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Posts tagged frog

The hunt for a famous Hanoi frog dish

Jul30
2012 1 Comment Written by chefshane

Last month I visited Hanoi for the first time, and I loved it. 

The city has a huge energy, great food, charm, history, individuality, plenty of cool trees and structures, wicked parks and amazing people. 

I did have the feeling that no matter where I hid, a motorcycle was about to roar towards me and run me down, but that's to be expected. It was great fun, and little sleep was had by all.

We ended up hearing about a place called Khuong Thuong Village which specialises in some pounded frog dishes and we decided to pop in for lunch on our last day.

We didn't know Hanoi, and from the map it seemed to be only 8km from the city center. Rather close for a 'village'.
We headed off with plenty of time to spare, aware that the place closed around 1:40pm.
When we got out of the cab and asked about the legendary frog, a couple of locals nodded sagely and pointed down a long, meandering lane with some degree of confidence and certainty. Off we walked.

Every 1/2 kilometer or turnoff, we asked again and history repeated.
We had so many fingers pointing in so many directions, and apparently we never went the wrong way. Not even once.
Lane after lane unfolded, with no sign of the elusive frog shop.
As a specialty of the village, we sort of expected a smaller environment with quite a few vendors or restaurants, but this was a maze or gargantuan proportions, with no particular culinary focus.
Time grew short, and we were not too far from encountering a closed restaurant with rumbling bellies and sweat-stained shirts.
This was one of the lanes complete with thick black power cables, bird cages and colonial French balconies.

At last we found the place, if only through sheer grit and determination.
We climbed upstairs, sat down and used the cold towels, the glasses of ice and some cans of Bia Hanoi.

The frog on sale at this revered establishment came two ways.
Most of the meat (and bone!) is taken off the frog and pounded to make a mousse or paste.
These are fried with lime leaf, like little Thai fishcakes. The taste and smell is nice, but it was a bit disconcerting having the wee bits of bone still in the fried pounded frog fritters.
The remaining frog is deep fried whole, and you eat the bones as well as the meat.
The bones are actually chewable, but I'm not a big bone fan

The crispy frog was pretty good. You eat the bones on these ones too, but I ended up gingerly chewing off the meat and leaving the hard bits behind.

Here's the menu.
The most impressive dish actually the 'bun oc' – or thin rice vermicelli with snails. The snails we chose were stewed with green banana, out of the shell. Really tasty, and quite a "Wow!" moment.
Awesome.
The frog cakes have potential. I'd do them without the bones, similar to a Thai fishcake or 'tod man pla'.
Drop in anyway if you're in Hanoi. It's a nice walk and there's plenty of place to stop off at at eat, drink, or point the camera at.

Posted in Exotic meats & ingredients, Vietnam - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Barbecued frog recipe with green chili salt marinade

Feb22
2012 5 Comments Written by chefshane

Here in Southeast Asia, plump edible frogs are readily available in the markets at an affordable price.
The thing about Asian markets is that there is a distinct lack of polystyrene or plastic trays with sterile, impersonal cuts of unidentifiable meat gazing up at you from under a tight, glossy, virginal shrink-wrap plastic cover.
Any meat there is likely to have been killed an hour or two back……or not!

Or not? 
Well, the things that haven't been killed and butchered are likely to still be alive, waiting to be selected for next meal period.
The ones that have been butchered are hardly anonymous either.
It's hard to forget that your intended meal was once bouncing around merrily when everything is laid out in front of you – face, tail, hooves, etc, so one really has to come to terms with the fact that we actually kill and eat other creatures – or are directly responsible for the same.

Cities and Western civilisation often protect us from harsh realities like this, and we depersonalise not only the food we eat, but also the people we are about to vilify, go to war with, or vote against.
Over here, if you eat meat, something died recently to make that happen. And you're aware of it.
I haven't seen many vegetarians created though. The freshness and vitality of food in Asia is second to none, and the weekly supermarket trip to stock up the fridge and freezer is not understood by most Asians.
Food is bought fresh for each day or each meal period, and is freshly picked, cut, harvested, killed or measured out.

Things you'll normally find alive include chickens, ducks, geese, frogs, rabbits and half of the seafood.
The frogs are tied together so they don't hop back to freedom, and upon purchase, they're quickly dispatched, heads cut off and deftly skinned.
Naturally there is a little bit of kicking and squirming going on as the nerves wind down, and after a quick clean, dinner is served.

The French have the fantastic idea of using frogs legs – these are the meaty parts, and quite easy to eat.
The rest of the frog is quite awkward with a small amount of meat and lots of bones.
In Asia the whole frog is normally served, chopped into bits and stir fried or stewed.
Here is another great frog recipe that I had the fortune of experiencing in Bun Rueng, Far North Thailand near the Laos border.
It looked like a shocker, and smelt worse, until the cooking process which yielded one of the most memorable meals that I have eaten. Love at first bite.
Barbecuing is also nice, the frog being totally free of fat with a delicious taste like a moist chicken without any stringiness.

It needs a little flavour, and Rachel, chef for the day, decided on a blended mix of salt, green chilli and lemongrass blended well with a little cilantro (coriander), and oil until it forms a fine puree.

The frogs are tossed in the seasoning mix, then grilled over glowing charcoal embers, dripping, spitting and hissing as the smoke and flames caress them.

 

For a simple, no-fuss way to cook fresh, plump frogs, give this a try.
Great with a beer or a crisp wine – look for something with a hint of sweet like a Gewurztraminer if your chilli is on the scorching side, and something crisp and acidic like a rose, Sauvignon Blanc or riesling if it is milder.

Pick up the legs and eat them like chicken wings and you'll fall in love with frog meat.
I'd love to hear from any expats in SE Asia that I've managed to convert into trying this, although horrified others are welcome to leave comments too. 

Another of my more memorable frog meals was a "gop pad ka prao" in Phuket, a place which had an excess of huge meaty frogs every wet season.
It was chopped, quickly fried, then tossed in the wok with holy basil, garlic, chilli and oyster sauce. Divine.
Even with my dislike of bony things, when the legs were finished I was working on the remaining bits.

This was also a great feed. Thanks Mrs Chef-a-gogo. <tips hat>

Have you tried frog? What's your favourite frog recipe or cooking style? Just scroll to the top of this article to post a comment

Posted in Exotic meats & ingredients, Vietnam - Tagged , , , , , , ,

Kaeng khae recipe with Frog,betel leaf, galangal flower

Jan28
2011 10 Comments Written by chefshane

  

Heirloom Kaeng Khae recipe from Chiang Khong

Here's very different and delicious North Thai Kaeng Khae recipe, and it's made with barbecued frog. 

Not every kaeng khae recipe has frog – it's a mixed leaf and vegetable curry and you can use many base meats for it – beef, chicken, pork etc or you can even keep it vegan/vegetarian. As it's thickened with ground roasted rice, it's also gluten free.

This kaeng khae recipe is a 'curry' of many different freshly picked leaves, flowers and vegetables which is thickened with ground roasted rice and scented with toasted dry red chillies.

Kaeng Khae is a pretty special dish and not so common on the usual Thai menus in restaurants.

A Kaeng Khae recipe is a really great choice if you've got access to a garden full of edible herbs, flowers and vegetables, or a fresh Asian market.
This kaeng khae recpe was made for me at home in rural North Thailand, where I spent 4 months living and documenting the local dishes on this site. I was told we were going to eat 'barbecued frog' and the dish was a mystery until almost the very end.

As a rule of thumb, the average Kaeng Khae recipe uses one type of meat only – and it doesn't have to be frog.
The frog version was delicious though. Perhaps even ranking in my top 5 Thai dishes that I've tasted.
With the flowers, sticks, herbs and vegetables, you don't need to use the same ones listed here.
They're just a guide.
The whole idea of the dish is that it's made with lots of freshly picked stuff from the garden.

Here's the step-by-step recipe of the frog version that was made for me.

Kaeng Khae recipe ingredients (serves 4 )

  • 2 ea whole bbq frogs skin on. (you can use other meat, or keep it vegetarian or vegan if you prefer)
  • Hung wai – the white things in the bowl that look like a cross between palm heart and bamboo.  
  • Betel leaves – “bai chorpoo” (Pepper leaf, or La Lot leaf)
  • Kaffir lime leaf
  • Large Thai Eggplant (apple eggplant)
  • Small Thai pea egg plant 
  • Pak tam leung – a type of creeping morning glory  
  • Ja-kaan – a local North Thai aromatic wood used in cooking
  • Galangal flower Dok kha 

  • 1-2 tbsp roasted dry red chilli flakes (See my tom saap recipe for method)
  • 100g / ½ cup ground roasted rice khao krua
  • 25g fresh garlic, peeled & crushed 2 tbsp
  • 750ml Water 3 cups
  • 30ml Cooking oil 2 tbsp

At first the frogs look and smell really grim. It really worried me. That will cook out and they will taste & smell amazing

  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 the garlic & roasted chilli for 1-2 minutes till aromatic
  5. Add the frog and chunks of ja-kaan wood. Add a little water to the wok and stir. This will stir any tasty garlic and roasted chilli that sticks to the pan back into the ‘sauce’
  6. Put the water in a saucepan, and move the frog, wood and ‘sauce’ from the wok/pan into the potful of water
  7. Add the slower cooking ingredients (hung wai, thai eggplants, & kaffir lime leaves)  
  8. Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes 
  9. Add the betel leaves, galangal flowers, and quick cooking greens
  10. Now thicken it by stirring the ground roasted rice in. 
Two barbecued whole frogs from the local market in Bun Rueng.
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 how you make gravy!
The stuff stuck to the pan has a lot of flavour. When you add liquid & rub it off 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 a tasty garlic chilli, frog & wood sauce already – just a bit thin and runny right now. 
Add the vegetables that take the longest to cook. 
That’s the eggplants, kaffir lime leaves & 'hung wai' (the stuff that looks like palm hearts)
It should look like the photo above at 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 still not where we want to be yet! 
When the eggplants are tender, add in the 'delicate greens'.
That's the cha-om, the betel leaves and the galangal flowers. 
The green leafy veg will cook in a couple of minutes – so add in the
ground roasted rice ('khao krua') first.
This is the thickening agent for your gravy
Here's the almost finished product. Taste it -  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' for the final service, and present it in a more sophisticated manner.
We sat on the floor family style with this one.
This is a local 'heirloom' recipe that was handed down from the grandparents.
It doesn't get written down, and it's is one that most foreigners and city people don't know about.
In the North it's eaten with white sticky rice, which is rolled into balls 
and dipped into the gravy. Here's a method for cooking sticky rice perfectly every time
I still get my own plate, spoon & fork and a wee bowl, and sit awkwardly on the floor.
We all sat around the table the first few days for my benefit but it became a bit too much effort.
Besides,‘When in Rome' also applies to North Thailand, where the hospitality is genuine.

About the frogs – they smelled bloody horrible, semi barbequed from the market.
It’s ok –they don’t retain that smell or appearance when cooked using this Kaeng Khae recipe.
The skin is a great feature and it's barbequed to enhance the aroma for the finished dish.

After the cooking this frog has 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 willl be presented as an upmarket dish with heirloom flavours and pedigree.
A celebration of local culture and family cooking, but knife and fork ready.
I have to say if I ever enjoyed sucking my fingers clean, it was while eating this. 
If you can find the ingredients, jump on it right away.
It is a dish that you have to try before you croak.

  

Posted in Exotic meats & ingredients, Gluten free, Northern Thai, 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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