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Posts tagged chiang mai

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Barbecue recipes: Fish in bamboo cylinders with turmeric leaf

Mar14
2011 4 Comments Written by chefshane

Between Chiang Mai and Laos you'll find a special dish which is not common throughout the rest of Thailand.

My sous chef from Chiang Mai told me about a special Northern recipe where fish was wrapped in turmeric leaves then grilled in a bamboo tube over charcoal. It sounded great but we couldn't get turmeric leaves through our supplier or purchasing down in Krabi where we were working.

Several months later the Mrs and I were on a bike ride from Mae Sai on the Myanmar border back to Chiang Khong on the Laos border and I was getting hungry. She wanted to keep going and I wanted to stop, and a fierce argument ensued, which basically meant that she was hungry too.

We agreed to stop at the next most convenient spot.
It happened to be about 4km along the road that runs between Sop Ruak and Chiang Saen in the Golden Triangle.
We were riding along the banks of the Mekong  when we saw a series of charcoal barbecues set up along the kerb with large green bamboo logs poking out, charred on one end. It turned out to be the turmeric wrapped fish, and they also had a chicken version.
It's an easy enough concept: Whole freshwater fish, seasoned with crushed galangal, turmeric and chilli, then wrapped in fresh turmeric leaf.
The whole fish is stuffed into a hollow bamboo cylinder and then barbecued over charcoal.
This imparts the sent of the turmeric leaf and some bamboo smoke into the fish and cooks it in a similar fashion to steaming. The juice and aromats stay inside, and waft up at you when unwrapped. It's one of the most interesting barbecue recipes I've encountered.
 

I'm still a white boy when it comes to bony things.
The fish was delicious but I found the fine bones a bit frustrating, hampering my enjoyment of the dish.

I'll make this myself using a nice, plump, fresh juicy fillet done the same way.

After unwrapping the poor thing, it gets laid on a plate, dressed with the cooking juices, and topped with fresh herbs.
Like everything else up that way, it gets eaten with sticky rice.
I soaked up the sauce with my balls of khao nieow, watched the sun start to set on the river, and thought about how lucky I was to be there.
An excellent way to flavour, cook and present fish, so include this in your repertoire of barbecue recipes
 

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Fish & Seafood, Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Laos, Thailand - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

North Thai frog recipe with betel leaf & galangal flower.

Jun30
2010 Leave a Comment Written by chefshane

This is a very different, delicious North Thai frog recipe from Chiang Rai Province.

This barbecued frog stew is simmered with with betel leaves, galangal flower & aromatic wood long with a platter of 'whetever is in the garden or market"

With this particular recipe I was living with a local family in far North Thailand near the Laos border.

I spent 3 months documenting, photographing and creating recipes of the amazingly tasty, fresh regional food that rarely gets seen outside of the family home.

This is one of those recipes ;-)

Known as "Kaeng Khae" or "Gaeng Kaere", this is basically meat, water and lots of greens and flowers from the garden, thickened and flavoured with my two favourite North Thai flavours – Ground roasted rice (khao krua) and toasted dry red chilli flakes (prik krua)

Frog Recipe – Kaeng khae gop  

Ingredients:

2 ea.  whole barbequed frogs, with skin on.
400g     Hung wai – the white things in the bowl that look like a cross between palm heart and bamboo.
60g       Betel leaves – known as “bai chorpoo” (Pepper leaf)
10 ea    Kaffir lime leaf
120g    Thai Eggplant – apple eggplant & pea egg plant
100g    Pak tam leung – a type of creeping morning glory (sounds rude, no?)
120g    Ja-kaan – aromatic wood
50g      Dok kha – galangal flower
1-2 tbsp roasted dry red chilli flakes (See tom saap recipe for method)
100g / ½ cup ground roasted dry sticky rice
25g – 2 tbsp fresh garlic, peeled & crushed
750ml – 3 cups Water
30ml / 2 tbsp Cooking oil

Method

  1. Chop the frogs into large chunks

  2. Cut the Ja-kaan wood into small pieces then split into quarters. Mix the wood with the chunks of frog.

  3. Get your greens ready – like in the photo above and below.

  4. Heat a wok or frying pan and sauté garlic and roasted chilli for 1-2 minutes until it smells great

  5. Add the frog and chunks of ja-kaan wood. Add a little water to the wok and stir with wooden spoon (to stir any tasty garlic and roasted chilli that sticks to the pan into the ‘sauce’

  6. Put the 750ml water in a saucepan.

  7. Move the frog, wood and ‘sauce’ from the wok/pan into the potful of water

  8. Add the slower cooking ingredients (hung wai, thai eggplants, andf also the kaffir lime leaves)

  9. Simmer 5-10 minutes gently

  10. Next add the betel leaves, galangal flowers, and quick cooking greens

  11. Stir in the ground roasted rice. This thickens the gravy and gives an incomparable rich flavour. You're ready to eat.

Step-by-step photo guide to making Kaeng Khae


Pictured above:
Betel leaves, Galangal flowers and Cha-om (Acacia/wattle shoots)

The galangal flowers are spicy and delicious, the betel leaves give a peppery depth and the roasted chilli is just wonderful in most Northern dishes

Chop and mix the chunks of frog and the aromatic wood

Heat the wok, Add oil and fry the frog, wood, garlic and dried roasted chilli flakes


Add a little water, and stir to 'deglaze' the pan.

This is a 'chefs trick' – it's also how you make gravy!
The stuff stuck to the pan has a lot of flavour. When you add liquid and stir into the liquid with a wooden spoon, it makes a great tasting sauce.

Put a pot or casserole dish with water on the stove and empty the wok and its contents into this.
The wok should be clean.
If not, add more water and rub the 'baked on' bits off into the water and add it to the pot.

Check the colour of the 'water' in the pot.
This is flavoursome tasty garlic chilli, frog and wood sauce already.
It's just a bit thin and runny right now.

Add the vegetabless that take the longest to cook.
That’s the pea eggplant, apple eggplant, kaffir lime leaves and the 'hung wai' (the stuff that looks like palm hearts)

It should look like this around this point.
Simmer for around 7-10 minutes to cook the veggies through properly.

The flavour will come out of the kaffir lime. Delicious, but it’s not quite where we want to be yet

When the eggplants are tender, add in the 'delicate greens'.
That would be the cha-om, the betel leaves and the galangal flowers.

The green leafy veg will cook in minutes – so add in the ground roasted rice ('khao krua').


And here we have the almost finished product. You need to taste it. 

But I don't need to tell you that. It’s an essential part of cooking!

If I pass on nothing else of use whatsoever – just remember, taste as you cook and adjust.
Taste and season. Taste and tweak.

Here's the finished dish, ready to serve.
In a restaurant we'd make this "no twigs and sticks' and we'd present it in a more sophisticated manner .
I felt privileged to be led through so many local dishes step by step, and have the recipes explained in detail via translation from my patient partner.
And at the end of cooking we sat on the floor family style with this one, with the all important basket of steamed sticky rice.
This is a local family recipe that was handed down from a couple of generations of Grandmas.
This is one that foreigners and city people normally don't get to taste or find out about.
Restaurants do serve versions of this, but they pale in comparison, and half the charm is in raiding the garden just prior to making it

The bbq frog skin is a great feature and it enhances the aroma for the finished dish. It's not as good using skinned frog

After cooking the frog legs have the texture of chicken, and being large, they're quite meaty.

For me, the combination of the betel leaf and galangal flower combined with the ja-kaan wood defines this dish.
Galangal flower is very different from the root and leaf – it’s quite spicy and peppery.

I’ll definitely be cooking this dish around Asia – albeit more tidily.

When I do, it'll be presented as an upmarket dish with heirloom flavours and a fine pedigree.
This is a celebration of local culture and family cooking, but will be great when it's tamed a bit, to be "spoon & fork ready".

I do have to say if I've ever enjoyed sucking my fingers clean after a meal, it wasn't at KFC……it was while eating this. 
If you can find the ingredients or adapt the recipe, jump on it right away. It's a dish you have to try before you 'croak'.

Posted in Exotic meats & ingredients, Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Northern Thai, Thailand - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nam prik ong recipe – Spicy Chiang Mai ‘Bolognaise’ sauce

Jun29
2010 9 Comments Written by chefshane

Nam Prik Ong is a specialty of North Thailand. A Chiang Mai menu wouldn't be complete without it.

This dish is a lot like a "Thai pork bolognaise" only faster and tastier than the Italian version.
In Thailand, this is usually served as a dip surrounded by healthy greens, raw vegetables and some crunchy pork crackling known as 'kap moo'.


The other main use in the far North of Thailand is for "kao soy nam kua" – a Chiang Rai and Laos rice noodle soup.

The ingredients are readily available up here, either grown in the backyard, or picked up inexpensively and bursting with goodness at the many street stalls that spring up mid afternoon in every ville around Asia. It ticks all the right boxes, seasonal, inexpensive and tasty.

We're personally in the habit of throwing together a gorgeous dish: nam prik ong served on spaghetti, just like Bolognaise, topped with fresh sprigs of coriander, spring onion and mint.
We have it at least once a week – it's that good. (picture below)

The dish is simple to make, has few ingredients, and tastes magnificent.
Try it, and impress your victims.

Nam prik ong recipe

Ingredients

  • 200g / 1/2lb pork, chopped or minced. Around 20% fat is good.  
  • 300g / 3/4lb fresh ripe red tomato (deep red & ripe is important for good taste!)
  • 50g red shallots (yes, you can use onion)
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, fresh salt to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • 5g / 1 tsp sugar
  • 5g / 1tsp MSG (optional, but used in 99% of Thailand)
  • 4g /1 tsp Pork flavour granules (Knorr, Maggi or Ajinomoto)
  • 1 bunch coriander 
  • 1 bunch spring onion

Method

  1. Peel and crush the garlic and shallots
  2. Chop tomato into a rough dice, skin and all
  3. Pound dry roasted red chilli and garlic together
  4. Saute pork in a little oil
  5. Add the chilli and garlic
  6. Next add shallot, tomato, and a little water for cooking so it doesn't dry or burn
  7. Bring to a simmer and add seasonings
  8. Add the MSG if you use it. Most kitchens in Thailand use it, but if you don't take extra care to balance the salt, sugar and pork stock granules
  9. Boil quite rapidly for around 25-30 minutes until tomato is soft and it looks like a rich red thick bolognaise sauce. 

This nam prik ong recipe not only beats the classic spaghetti sauce on prep time, it's equally if not more tasty, albeit in a spicy, redolent Thai way. Here's what to expect:

If you want to do it classic style, serve it with some fresh, healthy green vegetables.
In Thailand they normally put veggies which we in the West ALWAYS eat cooked.

Don't worry – the raw veggies should provide complimentary flavours, textures and balance
to the rich spicy dip.

Common raw veggies to use are:

  • Peeled cucumber
  • Green beans or snake beans
  • White cabbage
  • Green unripe baby watermelon
  • Zucchini

These normally get served with pork crackle as mentioned. 

Other uses

Khao Soy Nam Kua Chiang Rai & Laos noodle soup

For 2 people you'll need:

  • 1 litre Stock or broth. (chicken or pork. Or boiling water & stock cubes if you really must)
  • 300g      Thick flat rice noodles (2 serves) 
  • 200g Nam prik ong (1 heaped serving spoon per bowl)
  • 1/3 cup Freshly cut coriander
  • 1/3 cup Freshly chopped spring onion
  • 2 tbsp Fried garlic (optional but the sheer taste is an aphrodisiac)
  1. Blanch the noodles and put them into two big serving bowls
  2. Ladle the broth over them
  3. Top with nam prik ong
  4. Garnish with chopped coriander and spring onion
  5. Put some fried garlic over the top and transport yourself mentally to a street stall somewhere near the banks of the Mekong. 


And for the non-soup aficionado:

Grilled prawns with nam prik ong dressing

Pan fry, grill or barbeque some fat, juicy fresh prawns, 
Use the nam prik ong as a dressing, pictured below.
Have a great day, pork-munchers. Do you have any other suggestions for funky ways to use this great dip? 


Posted in Quick & easy, Thailand - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Rare North Thai spice discovery

Jun24
2010 1 Comment Written by chefshane


??????? “Citrus Prickly Ash”(Zanthoxylum limonella Alato) pronounced as “Muh–Kan” in North Thailand or “Ma-kwem” elsewhere.


A couple of days ago I was given a very simple, very aromatic soup which has haunted my taste buds since. The ingredients seemed too simple to have such a tantalising taste and depth of flavour and I was left scratching my head.

The soup was catfish simmered with onion, tomato, garlic, chilli and water – finished with cilantro (sawtooth or broad leaf coriander)

There was a secret ingredient – dried flower buds from a local tree which are simply pounded and added into the soup a moment before serving.
The taste is incredible. 
Heady, slightly woody, aromatic, intoxicating and so deep and rich – this is my ingredient discovery of the decade. 

 The recipe for the soup will follow on this blog later this month.
This is an amazing spice sure to add a point of difference to any chef’s menu.
It is a regional specialty from Chiang Rai, the North of Thailand & Laos but not at all common or available in Bangkok, Isaan or the South.


It can be used as a specialist regional Thai cuisine ingredient for Thai chefs, or as a rare spice for fine dining chefs, bakers and creative culinarians. 
As well as the soup application, I can see this really taking off as a great ingredient for breads, pizza bases, or infused into a jus for beef, venison, lamb, kangaroo or game meats. 

 In the North it is used mainly in “Gaeng” style soup broths with fish, chicken or beef, or in Northern larb, which is a tad chunkier and more “rustic” than the now popular Isaan version.

It is so EASY to use too. Pound or grind briefly – and add to the soup last minute before serving. Easy and foolproof. Chefs and suppliers are welcome to contact me and I’ll see if I can organize to post a bag out, or sort out a regular supply.

I have met a couple of growers here.
This is a spice that deserves to be discovered by innovative chefs.
Move over the mighty truffle…….this is a contender for the King of rare spices. Here is a little more detail, and some photos of “muh-kan” – both dried, and on the tree.






Dried – this variety has small seeds that look like tiny star anise pods or chunky Schezuan pepper..


Bagged up into domestic quantity. Enough to use 10-15 times



These are the ‘flowers’ fresh on the tree. You have to wait until they start to shrivel and dry – then harvest them, dry them and store properly for use.


The spiky trunk of the tree. They are not all this tall – and I’d hate to have to climb one.

It would be like making love to a porcupine, or riding a runaway cactus.If harvesting yourself – go for a shorter, bushier tree like the one below.



This photo gives a better idea of what the leaves of the tree actually look like.



To use it in soup or stews, just pound or grind a little of the ‘muh-kan’ with an equal amount of garlic, then add it at the last minute before serving. 

There is nothing complex about it, except for the depth of the flavour.
I can imagine this would slay unbelievers if it were seeded through a pure, well made jus, over game meat or high quality beef, accompanied by a glass of exceptional Cabernet.
***Thanks to Robyn from eatingasia blog, and my friend Dadi from Bangkok for assisting with identification, English name and substitute for this amazing spice. 
Robyn suggests substituting with Schezuan pepper pounded with a little orange zest. It could be almost awesome. :-)


For a deeper look into Thai cuisine as you rarely see it, I must also recommend David Thompson’s THAI FOOD – an encyclopaedic reference  of Thai cuisine from centuries ago to the streets around Thailand today. 
He has two versions, both the same content. One is pink/purple, bound in Thai silk. I have that one – it’s pure Asian food porn!  As a professional expat chef in Thailand, it is my Thai food reference bible – and it is in English.
 

Posted in Healthy & Low fat, Northern Thai, Vege & Vegan - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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