Recent Articles - Page 4

Pumpkin Curry Recipe

Pumpkin Curry was not one of my favourite curries growing up.  As I have learned to appreciate vegetables and other ingredients and taste them for their pure flavors, Pumpkin Curry now ranks high in my kitchen. The sweetness of the pumpkin contrasts with slightly salty curry.  Each bite is full of creamy, nutty pumpkin with spicy sauce.  Every Fall, I look forward to pumpkin curry.

The difference between pumpkin and squash seems to be which side of the pond you reside. Even though, I’m on the side that should go for 'squash', pumpkin gives the fairytale association. This fairy godmother will not turn the pumpkin into a coach for you to attend a party but she can turn pumpkin into pumpkin curry for your potluck.

Any type of pumpkin or squash is great with this recipe. In the picture on the right, I use fairytale pumpkin, also known as muscat squash. However, in the step-by-step pictures below, kabocha squash was the choice for the day. The fairytale pumpkin cooks much faster and has bright orange color, like carrots. The kabocha is denser with bright yellow flesh. My preference is the kabocha because its flavor is closer to the Thai pumpkin.

Crab Curry with Tindora Recipe

When I was at a rice field in Thailand, I saw these beautiful ivy gourds hanging from a fence.  Before I was done taking pictures, my mother's hand had reached to pick them.  We came home that day and made tindora curry.  So, when I was at my local Indian store and saw tindora, I jumped at the chance of making the curry.

Tindora or Ivy Gourd is not a common ingredient that you would find at a market in Thailand. The ivy gourd leaves are more a common and available at any market in bundles. Most Thai people probably don't know that the green fruit is edible. The only way to get to enjoy this wonderful curry is to forage for tindora and make the curry yourself.

Fortunately if you live in the US near an Indian/Pakistani market, you will see fresh tindora/ivy gourds from time to time. The fruit that's available here in the US is the non-bitter ones where in Thailand they are notoriously bitter.

Tindora gives the curry a slight crunch that you normally don't find in a vegetable that's cooked in a curry sauce. The curry is thickened with crab meat and lacks most of the soupy liquid many other curries have.

Southern Red Curry Paste

Southern Red Curry Paste has similar ingredients to basic red curry paste of the central plain. The Southern version is hotter because of the amount and the type of chili peppers.  In central plain, the basic red curry paste uses larger and milder chili peppers.  The Southern Red Curry Paste has fresh turmeric which adds bright yellow to the curry.

I'm a great fan of southern Thai food and love making southern food. This curry paste lets me cook other delicious southern Thai dishes like kua gling.

The Southern Curry Paste, as far as I know, is not available in the US. However, it can be made at home.

Southern Red Curry Paste Recipe

Southern Red Curry Paste has similar ingredients as its central plain counterpart, basic red curry paste. The exceptions are the addition of fresh turmeric and peppercorns and the omission of cilantro roots.  

This curry paste is bright red because of the dried peppers and fresh turmeric. The heat comes from both the chili peppers and the peppercorns.

People who love southern Thai food know how fiery hot southern food normally is; this curry paste is no exception as it's made with dried Thai chilies, the small hot peppers. However, in this recipe, you have a choice of using the fiery hot chilies or the milder ones.

This Southern Red Curry Paste can be used for making several popular dishes such as kua gling, snail curry and fish gut curry.

Tindora

Ivy Gourd, also known as scarlet-fruited gourd, grows wild throughout Thailand. After the rains, it often grows and sends out long shoots along fences. The young leaves and shoots are popular in soups and stir fries. In Thailand, people eat the fruit, but not as frequently as the leaves, so while you see the leaves at markets, you rarely see the fruits. This differs from the US, where you can find the fruit at Indian markets under the name Tindora, but never the leaves.

While the plant belongs to the cucumber family, the flavor is richer. The fruit is green with whitish stripes going from end to end, similar to a watermelon. In fact, it looks like a miniature watermelon. It's about 2 inches in length and ½ inch in diameter. The fruit ripens from the inside out. I took this picture on the right before I picked the gourds. They were mostly green. Just overnight, 2 of them turned bright red. The ripe fruit is soft and sweet while the green fruit is bitter. There are actually 2 varieties: bitter and non-bitter.  The variety common in Thailand is the bitter one. The variety we've found at the Indian markets in the US are not bitter.

I first saw Ivy Gourd growing wild in Hawaii. After some research, a USDA webpage shows it also grows in Texas and Florida. The plant is a climber and regarded as weed. In Thailand, we control this type of weed by eating them! To prepare the gourd for cooking, it's cut cross sectional and wash with salt and water to remove the bitterness. The most common way of cooking is to add it to curries. 

Bananas in Syrup Recipe

Banana in syrup is one of my favorite desserts. While the delicious, shiny red pieces of banana look like candy, they are not as sweet as they appear.

The small bananas common in Thailand called gluay nam wah(กล้วยน้ำว้า) are a key ingredient in this recipe. In the US, the closest type of banana I found was Manzano.

Bananas in syrup is easy to make and tastes great, but making it beautifully red does take a little patience.

Gluay Nam Wah

One of the most versatile plants in Thailand is the banana. The most common variety of banana in Thailand is 'Gluay Nam Wah'. It is often grown around people's houses because of its usefulness: the leaves is used as a wrap for food, flowers and fruit are eaten and part of the trunk is eaten or used as animal feed.

Gluay Nam Wah is a small banana compared to the variety commonly available in the US. Each hand has between 10-15 bananas. Each banana is about 3-4 inches in length and about an inch in diameter. The flesh is off white with tiny edible seeds inside.

Gluay Nam Wah can be eaten raw or cooked. If you get a chance, try some...

Limewater

What is limewater or nam pboon sai (น้ำปูนใส)?

Limewater is the secret ingredient in Thai cooking that firms up soft fruit for long cooking and makes crispy batter.

Let's start with the raw ingredients in making limewater (Nam Pboon Sai). Slaked lime (lime + water = Ca(OH)2 ) or calcium hydroxide is traditionally made with burning shells at high heat and adding the burned shells to water. The water that you get is limewater. However, in Thailand the red lime paste is more common because the paste is used in making paan.

To make red lime, powdered turmeric is added to the mixture. Instead of turning yellow like turmeric, this pasty mixture turns bright red. Nam Pboon Sai or limewater is made when more water is added to the mixture. When the lime settles, the clear, pinkish water above is used in cooking.

Roasted Chili Paste Recipe

Nam Pig Pow is a type of chili paste that has many versions and names according to ingredients and colors. Nam Prig Pow's main ingredients are shallots, garlic, chili peppers and seasonings (salt, fish sauce and sugar). Common protein added to chili pastes are dried shrimp and dried fish. A more exotic addition to chili pastes can include waterbugs and various fish.

This particular type of chili paste is also called 'nam prig dang' or red chili paste from the reddish color from chilies.

My father often came back from a big banquet and ate his late night meal with of this chili paste. This is his recipe, simple and delicious.

Chili Paste Recipe

There are so many types of Thai chili pastes. Most non-Thais are introduced to chili paste via tom yum goong. This type of chili paste is sweet with a dark thick body and red oil. For Thai people, chili paste is versatile. It can be eaten as a side dish as dipping sauce with fresh vegetables, as component in other recipes such as yum (salad) or tom yum, or as fusion food on a piece of bread.

This type of chili paste should be accurately called nam prig pud but most people know it as nam prig pow. The term pow is referred to roasting method in an open flame until the outside is charred. Pud (or pad) is stir fry method ie. Pad Thai – sitr fried. This chili paste is made with ground spices, then stir fried with oil. The true 'nam prig pow' has roasted ingredients and is not stir fried with oil. However, the term 'nam prig pow' now includes 'nam prig pud', and often 'nam prig pud' refers exclusively to 'nam prig pow,' as evident in store-bought chili paste.