Cranberry Sauce with a Touch of Thai Herbs

Cranberry Sauce with a Touch of Thai Herbs

Stir-fried Cabbage with Garlic and Ginger

 

Local Cabbage from Ballard Farmer Market

PHAD KALUMPEE

(Stir-fried cabbage with garlic and ginger)

Cabbage is the most popular vegetable in Southeast Asia. It belongs in the Brassica Oleracea family along with bok choy and gai larn (Chinese kale or broccoli). It’s commonly used in stir-frying, curry and soup dishes.

My favorite way of preparing cabbage at home is to stir-fry it with salt and pepper for a side dish. This month I enjoy stir-frying cabbage with leftover turkey and lots of ginger and garlic.

Nutritionally, cabbage is high in Vitamin C and fiber, and contains anti-inflammatory benefits. With the two additions of garlic and ginger (flu prevention aids), what a great recipe for healthy eating.

Servings: 4

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon shredded ginger

1 cup shredded cooked turkey, optional

3 cups shredded cabbage

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat canola oil in a wok on high heat and stir in garlic and ginger. When garlic is golden, stir in turkey and cabbage. Then add oyster sauce, soy sauce and 3 tablespoons of water. Cover and quickly braise until cabbage is cooked but still has a slight crunchy texture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve hot as a side dish with steamed jasmine rice.

Vegetarian option: omit turkey, use vegetarian oyster sauce

Gluten-Free option: use wheat free soy sauce, wheat free oyster sauce

© 2009  Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen

I Love Thai cooking

Sea Thai Restaurant in Wallingford

Sea-Thai Pumpkin Curry with Prawn

After three months of busy schedules, Chef Rachel Duboff, my colleague and owner of personal chef services Thyme to Nourish, and I finally had an opportunity to visit our favorite Thai restaurant in Wallingford. It’s called Sea Thai. I have known the owner, Renoo Ramstad, for 18 years, as long as I have lived in Seattle. Many local Thai chefs love Renoo’s Southern Thai cuisine and desserts, and her impeccable attention to fresh ingredients. The restaurant “takes pride in offering the finest homestyle cooking available without going to Thailand.” Both Chef Rachel and I have been long time fans of Sea Thai. 

After looking over the menu, Rachel and I decided that we would each order our favorite dishes and share. To tempt your appetite, I’ve included photos of our dishes on Facebook here for you. 

When the waiter asked how spicy we would like our food, I replied “as the chef recommends what is best for the dish.” Rachel and I love spicy Thai foods, but we wanted the chef to decide which heat level is appropriate for each dish, based on the dish’s personality. 

The first dish we ordered was a tidbit, Miang Kao Tod, a crunchy fried rice and pork. At it turns out, it’s not a fried rice dish at all but almost like a salad and is eaten with a leaf. Americans usually use iceberg lettuce; in Asia, the most common choice is Chapoo (also know as la lot in Vietnam). This is a great starter dish. 

Phad Kee Meo is a drunken noodle dish that features stir-fried fresh rice noodles (chow fun). This dish is almost as popular as Phad Thai. The noodles are usually served with a pork/Chinese kale combo, but Sea Thai’s version has an unusual twist. Instead of pork, it contains seafood with rice stick flake, a type of dried noodle about 2 inches by 2 inches that rolls when it’s fried. The texture is so seductive that I could have the dish all by itself for lunch and dinner. 

Pumpkin Curry with Prawn is a must this time a year. Renoo blends her own curry paste every week for her restaurant. Hers has a very good heat that cools down perfectly with the texture of pumpkin. To serve with the curry, Sea Thai uses Khanom Jean, a fried rice vermicelli noodle. Most restaurants in Seattle have this noodle available by request, as well as steamed sticky rice. 

Sea Thai head chef is Pa Juk, a delightful 69-year old cook who came to the table to greet us. After seeing our sweaty foreheads and red cheeks, she sent us complimentary black sticky rice with custard dessert to cool down our palate. Before leaving Sea Thai, Renoo generously gave me a box of her red curry paste with citrus flavor to bring home. 

I hope you too will visit Sea Thai and sample some of these dishes. Tell Renoo that Pranee sent you, and be sure to let me know what you think about Sea Thai’s food. 

Details 

Sea Thai 

http://seathai.com/ 

2313 North 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98103-6905
(206) 547-1961 

Banh Mi, my way

Pranee's Banh Mi

My obsession for food this week is all about Banh Mi, a lucious Vietnamese baguette sandwich filled with meats, crunchy pickled veggies, herbs, mayo and heat from chilies. It’s the product of the French influence on Vietnamese culture at its tastiest.

As much as I have heard about Banh Mi and sampled it in Seattle Vietnamese sandwich shops, my real love affair with Banh Mi began less than a year ago in the Banh Mi home city of Saigon. I still remember the experience vividly – I was on a mission to find the best Bahn Mi in town. Late at night and by myself, after managing to get lost a few times, I was finally munching my sandwich on the street corner while watching a wave of motorbikes flow by. It was a blissful culinary moment.

I admit to not being much of a sandwich fan – with the exception of a French baguette – but everything about this Vietnamese sandwich and its explosion of flavor was perfect – the aroma of fish sauce and vinegar, the texture of cucumber, carrot and daikon, piles of savory meat and pate on light, crusty bread. I fell in love at first crunch.

Now back home in Seattle, I have made many versions of Bahn Mi, as I continue to create recipes for my Vietnamese cooking classes. By chance, the one I prepared today in my kitchen was the closest in taste to the ones I had in Saigon. And I included my own special ingredient – Washabi mayonnaise. Let’s keep it a secret between us!

Next time, you’re wanting to expand your Vietnamese culinary horizons, search out a Bahn Mi sandwich shop and enjoy.

Banh Mi, unstacked by NY Times

Stir-fried Kabocha Pumpkin with Pork

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.

Vegetarian option: omit pork, egg also popular instead of pork

Gluten-Free option: use wheat free soy sauce

© 2009  Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen

I Love Thai cooking

Kabocha Pumpkin, A Queen of Squash

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.

Thai Stir-fried Cat Fish with Red Curry Paste, phad phed pla dook

My First Wok, how to season a wok

Thai Cooking with Wok

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.

Jhanjay, Vegetarian Thai Cuisine

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.

Jhanjay

1718 North 45th St

Seattle, WA 98103

Tel 206 632 1484

www.jhanjay.com

Steamed Prawns with Sea Salt and Kumquat

 

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 Bay just less than two months ago. While the boat slowly took us through Limestone Mountain, 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.