Fishinnards

Saturday, Malay chicken curry, stir fried spinach with garlic, and cucumber "pickle" (achad/achar) (fresh cucumber with sugar, vinegar, garlic, chillies, cilantro, and peanuts). Jasmine rice.

Sunday, Shab deg (lamb neck with turnips), green beans with garlic and mustard seeds, cucumber raita, hari chutney. Basmanti rice

I am no longer +1, but I am still bringing drunken noodles. Probably won't get there till around 2.

I plan to be there with my wife and Drunken Noodles.

Recap, last Monday I cooked with a group of 16 international students (mostly from China, Japan and Korea). We made Ethiopian food. It was the first time most had tried Ethiopian, much less cooked it. We made Doro Wat (chicken and eggs in hot pepper stew), which involves cooking down a large amount of chopped onions in a dry pan. It was nice to be able to delegate that task to a willing and enthusiastic helper. We also made Zelbo Gomen (kale), Azifa (mashed lentil salad), and Teemateem (tomato salad). We had yoghurt on the side and (store bought) injeera. Everything was a big hit.

I didn't cook again till Thursday. I made kale with potatoes, chana dal with butternut squash, cucumber raita, green tomato chutney, and chapatis.

Enough for Friday as well, but made fresh chapatis.

On Sunday I made red chicken curry with butternut squash, egg, green apple salad, chicken with pickled mustard greens, vegetables and rice.

and again last night.

I have many Indian cookbooks and use them often. Over the past 2 years I've got a lot of mileage out of Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries.

Also, I remain a huge fan of Madhur Jaffrey. If you don't have Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking you might want to give that a try. It's full of great recipes and not quite as dated as "Invitation", her first cookbook, and the one I learned to cook Indian food from, back in the 80s. She also has some great Indian regional cookbooks, "A taste of India" and "Flavors of India" that are out of print. Both are full of great recipes collected from cooks (mostly regular people, not hotel chefs) from different regions of the subcontinent. They are grouped by region and are very descriptive and accompanied by excellent photography. "Taste" covers Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Kashmir, Bengal, Hyderbad, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and Kerela. "Flavors" covers Kerela, Gularat, Goa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab. There are no repeated recipes despite covering some of the same regions. Not an exhaustive survey by any means, but a great collection of some family recipes that are thoroughly explained, worked out and tested.

The few recipes included at the back of "Climbing the Mango Tree", her memoir, are fantastic, as well.

Midweek recap.

Monday, chicken laab and steamed egg custard (kai toon), vegetables and rice. Tuesday got tipsy at Eighteenth Street Lounge (Chimay blue) and home very late and needed eggs so I made a frittata with potatoes, shallots, red chillies and Parmesan (because that's what I had), and toast with butter.

Last night I made tuna salad (Yum Pla Grapong) and chicken with holy basil with eggplant (gai pad bai gaproa sai makuea tet) with rice and vegetables (and I even took a picture).

In other exciting news, Bangkok 54 grocery had fresh whole kaffir limes on Tuesday.

Technically, lard is the fat of a pig. Rendered beef fat is suet. Not that both can't make fine crusts, but suet is more often associated with savory crusts, for meat pies and such, although it is an ingredient in mincemeat pie filling.

Oops, you are correct it's pig fat, my bad. You should use it though. My mom used crisco to good effect, but lard is much tastier. To clarify, Bruce sells leaf lard (rendered pig loin and kidney fat). I'm not even sure he has suet (but he might).

So, I may or may not have to make an apple pie. There is is no shortage of recipes around, but I figured I'd also check here and see if any of my trusted advisers -- yes, I think of you all as my "kitchen cabinet" -- had any tips, twists or favorites to offer up (particularly regarding crust). Not looking to win the blue ribbon at the county fair, just want set out a stand out pie.

It is well known that lard makes the best crust. If you're not serving lipophobes, Bruce at the Westover Market butcher shop makes leaf lard (kidney fat) from ostensibly local and humanely raised cattle. Using this will result in a fantastic crust. Keep everything very cold when working the fat into the flour. Don't overmix. Pastry is not too difficult.

Last night I made Thai chicken biriyani (khao mok gai, ข้าวหมกไก่) using the recipe from David Thompson's "Thai Street Food". I used brown jasmine rice instead of aged white jasmine rice, so it didn't get the beautiful yellow hue, more of a muddy brown, but it was really tasty.

Ooh that looks fantastic... You don't have a recipe do you? I have lots of small cherry tomatoes I need to use.

Pad kee mao (drunk stir fry) can be made lots of different ways. You can have it without noodles and serve it with rice. You can stir fry it with rice instead of noodles. Some people add baby corn, bean sprouts, or other vegetables. I prefer lots of holy basil. As a noodle dish it is usually served with condiments (white sugar, dried hot pepper powder, chillies in vinegar, fish sauce). You can also throw a little Chinese rice wine or whiskey in there. It should be really spicy hot as well, because it's for the drunks.

Here's how I make it. All measurements are approximate.

1/2 lb. Fresh rice noodles (comes in 2lb packages @ Bangkok 54) sliced into 1" wide strips and separated

3/4 cup packed holy basil leaves (substitute Thai basil and/or mint)

1 T peanut oil (or any vegetable oil)

1 T chopped garlic

1 T sliced shallots

5-6 (or 6-8) chopped small hot Thai chillies (prik ee nu) (add more if you want)

1/4 lb. ground or chopped meat (chicken, beef, or pork)

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper (or black pepper, or fresh green peppercorns)

1 1/2 tsp. oyster flavored sauce

2 tsp. Thai sweet dark soy sauce (or chinese dark soy and more sugar, or kecap manis)

1 tsp. palm suger (or reg sugar)

1 1/2 T fish sauce

5 cherry tomatoes, halved (or more)

2-3 red or green long chilies (prik chee fah) sliced (optional)

Heat oil in a frying pan or wok on high heat. When hot add the garlic and then the shallots. Stir fry for about 30 sec or until fragrant. Add the chopped prik ee nu and fry till you cough or sneeze (30 seconds). Add meat and fry till browned and almost cooked. Add sugar, pepper and oyster sauce and stir. Add soy and fish sauce and stir. Add basil and stir till wilted and immediately add noodles and tomatoes. Stir till noodles are soft (about 30 seconds). Add prik chee fah chilies and serve.

Holy Basil harvest

Noodles of the drunks (ผัดขี้เมา)

Last night, mostly Indian restaurant food (i.e. Punjabi food). Murgh tikka (chicken kebabs) dusted with chaat masala, Baigan Bharta (roasted eggplant), Dal Makkhani (creamy spiced beans), basmanti rice with swiss chard, green tomato chutney, and chapatis.

Today I'm harvesting a bunch of my holy basil to make drunken noodles for a neighborhood block party.

chapatis, butternut squash (with tomatoes, chillies, cumin seeds and mango powder), chana dal (with fresh chillies, ginger, garlic, onion, cumin, lemon, and cashews) green beans (with tomatoes, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, chillies, and tamarind), potatoes (with garlic, ginger and fennel seeds), yogurt (with shallots and roasted cumin). Founders Breakfast Stout.

Basmanti rice with potatoes, tomato, ginger, cumin, and chili, butternut squash with tomato and dried mango, chicken curry, and dal

This response by the reliable giant shrimp must be taken seriously.

I'm not sure what Giant Shrimp's implication is regarding a hoax. I took the pictures in that thread (Local 16). I realize I am a relative newcomer to this board. I have no affiliation with Edan (never met him till last Tuesday) or Local (friends of mine Djed there in the past, but that's all). I don't even like taking pictures of food when I'm eating out. I usually only take pictures of food I make myself. I did that for this boards benefit. Everybody at my table seemed to enjoy the food. That being said, if Local 16 f'd up Giant Shrimp's meal, that's on them, and it's one of the reasons this board is so useful. If they can't be consistent they should be called on it.

Jungle Curry (Gaeng ba, or Gaeng pa, or แกงป่า) with shallots, garlic, galanga, grachai, lots of fresh hot chillies, lemongrass, fish sauce, chicken, pea eggplants, long eggplant, green beans, holy basil, green peppercorns, and kaffir lime leaves. Green mango salad. Lots of jasmine rice and beer (Two Hearted Ale).

Thanks to Edan and the entire staff for doing this. My wife and I had a great time. We took some pictures after we remembered we brought the camera. Here's the cured salmon:

I think we had already started eating before that photo was taken. Everyone really enjoyed this.

Here is the Gazpacho (by Danny Arana) with house made Bacalao. It was also really good. A nice contrast of flavors and textures, with the cod and the croutons and creamy heirloom tomato broth.

Of course the pizzas (pizze) were great. Here's the margherita:

Prosciutto Arugula (with roasted garlic):

The "Aden" with house made sausage, piquillo peppers, caramelized onions, fennel, mozzarella. The sausage on this was terrific, lots and fennel and hot pepper:

According to the Local 16 website, you can get the margherita for $5 on weekdays during happy hour (5pm - 8pm), a great deal.

Chicken with holy basil and eggplant (gai pad grapao sai makeua), corn fritters (tod mun khao put), and green mango salad (yum mamuang, this time with roasted peanuts, toasted coconut, and shredded kaffir lime leaves, cilantro, fish sauce, lime juice, shallots and chillies), and lots of rice.

I made a quick dinner of "green" (unripe, but the inside starting to turn yellow) mango salad with cilantro, shallots, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and some of the pointier slightly longer extra hot Thai birds-eye chillies that show up in the summer sometimes (maybe prik-ee-nu suan in Thai?). They are little fire crackers packed with great flavor and an exciting endorphin rush for the eater. A crispy Thai "omelet" (kai jiew), raw vegetables and lots of jasmine rice help to tame the wonderful fire.

Very exciting. Put me down with a + 1

Last two nights I had Acar Rampai (Malaysian mixed pickle) made with lightly blanched green beans, corn, carrots, and cucumbers, mixed and sauteed with oil, shallots, ginger, garlic, Malay curry powder, chilli pepper, turmeric, salt, sugar, and vinegar, finished with toasted sesame seeds and sesame oil. Ayam Tuturuga Rica (Indonesian chicken curry from Manado, Sulawesi via Copeland Marks) made with lots of fresh red chilli, garlic, shallots, ginger, turmeric, galanga, lemongrass, coconut milk, and lots of mint, scallions and holy basil. Eaten with jasmine rice. Lemongrass, mint and holy basil were from the garden.

Tomatoes with basil, fresh mozzarella, eco-friendly 18 month "vasciutto" (smoked prosciutto), cucumber, onion, capers, olive oil and vinegar. Lyon Bakery "Rustico" bread, grilled poussin with garlic, olive oil, fresh rosemary and fresh bay leaves, and green beans with olive oil, shallots, and Parmesan cheese. Great Divide Colette Farmhouse Ale.

Here's a little summary on The Meat Blog, with some links to some of the people/places talked about in the show. We're not affiliated with the production, but enjoyed the show and we love meat . Hopefully it will air again in the near future.

Holy Basil was at the market today, finally. I made pad grapao, perhaps the easiest, most forgiving Thai dish to cook. However, I don't think I've ever had it at a Thai restaurant made properly, and by properly I mean the way I like it, with chopped meat (not sliced) and actual holy basil (bai grapao) (and massive amounts of chillies and garlic). As for vegetables, I like long beans or green beans in it, but other things like bell pepper, baby corn just don't belong. Sliced meat with bai horopah (aka "Thai Basil") and a bunch of other stuff is not the same dish. Unfortunately, holy basil doesn't grow well around here except in greenhouses and is very perishable once it's harvested, so when I see it I snap it up and cook it ASAP.

Tonight, I made roasted eggplant salad with pork (yum makeua tet mu), beef with holy basil (neua pad grapao), fried egg (kai jiew) and some raw vegetables. Served with jasmine rice and Flying Dog Raging Bitch. Super hot Thai food is great in this weather.

Sunday and last night, we had some classics from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking; Lemony Chicken with fresh green coriander, Gujerati green beans, and spiced basmanti rice, as well as some cucumbers and tomatoes with yogurt and chat masala. The Green chili Pickle and Beer (Lucky 13) are for me.