When I visited my mom in Phuket in March, I dropped by to see her everyday for her home cooked meal. I didn’t plan to tape this video with Kabocha and pork, but at that moment, I wanted to record her cooking and share it with my students. My mom loves to surprise me with my favorite childhood dish. And she knew best. I love her recipe with shrimp paste but you can omit it and use fish sauce and soy sauce instead to give it a flavorful salty flavor. Shrimp paste, soy sauce and fish sauce are Thai umami. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami.
Phad Namtao Moo Stir-fried Kabocha Pumpkin with Pork
This recipe combines pumpkin with pork – and it may not seem like one that appeals to you at first. Think of it as mashed potato with chicken broth next to pork chop gravy. The Kabocha melts in your mouth with a sweet taste and creamy texture. The shrimp paste leaves a hint of saltiness to contrast the sweetness of Kabocha, and the fried garlic enhances the flavor. Be adventuresome and try this as a side dish with steamed jasmine rice and curry dishes.
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons shrimp paste or 2 tablespoons fish sauce
¼ cup minced pork
3 cups Kabocha pumpkin chunks, seeds and skin removed
½ cup water or more as needed
Heat a wok on high heat, pour in canola oil and stir in garlic. When garlic is yellow, stir in shrimp paste and pork and cook until fragrant. Stir in Kabocha and add water to reach the top. Stir well, cover and let it cook until Kabocha is cooked in the center. Test by pressing a fork against Kabocha; it should break easily. You should taste a balance of salty and sweet from Kabocha.
Kabocha is a hard skinned variety of Japanese pumpkin and winter squash. It has an amazingly sweetness, dense and silky texture and almost fibreless with dark green thick skin and bright yellow-orange flesh. This variety is preferred for Thai cooking and Thai people incorporate it in soup, curry, stir-fry and dessert dishes. Buttercup squash or Hubbard belongs to the same species and can be substituted for Kabocha. Pumpkin is a squash, but pumpkin is also a term that applies to almost all hard-skinned winter squash, not summer squash like zuchini. There are two known types of pumpkin that are used in Thai cooking – niho kabocha with a bumpy surface and kuri(seiyo) kabocha that has pale vertical stripes.
How to pick a good Kabocha squash
Kabocha should be fully ripe 45 days after it is harvested – when the starch has had a chance to convert to carbohydrate content. The flesh color then will change from yellow to a deeper color or orange. I choose a dark green skin pumpkin that has a hollow sound when I thump it. The best way to judge whether the Kabocha is ready is to buy a cut one so you can see its color and the texture inside.
Pranee’s Tips
To cut Kabocha in half, I first use a big knife and hammer to open it. The rest is easy. I then cut it into 1 – 1½ in wedges, and use the back of the knife or spoon to remove the seeds. I only peel it based on the recipe. Personally, I love the skin and it has more nutrients than the yellow part.
To prepare Kabocha for dumpling or pie, simply remove skin and seeds and cut into 1- inch chunks, steam about 15 minutes until tender and use a ricer to make a fine mash.
For soup, you may choose to leave the skin on which is tender when cooked. Remove the seeds and cut into the size according to the recipe.
As far back as I can remember, my family kitchen contained only a few cooking utensils and cookware. The most versatile cookware was a wok. We use woks for all tasks, from stir-frying, steaming and blanching vegetables to making cooking oil from lard and coconut milk. It is possible that every household in Thailand will have an average of 3 woks in various sizes. For a community kitchen, the wok can be as wide as three to five feet wide. This wok is used for cooking curry, frying and steaming rice for a function with more than 300 people. A wok allows you to have total control to stir and mix a large quantity of foods with a large shovel. Owning a new wok is a new beginning of your culinary adventure in your kitchen.
A wok made of mild steel will rust; therefore a well-seasoned wok will protect it and make it easy to cook foods and prevent them from sticking.
Ladle & Shovel (Spatula)
Depending on the style of your wok, a ladle or spatula can be used. A ladle fits well in a deep bowl shaped wok and a shovel can be used for either a flat bottom or deep bowl wok.
How to Season a Wok
This is the summary on how to season a wok according to the “The Breath of a Wok” by Grace Young.
First step to handling your new wok is to clean it with hot soapy water to remove the protector. Then season it by using a few tips below.
~ Cook pork in a bone in boiling water.
~ Pan fried tofu to absorb metallic taste, and then stir-fry chives.
~ Use scallions, garlic chives, pork and ginger to remove the metallic taste.
~ Use high heat with salt.
This is a recipe for seasoning a wok for the first time before cooking a meal for serving:
2 to 3 tablespoons pork fat
1 cup garlic chives
½ cup ginger, shredded
Clean the new wok according to instructions. In general, clean and rinse well with hot water. Dry with a paper towel. Open all of the windows and turn the range hood on high. Bring the wok to a high heat, when it starts to make a layer of smoke, add in a pork fat, ginger and chives, and with a shovel or spatula stir-fry the ginger/chive mixture to cover the entire surface area of the wok. Reduce the heat to medium-high and keep stirring until the wok darkens. Discard the ginger/chives. Rinse the wok with hot water and bring back to high heat to dry the wok. Your wok is now ready.
The best way to season and to develop the wok patina is to constantly use it. I like to use the wok for deep frying, and the shape of the wok also helps to use less cooking oil.
My first visit to Jhanjay restaurant in the Wallingford neighborhood was by chance. My friends and I were planning on meeting at a well-known Thai restaurant nearby for lunch but it was closed. Some of my students had previously mentioned Jhanjay, with its modern setting and friendly, relaxed atmosphere, so we decided to give it a try.
There were many interesting, tasty dishes listed on the vegetarian menu. Here were the choices which appealed to us.
Jhanjay Sampler Platter (an assortment of finger food appetizers that included spring rolls, corn patties, wonton cream cheese, wonton buckets, and Asian fries. Served with three kinds of sauce.)
Spicy Eggplant (Chinese eggplant, garlic, bell peppers and sweet basil stir-fried with special sauce)
Monk’s Noodles (Miki noodles stir-fried with shitake mushrooms, assorted vegetables, topped with ground peanut)
Black Rice ice cream (coconut ice cream topped with black rice pudding)
We enjoyed everything we tried, and I highly recommend this place to you. The service was professional and very customer friendly.
I invite you to add a comment from your experiences about eating out at Thai restaurants.
After soaking up the sunshine in Seattle, I missed the simple and delicious food of Vietnam. One memory that rises above the others is now of steamed prawns with Chinese celery served with Vietnamese sea salt and sour Kumquat. I savored the dish in the boat while cruising along the Halong Bayjust less than two months ago. While the boat slowly took us through LimestoneMountain, my friend, Babs, and I leisurely enjoyed our meal. While we chatted, our hands busy peeling cooked prawn to dip into sea salt with sour Kumquat. As our eyes gazed through the mountains and into the horizon, we tasted the sweetness of fresh prawn, Vietnamese sea salt that has a hint of metallic and sour from the Kumquats. A few good ingredients have made a statement. I am planning to do the same dish tomorrow while the sunshine compliment Southeast Asia flavors and the experience will bring back my memories all over again.
The best taste of stir-fried vegetables is their freshness. I chose asparagus, to celebrate spring, and then welcomed it into the wok with shiitake mushrooms. These are a perfect pair and you can heighten the depth of flavor with oyster sauce. Phad Pak, or stir-fried vegetables, is a typical side dish that is usually served daily. To go with a tasty Thai banquet, stir-fried vegetables could be plain but seasoned with oyster sauce, salted soy bean or black bean sauce. To change the taste to go with the season, you may substitute any fresh vegetable for asparagus and replace shiitake mushrooms with any other mushrooms.
Phad Nor Mai Farang
Stir-fried Asparagus and Shiitake with Oyster Sauce
Servings: 4
Preparation: 10 minutes Stir-frying Time: 3 minutes
3 tablespoons cooking oil
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 cups asparagus, cut into 1½-inch length
1 cup shiitake mushrooms; sliced
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of white pepper, more as needed
½ cup water or chicken stock
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Heat oil in wok or stir-frying pan on high heat. Just before oil reaches smoking point (really hot), stir in garlic, asparagus, and mushrooms. Stir for one minute and then stir in oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar and white pepper. In small bowl, mix well the water or chicken stock with cornstarch, then pour into stir-fry to make sauce. When the liquid comes to a boil and is translucent, serve vegetables as a side dish or with steamed jasmine rice.
The culinary discoveries in Vietnam were irresistible. Although Thai and Vietnamese ingredients are similar, their aromas and flavors have distinct dimensions. The way they prepare and enjoy their foods is very different as well. Vietnam was a gastronomic wonderland with many great restaurants, cooking schools, market scenes and local food experiences.
Traveling through Vietnam as a culinary tour leader was an interesting and heartwarming experience. The local people are so eager to share their country’s wonderful cuisine and culture and spend time with you. You’re treated more like a welcome guest than a tourist.
Back home in Phuket with my traveling companion, we rested and strolled on the beach and enjoyed the best food in Phuket, local seafood.
We were lucky to become friends with Chef Tony of the popular Rockfish Restaurant after savoring our first plate of his Thai crab salad. He generously agreed to share his recipe and do a cooking video for my newsletter to welcome our mango season here in America.
Chef Tony Wringley has been working at Rockfish Restaurant as executive chef for the past 6 months. His recipe was inspried by local and seasonal ingredients from PhuketIsland such as local crab, fresh mango and coconut. Chef Tony has captured the flavors of The tropical island of Phuket with this Thai crab salad.
Yum Pu Mamuang Maprow Thai Crab Salad with Mango and Shaved Fresh Coconut
Recipe by Chef Tony Wrigley
Executive Chef, Rockfish Restaurant
Kamala Beach, Phuket, Thailand Rockfish Restaurant
½ cup cooked crab meat
½ cup diced mango, about half mango
¼ cup sliced red spur chili or Anaheim pepper
2 green onions, chopped into 1-inch long pieces
3 sprigs cilantro, torn in to large pieces
10 Thai basil leaves or sweet basil, torn in half
¼ cup chili peanut or dry roasted peanut
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice, about 1 lime
¼ cup fresh shaved coconut or dry coconut chips
1 teaspoon chili oil for presentation
Gently combine crab, mango, red spur chili, green onions, cilantro, Thai basil and chili peanut. Add fish sauce, sugar, olive oil and lime juice, and fold just to mix. Place crab salad on the plate, garnish with shaved fresh coconut on top and decorate the plate with chili oil. Makes one serving.
I spent a good week with my mom and sister in March 2009. We would like to share with you our rustic style cooking. My mom was a chef of the village. Today my sister owns a fast-food wok restaurant in Phuket.
ilovethaicooking