Let me first say that Thailand is number one on my list of places to visit. With that being said, let's take an imaginative journey to this intriguing country, and have some dinner! From The Essential Asian Cookbook, I took two Thai recipes and paired them together for this mini-feast. The book's chapter on Thai food briefly introduces the cuisine, and I couldn't word it better myself: "Every Thai meal is a delicate balancing act of bold flavours. The soups and curries are both tart and creamy sweet, flavoured with sour tamarind, scarlet-hot chillies, tangy lime leaves and handfuls of aromatic basil, coriander [cilantro] and mint. While the cooking of Thailand has borrowed from other countries - stir-fries and steamed dishes from China, spices from India - these influences have been shaped into a cuisine whose tastes and fragrances are uniquely Thai." That's putting it perfectly, I'd say!
A month or so ago, reader Laurie had asked me to do a post on making Pad Thai, so I decided to incorporate it into tonight's post. I paired this Pad Thai, a traditional fried noodle dish, with some Steamed Fish in Bamboo Leaves (the recipe called for banana leaves - but I couldn't find those!) I put together my bamboo leaf baskets for the steamed fish and assembled that part of the meal, setting it aside until the Pad Thai was done, since the fish only took 7 minutes to steam. I gathered some chopped prawns, thinly sliced pork, chopped garlic cloves, rice stick noodles, chopped garlic chives, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, beaten eggs, bean sprouts and some chopped peanuts. I left off the coriander [cilantro] because Matt has an aversion to it. I can only trick him into eating it if it's really cooked right into the dish...but a garnish isn't going to fly!
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| Brown sugar, Fish Sauce, Pork and Shrimp not pictured |
The rice stick noodles are totally easy to prepare - just soak them in warm water for 10 minutes. It doesn't even need to be boiling! Does it get any easier than that? Once you've prepped everything, this dish comes together very quickly. Heat some oil in a wok and once it's hot, add the minced garlic, chopped chillies and the thinly sliced pork. Stirring constantly, allow this to cook for 3 minutes and then add the prawns, cooking for another 3 minutes. At this point, throw in the chopped garlic chives and the drained rice stick noodles. Allow the mixture to simmer, covered for about a minute. Using some tongs, toss the mixture with the 2 beaten eggs, fish sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar until everything is coated evenly and the egg has had a minute or two to thicken up. At this point you can throw in the bean sprouts and the chopped peanuts. See how quickly that came together!!
I was going to put pictures of each step, but everything went so quickly, and the images weren't the greatest quality so hopefully this works well as a finished product! It's very simple to throw all these things together, toss 'em in the wok and serve it. It's a great, quick, weeknight meal.
Now, the steamed fish was also really simple! It's just coconut cream, red curry paste, and thinly sliced cod (I used cod, but you could use another sturdy white fish if you so chose). There's some sliced cabbage thrown on top, and then some fish sauce, lime sauce and sweet chili sauce as toppings right before serving. Steamed in bamboo (or banana) leaves, it is a sweet, but savory dish with a hint of heat from the curry paste. The dishes paired really nicely together too, so for that I say, GO ME! :)
It was a nice little jaunt to the balmy climate of Bangkok, but it's time to hop back on the plane and continue our trip around the world. But don't worry Thailand, I'll be back!
ราตรีสวัสดิ์ (ra-tee-sa-was) which means Good Night! in Thai
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