Wing Bean Salad
- Slice the fresh coconut meat into match-stick size strips, about 1″ (2cm) long. Remove the skin of the shallots and slice thinly.
- Roast the coconut on medium heat in a dry pan until light brown. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. Set aside on a flat plate to cool.
- If your peanuts are not already roasted, dry roast them now like you did the coconut. Crush the peanuts with a stone mortar & pestle or the side of a heavy knife.
- Fry the shallots in enough vegetable oil to cover them on medium heat until golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Remove before dark brown as they will continue to cook for a minute or two once removed from the pan. (You can cheat here and buy pre-fried shallots in a container at many Asian groceries.)
- Fry the chilies in the oil until browned.
- Boil the eggs in water until hard-boiled, about 10 minutes. Replace the hot water with fresh cold water to stop the cooking. Peel and slice however you wish (halved, quartered, or sliced thin like shown).
- Clean the shrimp by peeling off the heads and legs, and removing the “vein” (intestine), but leave the tail on.
- Trim off the ends of the wing beans and boil whole in salt water for less than a minute — just enough time to turn a darker green. You want them to still be crisp & crunchy. Rinse in cold water and slice into 1/4″ pieces (as shown).
- Heat the coconut milk in a pan until boiling. Add the shrimp and cook until pink. Turn off heat and add the palm sugar, tamarind paste, roasted chili paste, lime juice, fish sauce, peanuts and coconut. Mix well.
- Add the wing beans and mix. Remove to a plate and arrange the eggs along side. Garnish with the fried shallots and chilies.
Green Papaya Salad
Green Papaya Salad, or Som Tam (sometimes written Som Tum), is a very common dish eaten throughout Thailand. It originates in Laos/Issan, but now the whole country enjoys it. This version does not add fermented crab or fermented fish paste (plaa-raa) which is common in Issan. Feel free to add that if you want! This dish is easily made vegetarian by omitting the dried shrimp, and substituting salt for the fish sauce.
Ingredients
* 1 teaspoon whole garlic cloves
* 2-10 small thai chilies, to taste
* 1 tablespoon palm sugar
* 1 tablespoon fish sauce, or 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 long bean, broken into 1.5" pieces
* 1 tomato
* 2 teaspoons lime juice
* 1 cup shredded green papaya
* 3 tablespoons dry roasted peanuts
* 1 tablespoon dried small shrimp
Directions
1. First prepare the papaya by peeling the dark green skin. Then, hold the papaya in your hand, and smack the fruit lengthwise with a good sized knife. You want to create 1/2″ or so deep cuts into the fruit. Do this over and over until you’ve created a good amount of cuts. Watch your fingers! Then, cut the papaya lengthwise to produce long strips. You can also buy tools which can create long shreds, or even use a cheese grater (the big holes). Thai people use the knife method though!
2. In a ceramic mortar & pestle, add the whole garlic cloves and chilies. Pound with the pestle a few times to mash, then add the long beans.
3. Pound a few more times, and add a pinch of papaya. This helps mix the garlic & chilies. Pound some more.
4. Add the palm sugar, fish sauce or salt and pound more. Make sure everything is well mixed.
5. Add the tomato, chopped into large pieces. Pound more, but not as hard. Add the lime juice, dried shrimp and the rest of the papaya. Pound about 10-15 times while mixing with a spoon. You want to evenly coat the papaya with the juices while pounding the flavor into the papaya, but don’t pound so hard that the papaya disintegrates. Add the peanuts, mix and serve.
Note:
Don't pound the papaya too hard. You want to gently bruise the fruit, not smash it into bits or make it soggy. The papaya should be crunchy. You need to use a special ceramic mortar & pestle for making this dish. Using the stone variety will over-pound your papaya.
Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)
Ingredients
* 1 teaspoon whole garlic cloves
* 2-10 small thai chilies, to taste
* 1 tablespoon palm sugar
* 1 tablespoon fish sauce, or 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 long bean, broken into 1.5" pieces
* 1 tomato
* 2 teaspoons lime juice
* 1 cup shredded green papaya
* 3 tablespoons dry roasted peanuts
* 1 tablespoon dried small shrimp
Directions
1. First prepare the papaya by peeling the dark green skin. Then, hold the papaya in your hand, and smack the fruit lengthwise with a good sized knife. You want to create 1/2″ or so deep cuts into the fruit. Do this over and over until you’ve created a good amount of cuts. Watch your fingers! Then, cut the papaya lengthwise to produce long strips. You can also buy tools which can create long shreds, or even use a cheese grater (the big holes). Thai people use the knife method though!
2. In a ceramic mortar & pestle, add the whole garlic cloves and chilies. Pound with the pestle a few times to mash, then add the long beans.
3. Pound a few more times, and add a pinch of papaya. This helps mix the garlic & chilies. Pound some more.
4. Add the palm sugar, fish sauce or salt and pound more. Make sure everything is well mixed.
5. Add the tomato, chopped into large pieces. Pound more, but not as hard. Add the lime juice, dried shrimp and the rest of the papaya. Pound about 10-15 times while mixing with a spoon. You want to evenly coat the papaya with the juices while pounding the flavor into the papaya, but don’t pound so hard that the papaya disintegrates. Add the peanuts, mix and serve.
Note:
Don't pound the papaya too hard. You want to gently bruise the fruit, not smash it into bits or make it soggy. The papaya should be crunchy. You need to use a special ceramic mortar & pestle for making this dish. Using the stone variety will over-pound your papaya.
Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)
Larb
Larb (lapp, laab) is a Northeastern (Issan) and Lao dish which, like som tum, is popular all over the country. It usually consists of cooked ground meat which is tossed with lime juice, chili powder, fish sauce & toasted rice powder, along with long coriander and mint.
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup ground pork, not too lean
* 1/4 cup water (for cooking pork)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
* 2 teaspoons lime juice
* 1/2 teaspoon roasted jasmine rice powder
* 1 teaspoon roasted chili powder
* 1/8 cup mint leaves, packed
* 2 teaspoons chopped scallions
* 1 tablespoons sliced shallots
* 1 teaspoon sliced long coriander
* 2"/5cm wedge of flat yellow Chinese cabbage (optional)
* 2-3 small dried chilies (optional)
Directions
1. Toast the raw rice for a few minutes on medium-high until golden brown. Keep flipping them every few seconds so they don’t burn.
2. Pound the toasted rice in a stone mortar & pestle until powdered (see pic).
3. Toast the chili powder for a minute or two on medium-high until slightly darker and fragrant. Stir constantly. This can be quite dangerous if left forgotten on the stove — the smoke which is produced is quite spicy and can hurt your nose & lungs if left for too long!
4. Boil the water in a saucepan and add the pork. Break apart and stir very gently until it’s cooked through. Strain and add to a bowl. Let it cool to slightly warm or room temperature.
5. Slice the shallots into thin rounds. Slice the scallions into 1/2″ (2cm) long pieces. Cut the long coriander into tiny pieces. Tear off the leaves of the mint and wash well. Set aside.
6. Add the chili powder, sugar, lime juice, toasted rice powder, fish sauce, mint, scallions, shallots and long coriander to the bowl. Stir well.
7. Serve with a wedge or Chinese cabbage. You can top with small dried chilies too, if you want.
Note:
Really do be careful with the toasting of chili powder. Once Jett and I were cooking and we left it on the oven for about 2 minutes un-attended. We came back and moved the pan out of the way, and a puff of black smoke came out which was so toxic it hurt my eyes, lungs, nose, everything. We had to leave the room until it aired out. Even the cats ran away.
Laap can be eaten warm or room temperature, but should be eaten right away otherwise it won't taste good.
If you cannot find long coriander, you can substitute with regular coriander
Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup ground pork, not too lean
* 1/4 cup water (for cooking pork)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
* 2 teaspoons lime juice
* 1/2 teaspoon roasted jasmine rice powder
* 1 teaspoon roasted chili powder
* 1/8 cup mint leaves, packed
* 2 teaspoons chopped scallions
* 1 tablespoons sliced shallots
* 1 teaspoon sliced long coriander
* 2"/5cm wedge of flat yellow Chinese cabbage (optional)
* 2-3 small dried chilies (optional)
Directions
1. Toast the raw rice for a few minutes on medium-high until golden brown. Keep flipping them every few seconds so they don’t burn.
2. Pound the toasted rice in a stone mortar & pestle until powdered (see pic).
3. Toast the chili powder for a minute or two on medium-high until slightly darker and fragrant. Stir constantly. This can be quite dangerous if left forgotten on the stove — the smoke which is produced is quite spicy and can hurt your nose & lungs if left for too long!
4. Boil the water in a saucepan and add the pork. Break apart and stir very gently until it’s cooked through. Strain and add to a bowl. Let it cool to slightly warm or room temperature.
5. Slice the shallots into thin rounds. Slice the scallions into 1/2″ (2cm) long pieces. Cut the long coriander into tiny pieces. Tear off the leaves of the mint and wash well. Set aside.
6. Add the chili powder, sugar, lime juice, toasted rice powder, fish sauce, mint, scallions, shallots and long coriander to the bowl. Stir well.
7. Serve with a wedge or Chinese cabbage. You can top with small dried chilies too, if you want.
Note:
Really do be careful with the toasting of chili powder. Once Jett and I were cooking and we left it on the oven for about 2 minutes un-attended. We came back and moved the pan out of the way, and a puff of black smoke came out which was so toxic it hurt my eyes, lungs, nose, everything. We had to leave the room until it aired out. Even the cats ran away.
Laap can be eaten warm or room temperature, but should be eaten right away otherwise it won't taste good.
If you cannot find long coriander, you can substitute with regular coriander
Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)
Fried Egg Salad
- Mix the fish sauce, sugar, soup base and lime juice well in a bowl.
- Chop the garlic, chilies and coriander fine.
- Fry the eggs in a very hot pan with a good deal of oil until crispy, about 1 minute. It helps to ladle the oil over the top of the egg to cook both sides at the same time. Set aside and allow to cool a bit.
- Put the eggs in a plate and cut into quarters. Mix the garlic, chilies and coriander together into the sauce.
- When ready to eat, pour the sauce over the eggs. Don’t let it sit long or the eggs will get soggy.
Wing Bean
Wing Beans are a squarish shaped bean. When you cut them they resemble an “X”. They have a mild flavor, and are used in thai salads (yum) and eaten with chili pastes (naam prik). They are commonly eaten with coconut milk, roasted chili paste, peanuts and toasted coconut in wing bean salad.
Storage: