Keith's Blog

Layer cake (Karon Chan)

1. In a blender put pandanus leaves and 1 cup of water and blend until the water turns green.  Filter the water through a sieve and wring out the leaf fibers.  Put the water through coffee filter (optional) to remove all leaf fibers in the green water.  Put to one side
2. In a bowl mix all the flour and 1/2 cup of water and coconut cream.  Create a smooth paste. Divide the paste in half
3. Add the green water to one half and the other 1/2 cup of normal water to the other.  Mix the water in to each (individually) to give you green mix and white mix
4. In a steamer put your bowls or tins to hold the cake.  Steam them for 5 minutes before putting in the first layer of cake mix.
5. Place a thin layer of mix (either white or green) over the bottom of each cake container.  Cover the mix and allow to steam for 5 minutes
6. Remove lid and carefully pour to opposite colour over the cake to completely cover the previous layer.  Cover for another 5 minutes
7. Keep laying a new layer with alternating colours every 5 minutes until you no longer have any more space or run out of mix.
8. Allow to cook for an additional 10 minutes after the final layer has been applied
9. Once cooked put the cakes in the fridge (or some ice water) to cook down.  Once cool pry the cake away from the edges of the container and serve

Deep fried rice crackers with dipping sauce

1. In a mortar make the paste. Pound the black pepper until it is a fine powder
2. Add red spur chilli and salt. Pound to a paste
3. Add Coriander root, and garlic. Pound to a fine paste and put to one side
4. In a wok fry on a medium heat put 1 tab of paste per serve with vegetable oil until it is fragrant
5. Add coconut cream and chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked
6. Add red onion and cook until oil forms around bubbles
7. Add peanuts, tamarind and palm sugar. Taste and adjust
8. Serve with deep fried rice cakes or toasted dry bread snacks. Use sesame seeds as garnish

Tumeric soup with chicken (Gai Tom Kamin)

1. In a pot put stock, lemongrass and red onion together on a high heat and bring to a boil
2. Add chicken and bring back to the boil
3. Add turmeric and turn the heat to low
4. continue to heat at a very low temperature, skim off the fat and scum that gathers at the top. Continue to heat for about 1.5 hours
5. Serve when required. Just before serving add approximately 1/2 tab of lime juice

Curry Pork Neck Southern Style

1. Place black pepper in the mortar and pound to a powder
2. Add dried chillies and salt and pound to a paste
3. Add very spicy chillies and lemongrass and pound to a paste
4. Put the rest of the paste ingredients in the mortar and pound to a paste. Put to one side
5. In a wok on high heat put vegetable oil
6. Put paste in pot and cook until oil changes colour
7. add stock and ribs and turn to low heat
8. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar. Taste and adjust
9. Add kaffir lime leaves and serve

Click on any of the images for the full size version.

Going to the grave yard was actually quite moving.  Looking at the ages of all of the Australian troops and understanding how they must have suffered in the heat at the hands of their captors.  It was great to see that some of the graves are clearly regularly maintained as the constant polishing of the brass has worn out the embossing on some of the badges had started to wear out.

At the bridge there was a farmer moving his cattle along.  He stopped for me to take his photo after I had chased his ‘beasts’ around trying to get a 1/2 decent shot.

The boat tour took us to a palm sugar farm. We had the opportunity to see palm sugar being made, how it was farmed and a really fit guy running (the only way to describe it) up a tree. Great to see how that sugar that we use so much is produced.

Boat repair and production shop in the palm sugar plant

The newest labour force for the palm sugar trade.  Perhaps if Thai cooking doesn’t work out this might be her new calling?

Pim did a great job of sorting out a van to take us outside Bangkok for the day.  Stop 1 (except for the coffee) was the floating market.  The floating markets where great.  Pim organised for 300b ($10) the whole group to have a boat down the canals.  It was a really brilliant morning with fruit, vegetables, pancakes, fish, and chicken all on offer down the canals.   Any of the photos can be clicked on to get a full size version

Today’s menu was a Thai style barbeque with small pieces of squid, prawns and pork neck to be dipped into the various dipping sauces.  The sauces are all great but are best served with certain types of meat.

Red meet and pork is great with the rich flavours and earthiness of the Eastern style spicy and sour dipping sauce

Pork is best with Pantai Sukiyaki Dipping Sauce where the complex flavours of the sauce can come out

And a great, fresh Seafood dipping sauce with…. seafood

The Pantai Sukiyaki Dipping Sauce makes a really great Thai-Style Sukiyaki Soup and Pantai Sukiyaki Dipping Stir Fry

I still have to update the blog with the recipes.  I will get to this on Sunday.  James is in Bangkok and we decided to show some paper who’s boss..

Bangkok shooting range in one of the army barracks for 3000b ($100) you shoot 3 types of handgun,  .45mm, .9mm and a ’38’. Two clips in the 9mm & 45 and 15 rounds in the 38.  As James said ‘the quickest $100 you can blow in Bangkok’.  They did offer a M16 at 2000b ($65) but I think we had already illustrated to the paper that we shouldn’t be messed with.

Seafood dipping sauce

1. In a stone mortar and pestle pound chilli, coriander root, garlic and lemongrass
2. In a bowl combine mortar contents, sugar syrup, fish sauce and lime juice. Put in a serving dish

Eastern style spicy and sour dipping sauce

1. In a pot bring the tamarind and palm sugar to the boil. Boil until all the palm sugar is dissolved. Put to one side to allow to cool slightly
2. When cooled enough that you could put your finger in the mix add the sticky rice powder and stir in
3. Add chilli powder, saw coriander, Chinese coriander, fish sauce and red onion and stir in. move to a serving dish
4. Place finely chopped kaffir lime leaves to top of sauce

Pantai Sukiyaki Dipping Sauce

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until they are well combined (about 5 minutes)
2. Pour contents of blender into a pot and bring to the boil. Boil until the sugar is dissolved
3. Pour the contents of the pot through a strainer and squeeze out as much liquid as practical. Place vegetable meat from strainer into the blender and blend further. Attempt to gain a smooth consistency
4. In a bowl combine the liquid from the filtering through the strainer and the newly blended vegetable meat. Place in a bowl for serving

Pantai Sukiyaki Stir Fry

1. Make the Pantai Sukiyaki Dipping Sauce and put to one side
2. On  a high heat place garlic, and vegetable oil in a wok and cook until garlic is fragrant
3. Add noodles and egg and stir vigorously
4. Add soy sauce, meat, stock and sugiaki sauce. Taste and add more sugiaki sauce if required. Serve

Thai-Style Sukiyaki Soup

1. Make the Pantai Sukiyaki Dipping Sauce and put to one side
2. Place stock, cabbage, fish balls and mushrooms in a pot and bring to a simmer
3. Add egg, squid and mushrooms and cook until the squid is cooked
4. Add spring onion, noodles and sugiaki sauce. Taste and add more sugiaki sauce if required. Serve

Today James arrived.  Although it’s rude to leave the poor guy floundering in Bangkok without a guide I felt it was more important to update the blog…. OK…… truth be told, he was flagging after crossing several timezones and going from Swedish, no dark summer to Bangkok no cold hot season.  We went back to the hotel and I’ve put today’s menu up… Here you go (time for bed for me)….

Roast coriander pork (Pick lab moo)
Northern style red curry pork belly (Kaeng Lee Hung Moo)
Not quite spaghetti and meat balls – Thai style

We put a little lime juice with the Roast coriander pork to take some of the fire out of it. if you like a real ‘zing’ add more paste to this recipe and get ready to blow your mind.

Roast coriander pork  (Pick lab moo)

1. In a stone mortar and pestle pound Szechuan pepper, coriander seeds, and cumin thoroughly until they are a fine dust
2. Add dried chillies, bird’s eye chillies and salt, pound again until mix is a paste
3. Add onion, ginger and garlic and pound to a paste.  Put to one side
4. On a medium heat add oil to a wok
5. Add 1 Tab paste to the oil and stir until the oil changes colour
6. Reduce to a low heat and add pork and stock. Cook until pork to cooked
7. Add fish sauce. Taste and adjust
8. turn off heat and add all coriander and spring onion and serve

Red curry pork belly (Kaeng Lee Hung Moo)

1. In a stone mortar and pestle pound coriander seeds, cumin and peppers 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.
4. Add shrimp paste and pound to mix in the paste. Put to one side
5. Mix the ginger, garlic, curry paste, shrimp paste and stock in a pot with the pork.
6. On a low heat simmer the pork mix with the lid on
7. After 1 hour add peanuts and sugar put lid on and continue simmering
8. After 1:30 minutes (additional 30 minutes to the last step) add tamarind
9. Once there is fat sitting on the top of the simmering pot take off the heat (over 2 hours)
10. Place in a bowl and serve

Not quite spaghetti and meat balls 

This curry has been used in Jim Thompson’s house restaurant as a special by Chef for over 6 years.  It was a best seller.  It really is something you have to try, there is a good reason you charge 240b (little less that $10 but here it’s expensive) for it.  This can be used on spaghetti or on it’s own.  It’s really very special.

1. Make the paste by pounding in a dried chillies and salt until it makes a paste
2. Add coriander root, garlic, onion, galangal and pound to a paste. Put to one side
3. On a high heat put oil in a wok
4. Add paste to the wok and keep moving until the oil changes colour
5. Turn the heat to medium and add pork. Cook until pork is just cooked by massaging into the pork with spatula (a little pink is okay)
6. Add tomatoes and stock. Cook until the tomatoes until their juice rises to the top. Add more stock if the mix dries out
7. Add sugar and tamarind juice. Taste and adjust. Add more stock if required

There isn’t a stand out dish today. I guess if I was pushed the cups would be it, they are very easy (other than the cups) and very tasty. I think if you come to my place for a dinner party the first thing you are going to see will be these.
Eastern style pork soup
Stir fry noodle with prawn curry
Stir fry noodles with mince beef and golden surprise
Crunchy spiced beef cups

Crunchy spiced beef cups

1. Make teh cups by mixing all the ‘crunchy cups’ mix together in a bowl with a whisk until it is smooth. Put to one side
2. To make the cups you need one of these and then you do this. Basically you get the cup mold very hot in the oil. you pull it out, emptying the oil in the cups. Dab it on some paper to remove oil from the bottom of the mold and then dip it in the batter. Leave it there long enough to cook some batter on the molds and then put the molds in the hot oil to cook. The cups will either fall off or, with a little encouragement come off and cook until they are golden brown. Repeat
3. Make the filling mix by putting the meat in a bowl and adding the rest of the ingredients. Massage the ingredients into the meat. Form balls about 1cm in diameter and deep fry at a medium temperature. Take care that the balls don’t stick on the bottom. When balls are dark brown remove, drain and place in a cup
4. These can be dressed with deep fried very finely chopped red onion and kaffer lime leaves

Stir fry noodles with mince beef and golden surprise

1. In a small bowl mix water and corn flour. If more water is required add more water, the mix should be the thickness of single cream. Put to one side
2. Place the lettuce on a plate ready to receive the noodles. Put to one side
3. In a wok on a high heat add 1 Tab vegetable oil to the wok. Cook the oil until it is smoking. spread oil around wok by moving the wok around
4. Put noodles in wok and spread out to resemble a noodle pancake. Move wok to prevent sticking. When the bottom is brown flip the pancake.
5. When this side is brown move the noodles quickly with a spatula to separate
6. Remove the noodles from the wok with a spatula and place on top of the lettuce
7. Make an indent (a cup with the noodles that will hold the yolk) in the middle of the noodles and place the egg yolk in the middle (photo below)
8. Turn the heat to medium and, in the wok add the remaining vegetable oil (1 Tab)
9. Add garlic to the wok and keep moving until it becomes fragrant
10. Add beef to wok and keep moving. Cook to 30% (still very pink)
11. Add brown onion and combine
12. Turn the heat to a low heat and add stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and curry powder and stir. taste and adjust. If the mix gets too dry add more stock
13. Add the corn flour mix gradually string in after each addition until the desired sauce thickness is obtained
14. Place meat over the egg and noodles and serve

Stir fry noodle with prawn curry

1. In a small bowl mix evaporated milk, egg, sugar, soy sauce, 1 Tab (half) chilli oil and oyster sauce and put to one side
2. In a wok on a medium heat add vegetable oil to the wok
3. Add garlic to the wok and keep moving until it becomes fragrant
4. Add prawns and onion to wok and cook until the prawns start to become pink
5. Add curry powder and stock, toss in with prawns
6. Add evaporated milk mix from above and boil
7. Add remaining vegetables and chilli oil, briefly cook.  Add extra stock if too dry
8. Add 1 splash of vegetable oil to give the meat a shine and serve

Eastern style pork soup

1. On a high heat bring to the boil the stock and add the pork, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, onion and salt. Reduce the heat to a simmer
2. Reduce the heat to a simmer and scoop off any scum that forms on the surface. Allow to simmer for at least 1 hour
3. On a medium heat remove pork from the stock and place in another pot with 2 cups stock and tamarind water and bring tot he boil
4. Add fish sauce, tomatoes, galangal, onion, and lemongrass and bring to the boil
5. Add chilli powder and bring to the boil. Taste and adjust
6. If you want the soup to be more spicy add the smashed bird’s eye chillies.  Add kaffir lime and saw coriander and serve

OK… there are no food standards here

If you own a  wok and some basic tools you can go and setup anywhere and start selling green curry (or anything else you want really).  I should have used flash on this guy but he was having too much fun when I pointed the camera at him and I didn’t want to delay the shot.  He is making a (and click to get the full size to see) squid curry, nose to tail.  You not only take your life into your own hands with these guys but you could well be being served anything.  I doubt it includes rats.  I will try to get a shot of the rats, they are the smallest most pathetic looking vermin I have seen.  I can’t see anyone trying to use them as food.

All over Sukhumvit (where the course is and I tend to hang out) there are these ladies making the modifications to your finery that you require.  No changing rooms, no niceties, just a tape measure, some pins and a sewing machine.  This one’s electric but (and I will try to get a photo) I have seen one of the old singer foot powered one on the side of the road.  Really it doesn’t require a shop front in a major shopping centre filling Westfield’s pockets (not the shop keepers’ pockets).  In this respect the Thai’s have it nailed.

Everywhere you look in Bangkok there’s a photo of someone trying to make a living.  I think I am going to try to put entries for every weekend on people in Bangkok doing their stuff.

This lady can be found selling dried fish to locals on the main drag between the tourist ferry and Wat Poh (reclining Buddha).  Everywhere else in the world there would be hundreds of dodgy guys trying to sell you any number of tourist trinkets but this is a living city, it has people doing ‘city’ jobs and needing their daily necessities.  Below is the fish she was selling, I have no idea how to use them but I guess they are delicious:-)

The duck curry today was delicious. It is more or less a red curry with duck as the base but it has the sweetness of a massaman curry. The best place to get the roast duck is from a Chinese restaurant. If you really don’t want to do that, use roast pork with the fat trimmed and crackling removed.

Today’s dessert was nice but only in small amounts. It has a sweetness with the crunch of the corn and the water chestnut and then the saltiness of the coconut cream topping (snow). For me 2 squares were enough but still very nice.

Roast duck red curry
Stir fry vegetables, Northern Thai style
Pork fried bread
Snow on the grass

Snow on the grass

1. Put the syrup water, sugar and padanas leaves to boil and thicken on a high heat.  Stir occasionally
2. Make the green water by combining the green water padanas leaves and water in a blender. Blend until the leaves are the size of tea
3. Filter the water through a strainer to remove the large pieces of padanas leaves
4. It helps to filter the water through muslin or a coffee filter however small pieces of padanas leaves do not impact the dish significantly. Put to one side
5. In a pot mix together the green water and the mung bean flour
6. In a heavy bottom pot on a high heat mix together water chestnut, corn kernels, and syrup. Gradually add the green water mix and stir until the mix thickens significantly. Quickly fill your molds (in our case padanas leaves made into 3cm squares and stapled
7. In a heave bottomed pot WITHOUT heat mix together the corn flour, salt, water and coconut cream
8. Put the mix on a medium heat and keep moving
9. Once the mix resembles a white icing mix take off the heat and quickly top up the molds to make the ‘snow’ on the grass. Refrigerate
10. Once the mix is chilled remove from the molds to expose the snow and the grass and serve

Pork fried bread

1. Make the paste by pounding in a mortar the white pepper corns until powder
2. In a bowl massage 1 egg, 1 tab paste, white sugar and soy sauce into the pork
3. Spread the pork mix onto the white bread to a thickness of about 2mm ensuring you go all the way to the sides. Prepare all the bread and put to one side
4. Break the remaining eggs into a bowl and beat until combined
5. Heat the deep frying oil on a high heat to a high temperature and then reduce to medium
6. Place the top (pork side) of each piece of bread (only egging the top) in the egg mix and then top down into the deep fryer
7. Fry until the top is golden brown and then turn over and fry until golder brown
8. turn the heat to high and fry for an additional 30seconds on high and remove quickly.  Serve

This can be served with a  dipping sauce of finely chopped baby cucumber, red spur chillies and red onion immersed in sugar syrup.  Offsets the oil nicely and makes this dish more ‘adult’.