6 Simple Thai Food You Can Cook at Home.

Why Thai Food?

That's probably the first big question that comes in your mind when reading this post, yes...you, who are reading this post.

First of all, I need to explain that actually this was my daughter's school PDR (plan-do-review) project.
Every term, students have to choose and decide their 'individual' project; make a plan, do it and review (present) it, with a teacher as supervisor.

My daughter chose to explore Thai Food; preparing, styling and photographing the food and made a mini recipe book as the final product.



On one fine Saturday morning, we sat together, chose the recipes that we would execute, made a plan and discussed about the style for the food later. About the food-photography, I let her learn by doing it herself. She's familiar with DSLR since 1.5 years before.





At the end, I think she made a good job. She managed to do the project in between her busy school activities. I cherished every single step of her learning process. I believe she had learned a lot during the process; planning, cooking, styling, photographing, including the digital process.

For me, this was a good opportunity to push myself to learn about Thai Food while helping my daughter doing her project. Lucky us, it's not hard to find the Thai Food recipes, we chose the simple recipes from Food and Travel Magazine, Bangkok special issue.

Thai Food with all of its wonderful tastes and textures, is easy to prepare.
All the ingredients are readily available in special alley in big supermarkets, making it as a good choice for everyday meal. Spices, sauces and condiments used in other Asian dishes are also used in Thai Food (so check your pantry, you might even have the basic supplies already in hand). We got all we needed in Food Mart (Citos) and in Food Hall (PIM2).

Method; ... no worries. if you're familiar cooking Indonesian or Asian Food, then you will have no problem cooking Thai Food.

so... Get ready to make simple dishes full of exotic flavors.

Phad Thai (Seafood Noodles)
source : Food and Travel Magazine, Bangkok special issue.
Making Phad Thai isn't hard.
Timing is crucial. So prepare your ingredients before hand and have them ready nearby.

I chose to used 'medium' size of the rice noodle. They're available in different size, depending on the width of the noodle. I suggest you to read the instruction on the packaging; how long you should soak the dry noodle.
So... this is a kind of fried noodle with an exotic rich flavor on it.





Ingredients :
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sliced shallots
100 gr mixed seafood (I used a mix of prawns and fish balls)
2 eggs
250 gr rice noodles, soak in water for 15 min, then drained.
1 cup bean sprouts, picked
20 stalks chives
1 lime, halved
2 tbsp each crushed peanuts, red chili flake and white sugar, to serve

For the sauce :
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp tamarind paste (or dissolve 1 tsp package tamarind in 2 tsp water, then strain seeds)
2 tbsp sugar

1. Combine sauce ingredients and mix well. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok and saute the shallots until translucent and fragrant. Slide in the seafood, stir-fry for 1 min, and then pour in the sauce and eggs. Give it all a good stir, and then tip in the soaked noodles, bean sprouts and chives.
Cook, stirring vigorously, until the noodles are coated with the sauce and the seafood is cooked. Add a little water to loosen up the noodles, if necessary. Adjust the seasoning and dish out to a plate.
3. Serve with lime for squeezing, as well as peanuts, chilli flakes and sugar on the side.

serve 2, prep 25 mins, cook 15 mins.


Tom Yum Soup
source : Food and Travel Magazine, Bangkok special issue.
Nothing I need to explain about this very famous dish from Thailand.
The balance of sweet and sour, salty and hot flavors, this seafood soup says it all!





Ingredients :
1 1/2 cups water
4 shiitake mushrooms, quartered
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 red chilli, halved
2 thin slices blue ginger
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
1 tbsp store-bought tom yum paste
100 gr mixed seafood (I used  a mix of prawn and fish fillet)
1 tbsp chopped Chinese parsley

1. Tip all the ingredients (except the seafood and parsley) into a pot, stirring to dissolve the paste in water. Bring to a boil and then slide in the seafood. Lower the heat and simmer until the seafood is cooked. Discard the aromatics.
2. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with parsley before serving.

serve 2, prep 10 mins, cook 15 mins.


Pomelo Salad
source : Thai Food Calender 
This exotic, spicy, fruit based salad, like most of Thai salads, should be eaten immediately after tossing the lime dressing.
This salad is a great choice for vegetarians, just omit the shrimps.





Ingredients :
2 cups of Pomelo, shredded into small pieces
150 gr shrimp, shelled and de-veined, sauted
3 tbsp dry roasted shredded coconut
1 tbsp roasted peanuts
2 tbsp fried shallots
1 tbsp coriander leaves
1-2 red Thai chilli, chopped
1 kaffir lime leaf, thinly sliced, for garnish
1 red thai chilli, thinly sliced, for garnish

Dressing
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 tbsp nam prik pow*

1. Make the dressing : In a bowl, mix nam prik pow, palm sugar, fish sauve and lime juice. Stir well.
2. In another bowl, mix the shredded pomelo, shrimps, fried shallots, roasted shredded coconut and peanuts, coriander and chilli.
3. Toss the dressing.
4. Garnish with kaffir lime leaves and sliced red chilli.

*Buy pre-made from an Asian grocery or prepare yourself, following recipe below.
To fry shallots, peel the skin off and thinly slice. Heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a frying pan oven low to medium heat. Add shallot and fry until golden brown. Set aside.

Nam Prik Pow (Chilli Paste)
4 tbsp oil
3 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp shallots, chopped
1 tsp salt
3 large red Thai chilli, take out the seed, chopped.

Soak red chilli in hot water for 15 minutes and deseed. Heat oil in wok and fry garlic until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
In same oil, fry shallots until crispy. Remove and set aside.
Fry red chilli until dark, remove and place in mortar with shallots and garlic.
Pound together into paste.
Reheat oil, add paste and warm through.
Add sugar and salt and mix well.
Finish with a thick black/red sauce.
Store in tight jar in refrigerator for up to 3-4 months.


Minced Chicken with Basil
source : Food and Travel Magazine, Bangkok special issue.
Known as Pad Ka Prow Gai. This is a fuss-free one-dish meal.
Very-very easy to prepare and it's so quick becoming our family favorite dish.
I think, the simple and familiar ingredients on it, make our tongues are easy to accept and enjoy the dish. So, I marked this recipe as a smart choice for a hurry cooking menu.



Ingredients :
3 tbsp oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp red chilli paste (grind from fresh, if possible)
200 gr minced chicken
18-20 Thai holy basil, leaves picked
2 tbsp finely diced long beans
2 bowls cooked white rice, to serve

For the sauce :
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp Maggi seasoning
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce

1. Combine the ingredients for the sauce and mix well. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Break in the two eggs and fry to make sunny side ups. Set aside.
3. In the hot oil, saute garlic and chilli pastes until fragrant. Tip in the minced chicken and basil, stirring to break up the meat clumps. Pour in the sauce and long beans, toss to combine. Stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through.
4. To serve, divide the rice between two plates, ladle the minced chicken on the side and top with a sunny side up each.

Prep 10 mins, Cook 10 mins


Thai Fish Cakes
source : Food and Travel Magazine, Bangkok special issue.
Tod Man Pla or Thai Fish Cakes is  made by deep-frying small cakes of minced fish meat, mixed with red curry paste, finely chopped long beans and finely shredded kaffir lime leaves.
It's good to be served with green salad and Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping.





Ingredients :
1 kg fish fillet (try dory or mackerel), roughly chopped
100 gr long beans, roughly chopped
10 gr kaffir lime leaves, torn
1 egg
100 gr storebought Thai red curry paste
10 gr salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp sugar
oil, for deep-frying
Thai sweet chili sauce, to serve

1. Place the fish fillets in a food processor and blitz to a fine paste. Tip all the remaining ingredients (except the oil and sweet chilli sauce) and blitz until smooth.
2. Divide the mixture into 6 balls and flatten each lightly with the hell of your palm.
3. Heat oil to a depth of 3 cm in a deep pan. Slide in the fish cakes and fry over medium heat until golden, about 5-8 minutes. Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

prep 15 mins, cook 10 mins.


Thai Coconut Sticky Rice and Mango
Source : http://shesimmers.com/2009/03/mango-and-sweet-coconut-sticky-rice.html
I modified a bit the recipe from the website above, because I found out it's too sweet to use 1/2 cup of sugar for 1/2 cup of sticky rice. I reduced the amount of sugar, and used only 2 tbsp sugar. 
The sesame seeds on the top give additional flavor and texture to this exotic dessert.
Make sure you read the recipe in detail to avoid mistakes. 



Ingredients :
½ cup raw Thai sticky rice (no substitute), soaked anywhere from one to 5 hours, drained, and rinsed to get rid of excess starch
½ cup good coconut milk
2 tbsp sugar*
¼ teaspoon salt
One perfectly ripe good mango, peeled and cut into thick slices

1. Put the rice in a heatproof bowl and steam in a steamer, over medium heat, for about 20 minutes (based on one half cup of rice). The rice should be cooked through with no hard, raw bits in the middle of the grains. You can also cook the sticky rice without a steamer, using the splatter guard method.
2. Turn off the heat and let the rice stay in the steamer, with the lid on, while you prepare the coconut milk.
3. In a heatproof bowl, heat the coconut milk, sugar, and salt in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. The sugar should completely dissolve and the mixture should be very hot.
4. Take the sticky rice out of the steamer. Pour the hot coconut mixture on top of the rice and gently stir. (It may look like your rice is drowned in coconut water, but the liquid will all be absorbed.) Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the mixture stand at room temperature, undisturbed, for half an hour.
5. The coconut sticky rice is to be served at room temperature along with fresh mango. The sesame seeds are optional.
6. The rice can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave, but the texture of reheated sticky rice isn’t as good as it is when freshly made. Freezing sticky rice is not recommended.

Prep 15 mins, Cook 1 hour.

All pictures are (c) vaniaSamperuru.