Coconut-Lime-Chili Salmon (Thai)

Another short post sharing a Thai recipe from She Simmers!  I don't have much to say because I don't know the origins of this dish and it's so easy to make, it's not a big adventure.  There was zero complications when cooking or shopping for the ingredients.  This fish is too easy to make, quick, and the flavours are Thai but subtle.  The sauce at the bottom is really good on your rice!  It's spicy because of the Thai chillies.  The salmon turns kind of buttery, not dry at all. It would be good for a quick week day supper or a meal with guests. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed this recipe so I post it here for my personal cookbook (I never copy recipes from the internet so the author gets the views on their blog), you can also do that once you tried it, recipe here:

http://shesimmers.com/2013/02/baked-salmon-in-lime-coconut-cream-sauce-ปลาแซลมอนอบกะทิ.html

Khaki Jiao (Thai) Thai Omelette

This post will be very short.  Here's a link to a recipe I tried from She Simmers.  It's an omelette, but way different from a regular French omelette or scrambled egg.  It's soft and airy, a little crispy, very interesting.  It's usually eaten with Thai Sriracha (not the rooster one) and She a Simmers has a recipe for that too, but I went all around the city and couldn't find RED serrano or jalapeno chillies so we ate it with regular sriracha and it was still delicious.  It's a really easy and cheap recipe, if you like eggs, give this a try for a new way to enjoy eggs!

Recipe over at She Simmers:

http://shesimmers.com/2009/05/how-to-make-thai-style-omelets.html 

Hae Kun with Nam Jim Priao Wan (Thai) Shrimp Rolls and Sweet and Sour Sauce

Last week, my boyfriend and I went shopping and I got two cooking books.  The only place I can find a decent amount of Asian cookbooks to choose from is downtown, and I have this habit to go through the books on the metro (Montreal's subway) on my way back home.  So I was doing that with a book that has almost zero pictures, and then, a picture!  It caught my boyfriend's eye and he already knew he wanted me to make it for him!  And to my surprise, even I really enjoyed it.  The recipe doesn't suggest any dip, but on the picture there is one.  I found someone who posted this recipe word for word except that at the end, they added "serve with sweet and sour sauce" (never copy word for word!). I then searched for "thai sweet and sour sauce" on google and found a pretty good one.  So here's Hae Kun from The Complete Asian Cookbook: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, by Charmaine Solomon, simplified and slightly adapted, followed by a link to a delicious sweet and sour sauce!

(serves 4 as a side)

-2 large squares of dried tofu skin, briefly soaked in hot water to rehydrate, then water squeezed out dry

-oil for deep-frying

Mixture:

-250g cleaned, shelled shrimps, chopped into a chunky paste

-1tbsp cornstarch or potato starch

-2tbsp pork fat, finely diced (easy to find, ask any butcher, it's ridiculously cheap)

-1 garlic clove, finely grated

-1tsp ginger, finely grated

-1/2tsp salt

-1/4tsp black pepper

Mix everything for the mixture.  Add the end of a tofu skin, shape half of the mixture into a log, then roll several times until the end of the tofu sheet.  Repeat for the other roll.  Steam the rolls with the seam down for ten minute on medium.  Let cool down a little, then cut diagonally. (I prepared everything ahead and stopped at that step, putting the roll pieces in the fridge.)

Deep-fry the rolls until golden brown, then drain briefly on paper towels and serve with thai style sweet and sour sauce (recipe follows).

For the sweet and sour sauce, I used this recipe and it was crazy awesome delicious!

http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicurrypasterecipes/r/Easy-Sweet-And-Sour-Sauce-Recipe.htm

Phat Wun Sen (Thai)

I bought two books at the end of last week.  One of them is part of an Asian food encyclopedia, and even though it doesn't have much pictures, it includes authentic recipes from Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma.  I've been watching videos of Thai cooking, so even though I was searching for Vietnamese cooking books, that book seemed like a good compromise.  So here's my first attempt at Thai food, peppery rice vermicelli called Phat Wun Sen from The Complete Asian Cookbook: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, by Charmaine Solomon, simplified:

(serves 4-6)

-250g rice vermicelli, soaked in boiling water until soft, 5-8 minutes

-10 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes) or 12 white mushrooms, or any shrooms you like... thinly sliced

-3 garlic cloves, chopped

-2 thai chillies, deseeded and chopped

-185g pork fillet, thinly sliced

-250g cleaned and peeled shrimps, cut into 3 or 4 each

-2 white part leeks, thinly sliced

-1 can of bamboo shoots matchsticks

-2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks

Seasoning:

-2tbsp fish sauce

-1tbsp white vinegar

-1tsp salt

-2tsp sugar

-1/2tsp black pepper

Topping:

-fresh chopped cilantro (or flat parsley if you don't like cilantro like me)

-fried shallots

Heat 2tbsp oil in a wok over medium.  Fry the garlic and chillies a minute or two, then push to the side and add the pork.  Stir-fry the pork until it's no more pink, then add the shrimps, leeks, bamboo and carrots and stif-fry for 3 minutes or until mostly cooked.

Mix the seasonings together, add to the wok and stir-fry a minute for the juices to soak in, then add vermicelli and toss until warm and well combined.  Plate and top with herbs and shallots!