My mother must rave about my cooking since some of her coworkers asked me to put on a Thai cooking class. Sounds good to me! I much prefer cooking Thai for a large number of people, there's more to try. And! If it's a cooking class, I can make them do the prep, which always takes so long. A win-win-win as far as I can see...
Here was the menu and the accompanying recipes:
Laab/Larb
- 1 lb ground/minced pork
- ¼ c lime juice
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp lemongrass
- 6 shallots, minced
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp chopped green onion
- ¼ c chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp ground roasted sticky rice
- 1 tsp ground Thai chili
- 15 mint leaves, julienned
Combine all except the ground sticky rice, ½ of the cilantro and all of the mint in a hot wok/skillet. Stir frequently while cooking. When cooked through, remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Serve with lettuce leaves or rice paper.
(This is one of my favorite starters; it has a lot of flavor with some heat. And it's fun to wrap it up in the lettuce leaves.)
Pad Siewe Noodles
Serves 4
- 4 cups dried noodles, soaked in hot water about 15 minutes
- oil
- 1 cup pork, or other meat, thinly sliced
- 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 3 cups vegetables; gai lan, carrots, broccoli, etc…
- 4 eggs, beaten
Sauce
- 3 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sweet soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp regular soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp sugar (palm or brown)
- Dried hot chilies to your taste
Mix sauce ingredients and the pour over softened noodles, mix together and set aside.
Put enough oil in wok/pan to coat the bottom. Once hot, add meat and garlic, cook about 2 minutes. Add vegetables and cook until starting to soften. Add noodles and sauce and cook until they are just about done. Then shift them to one side of the wok and pour in eggs, fry for one minute before incorporating into noodles. Remove from heat once cooked through.
(Noodles, you can't beat them. I especially love the really fat noodles. I know you will be shocked to hear, but it's very difficult to find the fatties in the Okanagan. I guess there's not many Thai people here... So to solve that problem, I use rice noodle "flakes". These are diamond shaped and about the size of a matchbox car. They have the same mouth feel as the fat noodles, unfortunately, not slurpable.)
Eggplant with cashews
Serves 4
- 2 long eggplants, sliced into rounds; or 1 globe eggplant, cubed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2-3 hot peppers, thinly sliced
- ¼ c each basil, cilantro, chopped
- 2 Tbsp chopped mint
Sauce
- Equal measurements of fish sauce, palm or brown sugar and lime juice
- 3 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
- 1 tsp sriracha sauce
Heat wok with water to steam the eggplant (more for slices, less for cubes). Add eggplant and cover until they start to soften. Add oil, garlic, shallots and peppers until fragrant. Add sauce and cover again if the eggplant is not cooked through, otherwise cook 2 – 3 minutes until sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat, add basil, cilantro and mint and combine. Place in serving bowl and sprinkle cashews on top.
(Whenever my sister comes for a visit, I am requested to make this dish. You really do need the hot, hot wok to get the eggplant to turn out, otherwise they often get mushy.)
Red curry with squash
Serves 4
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 6 – 8 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 small winter squash, peeled and cubed
- 2 cans coconut milk
- 2+ Tbsp red curry paste
- Fish sauce, lime juice and palm/brown sugar to taste
Basil and cilantro for garnish
Place enough oil in wok to coat bottom. Add onions and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add squash and cook 5 or so minutes until it starts to soften. Add coconut milk and curry and let simmer about ½ hour. Taste and adjust flavours with fish sauce, sugar or lime juice.
Garnish with julienned basil and cilantro.
Som Tam Carrot (salad)
Serves 4
- 5-6 cups carrots, peeled and grated (Thais most often use green papaya, but will also use carrots or cucumbers.)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 small, hot peppers
- 1 Tsp dried shrimp
- 4 Tbsp fish sauce
- 4 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp palm/brown sugar
- 4-6 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 4 Tbsp roasted peanuts
Put garlic, peppers and shrimp in mortar and pound until a paste. Add carrots, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and pound again to bruise the carrots. Remove from mortar and add tomatoes and peanuts. Serve with nam jim jiao and sticky rice.
(I love, love love som tam. I had only ever had it made with green papaya, which is hard to find here (another shocker) but when we were in Thailand, they make it with carrots or cucumbers too. It is so good! And I always have bags of carrots from our Farm Boxes.)
Nam jim jiao (dipping sauce)
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 scallion, green part thinly sliced
- 1 tsp lime juice, fish sauce and sugar
- 1 Tsp toasted ground sticky rice
- Dried chili flakes to taste
- 1 small tomato, wedged
Combine.
(Yum. My favorite dipping sauce. Spicy, sweet, sour and salty.)
It must have been okay since I was asked if I'd do it again. Absolutely. I have more recipes to try...
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