spring Rolls

November 26, 2010 By Jillian

You’re probably thinking it’s taken us way too long to post about spring rolls. Maybe you’re right. Although we didn’t have a single egg roll or spring roll in all of China, we’ve been eating them pretty regularly since Vietnam. Last week, as part of a full-day cooking class, Danny made spring rolls for the first time. I must say he did a pretty good job, even if they did lack mushrooms.

So, in case you were wondering, here’s his secret recipe (thanks to the Thai Kitchen Cookery Center in Chang Mai) to making your own Thai-style spring rolls and sweet chili dipping sauce. You can also add meat or different vegetables depending on your taste and what’s available in your local store.

Spring Rolls

Ingredients for Filling:

2 tbs soy bean oil
4 cloves crushed garlic (with skin)
30grams diced carrots
5 pre-soaked mushrooms, diced
20 grams dried cabbage
1/4 c bean sprouts
3/4 cup diced tofu
1 egg
1/2 cup glass noodles (pre-soaked and cut)
1 tbs light soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp white sugar

Fry garlic. Add other ingredients in order of hardness (ie carrots, mushrooms, cabbage….) Add liquids and spices last. Simmer and remove from heat.

Place one tablespoon of the filling on a spring roll wrapper. Fold the sheet in half,a turn over the filling. Fold in ends, and smear edge with egg to seal the wrapper. Deep fry until crispy and brown. Serve with sweet chili sauce and enjoy!

Ingredients for Sauce:

1 cup water
3-5 tbs white sugar
3 tbs rice vinegar or tamarind paste
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried chili powder
4-5 tbs ground peanuts
1 tsp chopped coriander leaves

Mix the ingredients together and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat.

Foodie Friday: Rice or Noodles?

November 19, 2010 By Jillian

Often times meal choices in Asia revolve around something to do with rice or something to do with noodles. Much the same as being in Central America where if we didn’t have egg, rice and beans for lunch we were certainly having it for dinner. Thankfully here we at least get the choice between rice and noodles.

What you may find interesting is the insane amount of instant noodles that have worked there way into daily Asian cuisine. To list the differing varieties of instant noodle sold on the street is to sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump. There’s instant noodles with veggies, instant noodles with veggies and chicken, instant noodles in soy sauce, instant noodles in fish sauce, and well the list goes on and on. Now I love instant noodles, but there comes a time when you just can’t handle them anymore.

Hitting my instant noodle limit in Cambodia, we walked into a western bar/restaurant in a small town. The only such place in town, we sat down and were greeted by one of the most outrageous expats to date. Of course he was the owner, and like so many expat come entrepreneur we’ve met around the world, he was in an um… altered state. Assuming that a real western restaurant would say instant noodles in stead of just noodles on the menu, I ordered noodles and veggies. As the words escaped my mouth a plate of instant noodles was put down on the table next to us. Asking to change my order if the plate was instant noodles, the owner jumped down my throat and went off on a tirade about how the locals eat instant noodles. In shock, I agreed with him, but still changed my order.

Yes, locals do eat instant noodles. But, they also eat so many other varieties. While instant noodles are the cheapest and fastest and thus the most popular on the street, there are a plethora “real” noodle options. Egg, rice and regular wheat noodles come in all different varieties and you probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that the name of your favorite Asian dish actually describes the type of noodle it’s made with. In fact, in Chinese Lao Mien (Lo Mein) actually means mixed noodle without broth!

Translated as just “noodle” on the menu, I hardly ever know I am going to get a thin, round, rice vermicelli or a long flat, wheat, fettuccine like noodle. Same goes with rice- it may be regular long grain steamed or it might be sticky rice.

So although instant noodles might have a stronghold in daily cuisine, its not that hard to find some “real” noodles, or if you really want to avoid instant noodles, there’s always rice!

Foodie Friday: Pho

November 12, 2010 By Jillian

F-O. F-Uh. F-uoh. It took a while to get down the actual Vietnamese pronunciation of Pho, but thankfully I did because I want to order it from every street vendor I see. Unfortunately, actually pronouncing Pho isn’t so easy and we spent one evening at the reception desk of our hotel repeating the name of the dish over and over again providing an absolute endless amount of laughter for the staff.

Vietnam wasn’t my first introduction to Pho. Back in DC, a coworker convinced us to go to a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ Vietnamese restaurant one day for lunch. Hesitant, but willing to try something new, I dove right into my rice noodle and meat soup and from that day forward I was hooked. Fortunately my chop stick skills have greatly improved since then and I can now eat Pho with chopsticks without splashing it all over myself in the process. Eating noodle soup with chopsticks, now that’s a serious life skill.

Noodles in Asia are served slightly differently than in the West, they’re usually served in broth. Pho is a bowl of rice noodles in broth that’s usually served with meat, bean sprouts, chilies, basil, and sometimes peanuts. Until we got to Vietnam I had actually never seen it prepared, so when the Pho vendor placed thinly pounded raw beef on the bed of noodles I had to cringe. Seconds late the beef cooked before my eyes as he poured in boiling hot broth.

Without realizing I was sitting next to a novice, I dug right into my Pho. Following my lead, Danny started in on his bowl and after a few bites pronounced it delicious. A few days later, midway through another bowl of Pho, Danny randomly decided that he actually liked using chopsticks for noodles…the next thing I knew we were shopping for a set of chopsticks. Maybe they’ll never be used to eat some Pho, but there’s always hoping!

Foodie Friday: Thai Cooking Class

Foodie Friday: Spit or Swallow

Foodie Friday: Spring Rolls

Foodie Friday: Rice or Noodles?

Foodie Friday: Pho

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