Larb Recipe (Spicy Meat Salad)

Ingredients :

1 tablespoon Cooking oil

2 stems Lemon grass (white part only), finely sliced

2 Fresh green chilies, finely chopped

500 g Lean minced pork or beef

1/4 cup Lime juice

2 teaspoons Lime rind, finely grated

6 teaspoons Chili sauce

1/3 cup Fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1/4 cup Chopped fresh mint

1 Small red onion, finely sliced

1/3 cup Unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped

1/4 cup Crisp fried garlic

Lettuce leaves for serving.

Method :

• Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the lemon grass, chili and mince over high heat for 6 minutes, until the mince is cooked, breaking up any lumps.
• Transfer to a bowl, allow to cool.
• Add the lime juice, rind and chili sauce to the mince mixture.
• Arrange the lettuce leaves on a serving plate.
• Stir most of the coriander, mint, onion, peanuts and fried garlic through the minced, spoon over the lettuce and sprinkle the rest of the coriander, mint, onion, peanuts and garlic over the top.
• Serve.

Tom Yum Goong (ต้มยำกุ้ง)

Ingredients

• 4 cups of water
• 2 stalks fresh lemons grass, trim off the very end of the root and smash with the side of a cleaver of chef's knife; cut into 1 inch pieces; or 2 pc dried
• 3 slices fresh galangal root(smashed) or 2 pc dried
• 3 fresh kaffir lime leave or 4 pc dried
• 1 Tbsp. tamarind paste, with or without seeds
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce, Golden boy preferred
• 3/4 lb shrimps, medium to large size, shelled and de-veined; butterfly if desired
• 12 fresh Thai chili peppers, whole or 2 medium sized jalepenos, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch strips.
• 1/2 small white onion, cut 1/4 inch slices
• 2 Tbsp. roasted chili paste (nam prik pao)
• 1 (16 oz.) can straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
• 1 small ripe tomato, cut into wedges 1/4 inch thick
• 1 small lime, squeezed
• 2 sprigs fresh cilantro

Preparation

Bring water to boil over high heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, fish sauce and tamarind paste (break apart the tamarind paste with your fingers as you add it). Add the shrimp, bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes. Add the onion, nam prik pao and straw mushrooms. Boil for another 7 minutes until the shrimp is cooked through. Add the chile peppers and tomatoes. Turn off the heat. Add the lime juice. Taste to adjust the seasoning, adding fish sauce to taste. Garnish with cilatantro if desired and serve. Serves 3 to 4.

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) ส้มตำ

Servings: 4 to 6.

½ pound dried shrimp
2 pounds green papayas
¼ pound green beans
1 tomato
¼ cup ground roasted unsalted peanuts, a little larger than grains of sand
½ cup lime salad dressing (see below)
green lettuce leaves

Place the dried shrimp in a sieve and rinse them thoroughly with hot, running water. Set them aside to drain in the sieve.

Peel and seed the papayas and shred them into long julienne strips. Slice the green beans lengthwise into thin strips. Slice the tomato vertically into very thin slices. Place these ingredients in a mortar or whatever and pound them with a pestle or large wooden spoon to soften them, so they'll absorb the flavor of the dressing more easily.

Grind the re-constituted shrimp in a blender or food processor to a powder and set aside.

When you're ready to serve, add the shrimp and peanuts to the salad and toss with the lime salad dressing. Put a single layer of lettuce leaves on a serving bowl and arrange the salad on top.

Lime Salad Dressing (Nam Som Tam) น้ำสัมตำ

Servings: About 1 1/4 cups

4 serrano chiles
2 teaspoons, about 4 cloves, finely chopped garlic
½ cup nam pla
½ cup lime juice
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Remove the stems, but not the seeds, from the chiles, and chop the chiles finely. Pound the chiles and the garlic to a smooth paste in a mortar. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Yam Nuea (Beef Salad)

This recipe is very close to what I think Yam Nuea. Yam Nuea is the single dish that started me on an exploration of Thai cuisine. Before I tasted it, I never imagined the burst of flavors when one gets salty, sour, sweet, and hot at the same time.

The picture to the left is Yam Nuea at a the Sugar Hut restaurant in Pattaya, Thailand. It is very common to include cucumber in the salad. Thin slivers of onion, or slices of shallots go well with the blend of tastes. In each bite, you get the saltiness from the nam pla, the sourness from nam manao (lime juice), the heat from prik pon (Thai roasted chile, ground or powdered). Adding mint and lemon grass takes it over the top! I usually use fresh serrano chiles and prik pon to provide the heat. I start with the serrano, and to taste, bring the heat up to the desired taste with prik pon. I also blend in a little palm sugar when I make Yam Nuea to include a faint taste of sweetness to round out the flavors of the dish

Sometimes I don't mix the cucumbers with the salad. Instead, I line the serving plate with lettuce leaves, then form a ring of sliced tomato and cucumbers around the edge of the plate, and spoon the salad in the middle of the tomato and cucumber ring.
-clay

• ½ pounds beef tenderloin, room temperature
• ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 leaf lettuce head
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, minced
• 1 small red onion, thin sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 small cucumber
• 2 tablespoon nam pla
• fresh ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1 lime, thin wedges

Preheat oven to 500°F. Set beef in small baking dish and roast for 20 minutes until rare. Let cool for 30 minutes, then refridgerate until cold, approximately 2 hours. Slice against grain into ¼ inch by ¼ inch pieces.

In a large bowl, combine meat strips, cilantro, mint, jalapeño and toss. In a small bowl, combine garlic, nam pla, palm sugar, and lime juice. Mix well. Pour this dressing over the meat and toss to coat.

Cover a large platter with lettuce leaves. Arrange the tomatoes around the outside, overlapping the slices, as necessary. Arrange cucumber slices inside the tomatoes, then the onion slices inside those.

Remove the meat from the dressing and mound in the center of the platter. Pour any dressing that remains over the meat. Cover with a damp towel and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

Before serving, sprinkle with black pepper, and garnish with lime wedges.

Nahm Prik Plah Tu

"Nam phrik pla pahn" is ground dried fish with fresh chilies; "nam phrik pla raa" is fermented fish with fresh chilies; "nam phrik kapee" is shrimp paste with fresh chilis; "nam phrik oong" is minced pork, tomato and fresh chili peppers.
Spicy Fish Paste (Nahm Prik Plah Tu)
A beautiful Thai woman from the North stayed at our beach resort and made this dish every morning for breakfast (really!) with steamed vegetables and sticky rice. Years later I still crave this around 10am.

Buy a granite mortar & pestle for this recipe
Ingredients

• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 2 pc (200 g) frozen salted mackeral ("plah tu")*
• 2 shallots, peeled
• 2 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 20 fresh Thai chili peppers (prik kee noo)
• 5 pc dried large chilies (prik chee fah)
• 1 tsp shrimp paste (ka-pee) or 1 Tbsp. dried shrimps
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (nam plah), Golden Boy brand is the best
• Juice of 1 large fresh lime
• 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Preparation
Lightly brown the mackeral in hot oil in a wok. Remove to paper towel covered plate. It is already cooked, so do not overcook.
Mash shallots, garlic, and chilies in a mortar and pestle or small food processor container until still coarse, not smooth.
Add shrimp paste, blend in with pestle or process briefly. Or if using dried shrimp, pound or process to break up and blend in to the paste.
Add fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar (if desired). Serve with rice and steamed vegetables. Serves 4.