Thai Rice Flour Muffins (Kanom Tui Fu)

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Thai Rice Flour Muffins (Kanom Tui Fu)

Thai-Rice-Muffins.jpg

This is the Thai version of muffins, they are made with rice flour, scented very gently with rose or other flower water and steamed rather than baked. To cook this you will need foil or paper cups, the dough mixture is runny and needs to be held in a cup during cooking. You can see from the pink muffin sliced in half in the picture above, that the mixture forms light moist muffins.

Ingredients for 4 Muffins
125 gms Rice Flour
125 gms Sugar
125 ml Rose Water
1 Teaspoon Fresh Yeast
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Food Colouring (Optional)

Preparation
1. Mix the yeast with the rice flour, add the rose water little by little and mix until the flour is soft.
2. Add sugar, and the remaining rose water and the baking soda.
3. At this point you can add 5 drops of food colouring. Or even divide the mixture into sections and colour each section separately.
4. Stir the mixture well and place in a covered bowl, leave for 1-2 hours for bubbles to form.
5. The mixture should be thick but still fluid. Fill each paper or foil cup to just below the top, the mixture will expand during cooking.
6. Place in a Chinese steamer for 10 minutes. You can check they are cooked by sticking a tooth pick or fork into the centre and if it comes out clean it is cooked inside.
7. Serve cold.

Chicken Rice Curry With Coconut ( Koa Mook Gai )

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Chicken Rice Curry With Coconut ( Koa Mook Gai )

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This curry comes from the Muslim area of Thailand, the south, near the border with Malaysia. It is a chicken curry, made with rice and coconut milk, served with a spicy ginger side sauce. Imagine Paella crossed with Thai spices and that is very close to the style of this dish.

Ingredients for 2 People
200 gms Chicken Legs
350 gms Thai Rice
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
400 ml Chicken Stock

Preparation
1. Clean the chicken legs and score the meat with two or three deep cuts to help it cook.
2. Put the oil into a frying pan and fry the chicken legs until the chicken is part cooked and the skin is browned.
3. Add the coconut milk, salt, curry powder and cinnamon, into the pan and mix it together for a few seconds over the heat.
4. Turn off the heat.
5. At this point you should move the chicken and sauce into a pan suitable to cook the rice in. In Thailand we use automatic rice cookers, and we simply move the chicken and sauce into the rice cooker, however a boiling pan will work equally well.
6. Add the rice, add the chicken stock, the chicken stock must completely cover the rice and submerge it by 2cm or more, if it does not, add water or more stock.
7. Cook on a low heat until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is completely cooked.

Serve With
Ginger sauce
Cucumber
Tomato

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Ingredients for Ginger Sauce
20 gms Ginger
5 Small Bird Chillies
3 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Soya Bean Sauce
1 Teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce

Preparation for Ginger Sauce
1. Mix all ingredients in a food processor and blend until fine.
2. Serve, yes it's that simple.
3. This sauce can be kept in the fridge and will last months, it is a common condiment for several Thai dishes, so you may wish to make up a batch and store it.

Green Curry Chicken Mince ( Gang Khiewwan Kai )

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Green Curry Chicken Mince ( Gang Khiewwan Kai )

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This is a green curry made with minced chicken and small green aubergine. Those green beads you can see in the photograph are the aubergines, but don't worry, large peas will work too. This dish is also made with fish mince, and served with hot cooked. A shared dish of the curry is placed in the center of the table and each guest takes spoonfuls of the sauce onto their rice. Note, you can eat the citrus lime leaves.

Ingredients for 2 people (Medium Hot)
200 gms. Chicken Mince
50 gms. Green Curry Paste
400 ml Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Sugar
50 gms. Small Green Aubergine
5 gms Basil
2 Red Chilles
2 Kaffir (Citrus) Leaves

Serve With
Hot Rice
or Rice Noodle

Preparation
1. Put a medium sized pan on the heat, add the coconut milk and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add the green curry to the pan and stir it untill mixed, bring to the boil.
3. When the curry is boiling, add the chicken mince using a teaspoon. The aim is to make round ball shaped mince balls.
4. Cook for 10 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
5. Add the fish sauce, salt, sugar, red chillis, aubergines, citrus leaves, basil (basically all the other ingredients) and stir it for a few seconds over the heat to warm them through.
6. Turn the heat off and serve it warm with hot rice or rice noodle.

Thai Fish Cakes With Spicy Sauce ( Todman Bla )

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Thai Fish Cakes With Spicy Sauce ( Todman Bla )

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Thai fish cakes are made from soft meat fish, green beans and starch and cooked by deep frying. They are served as a side dish with a spicy dipping or pouring sauce. Any soft meat fish will do and it's a great way to use often ignored smaller and cheaper fish.
To remove the meat of the fish: remove the head, slice it down the belly, and remove any entrails. Pull out the backbone, in soft fish this will also remove the bones. Then remove the top and bottom fins. Finally hold the fish by the skin and scrape off the meat from the skin with a flat bladed knife.

Ingredient for 2 People
150 gms Fish Meat
2-3 Tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
100 gms Long Green Bean
1 Tablespoon Cassava or Potato Starch
Oil for frying

Ingredient for Sauce
20 gms Cucumber
10 gms Peanut
2 Big Red Chillis
3 Tablespoons Sweet Chicken Sauce
(A sweet sauce normally used for chicken, it does not contain chicken!)

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Preparation
Fish Cakes
1. Pre heat a deap fat fryer to 150 degrees celsius (Medium).
2. Add the fish meat, red curry paste, cassava starch, to a blender and blend it.
3. Cut the green beans into very short pieces and mix into the mixture.
4. Take a spoonful of mixture and form it into flat round 'cookie' shaped fish cakes.
5. Drop the fish cakes into the hot oil, when the fish cake is cooked it will float back to the surface.
6. Remove from the oil onto kitchen paper to dry out the excess oil.

Preparation
Dipping Sauce
1. Chop the cucumber and chilles, and mixed with sweet chicken sauce.
2. Pound the peanuts in a mortar into smaller pieces.
3. Top the sauce off with the peanuts.
4. Serve as a side dish, or you can pour it over the fish cakes as we've done in the top photograph.

Pork Mushroom Parcels - Chow Mei ( Khanom Jeap )

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Pork Mushroom Parcels - Chow Mei ( Khanom Jeap )

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Another Thai variant of a Chinese dish. These are pork mushroom and carrot parcels, we called them 'Dim Sum' but our Chinese friends say the correct name for this type of starter is 'Chow Mei'. Served as a starter or a snack, each parcel is approximately 3cms across.

Ingredient for Pastry

200 gms. Wheat Flour ( Enough for 40 )
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Eggs

Ingredient for Filling

100 gms Pork Mince
3 Shitake Mushrooms
2 Carrots
1 Spring Onion
30 gms Coriander Leaves
1 Egg
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoon Cassava Starch (Or corn starch)

Preparation for Pastry
1. Put the salt, sugar, and flour into a bowl and mix it.
2. Beat the eggs together and mix into the flour.
3. Knead it until it forms a dough.
4. Set the dough aside for 20 minutes, it should be covered with a damp towel to prevent a skin forming.

Preparation for Filling
1. Soak the shitake mushroom for 5-10 minutes.
2. Chop shitake mushroom, carrots, spring onions, coriander leaves, and garlic,into small pieces. It is easier to blend it in a food processor.
3. Add the blended mix into the pork mince and add the egg, salt, oyster sauce and cassava starch, and mix well.

Assembly
1. Cut the dough into very small balls.
2. On a slightly oiled or floured surface, roll the dough into small circles (approximately 6cms diameter).
3. Spread the filling evenly over the dough.
4. Lift up the edges into of the dought to form the sides - this will squeeze the filling into the centre.
5. For best results pleat the edges of the pastry to form pleated sides of the parcels.

Cooking and Storing
Add this point you can freeze them on a floured tray, or cook them straight away.
To cook them, place them in a Chinese steamer and steam for 10 minutes.

Serve With
Mint
Coriander
Lettuce
Sour sauce

Suggestions
If you like hot spicy food, you can insert a piece of red or green chilli into the centre of the parcel before eating it.
Another recommended way to serve them, is drissled with fried garlic and bacon in its oil, this is shown in the photograph.

Northern Style Spicy Chicken Soup (Tom Yum Guy)

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Northern Style Spicy Chicken Soup (Tom Yum Guy)

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This version of Tom Yum soup (the popular Thai spicy soup) is eaten in the North of Thailand, it is made with chicken rather than the shrimp (tom yum gung) eaten in the south and coast. If you prefer chicken its a good spicy soup.

Ingredients for 2 People
150 gms Corn Fed Chicken
8 Bird Chillies
2 Garlic Cloves
20 gms Lemon Grass
20 gms Galanga
4 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
3 Tablspoons Tamarind Water
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
50 gms Straw Mushrooms
300 ml Water

Preparation
1. Put water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Chop the lemon grass and galanga into 3cm lengths and add to the pot to make a soup base.
3. Pound the garlic and bird chillies and add into the soup.
4. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces, then add to the soup and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Cut the straw mushrooms into half and add to the soup.
6. Add the fish sauce, salt, tamarind water, lemon juice, and kaffir leaves into the soup and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Serve With
Hot fragrant Rice

Crispy Pork & Spring Onion Parcels ( Giew Toud )

8:07 PM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »


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In China these are made using Wonton skins: a flour based dough processed with lye to change the texture of the flour. However at home in Thailand we make our own pastry without using Lye. This recipe is much better than the frozen Chinese parcels you can buy in the supermarket, the fresh spring onion and coriander really makes a big difference.

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Oil
150 gms Pork Mince
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Pepper
3 Garlic Cloves
20 gms Coriander Leaves (approx 2 sprigs)
20 gms Spring Onion (approx 1 spring onion)

Preparation
1. Whip the egg, put into flour and add the oil.
2. Mix this into a flour dough, it is better not to overwork it - knead it only enough to make a dough. Leave the dough for 5 minutes to rest.
3. Blend the pork, garlic, spring onion, light soy sauce, salt, pepper and coriander in a food mixer.
4. Take the dough, roll it into a sausage shape and chop off little pieces (approx 5 gms) from the end.
5. Roll each piece into a ball using your hands, then using a slightly oil rolling pin, roll the ball into a thin flat circle of pastry.
6. Put the meat filling into the centre, fold over the pastry and pleat the edges to form a parcel.
7. Pre heat a fryer or deep pan of oil to 190 degrees celsius (high).
8. Drop the parcels into the oil and fry for 2-3 minutes until the pastry has just browned and the meat cooked.
9. Remove and place on kitchen paper to remove any oil.

Serve with
Sukiyaki dipping sauce or chilli sour Chinese sauce and coriander, mint and chilli. Or you can just eat them plain.