Fishinnards

Last night, Nepalese food. Chicken curry (pyaj haaleko kukhura ko maasu), eggplant (bhanta tarkaari), daal (musuro ko daal), radish (koreko seto mula achaar) with lots of rice. Very much like other northern South Asian food, except for the use of Sichuan peppercorn and a dried allium that used as a spice called "jimbu", which I haven't found yet.

So much holy basil (grapao, krappow, kapow, graprow, ka phrao, à¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸²) growing in my garden. I've been making pad bai grapow (ผัดใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸²) often. Last night with buffalo meat and long beans. Local Thai restaurants claim to serve this dish, but they don't. with eggs, vegetables and rice. New batch of chillies were very hot. There was much sniffing, crying and my ears popped. Extra beer was required.

I think the entire taste test is flawed due to lack of control for sodium content (which I posted in the thread). I discovered this when I followed the recommendation for Hunts and discovered it had almost 10x the amount of sodium as the the kind I'd been using previously. Check the label and taste before salting your sauce.

Let us know how it turns out. If the kids like the store-bought one better, then next time add a teaspoon of Ajinomoto .

I found my old marinade recipe from my Korean cooking private lessons (back in 2000). Obviously there are many ways to make this, including using pear. This recipe does not use pear. It's very versatile. You can use it for bulgogi, kalbi, chapchae, etc. (anything with beef). I believe a marinade, or seasoning mix is called a mit gan IIRC. I also learned a mit gan for pork which is different and includes ginger and gochujang. I can post that one as well if anyone is interested. FYI The sugar acts a tenderizer as well as for flavor. The recipe is really just a ratio 3:2:2, you can scale up and down from there. The instructions for marinading grilling are not the only way to do it, or even the most common way. You can also use a pan on the stove. We used Kikkoman soy sauce and mirin. Of course you could use Korean soy sauce and rice wine. Mirin has sugar in it so it makes it even sweeter. If you want less sugar, use sake or Korean rice wine. Don't use Chinese soy sauce or Chinese rice wine for this, the flavors are different. Also, the grilling over a screen method is a pain in the ass, but worth it for the taste. Whenever I had it at someones home, they used a pan (usually an electric pan). Beef Marinade for Bulgogi and Kalbi Gui: 6 Tbs. soy sauce 4 Tbs. sugar 4 Tbs. rice wine (mirin) ¼ cup chopped or crushed Garlic ½ cup chopped Spring Onions (scallions) white and green parts 1 Tbs. lightly crushed roasted sesame seeds 2 Tbs. sesame oil (dark) 1 tsp. Black pepper or more The ratio for the soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine is 3:2:2. The rest of the ingredients are approximations. Just mix everything together in a bowl. Make sure to taste and adjust to your liking. The above amount should work for 1 ¾ lbs. of thinly sliced beef (for bulgogi) or around 4 lbs. of beef ribs (kalbi gui). Korean groceries sell thinly sliced beef (top round or tenderloin) and beef ribs cut into bite size pieces through the bone. For the sliced beef (bulgogi): Store bought thin slices need to be handled carefully or they will fall apart. Individually dip each piece of meat into the marinade and then carefully layer them into another bowl. Layer them criss-cross so you can remove them for grilling piece by piece. Pour any remaining marinade over the top. With your hands, press down on the meat so that the liquid covers the meat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside (in the refrigerator) for at least 4 hours. To Grill: Light your coals and get them hot. The meat is thin so you need some sort of screen so the pieces don't fall through the grates. The screens for grilling vegetables work well, or improvise something. Put the individual pieces on the grill and grill for a few minutes on each side (till their cooked through). Tastes best strait off the grill. Eat with big lettuce leaves (for wrapping) and sesame leaves, garland chrysanthemum, 2" pieces of green onion, sliced raw garlic, and Gochujang (hot bean paste) or samjang (hot bean paste with seasonings). Make lettuce and/or sesame leaf sandwiches with the above stuff and some rice and eat. (Meat can also be broiled in the oven for 10 minutes). For Kalbi : Grill like above (with a screen) for about 20 min or until done. Or bake in a 400 degree oven on a foil covered cookie sheet for 18 minutes, turn the pieces once and cook for 5 minutes more.

Cool. I will post it later for all to see. The best way to cook it is on the grill over charcoal, or actually over the chimney (charcoal starter) with a screen. The trick is not to eat it all yourself as it comes off the grill. I was only referring to the pre-sliced meat, not the pre-marinated, never tried that, but it's probably good.

Good luck! If you don't mind regular (factory farmed) meat, grand mart and super H both sell it pre-sliced.It's usually with the frozen meat. A great time saver. If you want a recipe for the marinade from scratch I can send you one. It's very easy. I learned it from a Korean friend from Seoul (there are different regional styles). I used to cook Korean food at least three times a week for about three years. I love Korean food .

All true, but Ta-Nehisi's comment section is one the best moderated on the web with a strong, educated community of contributors. He is an active participant and there are many interesting exchanges. It is an exception. Also, he has struggled with weight issues most of his life and often writes about it.

Because it's summer and I have a garden full of fresh basil, last night tomato and basil with fresh mozzarella, crostini and later fusilli with tomato and basil. Tonight, à¹à¸à¸‡à¹€à¸œà¹‡à¸”มะเขือม่วง red curry with eggplant, ไà¸à¹ˆà¸›à¸´à¹‰à¸‡ grilled chicken on a stick, น้ำจิ้มà¹à¸ˆà¹ˆà¸§à¸¡à¸°à¸‚าม chili tamarind sauce, vegetables and jasmine rice.

I think this is a clever way to introduce people to the cuisine. A huge table of unfamiliar food could be a little intimidating. When westerners eat Thai food they do a couple of things that Thais usually do not do. They either order dishes as "entrees" not to be shared, i.e. "I'll have the green curry with chicken", "Well, I'll have the pork with basil", or If they do order a variety a dishes and share them, everybody piles their plates with a some of each dish all at once, as if at a buffet*. This is considered rude among the Thais. Except for rice, which is "all you can eat", everybody is expected to take a little at a time, and you should not have more than one dish on your plate at a time, and usually just a small bite. It's a very communal way to eat and everybody looks out for one another i.e. if a dish is too far away for you to reach, the diner close to it will spoon some onto your plate for you, rather than passing the dish across the table. Thais even share 12 ounce bottles of beer, pouring a little for each person, instead of each person getting their own. At Little Serow, I think the "progression" allows the diner to become familiar with each dish and makes you try everything. It also allows the kitchen time to make each dish, because the kitchen is small. Incidentally, most Thai food is generally served at room temp, and there is no expectation for each dish to be hot off the stove (for the most part, but It's trendy now for some soups and curries (gaeng som, tom yum, tom kha etc.) to come with sterno burners underneath, and some Chinese style stir fries are best hot out of the wok). * I have been to a many fancy Thai parties where the food was served buffet style, in which case people do fill their plates with rice and take a little of each dish all at once.

A good Thai meal should have a large variety of dishes for the diner to choose from, on the table at the same time. Dishes are meant to go with one another. The flavors should not clash, and there are no between course palate cleansers. A wet dish should have a counterpoint with a dry dish, a spicy dish should be offset by a mild dish etc. Salty, sweet, hot, sour, and bitter flavors are all in play. The only reason for the courses is that the kitchen can only prepare one dish at a time. There should be no obligation to finish something before another dish arrives. You certainly can eat one dish a time, but it can be more fun to jump around and eat a few bites of this, some rice, a few bites of that, some raw vegetables, a more bites of something else, some more rice. Nibble/eat your way through all the flavors and textures with rice and raw vegetables as your constant. It's a party, not a journey. I'm not sure if this is what chef Monis intends, but this is the way Thais eat their food.

Looks like Burma's days are numbered (as well as Kanlaya Thai and Urfa Tomato Kabob) according to the WBJ. "Douglas Development Corp. has purchased a pair of adjacent Chinatown mixed-use buildings for $6.1 million with plans to combine and refashion them into a more modern office and retail property." "All of the tenants will be out by the end of the year, said Norman Jemal, Dougas principal. A woman who answered the phone at Burma Wednesday afternoon said she was aware of the sale and hoped that the restaurant could remain, but that does appear to be in the cards." I will miss this place.

Here's some stuff I watch: http://foodcurated.com/ A really well shot and edited series about local food producers mostly from around the NYC area. Hot Thai Kitchen A great Thai cooking series for beginners from western trained cook Pailin Chongchitnant. Charismatic, fluent in English and familiar with western kitchens. Pan Asian Music producer Skiz Fernando cooks food from around the world in his Baltimore kitchen. He is the author of "Rice and Curry; Sri Lankan Home Cooking" Food Travel Professionally produced short videos of chefs demonstrating how to cook Thai dishes and Thai versions of western dishes. Thai language, no subtitles. VahChef Super enthusiastic Vahchef makes dishes from all over India. In English, but some Hindi terms for spices and techniques so it helps to know your way around the Indian kitchen. Lots of videos professionally made somewhere near Hyderabad. Manjula's Kitchen Homemade videos of Jain Indian vegetarian cooking. Lots of good recipes. Eat Now, Cry Later Focused mostly on baking, a well shot and edited homemade series. Sav is Lao, so there's a few good videos of Lao and Vietnamese recipes, which is how I found her. I don't really care about baking. Prae's Kitchen All kinds of cooking, but in Thai. Thai Foodcast An older channel about Thai food, but in English! Mark Wiens Street food from around the world, but mostly Bangkok Daym Drops Ridiculous fast food restaurant reviews from the inside of a car. My Drunk Kitchen is still going.

They carry it at Bangkok 54 Grocery and I think I've seen it at Duangrat as well. Bangkok 54 had it briefly at the beginning of the year and then it disappeared. It reappeared in May, and now they seem to have it on a regular basis. It's more expensive than canned, but cheaper than what's listed online in the link above. I think they go for a little under $4 a (33.8 oz.) box. Incidentally, there's been a coconut shortage in Thailand due to pests. They are importing coconuts from Vietnam and Cambodia. It has had an impact on canned coconut milk quality. The Thai government has decided to release parasitic wasps to combat the caterpillars that are attacking the coconut trees. What could possibly go wrong?

This weekend I made green curry using the second half of a paste I made last week when I found a frozen kaffir lime in my freezer from two years ago. I was going to use that in the curry past, but sadly it was no longer good. I once again had to use dried kaffir lime peel (which is still pretty aromatic). Incidentally, import food now has fresh kaffir limes on it's website, 12 for 20 bucks. This may mean we will see some in local stores soon. Also, I can't stress enough how much I love Aroy-D tetra pack coconut milk. This stuff is so close to fresh made, it has no preservatives, easy to break to fry curry paste and the taste is really fresh. As long as I can get this stuff I'm never using canned coconut milk ever again. I've made my own and it's worth it in for the flavor, but this stuff is just so close to homemade and behaves properly when cooking. They sell both "cream" (first press), and "milk" (second press). I usually get the big boxes of cream, as I can always dilute it for the milk. They also sell little 8 oz. boxes of the milk, which is convenient for smaller dishes like lon. Highly perishable once opened, but will last about a week in a well sealed container in the fridge. Highly recommended. Green curry With pad krapao (with holy basil from the garden!) eggs with siracha, prik nam pla, vegetables and rice.

Congratulations, looks like you'll be able to make some Thai food if shop in Geneva.

Last week we had some Indian food, tamatar murghi (chicken with tomato), green beans with garlic, dried chillies, and mustard seed, onions with lime juice and chaat masala, rice and pickle. Earlier this week there was Thai food. Omelet (kai jiew ไข่เจียว), Chicken Satay (satay gai สะเต๊ะไก่), stir fried Chinese broccoli (pad kana ผักคะน้า), Grilled Chicken Salad (yum gai yang ยำไก่ย่าง), papaya salad (som tam ส้มตำ), green curry (gaeng kiew wan แกงเขียวหวาน), vegetables and jasmine rice. Tonight, linguine con pesto, green bean frittata.

Earlier this week, Masoor Dal, Kerela ka Bhuna Gosht (actually memna with aloo added i.e. lamb and potatoes), Raita, tomatoes and onions with lime juice and roasted cumin, papads, pickles and rice It's holy basil season, so we had to have some pad grapao (ไก่ผัดใบกะเพรา) Since this weather is fantastic, I've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible. Thursday I grilled a chicken.( ไก่ย่าง ส้มตำ แจ่ว น้ำจิ้มไก่ ข้าวเหนียว) grilled chicken, green papaya salad, jaew, chicken sauce, sticky rice. Yesterday, I grilled chicken Satay (the Thai version, สะเต๊ะไก่) with ajad (อาจาด cucumber pickle), plus Chinese broccoli with eggs, leftover pad krapao, vegetables and jasmine rice.

It's not cloudy, but not consommé clear, which I don't care about. It does depend on how careful you are when you strain it.

I have a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker and I love it. It's great for stock. One thing I do is blanch the bones from a cold water start and then pour off the water and start with fresh water (this is a Chinese technique). It cuts way down on the scum later, because you can't skim the scum when you're pressure cooking. Carcasses from grilled chickens are great for stock, also backs, wing tips, necks and feet. Feet are the best. My freezer is always full of bags of parts, and/or tubs of stock. It's liquid MSG.

Making the masala for Kerala ka bhuna gosht (Kerala style meat dish). Roasting cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, and whole red chillies. It smells so good in here.

"Is there a case against small plates on restaurant menus?" by Tyler Cowen

Back in ancient times (early nineties), Po Siam was the restaurant Thai students (at AU) were directed to if they wanted real Thai food (as opposed to the much closer Thai room). They used to be across the street from where they are now, in a tiny spot located next to (the original) Bangkok 54 grocery. It had a more or less open kitchen, where you cold see flaming woks going all night. The food was really good. At some point the (new?) owners of Bangkok 54 opened a Thai restaurant directly across the street (in Po Siam"s current location) called Erawan. Rumour was that they had poached the chef from Po Siam. Eventually, Bangkok 54 came under new ownership (the current ownership) and sold Erawan to Po Siam. Bangkok 54 opened a second grocery in Arlington and a restaurant. They eventually sold the original Bangkok 54 location. It is now a Latino grocery. At one point there were three very good Thai restaurants (Po Siam, Erawan, and Rot Det [now Thai Peppers and not nearly as good AFAIK]) and two Thai groceries (Bangkok 54 and Sukothai) within walking distance of my house (in Del Ray). We also had a Chinese grocery and a Pakistani Butcher for a brief period. This neighborhood had gone to shit (j/k but I miss my Thai markets and am sad to see Po Siam close. It was still good after all these years).

Much less photogenic Indian food. Methi Murgh (chicken with fenugreek greens, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, green chillies, hot pepper powder, lime juice, coconut oil), Aloo Gobi (cauliflower, potatoes, green chillies, ginger, cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric, hot pepper powder, garam masala, peanut oil, ghee) cucumber raita (cucumber, yoghurt, chaat masala), rice and pickles.

Interesting. It seems the American brands have more sodium in general. Though I don't cook southern Italian as much as I used to, I always preferred Italian brands (even if they weren't San Marzano). They always seemed to have tomatoes that were fully ripe (and easy to crush by hand). American brands always seemed to be canned before they were fully ripe. Of course it's been awhile since I cooked with canned tomatoes on the regular.