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Deep fried pepper chicken wings with pandanus leafs

1. In a stone mortar and pestle grind black pepper into a fairly course grind (about the size of a plunger coffee grind)
2. ½ chicken wings at the joint by sliding a knife down the length of the wing and separating the joint at the bottom.
3. Remove the white of the pandanus leaves. Roughly chop the leaves into about 3cm lengths and place them in a bowl with the halved chicken wings, black pepper, and fish sauce. Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible (more than 30 minutes if you don’t have time)
4. Once the chicken is marinaded place the chicken and pandanus leaves carefully in very hot oil. Remove leaves if they are cooking too quickly and replace as necessary to brown. Once the chicken is browned remove it and place on kitchen paper to drain.
5. Serve with Thai chilli dipping sauce

So…… as I upload these pictures I and listening to the news on the TV… They are talking about gun shots and grenade attacks… I was around this area (there was also a bike shop I was looking for) for about 4 hours..  OH SHIT!!!!  Anyway.. Not shot or blown up, this whole thing was more or less a camp site with some (rather dodgy) security.  The camp was just a heap of this:

If it’s not clear (and I understand it’s not) sitting around doing very little.  keep in mind it’s about 38deg in the shade.  Everyone is sweating (not just me with 20kgs of camera).  Look at the gloss on the face of the guy below.

This guy is indicative of the people who were floating about.  Hot and here for support.  They are extremely organised with festival like TVs and sound systems.  They even have pharmacies and medical centres (with beds, lots of)

The locals are still conducting business.  This lady was telling people’s fortune with a standard pack of cards for a princely sum of 40b (about $1.2).

The biggest thing that happened while I was there was the arrival of this guy.  One can only assume that he was important, they were pushing me towards him and people were thrusting anything they had into his hand for his autograph.  He had 4 very serious security guards with him.

If anyone can help me with who he is, he appears to be wearing an Energy Australia hat ?????

OK… so as a manager safety is a pet project of mine.  I love these guys’ attitude towards safety.

They certainly talk the talk….. but.. Not the first guy I have seen leaning off a building to sort some work out.

I just had to laugh…. these are some of the properties that are next to the worlds’ most luxurious hotels.

Nice to see you’re place is falling into the river but you can keep your ‘apartment’ garden going.

Do you think when this one goes over they’ll lose reception on their Sky?

The old boy in this shot looks fairly happy.  I would be too, it is a great river, lots going on. Again thought…. how much time does this place have?  Given when the ferry docks the whole dock moves (it is not well anchored I would assume these are built with the same level of workman ship..

By far the fastest way to get up and down the Chao Phraya River (main river in Bangkok) is in one of these bad boys.  I have heard they are diesel engines but they don’t look big enough (to the computer guy) to be a diesel.  Anyway they look like they are a normal 4 cylinder engine they have ripped out of something and bolted to the end of a boat.  The reason why the boat is so long is they need the weight to cope with the weight of the motor and the output when these guys ‘put the peddle to the metal’.  I am going to give this a go, apparently they are about 1000b for 1 hour.  I’m guessing in 1 hour you can get to Burma.

It wasn’t until I had taken the photo and thought about what was going on that this clicked.  In this photo the silk worms are added to boiling water (heated from below in the same way the pots were cooking on the side of the street), they excrete the silk and then this is collected by the lady and wound up in the contraption.

If you click on this and get the full sized JPG you can just see the silk coming up from each of the poor little buggers.  Once they are finished/cooked they are discarded.  I guess silk is not vegan friendly.

If you’re only in Bangkok one day you MUST see this, it is so amazing, the photos don’t do it justice, I have tried.

Notes on getting in to the palace etc: You will be told this but I will repeat it, if anyone tells you it’s closed don’t believe them. The tour guides touting for business just inside the first entrance seem to be good (I didn’t use one, I wanted to take photos and that just tends to annoy them). The audio guide (just after the ticket office (ticket is 500b)) is quite OK although I just gave up and did my own thing. If you don’t want the guided tour then I would recommend the audio guide. There is one more scam I saw en route to home; some guy at the ferry pickup point (get the ferry from the sky train station to N9 and enter from there, about 30 minutes for 40b one way) anyway… the guy was telling some Americans they were not dress appropriately and he could help them. Me being me stopped and felt the need to explain to them they could borrow clothes at the palace and they would be OK (although I think the elephant print doesn’t suit anyone). The Thai guy didn’t look too happy, the American very politely thanked us both and departed away from the ferry and I held my tripod and marched off.

Photos……

This guy is apparently the father of Thai medicine.

I just love these blokes holding the tower up.  There was something on the audio guide about this but… I gave up (not because the guide was crap, it was actually very good) but I was always taking too long in the spots and fogetting which number was next.

You point the camera anywhere and there is something else to take a photo of.  All gold and all amazing.

The pillars around the main temple were all decorated to reflect the light through the day (I was listening to the guide for this).  I don’t use this word often, it was awesome .

These where around the middle of the temple .  Each would have been carved and decorated by hand.  In the temple is a jade Buddha which gets his clothes changed three times a year.  When you see all the decorations around the Buddha you will understand why that is amazing, no idea how they get the (i I think) king up there to change the little fella’s clothes.

Bright sunlight is not the best time to take photos but this just floated my boat.

Just had to show this.  This is a lily flower in the Grand Palace.  These guys were buzzing around and I figured… It’s 40 degrees, I’m in the sun, why not take 20 minutes out to try to get a critter’s eye in focus.  This is the outcome.  I have done a crop to show the focus too.

Day 5

Green curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Kheao Wan)
Green curry with chicken (Gaeng Kheao Wan Gai)
Sweet and sour vegetables with Prawns
Stir fried chicken with ginger (Gai pad khing)
Thai-style fried rice noodles (Pad Ma Keau Yaw)
Spicy glass noodle salad (Yam wun sen)

Green curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Kheao Wan)

1. In a stone mortar and pestle pound coriander, cumin and peppercorn seeds until they are a powder.
2. Add lemongrass, ginger, lime, garlic, turmeric, and shallots to mortar and pound until there isn’t any obvious sinew.
3. Add dried chillies and salt pound unit pieces of chilli cannot be made out from the rest of the matter (again not an easy task, right arm starting to feel it now. The finer you chop the easier this will be. There’s a story here but… wait 7 weeks).
4. Add shrimp paste and pound to mix in the paste.

NOTES:

The big question for us Anglo-Saxons…… Difference between red and green curry…. I REALLY hate to say it… essentially nothing. Just the red or the green chillies!!! A restaurant may choose to differentiate but strictly, no heat difference.

Only use the white bit of the lemon grass. The rest can be used for a kick arse tea

To keep stir fry for a couple of minutes, let cool and put in a container in the fridge. It will keep for a few months

The finer you chop stuff up the less pounding. Chop stuff fine, it takes less effort.

Green curry with chicken (Gaeng Kheao Wan Gai)

Extra coconut cream to wet chicken if required

1. Put oil in wok and add curry paste, cook until paste has started to integrate with oil
2. Add coconut cream. Stir until fat separates (oil on top around bubbles. You may need to stop stirring for this to show up)
3. Add chicken and stir until nearly cooked. If mix becomes too dry add more coconut cream
4. Add coconut milk, eggplants (both), fish sauce, and sugar, bring to the boil. Taste and season to taste.
5. Just before removing from heat add, basil, kaffir and red chilli. Quickly combine and remove from heat.
6. Serve with Jasmine rice

Sweet and sour vegetables with prawns

1. Combine all the sauce ingredients and put aside

The real work….

1. Put oil in wok heat and add garlic. Cook until ‘fragrent’ (please don’t burn)
2. Add chicken and cook until cooked (not over done)
3. Add chicken stock and boil
4. Add pineapple, cucumber, onion and mushrooms. Heat through whilst ensuring the mix is kept moving
5. Add remaining ingredients (including the sauce). Taste and season as required

Stir fried chicken with ginger (Gai pad khing)

OK… I have to come clean on this one…. I’m not a fan of ginger (I learned today ‘old ginger’) but this dish needs it and it’s not overly ‘gingerie’ [sic?]…

1. In a wok, heat oil and add garlic. Cook until fragrant (don’t burn)
2. Add chicken and cook until … well…. Cooked
3. Add chicken stock and bring to the boil
4. Add ginger, red onion, mushrooms and seasoning and taste. Adjust to taste
5. Add chilli and spring onion, toss, turn off heat and taste. Adjust if required

NOTES:

‘old ginger’ is that ‘rooty’ [sic? again] we get in Australia. The young ginger is just literally the young root, it is clean and white and doesn’t have the sharp taste of the ‘old’ ginger.  I don’t know if we can get it but it would be worth growing ginger just to get the real stuff, it’s light and fresh.

Thai-style fried rice noodles (Pad Ma Keau Yaw)

1. Mix seasoning and put aside.
2. In a hot wok heat oil and add shallots and dried shrimp. Cook while keeping moving the shallots until they have started to brown (tasty goodness)
3. Add radish and tofu stir in quickly and brown tofu
4. Add chicken stock and bring to the boil
5. Add noodles and flatten out so the mix comes in contact with the wok (don’t crush it just spread it out). Add more stock if it becomes too dry but don’t make it too wet.
6. Add seasoning, taste and adjust to taste.
7. Turn off heat and quickly add bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Mix to ensure the latter are heated through.
8. Taste and adjust. Serve

Spicy glass noodle salad (Yam wun sen)

1. In a mortar OR finely chopping (a lot easier but not traditional) combine seasoning garlic and chilli
2. Combine the remaining seasoning ingredients in the bowl, taste and season accordingly. Set aside.
3. Fry in wok pork mince and cook until it is done
4. Add prawns and cook briefly until the prawns start to show pink
5. Add chicken stock and bring to the boil
6. Add tomato and Chinese celery and quickly toss. If the mix has dried out too much add more stock
7. Add glass noodles and stir quickly until the noodles turn transparent. Take off the heat and combine in a bowl with the seasoning. Taste and adjust as required.

I just loved the cram packed shop with the shrine at the back.  Asking if I could take this photo was ‘fun’ too as passers by wanted to help and then the 10 or so guys who worked there took it in turns to make sarcastic comments (in Thai so I can only assume) while the camera ticked through the 60 second exposure time.

There is really no point owning a car in Bangkok.  Taking this picture I was there 10 minutes and the traffic didn’t move (except for the motor bikes).  Crossing the road becomes quite easy really, you wait until it snarls up and then start crossing (watching for motor bikes in between the cars).  Even if the cars do move these guys are the most polite drives you will ever meet.  They stop to let you cross rather than lean on the horn.

All over the streets you see various business models with regards to street food in Bangkok. This is clearly the upper end of the models with seats, people doing the dishes (behind) and more than 2 staff members. They start at about 6 pounding the paste and cooking in preparation for the day ahead.

The charcoal goes on a ‘tray’ just above the air hole (in picture) and the hole is used to fan the fire or just provide oxygen.  If wood is used they put the wood in the hole and burn from there.

Wat Maha Pruettharam Worawihan, is a third grade royal monastery of Worawiharn. The original name of the temple, Wat Tha Kwian (Cart Harbor) in earlier times derived from a legend telling about King U-Thong of the Ayutthaya era. He had escaped from a cholera epidemic which was ravaging the area. He traveled by a kwian (cart or wagon) and came to park his wagon in the area. Another story is that this area was the resting place for travellers who journeyed in kwian. Later in 1852 A.D. ( 2395 B.E.), King Mongkut (King Rama IV) named the temple Wat Ta Khien (the name of the miracle tree) and jointly built a new temple with his son, Prince Chulalongkorn (who became King Rama V). The temple was renovated and raised to a royal temple and King Rama IV renamed it Wat Maha Phruettharam in honor of the first senior lord abbot whose name was given to him by the king: Phramaha Pruttacharya. There are many interesting objects in the temple such as the Ubosot (Ordination Hall) doors, windows and gables decorated with stucco mouldings in the form of Maha Mongkut (the royal crown) which was the circular royal seal of King Rama IV, and the gables of the Wiharn (Hall of Worship) display stucco mouldings in the form of Chunla Mongkut (mini royal crown) which was the circular royal seal of King Rama V. The mural paintings inside the Ubosot are a set showing the Buddhist Pilgrims.

If you look at the full sized image there is inset glass (assumption) that is reflecting different different colour of light.  It was amazing just before sun set.

Day 4

Yellow curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Massaman)
Yellow curry with chicken (Gaeng Ka Ri Gai)
Chicken Satay with Satay sauce (Gai Satay)
Hot and sour Prawn Soup (Tom Yum Goong)
Stir-Fried Egg Plant with chicken and basil (Pad Ma Keau Yaw)
Papaya Salad [Cabbage] (Som tam)

Yellow curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Massaman)

1. In a stone mortar and pestle pound cinnamon and nutmeg until they are a powder. Add coriander seeds, and cumin and pound thoroughly until they are a fine dust.
2. Add lemongrass, garlic, turmeric, and shallots to mortar and pound until there isn’t any obvious sinew.
3. Add dried chillies and salt pound unit pieces of chilli cannot be made out from the rest of the matter (again not an easy task, right arm starting to feel it now).
4. Add shrimp paste and pound to mix in the paste.

NOTES:

Only use the white bit of the lemon grass. The rest can be used for a kick arse tea
To keep; stir fry for a couple of minutes, let cool and put in a container in the fridge. It will keep for a few months
The finer you chop stuff up the less pounding. Chop stuff fine, it takes less effort.

Yellow curry with chicken (Gaeng Ka Ri Gai)

(oops… forgot to take a photo).  It was nice

Extra coconut cream to wet chicken if required

1. Put oil in wok and add curry paste, cook until paste has started to integrate with oil
2. Add coconut cream. Stir until fat separates (oil on top around bubbles. You may need to stop stirring for this to show up)
3. Add chicken and stir until nearly cooked. If mix becomes too dry add more coconut cream
4. Add coconut milk, onion, fish sauce, and sugar. Taste and season to taste.
5. Add potatoes
6. Remove from heat and serve with Jasmine rice

NOTES:

Boil potatoes until they are al dente. You can use a pinch of salt and turmeric in the water to give the potatoes a great colour and make them more visually appetising in the curry.

Chicken Satay with Satay sauce (Gai Satay)

Extra coconut cream to wet chicken if required

1. Slice the chicken in 4mm slices and place in marinade
2. Allow to site while the remaining of the dish is prepared (about 30 minutes)

Satay Sauce

1. Put oil in wok and add curry paste, cook until paste has started to integrate with oil
2. Add coconut cream. Stir until fat separates (oil on top around bubbles. You may need to stop stirring for this to show up)
3. Add coconut milk and bring to the boil
4. Add all other ingredients of the satay. Taste and season as required

Cook chicken

1. Thread the chicken along the skewer so that the skewer is ‘hidden’ by the chicken.
2. Place the skewers on a frying pan and rotate every few minutes until they are browned. If you are preparing on a bbq ensure you soak the skewers first

NOTES:

To slice the chicken you can use any part of the chicken that is long enough. Get the chicken as cold as you can without it being frozen solid. Slice the chicken in 4mm slices and thread the skewers down the middle of the meat once it has been marinaded.

Another tip is to cut it and dump it in the marinade or just coconut milk straight away. As it defrosts the chicken will take in the marinade and become unbelievably moist (assuming you don’t kill it when you cook it)

Hot and sour Prawn Soup (Tom Yum Goong)

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil
2. Add ginger, lemongrass, kaffir leaves, onion and coriander root bring to a boil and taste
3. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, fish sauce, chilli paste, sugar, coconut milk and tamarind paste and taste. Adjust if required
4. Just before removing from heat add the lime juice. Turn off heat and taste once more. Adjust as required and reheat quickly (if required)

NOTES:

Coriander root added to this dish by putting it under a knife and whacking the knife to flatten it and increase the surface area. The root should (not a disaster if its not) be pulled out so it needs to remain reasonably intact.

Stir-Fried Egg Plant with chicken and basil (Pad Ma Keau Yaw)

1. In a hot wok with oil add garlic/chilli paste, cook until ‘fragrant’ (30 seconds max)
2. Add meat and cook appropriately
3. Add stock and bring to the boil, if it starts to dry out add more stock at any point from now. Remember it’s not a soup so there should be a thick ‘season’ on the salad
4. Add the eggplant. Cook until the eggplant becomes ‘droopy’ (like cabbage when it is just cooked)
5. Add chilli and stir in
6. Add seasoning and taste, adjust as necessary
7. Add basil
8. Serve

Here’s what a Thai eggplant looks like (the photo’s crappy because I took it with the point and shoot.  You’d think I’d know how to use one of those!!):

Papaya Salad [Cabbage] (Som tam)

1. In a clay mortar with wooden pestle combine garlic and chilli and smash
2. Add green beans, and shrimp, smash into garlic and chilli
3. Add peanuts and cashews and roughly smash together
4. Combine papaya and carrots and give a little bash but not too much
5. Add seasoning and taste
6. Add lime juice and skin from which juice was extracted and smash. Taste once again.
7. Add tomato and give it a couple of swipes to show who’s boss and serve
8. Serve with green beans and cabbage.

Massaman curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Massaman)
Panang curry with chicken (Gaeng Panang Gai)
Spicy chicken salad (Larb Gai)
Stir-Fried Chicken with hot basil (Gai Pad ka Prao)
Fried sweet noodles with pork (Sen Yai Pad See Eeaw)

Massaman curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Massaman)

1. In a stone mortar and pestle pound cinnamon and nutmeg until they are a powder. Add coriander seeds, cumin and peppers and pound thoroughly until they are a fine dust.
2. Add lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, and coriander root to mortar and pound until there isn’t any obvious sinew.
3. Add dried chillies and salt pound unit pieces of chilli cannot be made out from the rest of the matter (again not an easy task, right arm starting to feel it now).
4. Add shrimp paste and pound to mix in the paste.

NOTES:

Only use the white bit of the lemon grass. The rest can be used for a kick arse tea

To keep stir fry for a couple of minutes, let cool and put in a container in the fridge. It will keep for a few months

Massaman curry with chicken (Gaeng Massaman Gai)

Extra coconut cream to wet chicken if required

1. Put oil in wok and add curry paste, cook until paste has started to integrate with oil
2. Add coconut cream. Stir until fat separates (oil on top around bubbles. You may need to stop stirring for this to show up)
3. Add chicken and stir until completely cooked. If mix becomes too dry add more coconut cream
4. Add coconut milk, potatoes, onion, fish sauce, sugar, tamarind juice, and peanuts. Taste and season to taste.
5. Plate up and garnish with cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamom

NOTES:

Boil potatoes until they are al dente. You can use a pinch of salt and turmeric in the water to give the potatoes a great colour and make them more visually appetising in the curry.

Spicy chicken salad (Larb Gai)

1. Make the seasoning by mixing together the lime and sugar and ½ the fish sauce. Retain the rest of the fish sauce if require once tasted the salad.
2. In a wok, bring the stock to the boil
3. Add chicken and stir until cooked
4. In a large bowl mix chicken, seasoning, spring onions, shallots, coriander, chilli pepper and most of the toasted rice
5. Season and taste. Add more fish sauce/seasoning if required

NOTES:

To toast sticky rice you put the rice in a frying pan without any oil. You toast the rice until it is very brown, don’t worry about the occasional burnt one. Once it is toasted you put it in the mortar and pestle and grind it until it mostly resembles a medium coffee grind