Fishinnards

Here is the recipe I used, complete with video: http://riceandcurry....ippu-sri-lanka/ BTW there are thousands of ways to cook masoor dhal. Let me know if want a north Indian recipe. This Sri Lankan recipe is very easy and always comes out tasty.

Some things I've been cooking, Pork stir fried with red curry paste and vegetables (mu pad pet) roasted eggplant salad with pork (yum makeau pro), omelet stuffed with pork (kai yat sai), fresh vegetables, pickled mustard green soup (gaeng chud pak dong), fish sauce with chillies (prik nam pla), brown jasmine rice. Sri Lankan lentils (paripoo)(aka masoor dhal), cabbage curry, salad of cucumbers, tomato, onion, chillies, cilantro. lime juice and salt, piles of rice. Thai chicken biryani (khao mok gai), vegetables and sweet chili sauce Cucumber salad (yum taeng), red curry (gaeng pet), pickled mustard green soup (gaenge chud pak dong), grilled pork skewers with sweet chili sauce (mu ping), and rice.

My wife has had a jones for gingerbread so I made this recipe yesterday. It came out great. Thanks!!

Indian groceries usually stock citric acid for just this reason (making paneer).

I wonder, with people like Robert Dahni and others around in the industry, why it is still cool to throw a bunch of Asian ingredients together and call it a Thai dish. Can't we stick with "Asian" or is that not exotic enough. It bothers me because at places like the Cheesecake Factory in less cosmopolitan parts of the country, it may be someone's only experience with "Thai" food. Yet what is being presented is not, in fact , Thai food at all. Thai food does not (traditionally) use Mirin, for example. And what is "Thai Chicken", there are hundreds (if not thousands) of ways to cook chicken in the Thai tradition. The worst offenders, besides chain restaurants, are recipes in newspaper food sections and magazines, even the Washington Post. Telltale signs are recipes that include ginger (Thai cooking uses ginger, but not in the way that you think, and not very often), and sesame oil. OTOH, Thai food is a "fusion" food and Thai cooks are quick to adopt new techniques and ingredients ( e.g. satay, custard, stir frying, condensed milk, actually the list is endless). Plus, Thai people did this to American food before we did it to them. Witness, American Fried Rice. (Here's how to make it... yum?). They also do terrible things to pizza. I just needed to rant, please forgive me, and eat anything you want and call it whatever you like. Everybody does it.

I got a cold on Thanksgiving that lasted a week and played havoc with my cooking. When I was finally back to normal I made some green curry with beef, roasted eggplant salad with pork, shallots, mint, peanuts, fried shallots, toasted coconut, lime chillies and fish sauce, crispy chicken skin with garlic, coriander root and white pepper, blanched cauliflower, green beans, arugula, cabbage, lettuce, and basil, fish sauce with chillies, soup with pork, spinach and fried garlic (not pictured), and heaping helpings of jasmine rice. Another memorable meal from "Rivers of Flavor" (Burmese food) was Kachin pounded beef, pickled ginger salad, spinach and tomato salad and piles of jasmine rice. Actually, this may have been before I got sick. I think it was the last of the decent fresh tomatoes. Last night we had some food from "Climbing the mango tree", Madhur Jaffrey's wonderful memoir. The recipes in the back are fantastic. I made Maya's meat and potatoes, pumpkin (kaddu) (actually acorn squash), and hari chutney (mint, cilantro, chillies, lime), papads and rice. I'm making green curry again tonight because I made enough paste for two curries, and maybe some laab. I also have all the ingredients for a lamb biryani that I bought right before my cold disrupted my culinary endeavors, so biryani is in my future .

Earlier this week I made some things from Naomi Duguid's new cookbook "Burma Rivers of Flavor" (my fourth Burmese cookbook!). Chicken aloo (gaeng gai aloo) from the Shan people who speak a Tai language and are ethnically related to the Thai, hence the name. Gaeng gai means chicken curry in Thai, but aloo is Hindi for potato (the Thai word is man farang, foreign yam). It actually tasted more Burmese than Thai. I also made "tender greens with crispy fried shallots", as well as some crispy chicken skin (a la Danny Bowein). As always, served with copious amounts of jasmine rice. Later in the week I made tender greens with crispy fried shallots again, this time with some greens from Great Wall (don't go to that parking lot on a holiday) and "minced chicken with galangal and tomato" which was great. (and rice) Last night we had green papaya salad, some raw vegetables, red curry with salmon and pineapple, soup with pickled mustard greens, Thai omelet with siracha sauce and fish sauce with chillies.

Looks like I'm going to attempt ยำแหนมข้าวทอด (Yam Naem Khao Tod) (Spicy Salad of Curried Rice Croquettes, Fermented Pork, Ginger and Peanuts). It's a bit of a production so we shall see if I can get it together. I will bring some beer as well.

I plan to attend. I will bring a dish or two, not sure what yet.

This past weekend I had a little get together (a small gathering of Anthropologists) and decided to try to cook as many dishes as possible. Daging nasi kandar, Malaysian Beef curry. A fascinating dish that uses techniques and ingredients from Indian (fried shallots, whole spices, curry leaves), Chinese (fermented black beans) and Malay (lemongrass, copious amounts of red chilli) cuisines. แกงกะหรี่เจ อาจาด, Thai "curry" curry (gaeng kari) vegetarian (no fish sauce) with tofu onions, potatoes, and cherry tomatoes. The recipe is (adapted) from Dave Thompson's "Thai Street Food" and is my favorite recipe for this dish. The version in the book uses prawns, it's usually made with chicken. Incidentally, my least favorite recipe for this dish is the one in Thompson's "Thai Food". ส้มตำ, Som Tam, Green papaya salad, made a vegetarian and a regular (fish sauce) version ลาบหมู, laap mu, chopped pork salad ไก่ทอด, gai tord, Thai style fried chicken (Chef McDang's recipe) หมูผัดใบกะเพรา, mu pad grapao, pork stir fried with holy basil (from the garden). It's been a super prolific couple of months for holy basil in the garden. Sorry this photo is slightly blurry (because of all the hot peppers?). Gulai Kambing, Indonesian (Sumatran) lamb curry Pebok Che, Burmese (Shan) fermented soybean and tomato relish, vegetarian. To hpu thouk, Shan tofu salad. Homemade chickpea tofu from Naomi Duguid's latest cookbook, Burma: Rivers of Flavor. We also had lots of sticky rice, jasmine rice, beer, wine and bourbon.

Interesting talk from David Chang at the MAD symposium about umami and MSG. I been think a lot about this lately because it's so ubiquitous in East and Southeast Asian food. Not since the chili pepper, has an ingredient spread so rapidly through so many food cultures in so short a time period. Here is the link to the 23 minute video. I have many more thoughts on this subject, but no time to post at this moment, perhaps later.

This weekend I grilled some pork (หมูย่าง) between rain storms and had it along with sticky rice, various dipping sauces (jeaw, น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว), and green papaya salad (ส้มตำ). Additionally, I made jungle curry (แกงป่า) without meat for a non-mammal eating guest. The leftovers constituted our meal for the next evening, except we had jasmine rice (from my new rice cooker!) and garlic pork (หมูทอดกระเทียมพริกไทย). My garden has been producing copious amounts of holy basil (and other basil) over the last month and now is making lots of eggplants. Monday and Tuesday's dinner was grilled eggplant in tomato sauce with pickling spices (fennel and kalonji), sweet and sour okra, mung bean dumplings in tomato and fenugreek sauce, cucumber, tomato and shallot with toasted cumin and lime and spiced basmanti rice. I spent the rest of the weekend canning 30 lbs. of tomatoes into sauce and jam as well as making jalapeno jelly and pesto for the freezer.

Some news. At least three months away.

I went there this week for a grinder. It seems they changed bread. The previous bread they were using held up much better.

That's some real Thai food! Everyday food for central Thai people not often seen on restaurant menus here in the U.S. Cha om is delicious, but an acquired taste, as is nam prik kapi (น้ำพริกกะปิ hot & spicy shrimp paste dipping sauce). If you want to taste Thai food for Thai people, try this special. Be warned, there is a reason these dishes aren't on the standard American Thai restaurant menu. But as long as you can deal with fermented seafood and other (maybe) unfamiliar tastes, it is a treat. Be sure to enjoy the streamed vegetable

Thanks! I will check her out, but it probably won't help in December when my holy basil jones kicks in. I saw some really nice holy basil plants at the Arlington farmers market this spring. I didn't buy any because I had some already started from seed. I ended up buying some more plants from my Thai grocery that were from Wat Tummaprateip Thai Buddhist temple. They are doing well and have good karma. I really wish I could just buy the finished dish for lunch everyday, rice topped with pad grapao with a fried egg on top of that. My local Thai takeout and primary lunch destination (Bangkok 54) sells a nice version, but unfortunately they don't use holy basil. I do recommend the pad Thai, khao mun gai (Hainanese chicken rice), guay jap nam kon (rice flakes in soup with innards, tofu and hard boiled egg), kanom jeen nam ya (thin rice noodles with fish curry), kanom jeen nam prik (thin rice noodles with mung bean curry), khao kloot kapi (shrimp paste seasoned rice with egg, green mango and sweet pork), khao phat neam (fried rice with fermented pork), khao mok gai (Thai chicken biryani), sai grok (fermented pork sausages with sticky rice), gai yang (grilled chicken). BTW this food can be found at the back of the grocery store. It's a rotating selection, not everything is available everyday. I've never eaten at the restaurant, though presumably they share the same kitchen.

I am very excited to have my holy basil (ใบกะเพรา) finally growing big and happy. I had some pork from the butcher and green beans so I make pork with holy basil (mu pad bai grapao หมูผัดใบกะเพรา) with an omelet (ไข่ยัดไส้) with siracha sauce (ซ้อสศรีราชา) and fish sauce with chillies (prik nam pla พริกน้ำปลา), vegetables, and brown jasmine rice (not pictured) This is such a simple dish. Just oil, garlic (a lot), chillies (prik ee nu "mouse shit chillies" as many as you can stand), fish sauce, palm sugar, chopped meat (using chopped meat makes a difference, many Thai places here use sliced meat, it's not as good), optional sliced long beans or green beans and lots of holy basil (you can also add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce as well). Served over rice with a deep fried egg on top and some chillies in fish sauce on the side and you have one of the most popular (Bangkok) Thai fast food dishes. Yet you can't really get this dish here in Thai restaurants because holy basil does not like to grow in this climate (except for this time of year when its hotter than Bangkok in DC). It is also very fragile and starts to go off rather quickly after its picked. It is around right now at Thai groceries, but usually only for a day or two each week. It tastes nothing like "Thai Basil" (bai horopha ใบโหระพา), which tastes more like what we would identify as basil (i.e. Italian basil) and is what Thai restaurants here use for this dish (which is not bad, but its not the same). Holy basil is its own thing, very different fragrance and taste that changes the taste of the other ingredients. It has to be cooked to give up its flavor. I could eat this almost every day and I would if I could buy it. Real pad grapao is everywhere in Bangkok, but here I have to make it myself. I think I might make this for dinner tonight, so easy, so amazing.

You may have to cut it out of the container. Palm sugar also comes in little discs that you can grate. The best palm sugar has not been cooked down too much and is soft and easy to scoop. Duangrat oriental market usually has this in generic plastic containers (like soup containers for take-out). Since I don't always want to drive to Bailey's Crossroads, I often buy the kind you bought and if it gets too hard I do have to cut apart the container and grate the sugar. Sometimes, though, it's soft enough to scoop. I try to squeeze the container before I buy it. There is a lot of variation in softness as it is a natural product. Here is some more info.

I have stopped by this place twice now on the way to work, once about a month ago, and again today. Parking was not an issue both times around noon. I got parking on 28th one block up from the shop. Both times I got the "four meat grinder". At $11.99 it's expensive for a hoagie (around the same price as a sandwich at Sundevich, though), but it is large (maybe 12"). For me at least, it's two meals worth of sandwich. It's also very very good. I ate the whole thing the first time because I couldn't resist. Today I split it with a co-worker. I will eventually try the pastrami, but Italian subs are my favorite kind of sandwich, so I may not be able to order something else till I eat this again 3 or 4 more times. I'm picky about my hoagies. I spent many formative years in South Jersey on Absecon Island. In fact, I was there this weekend and had a Dino's special in Margate (my childhood favorite, they use Formica Bros. bread, and it's two blocks from my parents house). Today's sandwich compared favorably.

I love really spicy food in hot weather. It makes you sweat and cools you off. It's a great time for Thai salads, like laap, (really easy to make as well), southern Thai rice salad, green papaya salad, fried egg and shrimp salad, grilled beef salad, tuna salad, etc. Serve them lots of cooling raw vegetables, greens, fresh herbs and rice.

Sri Lankan masoor dal (parippu), brown jasmine rice, papads, and cucumber slices. Mint/lime sorbet and orange/bergamot sorbet from the Dairy Godmother for desert.

I had a great time. Lots of good food and fun people. Ribs, fried chicken, kalbi, dumplings, salads, beer, martian pig slop, etc., a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

Stir fried young Chinese broccoli (with garlic and fish sauce), stuffed "omelet" with pork and fresh peas, green mango salad, raw vegetables and brown jasmine rice.

Here's what I have been cooking this past week. Last Saturday (sorry I'm way behind), Thai chicken curry ("curry" curry, gaeng kari i.e. the Thai version of a south Asian curry), cucumber pickle (achad), store-bought chive dumplings, jasmine rice. Monday, pork fried rice (khao phat mu) an excellent vegetable drawer cleaner. Wednesday, I got a new book from the Sackler, "Seafood of Southeast Asia" with lots of drawings of fish and some crazy recipes collected by the author in Southeast Asia in the 1970s. In the Thai section there is a recipe for Jaew Plah Too, or spicy salted mackerel dip (similar to the one we made in my class). It called for around 50 chillies(!). Of course I had to try it. I also made green papaya salad (som tam) and pork (Ayrshire farm) meatballs (mu pan con tord) and jasmine rice. Thursday, Sri Lankan chicken curry (Kukal Mas) (with curry leaves ), and mixed vegetable curry, with rice. Saturday, grilled (eco-friendly) chicken (Gai Yang), green papaya salad (som tam), jaew (two kinds, the mackerel will last a while), and sticky rice. Yesterday, grilled chicken salad (yum gai yang), rice and veggies, with Brooklyn Local #1 (for me) and Moscado (for the ladies) and I didn't take a photo.

I will be there. I will bring something tasty, probably lamb biryani.