Taste of Thai

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Aside from fish sauce, lemon grass and lime I think of peanuts as a main ingredient in Thai food.

We've had about 4 new Thai restaurants open in our area in the past year and all the food is just wonderful.
 
Somboon

:chef: They understand English and it is the number one item served! Just look around and point. LOL I talked them into letting me observe the chefs making it! Helped me get it down. Now I make one with Dungeness crab even better than theirs.
VBG

Another great "deal" with lovely atmosphere is the prix-fix meal at the Thai restaurant at the Hyatt. It is cheap as you can order anything on the menu for lunch. What we do is order a couple of appetizers, and then just keep ordering items 2 by two otherwise you would get everything at once and it's going to get cold. Also the Hyatt has their own water purification system so you can drink the water!

Eating at the weekend market out at Chatuchuak Park is fun too and very cheap!

Enjoy!



Mary-Anne

Chopstix said:
Hey Shantihhh, many thanks for all that information about Thai food. A friend's invited me to Somboon but I passed. I'll try it soon. What's the Thai name of the curry crab with shell on?
 
Thai ingredients

:chef: Thais don't really use much peanuts in Thailand. I think this has become an American thing VBG

Kaffir lime and Thai basils are up there along with galangal, Khrachi and lemongrass sometimes. Many times chiles and kapi and also shallots and garlic are used a lot!

Mary-Anne, Thai Food Editor
bellaonline.com


Aurora said:
Aside from fish sauce, lemon grass and lime I think of peanuts as a main ingredient in Thai food.

We've had about 4 new Thai restaurants open in our area in the past year and all the food is just wonderful.
 
nam pla/fish sauce

:chef:Try a brand of fish sauce like Golden Boy. It is a must in Thai cuisine. You shouldn't taste fish sauce it is to balance the salty thing.

jkath said:
Hello Cookie Monster!
cookie_monster.jpg

Welcome to the family!
I'm with you when it comes to fish sauce - I always look for a substitute in the recipe! I love cilantro as well, and tend to overuse it quite often:rolleyes:

We have some other texans on this site, and I'm sure they'll be along shortly to welcome you too.
 
I'm back. Had to go out to New Mexico for a while. Visited Hatch where they grow all the chili peppers. If you expect to see a pepper museum or monument you will be disappointed. Beautiful coutry and lots of it, great place to hide out.

Anyway I have made a new Thai dry rub (attempt) with fresh lime leaves and it was ok. I can not seem to find the recipe at the moment but will post it when it shows up again. Next time I think I am going to use dry lime leaves (Kaffir) and grind them into a fine powder. I removed the Cardomom from the recipe as it is overpowering.

I'll be back when I find the recipe.

Bryan
 
OK, I have a bad habit of reading through threads backwards. I want to thank everybody for all the great information. I may have to give the Thai dry rub a rest for a while as I am a little busy trying to catch up after my trip.

Thanks again,
Bryan
 
Thanks, bknox, for making me feel not all alone. Sometimes I think I've read all the entries, and find I've missed a few. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but when Keo first started up in Hawaii, I'd swear someone told me he was Laotian or Cambodian, hubby says he thinks the former. May have only been rumor. Doesn't matter, great food. Happy memories of coming in with a cooler full of beer & wine (at the time they didn't have a booze license) and sitting there sweating because we all like it "Thai-Hot". One freind speaks Thai fluently (Keo himself may or may not be Thai, but the wait staff was), so we got great service. The restroom in those days was single (both ***es) and outside. Good freinds, good food, good fun. It became famous and up-scale after that. But it is one of my favorite ethnic food memories. We were just drenched in sweat from eating it so hot.
 
When I lived in Hawaii, I had a kaffir lime tree in a pot. Oh, how I miss that flavor. In Florida I grew lemon grass in a corner of the yard. That one was funny. We'd gone to a Thai restaurant in Orlando, and I looked down at the stuff growing by the sidewalk, and saw ... lemongrass. We were leaving, and I just was going to grab one or two stalks to start a plant at home. I got caught, but do what I always do when I'm caught out in a transgression --- apologise and explain. The owner's wife was thrilled that I even knew what I was doing, and gave me a good size cutting, and I had a ton of lemongrass for the rest of the 6 years we lived there. I'd like to try growing both (lemongrass and Kaffir) in pots, and someone gave me a source a few months back, but I can't find where I saved it (the story of my life). I use lemon balm or verbena (the latter is better, but haven't found a plant lately) in the summers, but lime skin in the winter, to give the zip of lemongrass/kaffir lime. Not the same, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
 
Claire,

Just buy a stalk of fresh lemongrass from the supermarket/asian market, stick it in water and let it sprout. then plant it.

I have a planter on the deck that is wildly overflowing with lemongrass as I kept splitting them and re-planting.

SHOUT OUT to Jkath and JPMCgrew for helping me with this project earlier this spring! http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11473&highlight=lemongrass

I can buy fresh kaffir lime leaves at my asian market, so haven't thought about the tree, but here's some info: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=grow+%22kaffir+lime%22
Have been making tons of green curry dishes, such as this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_21150,00.html
 
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Indian Curries/Thai Curries

There is a great Thai restaurant in Knightbridge just across and down from Harrod's called Thasi Orchid (I think). Anyway they do fix real Thai food!!! I also love Indian having been to both India and Thailand over 30 times each, but Thsai cuisine has a freshness.


Indian curries are far more complex and each dish has a different mixture of spices/masalas which make the curry, whereas Thasi curries are divided into much more basic like green, red, yellow, choo chee, jungle curry, sour yellow, mussaman and panang in the south, and so on. The ingredients for the curry paste do not vary much from dish to dish.

I love all curries! Well Japanese curry is sort of boring, but even curries of Malaysia, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and China all can be quite tasty, not to mention curries of the Caribbean. Guess I should just say I love spices!

:chef: Mary-Anne

Ishbel said:
I'm with CharlieD!

In the UK, 'curry' usually means Indian subcontinental food (most of our 'Indian' restaurants are actually Bangladeshi or Pakistani). Thai has become popular over perhaps the past 10 years or so - but I prefer 'Indian' curries!
 
Kaffir Lime

Claire said:
When I lived in Hawaii, I had a kaffir lime tree in a pot. Oh, how I miss that flavor. In Florida I grew lemon grass in a corner of the yard. That one was funny. We'd gone to a Thai restaurant in Orlando, and I looked down at the stuff growing by the sidewalk, and saw ... lemongrass. We were leaving, and I just was going to grab one or two stalks to start a plant at home. I got caught, but do what I always do when I'm caught out in a transgression --- apologise and explain. The owner's wife was thrilled that I even knew what I was doing, and gave me a good size cutting, and I had a ton of lemongrass for the rest of the 6 years we lived there. I'd like to try growing both (lemongrass and Kaffir) in pots, and someone gave me a source a few months back, but I can't find where I saved it (the story of my life). I use lemon balm or verbena (the latter is better, but haven't found a plant lately) in the summers, but lime skin in the winter, to give the zip of lemongrass/kaffir lime. Not the same, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Four Wind Growers will ship them to you.

http://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/

Maybe Bhatia in NJ has them, not sure as they carry mainly Indian things like Curry Leaf/Murrieya Koenigii.

Lemongrass, just buy a few stalks at an Asian Market, root them in a glass of water and pot up in a large diameter pot.

You can grow the lemongrassoutside in your area, but bring in a potted clump to over winter. Harvest and fresh your lemon grass for all winter use.

The Kaffir Lime/Magroot will need to be brought in if the temps are below about 40 deg F. Four Winds grafts onto frost hardy stock. We get temps that hit 32 deg F a few times a winter and they are quite hardy to that, but where you are you will need to bring them in to a bright window area. Don't let them dry out due to winter indoor heating systems.
 
For me I think curry paste and rice. I just started eating Thai and I am kicking my self in butt for waiting so long.
 
Say Thai food, I think of spciy, sour, fresh, sugar, fish sauce and chilis, lemongrass, coconut milk, spicy salads, galangal and tom yum paste.
 
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