Thailand

I only have a few photos from my final, which was on Thai dishes. My camera's battery had died, and I kept forgetting to charge it. So, these photos are on Irish's camera, and, well, she's not exactly good at following through on reminders to send them to me...

But this night was delicious. It's hard for me to pick favorites when it comes to food, but definitely Thai is way up there.

*Tamarind water - made by rehydrating the tamarind paste in equal amounts of warm water, mashing the paste to dissovle and passing through a strainer. You can also buy tamarind water - just look for products that only have the ingredients of tamarind and water.

Kai Look Koei (Son in Law Eggs)
Hard cook eggs first, then peel
Simmer tamarind water, palm sugar (brown sugar if can't find this), and fish sauce, stirring, until syrupy, 5-8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Deep fry the eggs, turning to brown evenly. When gold and blistered, after 3-5 minutes, drain on paper towels. Make and alternate sauce with a combination of sambal and fish sauce with a little bit of brown sugar. Adjust the seasonings so that all the flavors are represented.
Toss the 3 whole eggs in the tamarind sauce and the other egg in sambal sauce. Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and arrange ona platter with a dollop of sauce under each. Scatter the chiles and fried shallots on top.
Okay, so this may sound kind of disgusting, but it was pretty good. I wouldn't be able to eat more than one just because of the deep frying, and, well, that's just too much egg, but, still, not as awful as it may seem based on the description.

Green Curry with Chicken

Brown chicken in oil. Add eggplant until see color. Add 1T curry paste. Add milk, then heavy cream, add lime leaves, simmer until nappe. If bland, add fish sauce. Served with rice.

Pad Thai

I know this is so cliched, but, honestly, pad thai is one of my favorite dishes. It's just so good. Plus I really liked this recipe. This is definitely a keeper. Now, if only I had a real stove and not a stupid 2/3 electric stove that doesn't really allow me to cook on a wok...

Now, if you are lucky enough to have an actual stove... here's the directions:

Fry an egg in oil, then take out. Fry shrimp, and turn down heat. Add shallot and garlic, then brown sugar, then scallions, then half the sprouts. Oh. Buy real sprouts. As in, go to your nearest Asian market, not the boring old grocery store you would go for simple staples. You won't believe the difference.

Anyway. Then add noodles. Strain the tamarind water, pour over noodles, then add egg. Break up among noodles. Add a couple T of water, then add fish sauce. Careful! Not too much - it will make it really salty. Serve with coarsely chopped peanuts, lime wedges, shredded carrots, cilantro, and thai bird chiles.

Lessons Learned:

I think I could eat pad thai every single day. And oh man does fish sauce smell so bad, but it makes dishes taste so good.