Tuesday's Tasty Thai
It's Tuesday, so you, my faithful readers, get to find out about the tasty Thai food we learned how to make last night. Last night's lesson lecture centered primarily around Thai chilis ("prik kee noo") and their use in various salads and soups. After an amusing side lecture on some Thai swearing practices - prik kee noo translates literally as 'mouse shit peppers", see, and 'kee' means both 'shit' and 'in excess', so prik kee noo is a play on words meaning both it's really hot and peppery and you hop around like an excited mouse when you eat one - we learned that Thai chilis are frequently just smashed a bit and left whole in salads. You can be merrily chomping on your lettuce and suddenly get a full bite of heat. Anyway, on to the menu:
- Hot and Sour Prawn Soup - Dtom Yam is a delicious, light soup that I've not had before. It's nothing like the heavy, tofu-laden Hot and Sour soup I'm used to from Chinese cuisine. It is made from a light stock of water, fish sauce and the prawn shells. Limes are added just at the end to add the sour flavor.
- Curried Mousse of Red Snapper in Banana Leaf Cups - Oh wow was this dish good. Eggs and fish are added to the standard curry paste and coconut milk sauce. The mixture is then placed in cups hand cut and formed from banana leaves and then steamed. The result is a very light, mildly spicy custard. The banana leaf cups add to the prep time, but if I need to impress with presentation, I will definitely give this dish some thought.
- Spicy Basil Chicken - Always a favorite of mine, this very simple dish came with a lecture on how to season and use a wok. I'm glad we did this one; I learned plenty about why mine never tastes like what I get in a restaurant.
- Stir-fried Broccoli with Thai Oyster Sauce - This too is a nice, simple dish you can prepare quickly. Thai meals generally are not served with salt and pepper at the table; a sauce of chopped up chilis mixed with fish sauce is put out instead. Since fish sauce is salty, this is how Thai season their food at the table. Unfortunately, in looking to turn up the heat, I added too much of the chili sauce to my broccoli dish and I overpowered it, unable to taste the difference between oyster sauce and the fish sauce used in the chicken dish. I'm looking forward to trying this again without as much heat.