Fried rice is a real Thai standard that can be had at any Thai restaurant or roadside eatery.  You can substitute chicken for the pork, or even shrimps or crab, or a combination.  This is a great recipe to use up what is left over in the refrigerator!  The cooked rice should be yesterday’s as well!

Ingredients                           Serves 2 Pork cut into bite-sized pieces ½ cup Chicken breast chopped          ½ cup Vegetable oil                          2 tbspns Tomato, thinly sliced               1 Soy sauce                             2 tspns White pepper (prik Thai)          1 pinch Fish sauce                            2 tspns Egg                                      1 Pre-cooked rice                     1 cup Onion, chopped                     ½ Garlic, minced                       2 cloves Medium red chilli sliced          2

Cooking Method

Heat the wok with the oil until it is very hot (smoking) and very quickly stir-fry the pork and then the chicken.  Push the pork to one side of the wok and crack the egg into the pan and quickly scramble, chop into small pieces and then place to one side with the pork and chicken.  Add the day old cooked rice and all the other ingredients and mix them all together with the pork, chicken egg and rice.  Stir fry, mixing all the time for two minutes and sprinkle with white pepper.

Serve with sliced cucumber and two wedges of lime.

Another recipe for fish lovers out there and almost all types of fish can be used, but the readily available local plakapong is fine.  The recipe calls for four long red chillis, but if the family likes this toned down, you can simply reduce the number, and I recommend that you remove the seeds before chopping!

Ingredients                         serves 2-4 Plakapong                           1 medium Cooking oil                           30 ml Garlic, finely chopped            2 cloves Chillis, long red finely chopped 4 Fish sauce                          30 ml Lemon juice                        15 ml Sugar                                  2 tbspns Soup stock                         60 ml Corn flour                            2 tbspns Coriander leaves as garnish

Cooking Method

Clean the fish, rinse and pat dry.  Now shallow fry the fish, making sure it remains moist, remove and set aside.

Heat the oil and add the garlic frying until it is golden in color.  Now add the chillis, stirring quickly and then the fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar and soup stock.

Pre-mix the corn flour with 30 ml of water and add 5ml of the corn flour mixture at a time to thicken the sauce slightly.  When the consistency is thick enough, place the fish on a serving platter and pour the hot sauce over it.  Garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Yellow curry chicken is a Thai favorite with chicken and potatoes in a creamy ‘soup’ and eaten with Thai jasmine rice.

The spices used in Thai yellow curry paste are cumin, coriander seed, garlic, salt, lemongrass, red chili peppers or cayenne pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, mace and cardamom. However, take my tip and buy the commercial yellow curry paste instead!  This recipe is one of the simplest for this dish.

Ingredients                       Serves 4 Chicken breast sliced           600 gm White onion quartered           2 Potato (peeled and quartered) 2 medium Coconut cream                     4 cups Coconut milk                        3 cups Yellow curry paste                3 tbsps Cooking oil                           2 tbspns

Cooking Method

Heat oil in a pot over medium to low heat.

Add the curry paste and sauté in the oil until fragrant.

Add coconut cream and continue to simmer for about 4-5 minutes or until you can see the yellow oily part starting to separate.

Add coconut milk and coconut cream and chicken and continue simmering for about 15 minutes.  Add potato and continue cooking chicken and potato for another 15 minutes, then add onion until all is cooked through.

Serve with Jasmine rice.

Whilst this is not strictly a vegetarian dish, it is an original Chinese dish from Peking, but over the years has been progressively refined to make it more of a western item these days.  However, it is very flavorsome - just don’t overdo the tomato ketchup!

Ingredients                  Serves 4 Bean Sprouts                125 gm Prawns, de-shelled, chopped 125 gm Sunflower oil                  4 tbspns Garlic, crushed              1 clove Red chilli seeded, sliced 1 small Salt                              1 tspn White vinegar                2 tbspns Icing sugar                    ½ tbspn Tomato ketchup            1 tbspn Ginger root, grated fresh ½ tspn Chicken stock               4 tbspns

Cooking Method

Wash the bean sprouts under cold water, then line a colander with paper towel and shake until dried.

Remove head and tail and shell of prawns, wash, dry on a paper towel and chop roughly into small pieces.

In the wok heat the oil and add the crushed garlic and stir-fry until golden brown, then scoop out the garlic and discard.  Add the finely sliced chilli, then the bean sprouts and stir-fry quickly for 30 seconds.

Now add the salt, vinegar, sugar, tomato ketchup, ginger root, chopped prawn and chicken stock.  Bring quickly to the boil and leave for one minute.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

KHUN OCHA'S COOKBOOK

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