Recipes - Hot Thai Kitchen

Tom Kha Gai ต้มข่าไก่ (Thai coconut chicken soup)

Sat, 07 May 2022 00:04:00 GMT

Tom yum goong maybe the most famous soup of Thailand, but its milder creamier sister, tom kha gai , is my personal favourite. This comforting Thai coconut chicken soup recipe is infused with the classic Thai herbs: lemongrass, galangal, and makrut (kaffir) lime leaves. It's so easy yet so loveable that when someone asks, "I'm new to Thai food, what should I try/make first?" Tom kha gai is my answer.

What is Tom Kha Gai?

Tom kha gai , which is sometimes spelled tom ka gai , is one of the most popular soups amongst Thai food lovers. Tom means to boil, kha means galangal, and gai means chicken. So it's a chicken soup whose main flavour comes from galangal, but another key component not mentioned in the soup is coconut milk.

Tom kha gai soup is available at nearly every Thai restaurant overseas, but because it's such an easy recipe, it's a dish that's perfect for simple weeknight home cooking. Though chicken is the original version, you can make tom kha using other proteins. Typically in Thailand, alternative proteins are fish or seafood, as they pair best with the flavour profile of tom kha soup.

Tom kha gai is a great dish to make for a party because it is gluten-free , not too spicy, has easy-to-love flavours, and it can be made vegan with modifications I provide later on in this article.

Ingredients

Here are all the ingredients for my tom kha gai recipe. There aren't that many, but each one is critical to the flavour of the soup. Kha refers to the galangal, so that's the one ingredient that's an absolute must and cannot be substituted.

If you want to learn more about some of the Thai ingredients listed below, simply click the link to watch my "101" videos on them!

How to Make Tom Kha Soup

Here's a bird's eye view of how to make tom kha gai, but to ensure success, be sure to watch the video tutorial in the recipe card below as it's always good to see how it's done, and I often include extra tips you don't want to miss!

Vegan Adaptability

Even though chicken is at the heart of this soup ("gai" in tom kha gai means chicken), there is a way to make a vegan version that's equally satisfying. Here are some simple modifications:

Frequently Asked Question

The post Tom Kha Gai ต้มข่าไก่ (Thai coconut chicken soup) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

No-Bake Icebox Mango Pie (Filipino Mango Royale)

Fri, 06 May 2022 13:00:00 GMT

If you love mangoes, and you love mango desserts, Mango Royale, aka Mango Float, is an absolute must-try; right after mango and sticky rice , of course! It's a frozen Filipino dessert that takes advantage of peak-of-the-season mangoes, and uses only 5 ingredients. There's no baking involved, and it's so easy it's essentially fool-proof!

What is Mango Royale?

Mango royale, also known as mango float, is a classic Filipino mango dessert made with layers of sweet whipped cream, Manila mangoes, and graham crackers. It's then frozen and served slightly thawed. It's a version of another popular Filipino dessert called crema de fruta , which is similarly layered, but uses fruit cocktail instead of mangoes, and sponge cake or ladyfingers instead of graham crackers.

I first became aware of mango royale listening to a Good Food podcast episode featuring Isa Fabro , a Filipino-American chef who is well-known for her sell-out mango royale popups in Los Angeles. But instead of making it in a cake pan or a casserole dish, as is more commonly done, she makes hers in a pie plate, which I think is brilliant. This recipe is based on one she has shared publicly, with a few of my own modifications.

Ingredients You'll Need

You really need only 5 ingredients; the lime is optional but I like the acidity and brightness that it adds. Because it is so simple, the quality of your mangoes is of utmost importance. More on that below.

How to Make Mango Royale

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro Tip: Slow-Whip the Cream

Chef Fabro stresses that the cream should be whipped slowly for more stability. You can whisk it by hand if you're looking for an arm workout, or if using an electric mixer, use medium or medium low speed. Using high speed creates a lot of air bubbles which makes the cream less stable. Think about the aerosol whipped cream, it's whipped instantly and is the flimsiest whipped cream ever...yeah, we want the opposite of that!

Choosing the Best Mangoes

This pie is so simple, so your mangoes have to be very good. Remember: your pie is only as good as your mangoes ! You want them ripe, sweet, juicy, and erring on the side of overripe. If they're wrinkly with black spots on them, even better. This is partly because once the mangoes are frozen, their flavour and sweetness will be dulled slightly.

What type of mangoes should you use? You should use Manila mangoes of course, which in North America are in season around April. If that's not available to you, you can use Ataulfo mangoes which are very similar, and in N. America these are sometimes both labeled as “Manila” mangoes. Ataulfo are also known as champagne mangoes. If neither is available, go with whatever is sweet, fragrant and juicy, but not fibrous.

What are Manila Mangoes?

Manila mangoes are teardrop-shaped, bright yellow mangoes that are native to the Philippines. When ripe they should be very sweet with very little acidity (which is why I like to add a little lime juice to the pie) and are not at all fibrous. The seeds are also wonderfully thin, so they're a good bang for your buck! Ataulfo mangoes (aka champagne mangoes) are descendants of Manila mangoes and are very similar so can also be used.

How to tell if Manila mangoes are ripe

If you want to eat Manila mangoes fresh, wait a few days after they have turned completely yellow. If there's still any green on the skin, they are not ready to eat and will be sour. They should also feel soft when gently squeezed.

If you want to make Mango Royale, however, wait longer until the skin starts to get wrinkly . As mentioned, for a frozen dessert you want them overripe for maximum flavour, fragrance, and sweetness.

How to Store Mango Royale

Mango royale is a frozen dessert, so obviously you need to keep it frozen. The only problem is, what if you thaw it to serve, and then have leftovers? Can you refreeze the thawed dessert?

Freezing and thawing most foods multiple times is never a good idea. In the case of creamy things such as this, the multiple freeze-thaw cycles cause the texture to become more icy and less creamy. So if you're not going to eat the whole pie at once, here's my suggestion:

With this method, you will have pieces of mango royale cut and ready to serve anytime, and while the whole pie can take an hour to thaw at room temp before it reaches a good serving temperature, each small piece will only take 10-15 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Other No-Bake Mango Desserts for Mango Lovers

If you've got more mangoes after making mango royale, here are a few other desserts you should try.

Before you start, be sure to watch the video tutorial to ensure success! I always include little tips and tricks not mentioned in the blog post. The video is in the recipe card below, but you can also watch it on YouTube !

The post No-Bake Icebox Mango Pie (Filipino Mango Royale) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How to Save Your Basil - Thai Basil Stir Fry Sauce Recipe

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 13:00:00 GMT

I LOVE all kinds of basil, but I don't love how quickly it goes bad and that it doesn't freeze well. So I came up with this recipe as a way to use up any amount of basil you have on hand . It's an easy and versatile sauce that only uses pantry staples, and can be stored in the fridge for at least a week. Reheat it and pour onto any cooked protein, or use it as a stir fry sauce - or heck, you can even use it as gravy for your mashed potatoes. It can also be made vegan. The possibilities are endless!

What is Thai Basil Sauce?

If you go to any Thai restaurant in N. America, you might find something on the menu that is a stir fry in a brown sauce with Thai basil. It might be called pad kra pao, pad gaprao, or pad kra pow or something else. It's super popular, and I've seen renditions of this dish made with just about every protein: meat, seafood, tofu - and it all works well. The versatility of this dish is what gave me the idea for the sauce.

This basil sauce will make whatever you put it on taste just like what you get from your Thai restaurant, but better, because you made it ��

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make Thai basil sauce. Use whatever kind of basil you have + some simple pantry staples, which is the whole idea - and the peppers are optional!

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below for extra tips to ensure success!

Cooking As a Preservation Method

The basic idea behind this recipe is the fact that cooking is a preservation method . A short-term preservation mind you, it's not like canning, but it can still buy you enough time so you don't have to waste anything.

I do this often with vegetables. Ever got excited by a sale at the grocery store and bought too many vegetables? Now they're sitting in your fridge, about to die, and you still don't have any plans for them? If they don't freeze well, or you don't want to freeze them, you can just cook them! Cooking will stop the spoilage, and now it'll last in the fridge for at least another week , ready to be incorporated into your next meal when you're ready.

With vegetables, you can simply steam, blanch, or saute them with a little salt. Cool them down quickly and pack it away. All ready-to-eat foods should last in the fridge for at least a week (given that your fridge is at the proper temperature). Steamed veggies can be tossed into a stir-fry, added to soups or stews, or simply mixed with a dressing such as this awesome Japanese deep roasted sesame dressing that is good on literally every possible vegetable.

And if for some reason the week is over and it's still there? You can still freeze the cooked veggies, and they'll still be good for adding into soups or anything where a firm texture isn't important.

How to Use the Basil Sauce

There are 2 main ways to use this sauce: as a pour-over, or as a stir-fry sauce. The flavour works well in many dishes, but here are some things I have tried and love:

You can also get creative. I think the sauce would make a great gravy for mashed potatoes! What else do you think you could try?

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post How to Save Your Basil - Thai Basil Stir Fry Sauce Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

No-Machine Soft Ice Cream Bars - Thai Tea Flavor

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 13:00:00 GMT

Imagine this: soft and creamy ice cream bars that you didn't need to whip or churn. All you have to do is cook the ice cream base, pour it into a mold, then cut it into pieces. And it's so soft your teeth will glide right through it as you take a bite, and it's wonderfully chewy. Yes, chewy.

It's not a hack or a new science trick, but old school wisdom at its best. This is how ice cream used to be made in Thailand before ice cream churning machines were widely used. It's a brilliant technique that I think deserves a comeback.

Traditional Thai "cut" ice cream

A while ago I came across an image of these rectangular ice cream bars in Thailand, with skinny wooden skewers as the "stick". It reminded me of my childhood, yet I don't have a memory of eating them ... it's definitely something I've seen though. It's so rare these days that I have a hard time trying to remember where I last saw them.

These are not popsicles. They are not icy refreshing treats, but a soft and creamy sweet that eats almost like churned ice cream, but denser and totally satisfying. Upon further investigation I was fascinated by how simply they are made, and I was intrigued by the use of starch .

So here's how the ice cream is made, and then read on to find out the fascinating science of how it all works.

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. I'm making Thai tea flavour here, but the basic concept can be applied to other flavours. More on that below.

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but also be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro Tip: Customizing Creaminess

In this recipe I use whipping cream which has the highest fat percentage for that maximum creaminess. If you prefer something lighter, you can use whole milk or "half and half". But without the fat the result will be a noticeably "icier" ice cream (though still soft and sliceable because of the starch), which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you want something more refreshing!

What does starch do to ice cream?

So how does the ice cream base not freeze into a hard icy block? In a word, the starch. If you didn't add the starch, it would indeed freeze into an icy block that you couldn't bite through easily.

How it works is that the starch essentially absorbs some of the water in the ice cream base, and as it gels up while cooking, this water is prevented from becoming frozen into big, hard ice crystals. So in a way, the ice cream is only partially frozen.

Adding starch also has the added benefit of slowing down the melting. Because of the starch, the ice cream base starts out as a very thick liquid. So when it melts, it doesn't just liquefy and drip as quickly as normal ice cream. It softens, but can still hold its shape much longer. Great for kids if you ask me!

What else keeps the ice cream soft and creamy?

But it's not just the starch that does the work. The fat and the sugar also work to prevent the ice cream from freezing solid. Sugar suppresses the freezing point of water, and the fat in the cream lowers the total amount of freezable water present and creates a creamy mouthfeel.

So if you were to substitute the cream in this recipe and use milk, your ice cream would be noticeably icier. Again not necessarily a bad thing if you're looking for something more refreshing as opposed to creamy.

Use tapioca starch for "chewy" ice cream

Tapioca starch is actually not the only starch you can use. Cornstarch will work as well. But what I like about tapioca is that it adds chewiness. If you think about tapioca balls in boba and how chewy they are, that's the idea. Here, it makes an ice cream that you can bite through and then chew - which is an oddly satisfying experience that I love about this treat!

No Churning = Denser = More Flavour

Typical churned ice cream will have air incorporated into it. The more air is whipped into it, the lighter the ice cream. Sounds good, right? But actually, it also means there is less ice cream in every mouthful, and it's in fact less flavourful. This is how cheap ice cream gets away with being cheap; they're selling you a ton of air in a pint.

This is another reason gelato is more expensive than ice cream. Gelato is less airy, so a scoop of gelato has actually more "stuff" in it than a scoop of ice cream.

So these ice cream bars are not churned at all. They have essentially no air incorporated into them, which makes each bite dense and full of flavour. You get hit with a lot of Thai tea flavour in every bite. And it also adds to the chewiness we talked about.

Starch in ice creams in other cultures

Though I have not come across another culture that cuts their ice creams into bars like we do, the use of starch to help improve ice cream textures isn't unique to Thailand.

In Italy, specifically in Sicily, cornstarch is used in their gelato. And in the Middle East, a starch called salep (also spelled sahlep or sahlap) is added for similar effect.

Starch is also added to commercial ice creams, because you better believe the ice cream industry knows all about the magic of starch. In Thailand, mung bean starch is added to some commercial sorbet to increase softness for a better bite and added stability so that it won't melt as quickly.

But wait, what exactly is Thai tea?

You can make this ice cream whatever flavour you like (more on that in the FAQ) but Thai tea is one of my favourites.

If you've never had Thai iced tea , well, you're missing out and you really need to check it out! It's popular both inside and outside of the country, and you could call it our "national drink". If you prefer non-milky teas, you might try Thai lime tea , which is really my preferred version because it's much more refreshing.

Thai tea leaves are made from assam tea, and the iconic orange colour is made from... drum roll ....food colouring! Surprise! (Sorry, probably not the mysterious ingredient you were hoping for.) But wait, it also has an added flavour . And that flavour is... drum roll again.... vanilla! (Sorry again.)

The unique flavour that you recognize as Thai tea is but the combination of assam tea and vanilla, plus the creamy condensed milk and evaporated milk added later.

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post No-Machine Soft Ice Cream Bars - Thai Tea Flavor appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

3-Chili Thai Basil Fried Rice Recipe

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 13:00:00 GMT

I wanted a fried rice recipe that really celebrates the flavours of chilies - not just their heat. This fried rice features not one, not two, but three different types of chilies, combined with the fragrance of Thai basil to tie it all together! And no, it doesn't make this dish overwhelmingly spicy, and you can indeed customize the heat level while still preserving all the delicious chili flavour. It's not something I created out of thin air, but a traditional Thai dish (with a couple of tweaks from me)!

Chili #1 - Thai Chili Paste ( nam prik pao )

In Thai, this dish is called kao pad nam prik pa o, translated simply as Thai chili paste fried rice. So our chili #1 is Thai chili paste or nam prik pao , also known as chili jam. It's the sweet and savoury umami-loaded ingredient that is used in many Thai dishes including the world famous tom yum goong . Though this is an ingredient most people buy, you can make your own homemade chili paste relatively easily.

Chili #2 - Roasted Chili Flakes ( prik pon)

While Thai chili paste is delicious, it's very mild, so most of the heat in this dish is going to come from our second chili: roasted chili flakes. This is where you get to customize the heat level so add as much or as little as you like.

You can buy red pepper flakes, and then toast them in a dry pan over low heat, stirring constantly, until the get a little smokey. Or do it the Thai way by starting with whole dried spicy chilies, such as chile de arbol, and toasting them until charred spots form on the surface before grinding them into flakes. Check out this short Instagram video of me making this . It's a staple condiment in any Thai home, and is what we use as an all-purpose heat booster for any dish.

Chili #3 - Fresh Chilies ( prik sod)

Both chilies 1 and 2 are dried, so a little freshness is needed. The third chili is any kind of fresh chilies you like, and you can go a little milder here given that the heat is already coming from chili #2 (or go hot if you like the burn!). These will serve as refreshing pops of fruitiness (if using red chilies) or grassiness (if using green) that I think is important here.

Jalapenos, fresnos, serranos are great spicy options, and the seeds and pith can be removed for less heat. If you don't want any more heat, anaheim or bell pepper will work beautifully. In Thailand we often use the mild spur chilies or prik chee fa for this purpose.

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. The chicken can be substituted with any other protein you like. Tofu works beautifully in this recipe.

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

3 Pro Tips for the Perfect Fried Rice with No Clumps!

Making fried rice is easy in theory, but many people run into issues of mushy rice, clumpy rice, or rice that tastes like "mixed rice" rather than fried rice with that nice toasted flavour. As a chef who has worked in restaurants that churn out fried rice, here are some tips to help you with these issues.

Your rice needs to start out DRY...but you don't need day-old rice.

We're adding wet things, i.e. the sauce, meat, veggies, so if the rice starts out already too moist, you risk clumpy or mushy rice. This is not a problem with commercial stoves with very high heat that dry out the sauce quickly. But at home we generally have weaker stoves, and we tend to crowd the pan cuz we're feeding a family of 4. So what to do?

If you have cold, old rice in the fridge, great. That will help because the rice dries and loses stickiness when chilled, so they separate better in the pan. But if you don't have leftover rice, it is NOT a problem at all. Here are somethings you can do.

Allow your rice to "sit and sear"

After the rice has mixed thoroughly with the sauce, don't rush it. Let it sit and sear for 10-15 seconds at a time, depending on the heat of your stove, so that the rice can toast and brown. This is where the flavour develops. Remember this is fried rice, not "mixed rice". See how I do this in the video at minute 06:45.

Always use marinated protein

You've got delicious fried rice, but it's being interrupted by pieces of bland, dry boneless skinless chicken breast ...a common a way to spoil an otherwise perfect dish! So if using chicken, pork, beef, or even tofu, always marinate to give them flavour so they don't take away from the rice.

Shrimp isn't usually an issue though because they are more flavourful to start, so you don't need to marinade them.

A simple soy sauce or fish sauce marinade is fine, but I like to add a little sugar to help with browning (and flavour) and a little bit of water which will get absorbed into the meat like a brine and make it extra juicy. The water also gives us a bigger buffer in case we accidentally overcook the meat, which is easy to do!

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post 3-Chili Thai Basil Fried Rice Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

What is Oyster Sauce And Which is the Best One?

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:00:00 GMT

If you love cooking Asian food, oyster sauce is probably already in your kitchen. But do you know if the one you have is a "good one”? And is the expensive oyster sauce you bought (or didn't buy) worth the splurge?

This post will discuss everything you need to know about oyster sauce, including what it is, how to use it, and which brand is the best after tasting them straight up and in a stir fry! To see the oyster sauce taste test in action, complete with my reaction and full analysis, be sure to watch the video !

What is oyster sauce and what does it taste like?

Oyster sauce is a predominantly salty seasoning that is most commonly used in stir fries, but is also used in stews, soups, marinades, and even straight up as a drizzle over steamed vegetables. Thick, rich, salty, umami and slightly sweet are the characteristics of oyster sauce, and it won’t necessarily make you go, “wow, oysters!”

In Thai cuisine, it’s a member of what I call "the trinity of Thai sauces.” Along with soy sauce and fish sauce , it’s a staple in every Thai kitchen, and many people use it daily.

The Origin Story

Oyster sauce is of Chinese origin, but is now used in many Southeast Asian countries where their cuisines have been influenced by China. Lee Kum Sheung, the founder of the popular oyster sauce brand Lee Kum Kee , is said to have accidentally invented oyster sauce in 1888.

The story goes that Lee Kum Sheung forgot about a simmering pot of oyster soup, and when he came back to it, it had reduced into a thick, rich, brown liquid. He discovered that this liquid was flavourful and tasty, and that was the beginning of oyster sauce. A note: this story is told by Lee Kum Kee themselves in this video .

How is oyster sauce made?

If you had to guess how oyster sauce was made, you might have reasonably thought that there are pureed oysters in it, which is why it’s thick. Nope.

Or you might have thought that if soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans, fish sauce from fermented fish, and shrimp paste from fermented shrimp, then oyster sauce must be made from fermented oysters! Also no.

Surprisingly there are no actual oysters in oyster sauce at all , but there are “oyster extracts.” Oyster extract is basically oyster cooking liquid, as per the origin story. Shucked oysters are boiled in big vats, then the oysters are removed, and the remaining briny, flavourful liquid is the base of oyster sauce.

The oyster extract may get further reduced, then starch is usually added to thicken, and other seasonings are added such as salt, sugar, soy sauce, MSG and colouring. Brands vary significantly in what seasonings they choose to add, and in my video taste test I was so surprised at how different they taste; especially when comparing the Thai and Chinese versions!

Oyster Sauce Taste Test: Which brand is best, and does it really make a difference?

I bought 4 brands of oyster sauce that I can find here in Vancouver and pitted them against each other. So here they are - and watch the video below to find out how they perform when tasted straight up, and whether the difference is really that obvious once used in a stir fry!

VIDEO : Oyster Sauce 101 + Taste Test!

This video shows you my live side by side taste test, both straight up and also in a Chinese broccoli stir fry . Note that even though I've used these before (except Healthy Boy) this is the first time I'm tasting them side by side, so my reaction is real!

In case you don’t have time to watch the video quite yet, here’s a quick recap of my ranking:

How to choose the best one based on the label

So now that you know how these 4 sauces compare, but you’re at the store, and there are brands I didn’t cover here…what do you do? Well, as I shared in the video , thankfully we can still make an educated choice based on a few factors.

What about the ingredient list?

The ingredient list is always good to look at, and if things like MSG and added colour bother you, then you definitely want to check it out. BUT...previously I maintained that if oyster extract is listed as the first ingredient, then there must be more of it, and therefore it must taste better than a brand that has it further down the list. Makes sense, right?

Well, this proved to be not so straight forward. Here's why :

This doesn't match our taste test or the protein content in any way, EXCEPT the two LKK brands differ as expected. I'm certain that this is because the way LKK defines “oyster extract” is the same between their 2 product lines, but other brands define it differently. How concentrated and diluted is this oyster extract? We don't know. And what does "oysters" even mean in the case of Healthy Boy? We also don't know. Not to mention the cooking process and the quality of oysters...there are just too many unknowns.

So I apologize to everyone in the past whom I advised going entirely by the ingredient list!

Is oyster sauce gluten free?

Most of the time, no. Wheat flour is sometimes added as a thickener as is the case with both LKK brands, and some brands, such as Maekrua, contain soy sauce which isn't gluten free. But Panda brand does have a gluten free oyster sauce that I have seen in some stores, and Megachef (the Thai brand I couldn't find) is gluten free.

Can I use Chinese oyster sauce in Thai food?

Yes. While the flavours of Thai and Chinese oyster sauces are obviously different in a taste test, once it’s in a dish it’s close enough that it’s not going to make the dish taste inauthentic. If it makes you feel better, your local Thai restaurant is most likely using Panda.

I usually buy LKK Boat Lady because of ones that are easily accessible to me, it’s the best. But whenever I make a trip to the Thai store, I will grab a bottle of Maekrua because it’s what I grew up with, and the bottle really has a nostalgic effect on me.

However, after this taste test, I was surprised how much better Boat Lady is than Maekrua…so…this changes things. I’ll likely buy Maekrua much less now - as sad as that is!

But if you have a memory of a dish that you had in Thailand and you want it to taste exactly like what you remember, then using Maekrua is probably going to get you there.

How do you cook with oyster sauce?

I call oyster sauce “the queen of stir fry sauces” . Meat and veggie stir fries , fried rice, fried noodles …all of these are great places to use oyster sauce - and though you can use it as the only sauce in stir fries, I like to use it in combination with soy sauce and fish sauce for a more complex flavour.

You can add it to soups and stews, but because of its richness we usually use it in something a little richer such as the Thai beef stew , five spice eggs and pork belly soup , or the famous boat noodles .

It’s also perfect in meat marinades. A little salty, a little sweet, and with lots of umami, it’s a major player in the only steak marinade you need !

Finally, you can use it straight up or slightly diluted as a drizzle over steamed veggies (usually Chinese broccoli), but I highly recommend using the premium LKK oyster sauce for this. The other brands I find too salty. Case in point, in Thailand where Maekrua is our main oyster sauce, we don’t usually use it straight up.

How to Store

Once opened, oyster sauce should be kept in the fridge as it will get moldy at room temperature. However, if you go to Thailand, you’ll see most people keep their oyster sauce at room temperature despite it saying “refrigerate after opening” on the label.

This is because we use it almost daily and can go through a bottle very quickly; and with many Thai kitchens being outside, it’s just more convenient to keep all our sauces outside as well.

Vegetarian Substitutes for Oyster Sauce

If you are vegan/vegetarian or allergic to shellfish, good news! There are decent substitutes on the market, such as one I used for this vegan claypot glass noodle recipe.

While you may not find bottles labeled "vegetarian oyster sauce" or "vegan oyster sauce," you might find ones that are meant to be vegan substitutes for oyster sauce. The picture above shows two good brands labeled " vegetarian stir fry sauce " and " vegetarian mushroom sauce ".

So if it's a vegetarian sauce that looks like oyster sauce, it's probably meant to be a substitute. Most likely, shiitake mushrooms are the source of the umami in place of the oysters.

Here are some tasty recipes that use oyster sauce!

The post What is Oyster Sauce And Which is the Best One? appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Tom Yum Soup (Tom Yum Goong) Recipe

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:42:00 GMT

With over 3 million views on YouTube, this recipe is one of the most popular, and an OG, on Hot Thai Kitchen. This world-famous tom yum soup is universally loved; and with this authentic recipe I promise you can make it as good as, if not better than, the ones in restaurants. It's one of the first dishes I learned to make as a child because it's so easy, making this a great first Thai dish to try!

What is Tom Yum Soup?

Tom yum (ต้มยำ) is a type of Thai hot and sour soup where the iconic flavours come from 3 herbs: l emongrass, galangal, and makrut (kaffir) lime leaves. I call these herbs the "tom yum trinity." It can be made with any meat or seafood, even leftover cooked meats , but the most popular version is made with shrimp, i.e. tom yum goong ต้มยำกุ้ง (goong means shrimp).

If I had to pick a national dish for Thailand this would be a strong contender because it's eaten all over the country and is loved by essentially everyone. It's served at street-side eateries, fancy restaurants, and is commonly made at home. It was also a staple in my elementary school cafeteria!

There are tons of different versions, and the tom yum flavour is so good it has been turned into other dishes like tom yum spaghetti , tom yum fried rice - and even tom yum pizza which was introduced by Pizza Hut in Thailand! You can also make a delicious tom yum stir fry or what we call " dry tom yum ."

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients for tom yum soup, with notes on possible substitutions.

How to Make Tom Yum Soup

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial below to ensure success! You can also watch the video on my YouTube Channel . The written recipe with detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.

A Note on Nam Prik Pao - Thai Chili Paste/Chili Jam

When making tom yum with shrimp, nam prik pao or "Thai chili paste" is a key flavour. Technically it's not necessary, as it's a modern addition and is used only when making the shrimp version. However, if your goal is to recreate the tom yum you fell in love with at a Thai restaurant, you most definitely need to add it for the same flavour profile - it makes a big difference.

You can either buy it - Pantainorasingh , Mae Pranom or Thai Kitchen brands are all good, though they vary slightly in flavour and sweetness - or you can also make it at home using this homemade chili paste recipe (which lasts indefinitely in the fridge).

If you want to make tom yum without chili paste, you'll need to add more sugar, as chili paste is sweet. You can use either my tom yum chicken or tom yum fish recipes as guidelines for how to season the soup without the chili paste.

Pro Tip: The Secret to a Good Tom Yum

Your tom yum soup is only as good as the liquid you use as the base. For tom yum goong, I like to make a shrimp stock using the shrimp shells and heads for maximum shrimp flavour. Shells only is fine, but shrimp heads contain tomalley, which is that delicious orange fatty substance that I call "shrimp foie gras" and that adds a lot of richness and umami to the dish.

If shell-on shrimp are not available, you can use good chicken stock, though homemade is even better . Fish stock is also fine if you want to stick to the seafood theme. Water is...okay...(sense my hesitation here?), but there is no flavour or body to water, so the soup will not taste as good.

A popular variation on the classic tom yum soup

You might have had creamy versions of tom yum soup...so what's up with those? Assuming you weren't actually having tom kha , there's a very modern version of tom yum in Thailand called tom yum goong nam kon or "creamy tom yum with shrimp".

I LOVE it, and I'd say I prefer it if it's the only thing I'm having because it's more substantial. Instead of the clear broth, we enrich it with.... drumroll ....evaporated milk! Surprise! Check out my creamy tom yum goong recipe here .

You might have thought coconut milk would be used, but evaporated milk is used to add richness and creaminess without interfering much with the flavours of tom yum. If you add coconut milk, which you absolutely can, the coconut milk flavour will come through in a major way. This isn't a bad thing at all, it's delicious, but it's different and will end up tasting a bit more like the other popular Thai soup - tom kha gai .

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post Tom Yum Soup (Tom Yum Goong) Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Authentic Thai Green Curry Chicken

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:00:00 GMT

Jump to video!

Thai green curry chicken is my most popular recipe on the YouTube channel with over 4 million views . If you want a completely authentic recipe, and one that maximizes deliciousness, this is it right here. It is one of the best known dishes of Thai cuisine, and despite its complex flavours, it is actually quite easy to make at home. It's also gluten free, and adaptable for vegans!

Ingredients

Here are ingredients you'll need for an authentic Thai green curry. The bamboo shoots are a common vegetable used for green curry, but feel free to change it up. And if you are DIY-minded and have time, here's my homemade green curry paste recipe .

How to Make Thai Green Curry

How to Make Green Curry Vegan

With a dish so flavourful, making it a vegan is very easy. Here are modifications I suggest:

Frequently Asked Questions

More Thai Curry Recipes You'll Enjoy

Once you've made green curry, other Thai curries will be easy because the basic steps are the same. You're just changing up the curry paste, the meat and veggies, and modifying the process slightly to match the different ingredients used.

Here are some classic Thai curry recipes you should try:

And here are some lesser known curries for those who want to explore:

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel . Thank you!

The post Authentic Thai Green Curry Chicken appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Pad See Ew with Rice Vermicelli

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:00:00 GMT

Pad see ew is one of the most well-known and well-loved Thai dishes, but most people only know of the more common version of pad see ew that uses fresh wide rice noodles (ho fun). This version however uses thin rice vermicelli, and it's the one that I actually grew up eating in Thailand. It’s an incredibly fast dish to make; from the time I get up to cook to the time I sit down to eat, it takes only 20 minutes! You can even watch me prep and cook it all up in real time in the video tutorial below just to see how fast it really is!

What is pad see ew ?

" Pad " means to stir fry, and " see ew " means soy sauce. It's a simple noodle stir fry dish with eggs, Chinese broccoli and usually some sort of sliced meat added. With a salty-sweet flavour profile, it is immensely satisfying AND is very kid-friendly.

Outside of Thailand, this dish is almost always made using fresh wide rice noodles (also known as ho fun noodles), but in Thailand, a couple of other types of noodles can be used. When thin rice vermicelli is used, it's called " sen mee pad see ew", and in Southern Thailand you can also find another version made with thick egg noodles that we call mee lueang pad see ew.

Pad see ew with rice vermicelli is actually a lot more homecook-friendly because the noodles are dry, so they can be kept in the pantry ready for use at any time. In fact, this is the version more often cooked at home in Thailand. All you need are some eggs, garlic, and some Chinese broccoli (which can be substituted with other vegetables you have in the fridge). With the wide rice noodle version however you have to buy them fresh (if you can find the noodles at all), so some additional planning is involved!

Choosing the best noodles: it's more important than you think.

When I was testing this recipe I used a few different brands of rice vermicelli, and I was completely surprised by how different they were. My favourite brand for stir frying is Wai Wai , which is also the most popular brand in Thailand. These noodles are the thinnest of all the brands, and have a texture that's tender but still pleasantly a little elastic.

Mama brand would be my second choice if Wai Wai isn't available. It's slightly thicker than Wai Wai but has a good texture. Another great thing about Mama is that it comes in convenient 50g blocks, which you'll only appreciate after trying to pry apart the huge block of Wai Wai or Erawan noodles, only to have them fly off all over the place!

Perhaps the most widely available brand is Erawan . These noodles are the thickest of the three though, so I don't love them for this recipe. Erawan noodles have a texture that I find difficult to get right in stir fries; they require quite a lot of water to soften in the wok, which then means it's easy to overdo and so end up with noodles that are broken into little bits because they're overcooked. They also don't seem to have much of a chew when fully cooked, which isn't ideal for stir fries. They are still fine to use if they're the only one you can find though, and it's worth noting that I actually prefer Erawan for noodle soups and frying into crispy noodles.

Pro Tip: Properly soaking noodles

For stir frying, you want to use fully hydrated, but still raw, noodles. This takes soaking for 5-15 minutes in room temp water, and the exact time depends on the thickness or brand of noodles you're using. Use lukewarm water if you're in a rush and they'll soften faster, but do not use hot water as they will pre-cook a bit and then overcook in the wok. To check if the noodles are done soaking, pick them up in your fingers and they should be completely limp, showing no resistance to gravity at all.

Chili Vinegar, Pad See Ew's Best Friend

If you order pad see ew in Thailand, it will always be served with chili vinegar. Oftentimes the chili vinegar is permanently stationed on every table. When I was a kid I never used it because...well...I was a kid! But now I never have pad see ew without it. A little spicy acidity is exactly the counter-balance that the salty-sweet noodles need. Try it yourself and I'm sure it will greatly enhance the whole eating experience. And once you see how easy it is to make, you will have no excuse to not have it.

Chop up some chilies, any kind of chilies, and submerge them in vinegar. That's it. It just needs a few minutes to sit, so you don't need to make this ahead of time. You can also get fancy and blend them up, add garlic, or char the chilies for some smokiness, but for pad see ew the basic one will suffice.

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need, and as you can see it's incredibly simple. Perfect for a quick work-from-home homemade lunch!

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Frequently Asked Questions

Like this recipe? You'd also love these!

The post Pad See Ew with Rice Vermicelli appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken with Nuoc Cham

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 14:00:00 GMT

Easy, delicious, and versatile; what else could you ask for in a chicken recipe? Lemongrass chicken is a staple menu item in Vietnamese restaurants in Canada, and one that my husband gets all the time - which is why I was inspired to recreate it. It is so quick to prepare, kid-friendly, can last you the whole week in the fridge (yay meal prep), and you can grill or broil it!

I like to make more than I need because it's such a versatile "all-purpose" protein you can incorporate into other dish. Try putting it into a banh mi sandwich , using it to top a salad, or adding it to a veggie stir fry . The nước chấm dipping sauce is a classic pairing, and it also couldn't be easier!

What is Lemongrass Chicken?

Boneless chicken thighs are marinated in a lemongrass-loaded, flavourful marinade and then grilled. It is usually served with rice or rice vermicelli plus the sweet-sour-slightly-spicy nước chấm sauce.

After consulting my Instagram community, a couple of similar dishes exist in Vietnam called gà nướng sả or gà xào sả ớt , though the version I'm showing here is what is ubiquitous in Vietnamese restaurants in Canada, and apparently Australia.

Vietnamese and Thai cuisine share almost all of our ingredients due to our geographical proximity, but they are treated very differently with different "philosophies of flavour." So this lemongrass chicken is one that tastes much like a milder version of Thai BBQ chicken , the only real giveaway is the dipping sauce which in Thailand would've been a much stronger, spicier jeaw dipping sauce .

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need, first for the lemongrass chicken, and then for the nước chấm dipping sauce.

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro Tip: For better chicken thighs, overcook them a little

Seriously! Many of us faithfully cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165°F because we know overcooked chicken is bad news. But that's only true for chicken breast. For dark meat, with more connective tissue, at 165°F the texture is fine but still a little bit chewy. Once you cook it to a minimum of 175°F, and up to 195°F, all that connective tissue dissolves, making it tender and juicy. Read this article by America's Test Kitchen for more on this.

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken with Nuoc Cham appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Street-Style Thai Coconut Ice Cream

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 14:00:00 GMT

This ice cream recipe is as old-school as it gets. It's something I grew up with, and ice cream made and served this way is harder to find nowadays. The flavour of the ice cream itself is pure; with nothing but coconut milk, coconut water, palm sugar and pandan leaf - preserving the original, authentic taste. It also happens to be vegan. We serve it with sticky rice inside a fluffy bun, with some fun toppings, just like they do on the street!

My Quest for Real Coconut Ice Cream

Growing up in Thailand, coconut ice cream was THE base flavour. It was our "vanilla"; our default. It tasted of nothing but pure coconutty goodness. As sweets in Thailand became modernized, milk and dairy products became "trendy." So ice cream vendors started incorporating dairy, making it taste more like Western ice cream because that was the cool thing to do.

Fast forward to my years in Canada, and I've started seeing coconut ice cream in stores over the past few years. "Dairy free" they all say. But still somehow it doesn't taste much like real coconut - and what's with the added vanilla and guar gum? I soon realized that its real purpose is not to be coconut ice cream, but to be a vegan substitute to regular vanilla ice cream. Not what I was looking for.

I realized that the only way to have the true stuff of my childhood is to make it. And turns out ... it's much simpler than I would have thought. Several years ago I shared my first coconut ice cream recipe , which is wonderfully light thanks to a generous amount of coconut water. It has a sorbet feel to it, perfect for the summer. But this time, I wanted something richer and creamier for when I'm feeling more indulgent. This is it.

Ingredients: Very few, but very important

There are only 4 basic ingredients; plus the pandan leaves which are optional but nice to have. Because of the simplicity of this recipe, it is extremely important that you use good quality ingredients; especially the coconut milk . Here are a few pointers:

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

How to eat ice cream, Thai street style

Cup VS cone? No, cup VS bun!

Though not always available, most traditional, old-style ice cream vendors give you the option to have your ice cream in a fluffy bun, similar to a hot dog bun. You can use any fluffy buns or rolls for this, though ideally from an Asian bakery where the buns tend to be fluffier and softer.

If not serving in a bun, you can also cut up some fluffy bread cubes and use them as toppings. Makes it easier to eat!

Sticky rice

My favourite part of eating ice cream Thai style is the sticky rice! It is optional, but I highly recommend it. It's easy to make but it takes a bit of time. The good news is it's the same sticky rice that we use for mango and sticky rice or durian and sticky rice , so you can get 2 desserts out of 1!

Sweet sticky rice also goes well with many ice cream flavours, even non-Asian ones! So make a bunch and try it with any other ice cream you have! Sticky rice also freezes well, so you can make a bunch; and more on how to freeze sticky rice in the FAQ below .

I've included how to make the coconut sticky rice in the recipe card below, but check out this video for 7 different ways to make sticky rice to see all your options in terms of equipment. However, for making sweet coconut sticky rice I don't recommend using one of the no-soak methods , as they tend to yield softer rice, that then might become mushy when mixed with the coconut milk.

Toppings

As with any ice cream, toppings are optional, but where you get to have some fun! I show a few toppings below, but feel free to experiment with other things. I'd say the roasted peanuts (or some sort of crunchy nuts/seeds) are a must, but the rest are all optional.

Pro Tip: Creamiest Ice Cream

The faster ice cream freezes, the creamier, less icy it will be . So make sure you pre-freeze the container you'll use to freeze the ice cream, and if you can, use something wide and flat to maximize surface area.

Also, note that if you decide to reduce sugar or coconut milk in the recipe, it will result in ice cream that is harder and is less creamy, because sugar and fat helps keep ice cream soft when frozen.

Frequently Asked Questions

No machine? Try these no-churn ice cream recipes!

The post Street-Style Thai Coconut Ice Cream appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

My Go-To Broccoli Stir-Fry

Sat, 08 Jan 2022 14:00:00 GMT

Do you ever buy a head of broccoli because it's a healthy vegetable that you feel you should eat...yet whatever you end up making it, it's never really that exciting? Well, that's about to change! This seemingly simple broccoli stir fry uses a secret weapon that adds a ton of oomph to this humble vegetable. It's so satisfying and full of flavour that this is one side dish that doesn't need a main!

The secret ingredient to elevate your veggies

Ready for the secret? Salt-cured mackerel. And while that might sound fancy, complicated, or weird… it is very simple. You put salt on the fish...and that's it! You don't even have to use mackerel; it can be done with other fish. More on that below.

The cured mackerel is used sparingly, much in the same way that bacon bits are used in small amounts to add salty umami bits to baked potato; or how chunks of salty feta cheese brighten up a Greek salad. This is the Thai version of that.

How Thai people use salt-cured fish

In Thailand you can buy salt-cure mackerel (or salted mackerel) from any market. It's a very common ingredient, and a staple in many households. Salt-curing is a traditional way to preserve fish in many cultures, and in Thailand this is usually done using king mackerel or short Asian mackerel because the firm flesh can hold up to the salting, and the result has a wonderful chew. It works perfectly though with any kind of mackerel or other firm-flesh fish such as salmon or cod.

Most typically you'll see salted fish served with plain congee, used in salted fish fried rice , or added to a Chinese broccoli stir-fry; which is where I got the idea for this broccoli version. We also use it in a pasta dish, and is the inspiration behind my chilli garlic noodles recipe , which is amazing if you haven't checked it out yet!

Why you should have salt-cured fish in your fridge

Having salt-cured fish in your fridge makes it super easy to add a little salty, umami deliciousness to so many things. It works particularly well in adding complexity to things that might otherwise be rather simple tasting. Some examples of things I've added salted fish to are: veggie stir fry, fried rice, fried noodles, pasta dishes, scrambled eggs, congee, and mashed potatoes. (Note: Always break the fish up into little chunks when adding to any dish.)

What would YOU add salt-cured fish to? Share it with me in the comments below!

In Thailand you can see salt-cured mackerel sold in brine, in oil, or as semi–dried steaks. Because of the high salt content it'll last a long time in your fridge, and the saltier the fish, the longer it will keep. For my homemade version I like to make it less salty so that I can use more of it, but that means it won't last as long as the ones you buy (even though I've yet to see it go bad in my fridge even after a few weeks!)

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need...so simple!

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro Tip: Don't Over-Cook Salted Fish!

As I stressed in the video, when you add the chopped salted fish to the wok you might be inclined to cook them for a long time to get them nice and crispy. While you CAN do that, keep in mind that that will make the fish even saltier, because you'll be drawing out a lot of moisture from the fish; concentrating the salt. If you want to make the fish crispy, salt it only for a few hours and cut into chunks bigger to allow for this.

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post My Go-To Broccoli Stir-Fry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Street Food - Pork Bones Soup "Leng Saeb"

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 14:00:00 GMT

A few years ago, Mark Wiens posted a video titled " The Most INSANE Street Food in Thailand ". Where he was eating a mountain of tender-braised pork bones "soup," with the bones piled higher than his head, surrounded by a delicious spicy broth laced with chilies and cilantro.

That video has now been viewed over 7 million times, and of course I've received MANY requests for the recipe! The good news is that it's actually easy to make at home and IS as tasty as Mark says it is. You'll also end up with extra broth that's perfect for more street foods such as spicy Tom Yum Noodles !

A dish made from just...bones?

If you think it's crazy that we should be eating a dish made from bones, hear me out. This dish is made from pork neck/back bones, which are most commonly used for making Thai noodle soup broths. But they have a lot of meat on them tucked away in all the nooks and crannies as well.

In fact, every time I make pork stock with these, once it's done simmering I remove all of the tender meat that is practically falling off the bones, and I always end up with enough meat for a full meal for two adults!

So you can think of this like eating ribs . There are a lot of bones, but also a lot of meat. If you eat chicken feet, this has way more meat than that. I'm pretty sure this dish was created because some noodle soup vendor thought there's enough meat in these bones to be a whole nother dish!

What does "leng saeb" mean?

Le ng is short for ia leng which means pork spine in Teochew Chinese. They're the bones most commonly used to make pork stock for noodle soups because they have a lot of cut surfaces exposing the interior of the bones, cartilage and marrow which give the broth rich flavour and body.

Noodle soups were originally introduced to Thailand by Teochew immigrants, which is why Thai people have adopted the Teochew term. (Many Thai people are of Teochew descent, myself partially included.) Fun fact: Leng actually means dragon, and when the spine bone is removed from the pig, it is long like a dragon!

Saeb on the other hand, means delicious in Lao. But when Thai people use it, it's used to mean "spicy and delicious." This is because Lao food is generally more spicy than Thai food.

So "Leng Saeb" means spicy, tasty pork bones!

Bones Buying Guide

You can find leng bones at most Chinese butchers or grocery stores sold as either pork neck bones or pork back bones. In my experience pork neck bones are meatier, so that's what I use. But if you can only find back bones that works as well. They will not be cut into the foot-long pieces you see in Mark's video above, but that's actually good because it makes them a lot more manageable!

As you might suspect, you can absolutely make this dish using pork ribs. Baby back ribs or spareribs will work just as well, and you can separate the bones into smaller chunks so they will fit into your stock pot. It will actually be a little easier to eat, but the resulting stock might not be as rich because ribs have fewer exposed bone surfaces, which are what gives body and flavour to the stock.

Alternatively, you can use chopped spare ribs that are often sold in small pieces at Chinese butchers - and as I used in this dim sum spare ribs recipe . This will be a better option than full pork ribs because there are many more exposed bones and a lot more cartilage (also great for a full-bodied stock) and it'll be much easier to eat. You'll be missing is the impressive "mountain" experience, but it'll taste just as good.

Ingredients You'll Need

There are 2 steps to making leng saeb; the first is braising the pork bones and making the base stock, and the second is turning that stock into the saeb broth.

Step-By-Step:

Here's the bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro Tip: Making Eating Easy

Since you'll be eating meat off the bones, be sure to cook it long enough that the thickest part of the meat is super fork tender and comes off the bones easily. Your total cooking time should be at least 2 hours , and may even be 2.5 hours for particularly meaty bones.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Here are two recipes that have a similar meat-on-bone-in-spicy broth vibe. The fish has practically the same broth as this recipe, but the oxtail has more of a tom yum feel with lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves.

The post Thai Street Food - Pork Bones Soup "Leng Saeb" appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Crispy Meatballs with Glass Noodles & Sweet Chili Sauce

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Not noodles WITH meatballs, but noodles IN meatballs. If you haven't tried it, get ready to be blown away! Thai people love putting glass noodles in meatballs to give it texture, lightness, and some crispiness on the exterior (no need to mess with breading!).

These pork meatballs are so tasty, easy and kid-friendly. For the adults, I recommend some sweet chili sauce to take it up a notch. They make the perfect party appetizers and can be prepped ahead of time . They can also accommodate a few modifications as discussed in the FAQs below.

Be sure to watch the full video tutorial before you start to ensure success, as I often include additional tips you might find useful.

A favourite of Thai children everywhere

This dish in Thai is called "moo tod woonsen" which means "glass noodles fried pork". It's a popular dish for kids in Thailand, and is often served in school cafeterias because it's a satisfying item that's not spicy. (And also...what kid doesn't love meatballs?!)

A plain version without glass noodles also exists, but I prefer these because of the added texture and crispiness - and also because these are more cost effective!

Why add noodles to meatballs?

If adding noodles to meatballs is an unfamiliar concept to you, let me convince you as to why it's a great idea. Glass noodles do a few things in meatballs:

1) They lighten the meat mixture. So you can actually snack on a bunch of these without feeling instantly full.

2) When fried, the noodles on the exterior become crispy. No need to mess with panko or any other breading.

3) They add a fun texture , especially when you first bite the meatballs! You can feel them pull and tear, no wonder kids love them!

4) It's a great way to reduce cost! The noodles help extend the meat without introducing any new flavours.

5) They reduce the number of calories per meatball ...not that this would make them "low calorie" by any stretch of the imagination!

But why glass noodles?

If you're thinking about substituting other noodles, hold up. There's a reason - many reasons actually - we only use glass noodles for mixing with meat instead of rice or wheat/egg noodles.

1. Glass noodles have a completely neutral flavour .

So they will not impart any flavour of their ow,n and are only there to serve the purposes above. If it weren't for the texture, you wouldn't even know they were there.

2. T hey cook perfectly inside the meatballs.

This is probably the most important reason: glass noodles can simply be added raw (but rehydrated), and they will cook perfectly as the meatballs cook. They also do not overcook easily, making them essentially foolproof. Adding rice or wheat noodles would not be nearly this straightforward.

3. They keep the "meaty chew".

You might think this is similar to adding breadcrumbs to meatloaf or meatballs, but it's actually quite different. When you add breadcrumbs, they "merge" into the meat and cause the mixture to become softer and have a finer texture. Glass noodles on the other hand remain separated from the meat, and so the meat retains its satisfying meaty chew.

4. They are extremely resilient.

You would have to work really hard to break glass noodles, even when rehydrated. So you can mix it in and knead as much as your heart desires, and they will still remain intact.

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. See the FAQ for some substitutions information.

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro Tip: Prepping Noodle Meatballs in Advance

These make great party appetizers! And there are many ways you can prep these ahead of time:

- The meat mixture can be made 1 day in advance and kept in the fridge. You can also form it into balls ahead of time and keep them all on one layer so they don't get squished.

- Cook them up a few days in advance. Though the crispy texture is best when freshly fried, if you're short on time on serving day you can quickly reheat cooked meatballs in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 5-8 minutes - depending on their size and how cold they were to begin with.

- For long term storage, you can freeze cooked meatballs for a few months and reheat them in a 350°F (175°C) oven. This will probably take 12-15 minutes, but I have not tried it myself (yet).

Frequently Asked Questions

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The post Crispy Meatballs with Glass Noodles & Sweet Chili Sauce appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Chili Garlic Noodles Recipe

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 14:00:00 GMT

These noodles are UN-REAL. Seriously. Al dente noodles are coated in an umami-loaded sauce with smoky dried chilies, lots of garlic and a touch of Thai basil. But the secret? Anchovies; which you won't be able to tell are in there, but they add so much depth. Serve this on its own or with a side of pan-fried fish or chicken. It's super quick, and you'll have it on the table in less than 30 mins from start to finish!

A Thai dish...but the way it should be

It may surprise you that Thai people actually use pasta quite often, as we love Thai-Western flavour mashups. Some of my favourites are Pad Macaroni and Tom Yum Spaghetti .

But there is one I don't love. It is called "spaghetti pad prik hang" or "dry chilies spaghetti" where we stir fry spaghetti noodles with dried chilies, garlic, Thai basil, and salted fish or bacon bits. It SOUNDS good...except I find it dry, and the ingredients are "mixed" but somehow nothing really comes together into a cohesive dish.

So I set out to create a version that I think this dish SHOULD be; using the same set of ingredients, because I knew these ingredients have potential to be awesome together given the right execution. The results were beyond my expectations!

Few tweaks; incredible result.

I made a few important changes to the original dish that make all the difference:

1. The right dried chilies

The original dish uses dried chilies left in big chunks or whole. The problem with this is that the chili flavour remains trapped; and unless you're actually eating the pieces of dried chilies, you can't really taste much of them. And eating a piece of dried chili straight up isn't a pleasant texture, and can be too spicy for some.

Solution? Ground chilies. I took whole dried chilies and removed the seeds so that I can add a lot of chili flavour without making it too spicy. Now the chili flavour coats ALL the noodles and becomes the star, as it should.

2. Anchovies

Typically this dish is starts out with stir frying either bacon bits or pieces of salted fish in oil until crispy. Those pieces of salted protein really carry the dish, and any bites without them are just not as good. I wanted to find a way to infuse the umami saltiness into the entire dish so every bite is equally satisfying.

Solution? Minced anchovies. They "melt" into the sauce, so you won't even know that they're there, but they make all the difference.

3. Butter is better

A major issue I had with this dish was that it's always dry. So dry. The noodles are stir fried in seasoning but there is no sauce to speak of.

Solution? Butter. Adding a little butter helps add lusciousness do a noodle dish that isn't saucy. Also, you can't be shy with the oil in this recipe; they need to be glistening!

Ingredients You'll Need

Here are all the ingredients you'll need; super simple! Read on for tips about choosing the best noodles for the job, and check out the FAQs below for more about dried chilies and how to make this recipe vegan.

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success! In these pictures I didn't show the noodles being cooked, but you'll want to get that going right before you start cooking the sauce, and your sauce will be done just before the noodles are done.

Choosing the best noodles for the job

In Thailand, spaghetti is typically used, but I prefer linguine as the flatter shape has more surface area to catch the sauce...and they just eat better for some reason. You can also try spaghettini, or another kind of long, thin pasta.

BUT!! Aside from pasta, I think chewy ramen noodles would be fantastic for this recipe. Kind of like dan-dan noodles style. Or try the fat egg noodles I used in my popular Garlic Noodles recipe .

PRO TIP: Choosing pasta that has a rough, matt surface will allow more of the sauce to cling onto the noodles. These are called "bronze cut pasta" as they are extruded through a bronze die. Smooth, shiny pasta noodles are slippery and don't hold on to sauce as well.

Bronze cut pasta are a little more expensive, but it is especially important for a dish with only a little sauce like this.

Frequently Asked Questions

Like this recipe? You'd also love these!

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Fast & Easy Marble Eggs with Prik Nam Pla

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 14:00:00 GMT

When I discovered this egg recipe I was OBSESSED. It has taken the Thai internet by the storm because of how unbelievably tasty it is, especially given how fast it comes together. Perfectly "marbled" eggs on hot jasmine rice, but the secret is in the prik nam pla sauce that hits the perfect balance of salty-spicy-sour. Creating the beautiful marble look, with perfectly cooked yolks, is not hard, but I recommend watching the video tutorial to see the technique in real time. The eggs take literally less than 2 minutes to cook!

What is Marble Eggs?

Admittedly, I came up with the name "marble eggs" myself, but I didn't invent the dish. The recipe started to appear on the Thai internet in 2020, and it's called kai yoo yee ไข่ยู่ยี่ which actually means "wrinkled eggs," but I didn't think it translated well in English!

The eggs are "marbled" in the pan, and cooked just until the whites are set and the yolks are still gooey, and the whole thing slides on top of hot jasmine rice, drizzled with prik nam pla, a spicy garlicky fish sauce. You can think of it as a Thai omurice!

Not surprisingly it quickly became popular in Thailand because eggs and rice is a combination Thai people LOVE. I mean, you could call the Thai omelette our national dish if we were ranking by the dish that's made the most often!

The key to this recipe is the sauce: prik nam pla , our national condiment. The combination of eggs and prik nam pla is genius. The moment I saw this I INSTANTLY knew those spicy-salty-sour flavours were going to be amazing with the eggs. And it's so fast and customizable...of course people would love it!

What is Prik Nam Pla ?

พริกนำ้ปลา or Prik nam pla is arguably the Thai national condiment! It's our #1 condiment used most frequently as a general seasoning booster, like how salt and pepper is used in other countries. Something tastes a little bland, a little boring? A dash of prik nam pla is all you need. (Note: Some people call it nam pla prik. Same same.)

At the basic level prik nam pla is simply sliced chilies in fish sauce ( prik means chilies, and nam pla means fish sauce). But there are variations, and I think of prik nam pla as having 4 levels:

For marble eggs, I'm at level 4, and I've made the it with a lot more lime juice than normal because I want to be able to use a lot of the sauce on the eggs, and the acidity keeps everything bright and delicious. I also added a pinch of sugar to soften the salt and acid a bit, again so that I can use a lot of the sauce without fearing that it will be too salty. It will not (and should not) taste sweet.

Ingredients you'll need:

Here are all the ingredients you'll need...not much! You can add toppings such as meat and veggies, more info on that below. (If you are vegetarian you can substitute soy sauce for fish sauce.)

Step-By-Step:

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

Pro-Tip: Hack for Reducing Heat from Chilies

Usually I tell people to add as much or as little chilies as they can tolerate. But for some recipes, such as this one, the FLAVOUR of the chilies are actually important to the dish, not just heat. So instead of putting less chilies, I recommend you either use milder chilies or reduce the heat from your chilies. You want a piece or two of chilies in every bite.

The most effective way to reduce the heat from chilies is to cut them open in half horizontally, then use a knife to scrape off the seeds AND the pith (white stuff that holds the seeds in place), leaving behind only the flesh. This can be tedious if you're doing a lot, and you have to be careful where you put those spicy fingers afterwards!

The fastest way to reduce heat from the chilies.

When I don't have time to deal with individual chilies, I simply slice them and put them in a bowl of cold water. The seeds will fall to the bottom, and if you let them sit while you prep, the chilies will release some of their heat into the water.

When ready to use scoop the chilies out with a slotted spoon or skimmer (leaving the seeds behind obv.) and ideally drain them on some paper towel so the excess water doesn't dilute your sauce (which I didn't do in the video, but should've).

If you want to know if the heat has come out of the chilies...just taste the water! J/k...I mean you can, but you've been warned.

This isn't as effective as scraping all the pith out, but if you can tolerate some heat and just need to tone it down, this is waaayyyy easier.

Adding Toppings

If you're feeling more sophisticated than just eggs and rice, this dish is very easy to "dress up." A common topping is cooked shrimp, but you can add any meats, veggies or herbs; think omelette toppings!

Some good topping options include:

How to Add Toppings

Cook or reheat your toppings first as it will not have time to cook with the eggs! If using raw protein or veggies, simply saute them in the same pan you're using for the eggs. Get them fully cooked, then remove from the pan. Tip: Do not clean the pan because you want to keep every drop of flavour!

Add a little more oil and cook the eggs as per the recipe. Once you're done "drawing out" the marble pattern, arrange the toppings on the eggs, pushing them in a bit so they stick. Once the eggs are set, sprinkle on any fresh herbs you're using and you're done!

Common Questions

More Thai Egg Recipes to Check Out!

The post Fast & Easy Marble Eggs with Prik Nam Pla appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Pad Thai Sauce Recipe - Make Pad Thai in 5 Mins!

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Pad thai made from scratch isn't exactly a quick meal—there are a LOT of ingredients to prep. But how do restaurants get your freshly-made pad thai done in 5 minutes? Good news: they're not doing anything you can't do at home. But the most important thing they do is to have the sauce made in bulk, in advance.

Once you've got the sauce made, and if you want to be even MORE prepared, there are a few other simple things you can do in advance so that, comes cooking time, you can literally get pad thai on the table in minutes. Watch the video to see me cook pad thai in less than 5 minutes in real time !

Once you have the sauce, you can use it in my authentic pad thai recipe .

Ingredients

An authentic pad thai sauce is actually very simple. There are technically only 3 ingredients: the sweet, the salty and the sour. But because we want this to be a time-saver, I've also add the shallots and the garlic into the sauce so we don't have to chop and sauté them on the day.

Important note about tamarind:

Whenever you cook Thai food, I recommend that you make tamarind paste from pulp for the best flavour. But if you are going to buy it instead, make sure it's a product of Thailand or Vietnam and not a product of India. Thai and Vietnamese tamarind paste is a loose brown liquid, whereas Indian "tamarind concentrate" is a thick black paste that is much more concentrated. It is a different product and should not be used when cooking Thai food.

What NOT to Put in the Sauce?

You might be tempted to add as many things as possible for max efficiency, but some things are better left out:

How to Make Pad Thai Sauce

Here's an overview of hot to make pad thai sauce in advance. It's relatively simple, but be sure to watch the video tutorial with it's extra tips to ensure success.

Storing Leftovers

Once you've got the pad thai sauce made, you can use it right away, and the rest needs to be kept in a sealed container in the fridge. It should last at least 3 months in the fridge.

If you need to, you can also freeze the sauce, and I would recommend dividing it into portions before freezing for easy usage. You can freeze them in ice cube trays and then leave a note for yourself how many cubes you will need per serving.

How to Make Pad Thai in 5 Minutes

In essence, pad thai is a noodle stir fry, and like most noodle stir fries, it is very quick to cook. What takes time is the prep. Making the sauce in advance is just "level 1 preparedness," but you can save even more time by prepping more of the ingredients. If you do enough prep and get to "level 4" you can literally make pad thai on a weeknight in 5 minutes!

To prove that I'm not exaggerating, watch the video tutorial below to see me cook pad thai in REAL TIME in less than 5 minutes! For more on the different levels of prep, read my post on my authentic pad thai recipe .

*One note: if your pre-cooked protein is fridge-cold, add it a bit earlier than I did in this video to give it time to heat up. I would toss it with the noodles once the sauce has been absorbed, and before you add the eggs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before you start, be sure to watch the video tutorial to ensure success! I always include little tips and tricks not mentioned in the blog post. The video is in the recipe card below, but you can also watch it on YouTube !

Related Recipes

The post Pad Thai Sauce Recipe - Make Pad Thai in 5 Mins! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Coconut water - What's really in it?

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 21:42:00 GMT

A wide variety of cartons of coconut water line store shelves with the label “100% coconut water,” complete with pictures of green young coconuts with straws coming out of them … implying that what’s inside is just like what you get on the beach in Thailand.

Except that's not true.

If it's all 100% pure coconut water, why do different brands taste different?

This is exactly what I wondered for years when I came to Canada. In Thailand I always drank coconut water from the coconuts. When I found packaged ones here, I was shocked at how ... bland ... they were! After trying a few more brands, I became even more perplexed as to why they all tasted so different. What's going on here? Read on.

What's really in your coconut water?

It IS 100% coconut water...but it's also not what you think. Most of these cartons are actually a mixture of young (green) AND mature (brown) coconut water. What’s the problem with that? Well, mature coconut water doesn’t taste nearly as good, it's actually quite bland. In fact, growing up in Thailand we often just threw it away.

But there’s a lot of it leftover from making coconut milk commercially, as coconut milk is made from mature coconuts, so this is where they end up. Different brands use different ratios of young and mature coconut water, and the ones that are sweeter (and, by default, more flavourful) are ones that are using a higher ratio of young coconut water .

How did I know? I found this out straight from the source when I filmed the documentary below about how coconut milk is made in Thailand. As you will see, a lot of coconut water is collected in the process. I asked them (off camera) what they do with it, and the answer was a revelation.

I finally understood why packaged coconut water never tastes as sweet as ones straight from the coconut, and why different brands vary so much in how sweet they are!

In this video I also do a side by side taste test of coconut water from young vs mature coconuts. Check it out below!

Is it really that bad though?

No. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s actually good that they are not wasting the mature coconut water. And I think it's good that less-sweet options are available for people who may find pure young coconut water too sweet.

And to be honest, I've found a few brands of packaged coconut water that I'm perfectly happy with. (For those curious, I usually get " UFC " brand, and while they have sponsored a video before , this is not a sponsored post. " Chaokoh " brand is pretty good too.)

But I do think it’s a real problem when the packaging is misleading consumers into thinking that this is just like what you get on the beach in Thailand with the straw straight in the coconut - all that's missing is a mini umbrella! Ask anyone shopping for these products and I guarantee you that most people are under this false impression. After all - look at the picture on the carton!

It's not technically "lying," because it IS indeed pure coconut water, but it's certainly a bit sneaky.

How to choose the best coconut water

As I mentioned, different brands use different ratios of young and mature coconut water, and the ones that are sweeter and tastier use a higher ratio of the young coconut water.

Trial and error is the best way I think, but you can also go by the sugar content on the nutritional label (assuming that it's accurate).

I also found that brands that offer flavoured options, like pineapple flavoured coconut water and such, tend to be less sweet; presumably because they can get away with a blander base since they are adding flavours to it anyway. And as an FYI, I never buy these flavoured ones; because when I drink coconut water, I just want it to taste like coconut water!

Where can you find 100% pure young coconut water?

Outside of Thailand, you can buy whole young coconuts at many Asian grocery stores. But to be honest I don't bother with those. They have spent so much time in transit that sometimes they don't taste that good anymore (if the water is pink or purple...that's a sign that it's old). I save myself the effort, and the $$, and just get the packaged ones.

If you are in Thailand however, you can look for products that say "100% Young Coconut Water". In Thailand they sell both types, pure and mixed. They can do this because Thai people know the difference, so manufacturers can charge more for the pure one, and then consumers can choose.

Note: I have seen one brand here in Canada that indicates "Young Coconut Water" (it's from Vietnam), but I don't know for certain if that is true. It tasted pretty good, but I couldn't be 100% sure.

Want to know more about "fake" ingredients?

Check out my video comparing real vs fake sago pearls (aka tapioca pearls), and also find out about the myth about "pure palm sugar" in my Ultimate Guide to Palm Sugar video!

The post Coconut water - What's really in it? appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Real Sago vs Tapioca Pearls + Sago Pudding Recipe

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 13:00:00 GMT

If you’ve had sago desserts before, did you know that you’ve been eating fake sago pearls all this time?? Confused? Read on, or just watch the video where I explain everything AND do a taste test comparing real vs fake sago pearls!

When Sago is NOT Sago

If you do a Google search of "sago desserts" you'll come across lots of recipes for mango and coconut sago puddings. But look into the recipes, and you'll notice that these puddings are actually made from tapioca pearls.

But if they’re made from tapioca, why are they called sago? WELL, "Breaking News" ... that is because these tapioca pearls have been used as a cheaper imitation of REAL sago pearls. And real sago pearls are made from a plant actually called sago palm.

What Happened to Real Sago?

So why did we need an imitation of sago in the first place? The problem with true sago is that they are precious. It takes sago palms at least 8-10 years to reach the right maturity, and then the harvesting and processing is super labour intensive.

This means that true sago pearls are limited in quantities and are much more expensive, so people started using tapioca pearls as a substitute, and the real stuff was forgotten for a long time. Only recently did it make a bit of a comeback thanks to social media spreading news of the original substance.

So What is the Fake Stuff Then?

The fake stuff is tapioca pearls, made from tapioca starch. Tapioca starch is made from cassava (pic below), a widely available root vegetable that's a staple in the diets of many cuisines around the world. Needless to say, harvesting a root vegetable is much easier than harvesting a 10-year-old tree, making it a much more accessible and cheaper product.

The sad thing is that in Thailand we actually call tapioca pearls "sakoo," our term for sago; which as we now know is categorically wrong. But there was no other name given to it, presumably because they were originally "snuck in", pretending to be the "real thing". So now we're having to call the real one "true sago" or "tree sago," when really it should just simply be "sago."

How is Real Sago Made?

So what is so hard about making sago? Why are they so precious? In a nutshell, here's the traditional process:

Video: How sago pearls are made in Thailand

To really appreciate the process, watch the video below to see sago harvesting and processing in Southern Thailand (the video is in Thai, but it's mostly visual.) In the video some machines are involved in the process, but as you can see it's still pretty basic. If seeing this doesn't make you want to savour every bite of real sago...I don't know what will!

But how different are they, really?

This is where I will direct you to my video to find out! In the video you will see how they cook up, and also my reaction to tasting real sago for the first time. I'll then give you my verdict and whether it's worth searching for.

But here is some further analysis regarding the differences between the two that I didn't include in the video:

Real sago is made from unrefined starch and therefore has a colour; they can be anything from brown to pink. The lighter pink ones are more "desirable", presumably because they're prettier, though I don't believe they are superior in flavour.

Tapioca pearls, however, are pure white because they are made from refined tapioca starch. This has implications on flavour because the refining process removes all the flavour from the original cassava plant.

Note: You can find tapioca pearls that are pink and green; those simply have food colouring added and are not flavoured.

2. Shape

Tapioca pearls are made in factories, which can turn them out in perfect little spheres.

Sago pearls are turned into beads manually by rolling around little clumps of damp starch in a flat bamboo tray until those clumps turn into little balls, as shown in this video . This manual process means that the pearls have uneven shapes and sizes. This has implications on texture, as you will see in my comparison video.

3 . Density

I tried to eat these pearls raw (though sadly I did not do this on camera), and real sago instantly disintegrated into powder in my mouth, but the tapioca pearls were so hard they could've broken my teeth! This explains the volume difference between equal weights of the two pearls; 50g of real sago looks like a lot more than 50g of tapioca pearls.

This also explains the difference in cooking time as shown in my video; tapioca pearls took much longer to cook since the water takes longer to hydrate the denser pearls, while real sago cooked up almost instantly.

4. Flavour and Texture

This is where words don't suffice, and you'll have to watch the video below so you can see my reaction to get the full sense of how they differ. You'll also see how to cook them.

Watch My Verdict: Tasting Real vs Fake Sago

Where to buy real sago pearls?

Now that I've convinced you that real sago pearls are worth trying ... next I have to apologize for having to tell you that, if you DO want to try them, you'll have to go to Thailand or another country that produces them.

I've looked around the internet and could not find an online source for true sago pearls. When you do a search for " sago pearls " even " real sago pearls " all that comes up are listings for tapioca pearls. Even if you see some brown ones most likely they are large tapioca pearls made for bubble tea which get their colour from food colouring and/or brown sugar.

If you do go to Thailand, don't be looking for them at the supermarket though. Because these are produced in such small volumes, you'll instead find them at places that sell locally made, artisanal products.

The future of the sago

Real sago is making a bit of a comeback in Thailand thanks to the media which has made people become more aware of their existence. I am one of those " media "; and quite frankly I'm a bit concerned that if the demand for them increases, what will this mean for the environments where the sago palms grow?

On the one hand, it would create a new source of income for people in the villages that make these pearls. In fact, this has already started to happen with the increased demand in Thailand, and it has helped raise the standard of living for some people in the poorer areas.

On the other hand, over-harvesting is always a concern. So while I wrote this post as a source of knowledge to expand our awareness of where our foods come from and how they evolve, it's equally important to be aware of the vulnerability of these sources and helping to protect them.

Real Sago Pudding Recipe

I can't leave you without a recipe now can I? Should you be so lucky as to get a hold of real sago pearls, there's no need to do anything fancy to them. This simple pudding lets all of their natural flavours shine. The important part is to serve it while still warm for the best texture - don't refrigerate!

Some tapioca recipes you might like

I don't mean to offend our old friend the tapioca pearls here! They are great in their own right! Try them in this refreshing tapioca melon dessert, or use tapioca starch to make fun bubble tea noodles!

The post Real Sago vs Tapioca Pearls + Sago Pudding Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Clay Pot Glass Noodles (Vegan)

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 13:00:00 GMT

This recipe has quickly become my favourite vegan dish. Glass noodles cooked in a clay pot (which you don't really need) in an umami-loaded sauce, lots of ginger, and topped with mushrooms and veggies - or really, anything you want. Apart from being super tasty, it's easy, healthy, and quick ... what else could you ask for?

This is my vegan take on the more traditional dish: Ginger Shrimp & Glass Noodles Goong Ob Woonsen . Be sure to check that one out if you love shrimp!

This post is sponsored by Pine Brand Glass Noodles.

What You'll Need:

Here are all the ingredients for the recipe. The fresh mushrooms and veggies are used as toppings and you can substitute with whatever you prefer. However, I recommend including some kind of mushrooms as they provide a chewy, substantial texture.

How to Make Claypot Glass Noodles

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but be sure to check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success!

No, you don't need a clay pot.

Traditionally "ob woonsen" is served in the pot that it is cooked in. Originally these used to be clay pots, but most restaurants now use an aluminum version.

The clay pot doesn't actually make any difference to the flavour, but it makes for a more exciting presentation. A heavy-bottomed pot will also work, or a nice enameled cast iron pot (like a Le Creuset). And if it's not pretty, you can always transfer it into a serving bowl!

The secret ingredient you can't skip

Dried shiitake mushrooms. Yes! It looks like one of those things you can skip with no major consequence, but this is how our vegan noodles have so much umami. Dried shiitake mushrooms are loaded with natural glutamates, and they have long been used as a "secret weapon" in Asian vegan dishes.

The mushrooms' soaking liquid is used in the sauce, then the mushrooms themselves get sliced up and tossed in - and trust me, these will be your favourite thing in the dish. Dried mushrooms have a satisfying chew, and they soak up sauce really well, so they become a burst of flavour in each bite.

What are glass noodles?

Thai glass noodles or woonsen are versatile, neutral flavoured noodles made from mung bean starch. They're also sometimes labelled as "bean threads" or "bean vermicelli." They are gluten-free and low GI.

The best quality glass noodles are made from 100% mung bean starch. Some cheaper glass noodles have pea starch and/or potato starch mixed in to cut cost, but this yields a texture that isn't quite as chewy and elastic as pure mung bean starch noodles. Pine Brand is one that is pure, and has been my family's go-to brand in Thailand for years.

*Thai glass noodles are not to be confused with Korean glass noodles that are used in the popular dish japchae . Korean glass noodles are thicker and are made from sweet potato starch. The two cannot be used interchangeably.

What else can you do with glass noodles?

Tons! Glass noodles are THE most versatile noodles that we use in Thai cuisine. You name it, we put glass noodles in it. Soups , salads , stir fries , spring rolls - even stuffed in chicken wings . No other noodles have this big of a resume!

They're also really quick to prepare; just a 7-minute soak in room temp water and they're ready to be used in the recipe. Once soaked, they only take a few minutes to cook.

If you're a fan of glass noodles, check these out!

Frequently Asked Questions:

The post Clay Pot Glass Noodles (Vegan) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

The Only Steak Marinade You Need + Thai "Jeaw" Dipping Sauce

Sat, 04 Sep 2021 13:00:00 GMT

This simple marinade is the only steak marinade you need. Bold claim, I know, but once you try it you'll understand why (and hopefully agree!). Even though it is a classic Thai beef marinade for the grill, the flavour is not distinctly Asian. It's just really fantastic, bold flavours that would pair well with any meal, and any side dish; Thai or not.

Thai Marinade, Universally Delicious

The main stars of this marinade are oyster sauce and soy sauce , with just a touch of sweetness added in. This combo creates intensely umami flavours that compliment the beef perfectly - and the little bit of sugar is the secret to balancing the salt and giving you those smokey-flavoured grill marks. These sauces are Asian, but they have relatively neutral flavours that won't make you go, "woah, SO Asian." So they will not clash with say, mashed potatoes.

This is also endlessly customizable, so that if you do want it to have a distinct flavour of any particular herbs or spices, you can totally add them to this base marinade. So use what's given as the base ratio, then get creative from there!

What is "Crying Tiger"?

"Crying Tiger" is the way the steak is served. You might have seen this name on Thai restaurant menus, or maybe it was Tiger Cry, Weeping Tiger, or some variation on that theme. This is a direct translation from the Thai name " seua rong hai ", which refers to a marinated grilled steak, sliced thinly and served with the ultimate dipping sauce for grilled meats: nam jim jeaw . Sticky rice is usually served as a side.

Technically crying tiger calls for a specific cut of beef ; the brisket. There are many stories explaining the origin of the name, but the one I like best is that the brisket is so chewy even the tiger cannot eat it ... so it cries!! How sad! But the chewiness is why the steak is always very thinly sliced.

Nowadays people make crying tiger using other (better) cuts that don't involve any tears or jaw pain (and I don't recommend you use brisket for this), but really the most important thing here is the marinade; the dipping sauce if you want something very Thai.

More classic must-try Thai recipes for the grill

FAQ About This Marinade Recipe

Have leftover steaks? Try using them in these recipes!

The post The Only Steak Marinade You Need + Thai "Jeaw" Dipping Sauce appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Crispy Pad Thai - Mee Krob Song Kreuang

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Just when you thought pad thai couldn't get any better, I hit you with a crispy version! Okay, this dish isn't actually known as crispy pad thai. It's called mee krob song kreung which can be translated to "crispy noodles deluxe." But that doesn't really tell you much about what's going on here, and the ingredients (tamarind, beansprouts, garlic chives, tofu, etc..) and the flavour balance (sweet, salty, sour) are very similar to pad thai - so I prefer " crispy pad thai " as it is a much more informative name.

This recipe is part 2 of my mee krob series. In the first post I shared how to make the sweet and sour crispy noodles and have it on its own as a savoury snack. And in this post I share how to turn those noodles into a luxurious meal in minutes. So you will need to check out part 1 first for the complete recipe.

Dressing Up Mee Krob

The "mother recipe" for this dish is mee krob or sweet and sour crispy noodle treats which can be eaten as snacks on their own, and are very addictive. But this dish is a great way to dress up the mee krob and turn them into a meal.

To be honest I think once you start snacking on mee krob, you'll probably eat it all in a very short time, so if you want to make crispy pad thai I suggest setting some aside in advance. Not to mention it's easier to make it from noodles that have not been compacted into blocks.

What You'll Need:

Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make mee krob song kreuang . Very similar to pad thai, right? The only two differences here are the noodles and using cashews instead of peanuts.

Some Ingredient Notes:

NO AMOUNTS NEEDED. Yes, isn't that great? I've provided ingredient amounts in the recipe but you don't really need them, except for the fish sauce amount for the egg ribbons (which I forgot to include in the photo!). Since the noodles are already perfectly seasoned, everything else here are just add-ins, and you can add as much or as little of each ingredient as you want.

If you like a lot of noodles and only a little bit of other stuff, great. You want a lot of bean sprouts and tofu for something healthier? That works too. Having said that, you might find it helpful to watch the video below for a visual guide of approximately how much to add.

PRESSED TOFU. This is the firmest type of tofu available, and it's sometimes sold under the name "bean curd." There are generally 2 types, "plain" and "marinated" (the marinated is sometimes called "savoury"). Either will work, but here I am using marinated which is brown on the outside. It doesn't have a strong flavour, so you don't need to change anything in the recipe if you use the plain type. You can find these at Asian grocery stores where all the other tofus are.

GARLIC CHIVES. If you don't have garlic chives you can use green onions instead, but if you do I would chop them small as they are stronger tasting than garlic chives.

SHRIMP. Shrimp are the most classic protein, but you can also substitute chicken instead, or omit and add more tofu. If using chicken, I would marinate it with a little bit of soy sauce or fish sauce so that it will have some flavour in itself. The recipe card below will have more details on this.

Step-by-Step: How to Make Crispy Pad Thai

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but as I mentioned, this post doesn't include how to make the noodles themselves, so if you haven't seen that, check out the Sweet and Sour Crispy Noodles Recipe first. I also recommend you check out the full crispy pad thai video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success.

Related Recipes:

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Mee Krob - Sweet & Sour Crispy Noodle Treats

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 13:00:00 GMT

“Mee Krob” or “Mee Grob” are crispy rice noodles coated in a sweet and sour sauce. Super addictive with the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and umami, they are popular treats amongst visitors to Thailand. They share many of the same ingredients as Pad Thai , so I like to think of them as crispy pad thai treats! It is often served in squares, so I suppose you can also think of them as savoury "Rice Krispie Treats".

In this post I'll share with you 3 keys to the perfectly crispy, puffed noodles that STAY crispy for weeks! It's not a hard recipe, but it does require precision in order for the noodles to have the right balance of flavours and, most importantly, be the perfect degree of crrrrrrrispy.

What You'll Need:

Here are all the ingredients for mee krob. One note: I'm using lime zest, but traditionally, a rare kind of citrus called som sa is used. If you want you can replace the lime zest with orange, lemon, yuzu, or grapefruit zest; or a combination.

Step-By-Step: How to Make Mee Krob

I highly recommend you check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success, as it really helps to see how the noodles should behave and what the sauce should look like when it's ready. But here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

3 keys to perfect mee krob that stay crispy

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Recipes

The post Mee Krob - Sweet & Sour Crispy Noodle Treats appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Authentic Thai Drunken Noodles Recipe - Pad Kee Mao

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 21:03:00 GMT

Pad kee mao ผัดขี้เมา or drunken noodles is stir fried noodles with holy basil and lots of chilies. It's a cult-favourite Thai street food. The combination of chewy fresh rice noodles , the epic savoury sauce, and the fragrance of holy basil ... there is nothing quite like it and it never gets old.

In this recipe I share 7 secrets to making the perfect, authentic pad kee mao , guaranteed to make this better than take out; and once the prep is done it takes literally 3 minutes to make each portion. You can see the video in the recipe card where I show the cooking in real time!

Ingredients:

Here are all the ingredients for drunken noodles. You can change up the vegetables and I love using carrot and Chinese broccoli, though traditionally baby corn, long beans, and straw mushrooms are often added.

Why I use 2 types of chilies in this recipe

Pad kee mao uses a lot of chilies, so the chili flavour, not just the heat, is part of the flavour profile. If we only used the fiery Thai chilies, we can only add a few before it becomes too spicy, and not enough chili flavour would come through. So we also use the milder chilies to add more chili flavour without the heat.

In Thailand, prik chee fa, or spur chilies are used, but any mild red pepper such as anaheim peppers or even red bell pepper would work in a pinch.

How to Make Authentic Drunken Noodles

Be sure to check out the detailed recipe and full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success - but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

7 Secrets to Epic Pad Kee Mao

It is not hard to make a decent plate of drunken noodles, but an epic one? Not so simple. There are a few things you need to know:

ALSO IMPORTANT: Make sure you watch the video in the recipe card below! You'll see me cooking pad kee mao in REAL TIME with no cuts. It'll show you how it's done in only 3 minutes, give you an idea of how the process goes and how to organize your prep, and I promise it'll be so helpful for when you cook!

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Popular Noodle Dishes

The post Authentic Thai Drunken Noodles Recipe - Pad Kee Mao appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Edible Mini Fruit Sculptures ลูกชุบ (look choop)

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 13:00:00 GMT

These too-pretty-to-eat fruit sculptures are traditional Thai sweet treats made from mung beans and coconut milk, and glazed in shiny agar agar jelly. Creamy, sweet, and coconutty, these are the perfect afternoon sweets with a hot cup of tea. They also make great gifts, and are vegan and gluten free much like many other Thai desserts .

Not gonna lie these are a LOT of work, but the end result is so rewarding, and it can be a fun family activity if you've got kids! You can also get creative and turn them into whatever shapes you like. I remember making simple geometric shapes as a kid when I made them with my mom, and delighting in the fact that I made "unique" look choop!

Want beautiful Thai fruit desserts but don't want to spend a lot of time? Check out my coconut water fruit jelly cubes or my "viral" agar jelly fruit cake!

What You'll Need

Here are the ingredients and equipment you'll need to make look choop . Please see below for substitutions.

Step-By-Step

Equipment Notes

Skewers or toothpicks? Toothpicks are fine, but personally I find skewers easier to work with because it's just easier to maneuver with more room for your hand. I also find the fruits are less likely to slide down a skewer compared to very thin toothpicks.

But stick with the smallest skewers you can find so as to not create giant holes in the fruit. Also if the skewers are longer than 6 inches, cut them down so they are less likely to tip over.

Styrofoam or cucumber? You will need something to hold the skewers up as you paint and glaze the look choop . If you've got styrofoam lying around from delivery packaging, great; if they're thin pieces you can stack them so they're at least 1.5 inches thick for more stability. Otherwise you can use a firm vegetable like cucumber, daikon radish or zucchini, halved lengthwise and placed cut side down.

Paint brushes. If you are making fruits that have multiple colours, use clean paint brushes (that have never been used with actual paint). No need to go to an art supplies store; drug stores (in N. America) usually sell cheap paint brushes next to crayons and other kids craft supplies.

How to Steam the Mung Beans Instead of Boiling

A more traditional way to cook mung beans for look choop is to steam them, which offers the benefit of having no excess water to evaporate, thus reducing the active cooking time.

The downside is you have to soak the beans in advance, which is why I prefer boiling. You also won't have an opportunity to infuse the pandan leaves if you're using them, but that's a really minor point.

Here's how to steam the beans:

After this you would just add them to the blender along with the coconut milk, sugar and salt and proceed with the recipe as written.

FAQ About Ingredients

Other Beautiful Treats You Might Like:

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Jackfruit Curry with Ribs & Tomatoes - Gaeng Kanoon

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Young jackfruit is having a bit of a moment in the West because it has been adopted as a vegan meat substitute; making it more widely available even at non-Asian stores. In Thailand, young jackfruit has always been used as a vegetable, and this curry is one of the easiest introductions to working with young jackfruit.

This dish belongs to the family of Thai water-based curries, like sour curry and jungle curry , so no coconut milk here. The ribs enrich the broth, the tomatoes provide natural sweetness, and the jackfruit gives a unique texture. It's really different from any other Thai dish you might have had in restaurants, and worth exploring if you love trying new things!

What You'll Need

Here are the ingredients for jackfruit curry. Yes, you will need to make the curry paste yourself because it's so simple they don't bother selling it pre-made!

Step-By-Step: How to Make Jackfruit Curry

To ensure success be sure to check out the detailed instructions and full video tutorial in the recipe card below - but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

Young Green Jackfruit vs Ripe Yellow Jackfruit

Jackfruit is a tropical tree fruit with blunt, short spikes and can range from large to jaw-dropping enormous!

When the fruit is young, the exterior is green and the flesh is white with a relatively mild flavour. The seeds have not yet become hard so you can cut up the whole fruit and eat everything but the skin. You can find canned young jackfruit packed in brine at most Asian markets.

Once jackfruit is mature and ripe, the flesh becomes bright yellow with a hard brown seed inside each "piece". It also develops a strong aroma and becomes very sweet and super delicious! You might have seen it before in Southeast Asian desserts such as Filipino halo halo or Thai lod chong Singapore. You can buy ripe jackfruit in cans, packed in syrup.

Needless to say, green and yellow jackfruit are vastly different and are not interchangeable in any situation!

How to Cut Open a Fresh Jackfruit

If you're working with fresh young green jackfruit, it's simple because the whole thing is edible except the skin. So slice off the skin and chop the interior up into small pieces. Some people (like me!) don't like to eat the firmer core, but to not be wasteful I'd use everything. Tip: Oil your knife so the sticky sap doesn't stick to it as much.

But if you have a ripe jackfruit, cutting it open can be a pain and requires some knowledge of jackfruit anatomy so you know which part is edible and which part is not. Here's a video I filmed years ago in Thailand showing you how to cut up a jackfruit from our tree!

FAQs About Ingredients in Jackfruit Curry

Other Water-Based Curries You Might Like:

The post Jackfruit Curry with Ribs & Tomatoes - Gaeng Kanoon appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Bubble Tea Noodles in Coconut Milk - Lod Chong Singapore

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 13:00:00 GMT

This post is sponsored by Pine Brand mung bean starch and tapioca starch.

If you love bubble tea, you are going to love this too. "Lod chong Singapore" is made from chewy tapioca noodles in refreshing iced coconut milk and coconut water flavoured with pandan leaves! Similar to cendol, this is a popular dessert in Thailand, especially in open air markets as a sweet cold treat while you peruse. It's vegan, gluten free, and easy to make; much more so than homemade bubble tea!

Why is it called Lodchong Singapore?

Lod chong is our term for cendol , the green dessert noodles popular all over Southeast Asia that are pressed and extruded rather than rolled and cut like these. For a long time I thought that this was the Singaporean version of cendol; but turns out, the reason for "Singapore" in the name is because the shop that popularized it was situated in front of a movie theatre called "Singapore Theatre." So, no relation to Singapore the country here! (*I believe they not only popularized but actually invented the dessert, though I am not 100% sure on this.)

What You'll Need

Here are the ingredients you'll need to make lod chong Singapore:

Step-By-Step: How to Make Lod Chong Singapore

Some FAQs about ingredients

Advance Prep & Storage

This part is a bit tricky because the noodles don't keep well. I've detailed how to store each component below, but here is my general "best practice": Make the syrup and coconut milk in advance. Make the dough the day-of, and don't refrigerate. Roll out and cook the noodles within a few hours of serving. Do not freeze anything.

Syrup & Coconut Milk. Make the syrup and the coconut milk well in advance to allow enough time for them to cool before using. The syrup will last indefinitely in the fridge, and the coconut milk at least a week.

The Dough. Unfortunately the dough does not keep well. In the fridge the starch will stiffen and become brittle, making it hard to work with. You can, however, make the dough up to 4 hours in advance, keep it tightly wrapped at room temperature until you're ready to roll (pun totally intended!).

The Uncooked Noodles. Once the noodles are cut, you should cook them as soon as possible. Left out they will dry and become brittle and break; and they might also stick together, especially if you have them sitting on top of each other in a big pile. But if you need to leave them for a bit, keep them covered with plastic wrap.

Cooked Noodles. Once the noodles are cooked, the clock starts ticking! It's a little tricky, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

Tips for Optimal Deliciousness

Once you've cooked the noodles, even if you're ready to eat, hold off for a bit. Assemble and let the noodles sit in the syrup and coconut milk "broth" for about 15 minutes. The texture will still be perfect, but the noodles will have had time to absorb some sweetness from the syrup and taste better. Again, the noodles will be good for a few hours in the broth, but they will continue to swell and become less chewy as time goes by. Do not refrigerate to maintain the best noodle texture.

When ready to eat, add lots of ice and stir really well to allow everything to completely chill and to dilute the coconut milk; the resulting liquid should be light enough to drink.

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Hot Thai Tuna! - Red Curry Stir Fried Tuna

Fri, 21 May 2021 13:00:00 GMT

It takes a lot for a recipe to be worthy of the "Hot Thai" designation. My Hot Thai Chicken recipe was the first to be released to rave reviews, and it now has over 1 million views. This dish deserves this title because it transforms the humble canned tuna into a dish that is bursting with flavours. It has all the iconic flavours of Thai food that we love: red curry, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, and even has extra "loog doad" chilies! (More on that in the video.) It's also healthy, gluten-free, and can be done in less than 30 minutes!

Inspired By a Southern Thai Dish: Kua Gling

The idea for this dish came to me because I was thinking about a fiercely spicy southern Thai dish called kua gling where ground meat is stir fried with a southern style curry paste. I was looking for something to do with canned tuna, and my mind connected the dots. After trying it, I was pleased to discover that the combination worked incredibly well.

What You'll Need

Step-By-Step: How to Make Hot Thai Tuna

Be sure to check out the detailed recipe and full video tutorial in the recipe card below - but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

How to Serve Hot Thai Tuna

For those unfamiliar with the Thai way of eating, you might be looking at a pile of tuna on a plate and wonder how exactly you're supposed to tackle it! Well as with all other Thai dishes, the answer is: with rice.

In Thai we have this term kluk kao which means to toss something with plain rice. Some Thai dishes are just perfect for "klukking" with "kao", especially ones that are spicy and intensely flavoured, and this is one of them.

But it is more versatile than that! Here are a few ways I can think of using your Hot Thai Tuna:

How to Choose Sustainable Tuna

When tuna is irresponsibly caught, it can be highly destructive to the marine ecosystem. Depending on the gear used, juvenile fish or some endangered species can be accidentally caught and killed. So when shopping, look at cans that say pole-caught, troll-caught, pole and line caught, FAD-free, school caught, free school , or unassociated, or look for eco-certification labels by the Marine Stewardship Council .

I highly recommend reading this short article by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program which gives tips on what to look for when buying canned tuna. And click around the site while you're there for other useful info on the subject.

You might also like...

The post Hot Thai Tuna! - Red Curry Stir Fried Tuna appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Crispy Fried Egg Salad (Yum Kai Dao)

Mon, 03 May 2021 19:49:00 GMT

Picking a favourite dish is usually hard, but not this time ... this is easily my favourite Thai salad of all time. The tart and refreshing dressing together with the creamy egg yolks make for an incredible combination that's unlike any other salad. In this recipe you'll also learn how to fry an egg the Thai way; that is with bubbly crispy edges. It's all gluten-free and comes together in less than 30 minutes!

Yum Kai Dao in Thailand

This is a very basic dish in Thailand; the kind you'd find in any food court or made at home, but not in nice sit-down restaurants. I had this often in my school cafeteria and it was always a treat whenever it was offered. So if you make it less spicy, it can be a very kid-friendly dish as well.

Even though it is a salad, as with all salads in Thai cuisine it's not served as an appetizer or a side dish, but served together with the rest of the meal (if there are other dishes), and always with jasmine rice. The dressing is tart, spicy, and very flavourful, and definitely needs the jasmine rice to absorb and mellow out the flavour.

What You'll Need

Here's what you'll need. Simple, straight forward ingredients - and you might already have everything right now without making a special trip!

How to Make Fried Egg Salad Step-By-Step

Be sure to check out the detailed recipe and full video tutorial in the recipe card below - but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

The Secrets to Crispy, Bubbly Fried Eggs

The hardest part of this recipe is making the perfect fried eggs. And no, this recipe is totally NOT the same if you were to use Western-style fried eggs. Trust me on this. Below are some tips to ensure success.

PS. If you have extra eggs to fry, try Pad Gapro - Thai Holy Basil Stir-Fry which is another dish that it traditionally served with crispy fried eggs.

Some Ingredient Notes:

This is one of the few recipes where I do not recommend substitutions because it's such a simple dish, and every ingredient plays an important role. But there is SOME wiggle room.

Chinese celery. We only have Chinese celery in Thailand, which is the skinny, leafy cousin of the Western celery, but with similar flavour. I don't like to buy Chinese celery from my Asian market because they sell them in such large amounts, so I just use regular celery plus some leaves from the center. If you have extra Chinese celery, try using them in: Steamed Fish with Garlic and Lime and Stir-Fried "Sukiyaki".

Palm sugar. If you don't have palm sugar, you can sub an equal amount of light brown sugar. To learn more about palm sugar and how to choose a good quality one, watch my Ultimate Guide to Palm Sugar video!

Fish sauce. If you have premium fish sauce, this would be a good time to use it. Definitely don't use low quality fish sauce for this one! To learn more about the differences between fish sauce quality and how you can tell which one to buy, watch my Fish Sauce Tasting & FAQ video !

Frequently Asked Questions About Fried Egg Salad

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Thai Jungle Curry with Chicken (Gaeng Pa Gai)

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 13:00:00 GMT

This classic Thai dish is called "jungle curry" or gaeng pa because there are so many plants in it that it's like a whole jungle in a bowl! Healthy, herbaceous, and fiercely spicy - this curry packs all the flavours that are iconic to Thailand. It's a water-based curry (no coconut milk) so it makes for a light but satisfying meal. For the curry paste, I've included both the "from-scratch" and "quick-fix" recipes, so you can make it a project or a weeknight meal!

What You'll Need

Here are ingredients you'll need to make jungle curry. Note that for the curry paste I'm showing you is the "quick-fix" version. Please see the listing for the "from-scratch" version in the recipe card below.

Here are the ingredients for the quick-fix jungle curry paste:

How to Make Jungle Curry Step-By-Step

Be sure to check out the detailed recipe and full video tutorial in the recipe card below - but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

Using Red Curry Paste as a Base

In this video I showed you how to make jungle curry paste the quick way by doctoring store-bought red curry paste. Using red curry paste as a base is a handy technique that I also use in my Instant Pot massaman curry and panang curry recipes.

This works because red curry paste is a "basic" paste, in the sense that it contains all of the ingredients that are common to many other pastes, but nothing more. So we can use it as a shortcut starting point when making more complex pastes.

Some Ingredient Notes:

Jungle curry uses a few ingredients you may have never heard of before, so here's some background on each.

Grachai . This is an aromatic rhizome with a few English names: fingerroot, Chinese keys, and a few more. You won't find any of these English names on the product label at Asian stores though. If you can't find them fresh, look for ones in brine in glass jars (see video). Most of the time these are labeled as "rhizome" (not very descriptive), "pickled galangal" (it's neither galangal nor pickled), or by its Vietnamese name ngải bún. It's also a key ingredient in this rice noodles with fish curry recipe .

Young Green Peppercorns. These are peppercorns in their fresh state before they get turned into the black or white pepper we're used to seeing. They can be found fresh or also brined in a glass jar (see video). Cut them into chunks and add to soups or stir-fries. I don't usually eat them myself, but if you like an extra peppery punch you can break off the peppercorns from the stem and eat - but only 1-2 at a time!

Holy Basil. In Thai this is called gaprao , and is the key ingredient in the famous dish, chicken and basil stir fry or pad gaprao . Sometimes it is written as kaprao, kra pao (wrong), or gra pao (also wrong).

Thai eggplant. These are round, striped, beautiful eggplants that are quite versatile. They are crunchy when raw, and indeed can be eaten raw, but I prefer them cooked. They are usually added to some forms of curry, and is very popular in green curry.

Pea eggplant. I didn't use these in this video because I don't like them, but they're very commonly added to jungle curry so it's an option for you. They pop when you bite them and have a bitter taste (ew) which some people really like.

Frequently Asked Questions About Jungle Curry

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Funky Shrimp Paste Dip - Nam Prik Gapi

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Jump to Video!

Ready for a hard-core Thai recipe? This is the one for you! This is one of the most basic dishes enjoyed by Thai people all over the country. It's a spicy dip made with the funky, umami, fermented shrimp paste that I absolutely love, and it brings me back home every time I eat it. If you're an adventurous or a curious eater, this recipe is a must try. And it only takes a few minutes to make!

It's Stinky, But Oh So Delicious.

There are no two ways about it; shrimp paste or what we call gapi is stinky. But it's also tasty, or it wouldn't be such a beloved ingredient in so many Asian countries. Shrimp paste's superpower is in its intense umami. Its funky, savory flavour adds an oomph to any dish that no other ingredients can quite replicate. This is why shrimp paste fried rice is one of my all-time favourite Thai dishes. It's also always added to our curry pastes, such as green curry paste recipe.

Is Shrimp Paste an Acquired Taste?

For some, yes, but not necessarily. I grew up with this stuff, so my love for shrimp paste didn't need to be "acquired." But even Adam (our white, British-born, grew up on mashed potatoes and meatloaf, cameraman) tried nam prik gapi and instantly loved it.

For others, it takes a while, and for some, they can never acquire it. My husband, for example, has never gotten behind it. So try it; and if you don't like it, good for you for giving it a shot and no hard feelings!

If you want to try a nam prik but not quite ready for the fermented stuff though, try my recipe for fresh shrimp dip here.

What is nam prik ?

Nam prik refers to the hundreds of varieties of spicy dips. Consider it the Thai version of a veggies and dip platter. It's such an integral part of Thai cuisine, and some households never have a meal without some sort of nam prik on the table. The varieties are endless, but the common thread is that they are all spicy. After all, prik means chilies!

Step-By-Step

Check out detailed recipes in the recipe card below, but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

How to Choose the Right Shrimp Paste

Not all shrimp pastes are created equal, and the quality of your shrimp paste can make or break this dish. Fortunately the two brands pictured below, one Thai and the other Malaysian, are available at many Asian stores and are perfectly acceptable. There is also a Chinese one also shown below, but I do not recommend using it for this particular recipe.

If you go to Thailand (when we can travel again...) and you get to visit one of the seafood markets, bring home some "artisanal" shrimp paste! Just make sure it's well sealed in your luggage!

What do you serve shrimp paste dip with?

Anything you would want to eat with a dip, you can try it with nam prik gapi. But here are some classic options:

Frequently Asked Questions About Nam Prik Gapi

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Ultimate Veggie Spring Rolls

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Whether you're a vegetarian or vegan or neither, this is going to be one of the best spring rolls you've ever had. Bold claim, I know; but with the perfect seasoning, and a generous amount of flavourful ingredients (plus one special one!), you won't even need a dipping sauce. They can also be made in advance and frozen, just fry them up when you're ready to eat!

This post is sponsored by Pine Brand Glass Noodles.

Why These Are 100x Better Than Takeout

Important Ingredient Notes

Step-By-Step

Check out detailed recipes in the recipe card below, but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spring Rolls

Also check out...

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Chinese BBQ Pork & Rice (Kao Moo Dang)

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Jump to Video!

This dish is the epitome of "Thai street food". If you wanted kao moo dang you can walk into any food court and you're guaranteed to find a vendor. At the basic level it's just Chinese BBQ pork (char siu) on rice, but what makes this dish unique to Thailand is the savoury-sweet gravy studded with roasted sesame seeds.

Will Any Char Siu Recipe Work?

Yes. The recipe I show you here is the closest to what a Thai street vendor would make, and it is also a bit simpler. But if you already have your own trusted char siu recipe, or you've made my super popular original char siu , each will work just as well. All of these styles have the same flavour profile, just slightly different ingredients.

Choosing Pork for Kao Moo Dang

Chinese style char siu typically uses port butt or pork shoulder, which works fine for this, however the Thai style is leaner and we like to use pork loin. This works because there's gravy to keep the dish moist even though the meat is lean.

Buy a pork loin roast (pic shown in the video), then cut it lengthwise with the grain into long strips about 2"x1" in diameter. Try to cut it in such a way that each piece has a bit of fat on it, because this fat will help keep everything moist and tender.

If you can, get the fatty end . When I went to get my pork from the specialty butcher, he was cutting my roast from a whole piece and asked if I wanted the "lean and pretty end" or the "fatty end". Turns out the two sides of a pork loin are different! Either will work depending on whether you like fatty or lean meat, but it's nice to have the option! I got the fatty end, naturally.

How about pork chops? If you can't find pork loin roast, pork chops will work but you want to make sure they are at least 1-inch thick. The pork needs time to brown and char slightly without overcooking the inside.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Here are some ingredients you may not have and how to substitute. You can also watch my video where I explain all the different sauces used in Thai cooking.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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UNIVERSAL Stir Fry Sauce

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Jump to Video!

A Stolen Secret From Thai Restaurants

I learned this very useful trick from working in Thai restaurants. Many of them have a pre-mixed "stir-fry sauce" that they put in EVERYTHING.

Sometimes they use it as is, like in a simple mixed vegetable stir-fry , or a simple fried rice like this chicken fried rice . And other times they use it as a base and add other ingredients to make it unique; more tips on that below.

Be sure to watch the video tutorial where I demo how to use this sauce in a basic meat-and-veggie stir fry, with lots of stir frying tips. It's like stir frying 101!

No, All Your Dishes Won't Taste the Same

You might think, wait, doesn't that mean all my stir fries will taste the same? No! The sauce isn't everything. All the veggies, herbs, meat, spices that you add contribute more flavour than you think.

Yes, the sauce has its own delicious taste, but because it is a salty sauce, its other primary function is to be "the salt" in the dish. In all dishes, salt is there to enhance flavours of all the other ingredients .

Think of it like this: if you eat mashed potato that's properly salted, you don't think, "mmm, this is salty mashed potato." But you DO think, "this is delicious mashed potato!" Salt brings out more of the potato flavour for you to enjoy. This stir-fry sauce does the same thing.

One Sauce, Many Possibilities

If you want to "jazz up" the sauce with other ingredients, here are some ideas. I would add these to individual dishes when you cook; not to the base sauce itself:

How to Store The Stir Fry Sauce

Kept in the fridge, this will last indefinitely. The sauces are very salty, which means bacteria do not grow well in it. You still want to keep it refrigerated though because oyster sauce is the one ingredient in this mix that can get moldy at room temp.

How to Make a Vegan Version

Instead of oyster sauce , look for something called "Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce." This is available in many big Asian grocery stores, and it will have a consistency similar to oyster sauce.

Instead of fish sauce, you can buy a vegetarian fish sauce substitute, but I've found that they're not always good. So unless you've found a brand you like, I recommend just using more soy sauce.

Use more than 1 type of soy sauce . If you're not using fish sauce, I recommend using both soy sauce and Thai seasoning sauce (like Golden Mountain Sauce) so you can achieve a more complex flavour. You can also use Maggi Seasoning or Bragg's Liquid Amino as well.

Other Useful Tips

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Also Check Out...

Got questions about any of the sauces I used? Check out the video on the left. Then try out this popular glass noodle stir-fry recipe using this base sauce!

The post UNIVERSAL Stir Fry Sauce appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

My Best Pork Dumplings (Gyoza) Recipe

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 23:37:00 GMT

Jump to Video

Whether you call them potstickers, gyoza, or just dumplings, one thing for sure is they are awesome. These are more of a "gyoza" because of the flavours used. The filling is a classic pork and cabbage (the best kind, IMO), but read on and I'll share many secrets to making the juiciest, most delicious filling that will beat any restaurant.

Secret #1: Key to Juicy Dumpling Filling

The most important factor for a juicy filling is the fat content of the ground pork . There is little you can do if you're starting out with pork that is too lean.

Many Western grocery stores will only carry lean ground pork, so check out Asian grocery stores with a butcher counter. They should have "regular" ground pork that is fattier.

If you have access to ground pork with different fat content percentages in your country, shoot for 25-30% fat . For reference, lean ground pork in Canada has a maximum of 17% fat, and regular ground pork is max 30% fat.

Secret #2: How to Keep ALL the Flavour In

Many recipes will ask that you salt the cabbage to draw out moisture, or boil them, and then squeeze the daylight out of them to get rid of excess liquid. That's fine, but you lose a lot of that sweet napa cabbage flavour (and yes, I prefer napa for flavour and tenderness) and not to mention nutrients!

I came across a technique from Lisa Lin of Healthy Nibbles , where she sautés the cabbage so that in the process of removing the liquid, the flavour gets concentrated rather than removed. Brilliant! And it really does make a difference.

This also gives you a chance to saute the garlic, ginger, and pepper along with the cabbage, which further enhances the flavour rather than just adding them in raw.

Secret #3: How to Keep ALL the Meat Juice In

Starch! When meat cooks, muscle fibers tighten and the juice gets squeezed out. We all know this by experience of cooking burger patties. The little bit of added cornstarch or tapioca starch helps absorb and retain this juice inside . When you go to cook the filling to taste, you will see that very little juice comes out.

Secret #4: How to Add Extra Umami

Dashi powder! Also called "hon dashi" it's a Japanese fish stock powder, and a staple ingredient in Japanese households. It adds extra umami and those iconic Japanese flavours that come from bonito flakes and kelp. This is my secret weapon, which I've also used in my garlic fried rice recipe .

Secret #5: Getting the Right Texture

You don't want to just mix the meat, you want to knead it for a period of time. This develops the protein and make the filling smoother and "bouncier", as opposed to having that coarse burger patty texture.

Secret #6: Serve it With This

Honestly, these are so flavourful you do not need to serve them with any condiment, though I do think that they benefit from the simple soy-vinegar dipping sauce to balance the richness. But for MAX flavour, I highly recommend serving them with "rayu" or "layu", which is Japanese chili oil with crispy garlic, sesame oil, and other delicious seasonings in it. If you've never had this, try it and you'll want to put it on everything! Check it out on Amazon here .

Pleating Dumplings: Easier Than You Think

First, pleating dumplings is MUCH easier than it looks. First time I did it I was so surprised how intuitive it felt. Watch the video for different ways to wrap dumplings; including the super-fast, no-pleat way.

To Pleat or Not to Pleat

In the video I show you how to make dumplings with no pleats and lots of pleats. If you're not concerned about looks, here are some things to consider:

Pros of not pleating:

Cons of not pleating :.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dumplings

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post My Best Pork Dumplings (Gyoza) Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

10 No-Fail Recipes for Chinese New Year

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 00:49:00 GMT

Some people know that even though I was born and raised in Thailand, I am a 4th generation Chinese-Thai. There are millions of Chinese-Thais and Chinese food has become so deeply intertwined with Thai cuisine that you cannot really speak of one without the other.

Because of this, Chinese New Year is an important celebration in Thailand, and of course food is at the centre of this celebration! So here are some recipes that I have that could be part of your Chinese New Year table!

Lo Bak Go - Turnip Cake

An absolute classic when it comes to the Lunar New Year. If you make one thing this season, let it be this one. This recipe is my mother-in-law's famous recipe and it's the best I've ever had.

Crispy Spring Rolls (Egg Rolls)

The filling of these is so good I can just sit with a bowl of it and have it for my whole meal. I got this recipe from my restaurant days and these are still the best spring rolls I've had anywhere.

Steamed Fish with Ginger Soy Sauce

Steamed fish is an integral part of a Chinese feast, and this is my most popular steamed fish recipe with over 1.5 million views on YouTube! And for good reasons, it is incredibly delicious and works with any white-fleshed fish. If using whole fish, the same technique applies, just scale up the sauce amount according to how big your fish is.

Aunty Jenny's Braised Chicken Wings

This recipe is perfect if you don't want a complicated meal for Chinese New Year. It's an easy and simple dish that tastes like you spent hours on it. The first time I had this dish at my mother-in-law's place, I knew I needed a recipe!

Char Siu - Chinese BBQ Pork

This char siu recipe is one of my most popular one with over 1.5 million views on YouTube! I promise you it will be better than anything you can buy, especially when you can cook it to juicy perfection and serve it still-warm from the oven. It takes some advanced planning, but the process itself is really straight forward.

Siu Yok - Crispy Pork Belly (no fry, no boil, no salt crust)

I don't know about you, but in my world, if you have the sweet char siu, you also gotta have the salty crispy siu yoke to complete the pork extravaganza. This recipe is the simplest one you'll fine, with guaranteed bubbly, crispy skin if you follow the instructions.

Gai Lan Oyster Sauce Stir Fry

A Chinese New Year feast can be a bit rich and heavy, and this super popular recipe is the perfect vegetable side dish to balance it all. You'll never want to cook gai lan any other way again!

Steamed Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce

This is my husband's go-to dish at dim sum, so I decided to try to make it at home, and it turned out to be super easy and even more delicious!

Grandma's Hainanese Glass Noodle Stir-Fry

You GOTTA HAVE NOODLES for Chinese New Year, am I right?? This is my grandmother's signature dish, done Hainanese style, which is where she's from. I'm so happy to be able to share our family's beloved recipe with you!

Tang Yuan - Black Sesame Rice Balls

In the world of Chinese desserts, this is easily my favourite. The chewy mochi-like rice balls are filled with aromatic roasted black sesame seeds. The best part is the soothing, warm ginger broth that they come in.

Want some more recipe ideas?

Check out this page to browse my recipes by categories.

If you've made something with my recipes, be sure to tag me on Instagram , Twitter , or post it to my Facebook page !

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Chinese Sausage Fried Rice ข้าวผัดกุนเชียง

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Jump to Video!

For people growing up in Asia, Chinese sausage fried rice is the epitome of childhood nostalgia. These sweet, savoury, and chewy Chinese sausages ( lap cheong ) are the highlight of this simple and quick weeknight-friendly meal. Adding an abundance of veggies also make this a balanced, one-dish meal.

Key to Success: Choosing the Right Chinese Sausage

Making the fried rice is easy, but this is THE most important thing to get right. There are usually several brands and types of Chinese sausage at any Asian grocery store and you can get ones made with pork, chicken, and/or liver, but my preference is the classic all-pork version.

Beware of too-salty. The biggest issue with lap cheong is that some brands are quite salty, which is fine in some applications, but when put them in a seasoned fried rice it's just too much. This is something you just have to try to find out, but know that if you find one brand to be too salty, they're not all like that!

Less ingredients are better. Some brands have a lot of additives and preservatives in them (shown in pic below), but others don't. In my experience, the less ingredients the better they taste as they don't have as much "stuff" to hide behind.

Frequently Asked Questions

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

More Recipes with Chinese Sausage

The post Chinese Sausage Fried Rice ข้าวผัดกุนเชียง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Japanese Deep Roasted Sesame Salad Dressing

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

The Dressing That Made Me Eat Salad

I am not a green salad person. I do not like green salad. But put this dressing on it and I'll eat an entire bowl anytime.

This recipe is a classic salad dressing that's super popular in Japan, and for good reason. You can put it on a piece of cardboard and it'll be delicious. In Japan, often times it's served simply on shredded cabbage. A pile of cabbage. Yep, that's how good it is.

A Kewpie Copycat Recipe

This is my attempt to recreate the popular Kewpie brand "Deep Roasted Sesame Dressing." My Japanese friend recommended it, and we got hooked after the first try, and I wanted to recreate it as it's not easy to find here in Vancouver.

My version is very close to the real thing taste-wise, the only noticeable difference is mine is a bit less viscous since I don't add the xanthan gum that's in the original. I also add black pepper which I prefer.

More Than a Salad Dressing

In Japan this dressing is also used as a dipping sauce for their hot pot (shabu shabu). As I said, it's good on anything! If you want to try making a hot pot, check out my classic hot pot recipe and simply use this dressing instead of (or in addition to) the Thai style dipping sauce.

Important Notes for Success

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Japanese Deep Roasted Sesame Salad Dressing appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Royal Flower Dumplings - Chor Muang ช่อม่วง

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

I'm sharing this recipe as a study in traditional Thai food, and more specifically royal Thai cuisine. These are savoury snacks filled with a sweet-salty pork and peanut filling, wrapped in a tender butterfly-pea-flower-dyed dough. It's a LOT of work, and I'm not gonna pretend it's something you can pull off on a Wednesday night. But if there's a special occasion coming up, the deliciousness and the wow-factor of these might very well be worth the effort!

P.S. These dumplings are gluten-free and dairy-free. Though it's not traditional, you can certainly modify the filling to be vegan.

The Chor Muang Tweezers

The only annoying thing is that this recipe requires a special tool to make the petals. These brass tweezers come in 2 styles: the squared and the leaf shape. You can use either one to make the 2 different styles, but the squared one is the most common, and is the one shown in the video.

Where to buy Chor Muang tweezers? If you have a Thai grocery store that sells a lot of specialty Thai ingredients and tools, they might sell them. They're hard to track down online, but I did find this one listing on eBay .

These tweezers can also be used to make "bird dumplings" as shown in my "Royal Thai Cooking Livestream" with Chef Farm at the Royal Thai Consulate.

Where does the colour come from?

"Chor" means bouquet, and "muang" means purple. And the purple colour comes from steeping butterfly pea flowers, which are actually blue, but lime juice is added to turn the water purple. If you have access to fresh ones, great, but dried ones work perfectly well and can be purchased online .

Spreading out the work

These take HOURS to make if you do it all in one go. So if you're wanting to make them for a special occasion, here are some things you can do to spread out the workload:

Storage and Reheating

The dough has to be used the day it is made. If refrigerated it will be more difficult to work with, but if well wrapped to prevent drying it will last at room temp for several hours. Once you've made them into dumplings you can store them in the fridge.

It's best to cook these right before serving. Serving them warm is the best, but room temp is okay as long as they haven't been sitting out for too long as the petals can dry out.

If you have leftovers that have been refrigerated, the best way to reheat them is to steam them again for a few minutes. Microwaving tends to dry out the exterior of the dumplings.

Just wanna know what they taste like without the work?

You can totally just make balls! If you're not trying to impress anyone and just curious about the flavour, simply wrap them in dough and steam. Since you are not constrained by the need to make petals, you can get away with a little bit less dough; which I think would make them even better.

Alternatively, make the filling and have it with Thai sticky rice! I've done it before with my leftover filling and was so surprised by how good it was! Sticky rice is great for eating with this sort of thing. Keep the lettuce though; it really helps to lighten and brighten it up. Here's a video on 7 ways to make sticky rice in case it's helpful.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Royal Flower Dumplings - Chor Muang ช่อม่วง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Dipping Sauce for Grilled and Roasted Meats - Nam Jim Jeaw

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Nam Jim Jeaw is the Thai "universal" dipping sauce for any kind of grilled or roasted meats. BBQ chicken, grilled steaks, roasted pork belly, even grilled fish, can all benefit from a little jeaw dip. It's also the perfect way to spice up your leftover roast!

Even though jeaw is native to "Isaan" or the northeastern part of Thailand, it is so popular that it is enjoyed all over the country.

The recipe below is a very basic jeaw , and you can absolutely change up the flavour by making it sweeter with more sugar, or add some tamarind paste for a thicker consistency. Check out some of my meat recipes that are traditionally served with nam jim jeaw :

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

This recipe is part of the 4 Ways to Thai Up Your Leftovers article. Be sure to check that post out for 3 other leftover ideas!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success! And if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel . Thank you!

The post Thai Dipping Sauce for Grilled and Roasted Meats - Nam Jim Jeaw appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

4 Thai Recipes For Your Leftover Roast

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

There may not be any traditional Thai Christmas recipes (we don't celebrate Christmas), but there are certainly many ways to use your leftovers in traditional Thai dishes. Here are 4 of my favourite ways that are quick and easy (we don't want more work after the big feast, right?!), and so delicious it might make you wonder why you didn't just do this for the dinner to begin with!

1. LAAB IT - Turn it into a Thai Salad

This is my favourite way because it is quick and it makes a light and refreshing dish to offset the rich, heavy meal you just had. In this post and in the video I show you how to make a "laab" (no, it is not laRb ... you do not pronounce any r!) but you can quite easily turn it into a "yum" which is another type of Thai salad.

Check out this recipe for a Thai roast pork salad as a guide for making a "yum" with your leftovers. But you can explore any Thai salad recipes and substitute your leftovers.

GET THE LEFTOVER LAAB RECIPE HERE

2. TOM IT - Turn it into a Thai Soup

"Tom" is our term for soups, and you may be familiar with the famous tom yum goong and tom kha gai . In this post I share with you a recipe for a basic tom yum that would work with any leftovers, but luckily many of our soups are quite similar, so here are a few modifications you can make to turn them into a different type of soup.

GET THE TOM YUM LEFTOVER ROAST RECIPE HERE

Watch The Full Video Tutorial for All 4 Recipes!

3. JEAW IT - Dip it in a Spicy Thai Sauce

This recipe is perfect for the perfectly cooked roast beef that you're super proud of and still want to enjoy the roast as is, but maybe with a bit of a different, lighter flavour. Or maybe you ran out of gravy ... isn't that always the case? There's never enough gravy?

"Jeaw" or "nam jim jeaw" is our universal dipping sauce for grilled or roasted meats. Chicken, beef, pork, or even fish; if it was grilled or roasted, we can dip it in jeaw.

I've given you a basic recipe here, but know that you can vary it a lot, especially with how sweet you want the sauce to be. Add more sugar or less sugar, it's completely up to you. You can also substitute some of the lime juice with tamarind paste for a thicker, richer dipping sauce.

If you're not familiar with tamarind, check out this video: Everything You Need to Know About Tamarind . Or watch this video on how to make tamarind paste at home.

GET THE JEAW RECIPE HERE

4. PAD IT - Turn it into Fried Rice

Finally, we cannot talk about leftovers in the context of Asian food without talking about fried rice! "Pad" means to stir fry (yes, that's the same pad as pad thai ). It is THE ultimate easy way to use up just about anything in the fridge.

PRO TIP: If you have any delicious meat juice collected on the serving platter, save it and use it as part of the sauce in the rice. If your rice is well cooked (i.e. not too soft) and you don't crowd the pan, you can add about 2 Tbsp of extra meat juice per recipe without worrying about making your rice too soft. Just be sure to adjust the seasoning accordingly - if your meat juice is on the salty side, cut down on the fish sauce or soy sauce slightly.

GET LEFTOVER FRIED RICE RECIPE HERE

The post 4 Thai Recipes For Your Leftover Roast appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai "Laab" Salad for Your Leftover Roast

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Laab (or larb, though you don't pronounce the r) is the perfect way to use up any leftover meat, especially one that's a bit lacking in flavour. Tart, spicy, and fresh; and guaranteed to "fix" any less-than-stellar roast turkey or chicken. Also perfect for using up steak and roast beef as well!

Laab is a very basic Thai salad made with a simple dressing of fish sauce, lime juice and roasted chili flakes. The defining element of a laab (and the most delicious part) is the toasted rice powder, which is easy to make using any kind of white rice, though traditionally it is done with Thai sticky rice. It is not laab without toasted rice powder!

For a true laab you want to have some mint and cilantro, but if you're just trying to make a quick laab using leftovers, throw in any fresh herbs you have on hand. Green onions, dill, oregano or even tarragon would work.

And laab is always gluten-free and dairy-free, bonus!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

This recipe is part of the 4 Ways to Thai Up Your Leftovers article. Be sure to check that post out for 3 other leftover ideas!

The post Thai "Laab" Salad for Your Leftover Roast appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Leftover Fried Rice Recipe

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Fried rice is the ultimate way to use up any kind of leftovers, not to mention all the odds and ends of vegetables lingering in your fridge. After an extravagant Christmas or Thanksgiving meal though a plate of humble, comforting fried rice is just so satisfying. And even better when it can use up the leftover roast!

Fried rice variations are endless, so be sure to check out some of my most popular fried rice dishes here!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

This recipe is part of the 4 Ways to Thai Up Your Leftovers article, and be sure to check that post out for 3 other leftover ideas!

The post Leftover Fried Rice Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Basic Tom Yum Soup for any Leftover Meats

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Thai Tom Yum Goong soup is famous the world over, but did you know you can make a tom yum soup with just about any meat you have on hand or as leftovers? It's the perfect way to use up that leftover holiday Turkey, or even a leftover rotisserie chicken!

If you want something creamier and more comforting, check out my tom kha soup recipe ! It uses all the same herbs as a tom yum , but it's enriched with coconut milk and is a little bit milder and more comforting. It's more kid-friendly, and an equally great way to use up your leftover turkey or chicken!

Love tom yum? Try these dishes!

This recipe here is a basic tom yum soup, but every variation of tom yum is a little bit different depending on the protein used. So if you love these flavours of lemongrass, galangal and makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, be sure to check out some of my other tom yum recipes!

4 Other Ways to Thai Up Your Leftovers

This recipe is part of the 4 Ways to Thai Up Your Leftovers article. Be sure to check that post out for 3 other leftover ideas!

The post Basic Tom Yum Soup for any Leftover Meats appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Soy Caramel Roasted Kabocha Squash

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Jump to Video!

Sweet, creamy roasted kabocha squash glazed with soy sauce caramel, topped with roasted garlic, and drizzled with Thai basil oil. It's much easier and simpler than it sounds, I promise! It's a great side dish that adds subtle Asian flavours into your Christmas or Thanksgiving table.

This dish was inspired by a traditional Thai classic, kabocha squash with Thai basil stir-fry which was one of my favourites growing up. The combination of creamy kabocha squash, a salty-sweet-umami sauce, and Thai basil is one of the best I can think of. So I wanted to take this combo and present it as a vegetable side dish that would work with any traditional holiday meals; and the results were fantastic!

Can I Use Another Squash?

Yes. While kabocha is my favourite as it tends to be the sweetest AND you don't have to peel it since the skin is edible, any other creamy-fleshed squash will work: acorn, butternut, kuri, or even sweet potatoes. But keep in mind that some types of squash, like butternut, have to be peeled.

Also, different squashes vary in cooking time, so be prepared to adjust as you go.

Soy Sauce or Fish Sauce?

Originally I did this recipe using fish sauce, but I wanted to explore the possibility of making this vegan. Turns out not only does soy sauce taste delicious, it creates a darker glaze that looks scrumptious, AND it doesn't make your house smell like fish for a period of time!

*Check out this video for the complete guide to Thai sauces.

How About Miso Caramel Glaze?

You can absolutely use miso and I think it would be awesome, though I personally haven't tried it. A few modifications though as miso is a dry chunky paste: after caramelizing the sugar, I would add WATER to dissolve the sugar, then stir in about 1 tablespoon of miso paste once the sizzling has subsided.

Can I Add Butter?

Butter is such an integral part of the holidays, isn't it? So if you want to enrich this dish, brush some melted butter right when the squash comes out of the oven. Butter burns easily so it's best to add it at the end (despite me suggesting adding it to the glaze in the video!).

The Process in a Nutshell

Can I Make This Even Simpler?

Yes! There are so many things going on when cooking for the holidays, so here are a few ideas for making this go faster.

Make Ahead Tips

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success! And if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel . Thank you!

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The post Soy Caramel Roasted Kabocha Squash appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Crab Fried Rice ข้าวผัดปู

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 14:00:00 GMT

JUMP TO VIDEO!

The Most Popular Fried Rice in Thailand

Yes, this is arguably the most popular type of fried rice in Thailand - so much so that there are restaurants in Thailand specializing only in this one dish. It's certainly my favourite fried rice, especially as a kid growing up in Thailand. Simple, unfussy, delicious, no vegetables to contend with; what else could a child ask for?

Choosing the Right Crab

Use good quality crab. Do not use cheap canned crab meat that resembles an uninspiring briney mush. Get nice chunks of crab meat from a good seafood counter because this is such a simple dish that the flavour of the crab, or lack thereof, will show. Even though fried rice may seem like a humble, inexpensive dish, this is not the time to cheap out on the star of the show.

In Thailand we use blue crab, which has such sweet and succulent meat. So if you can get lump blue crab meat, you're winning. Here in the Canadian West Coast I can only get Dungeness crab, which isn't as sweet, but it works fine as long as it's fresh.

Tips for Non-Mushy Rice

MYTH: You need old, cold rice from the fridge in order to make good, non-mushy fried rice. Completely wrong. In all my years working in restaurants I have never seen them use anything but hot rice straight from the rice cooker. What's their secret?

Well cooked rice in an uncrowded pan. That's it. Many people cook their rice too wet to begin with, then combine that with trying to cook all 5 portions for your family in one pan, and you can easily end up with risotto.

If I'm cooking fresh rice for fried rice, I add a little less water than I normally do. For Thai jasmine rice, my rice to water ratio is usually 1:1¼, so for fried rice I do 1:1. If you have hot rice cooked with the regular amount of water, you can quickly spread it out onto a plate and let it air dry a bit while you do other prep.

Cook in batches . If you do not have a high BTU (i.e. very hot) stove, and you do not have a large wok, try to do no more than 2-3 servings in one batch. If your pan is crowded, too much steam will get trapped and that's another mushy fried rice waiting to happen.

How to Amp Up the Flavour

When most people make fried rice, they toss in everything until it's well mixed, and call it done. But this is a big missed flavour opportunity! To get a more complex flavour, you have to let the rice TOAST. This means letting it sit in the pan without stirring for a bit (10 seconds or so depending on how hot the stove is) until the rice browns slightly, developing a deeper flavour. Think a sandwich made with untoasted vs toasted bread. That's the difference.

You don't need to toast ALL grains of rice. I usually let the rice toast 2-3 times, tossing in between each time, and it's good to go. You should also hear the rice start to pop if you do it right.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Crab Fried Rice ข้าวผัดปู appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Maple Fish Sauce Brussels Sprouts

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Canadian + Thai = Delicious

This is a mashup of Thai and Canadian flavours that work beautifully, and happens to be easy and quick, perfect for when you're busy with all your other Thanksgiving prep! Fish sauce is full of umami, which gives depth and complexity to these vegetables. The sweetness from the maple syrup helps soften the slight bitterness inherent to Brussels sprouts (also known as Brussel Sprouts), and balances the saltiness of the fish sauce.

The fried garlic is optional, but really recommended, and the golden sprinkles really up the presentation game. You can also make the fried garlic a few days ahead and store in the fridge. If not, a little bit of granulated garlic added along with other seasonings will do the trick!

Pan-Searing Brussels Sprouts is the BEST Way (if you don't have a lot to cook)

I learned this technique from America's Test Kitchen, and I will not cook Brussels sprouts any other way again. Pan searing allows them to fry and brown beautifully while still keeping the al dente texture that I like. If you oven roast them, they will be soft all the way through by the time this level of browning is achieved.

It only takes 5 minutes per batch, and for 1 lb of sprouts you will need to do 2 batches if you have a 12-inch skillet. Because of the batch size limitation it's not ideal if you have a ton of sprouts to cook, so in that case I would consider oven roasting and then tossing them in the seasoning as per the recipe. Due to the pandemic this year though, most of us are not going to having large gatherings, so 1 lb is going to be enough for most of us!

Some Useful Links

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Thai Coconut Pumpkin Pie

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Jump to video!

A Delicious Mashup of Thai and Western Desserts

During Thanksgiving and other holidays people often ask me for ideas for adding Thai flavours to their feast. If you're looking to make something a little different this holiday season, but still want the comfort of traditional dishes, this is the perfect mashup.

I got the idea for this recipe because I realized that we have a Thai dessert called "kanom maw gaeng" that is structurally very similar to pumpkin pie - a baked custard with a mashed vegetable mixed in. Usually we would use mashed taro or mung beans mixed with coconut milk, palm sugar and pandan leaves. So I wondered how it would turn out if I replaced the taro or mung beans with pumpkin puree and then bake it into a pie.

Well, it turned out delicious beyond my expectation. You get the flavour, creaminess and richness of the coconut, the caramel notes of palm sugar, and the floral aroma of pandan leaves, all with the silky, soft texture of pumpkin.

What Makes This Recipe Work

Important Notes on Ingredients

What To Do With Leftover Pumpkin Purée

It's inconvenient, but this recipe does not use whole cans of pumpkin puree, so you're bound to have some left over. Here are some ideas on what to do with it:

Watch the full video tutorial!

The post Thai Coconut Pumpkin Pie appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Black Sesame Snowball Cookies

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 20:16:00 GMT

This post is sponsored by Redpath Sugar

Adding Asian Flavours to Your Cookie Swap

These cookies are buttery and almost melt in your mouth, with the iconic aroma of toasted black sesame seeds, and a slight crunch from cashews.

There may be no in-person cookie swap this year, but Redpath Sugar is hosting a “Share the Sweetness” Virtual Cookie Exchange instead! So rather than sharing actual cookies, you can share cookie recipes that you want friends and family to try. And you can even enjoy them together over video chat, which I think is a brilliant way to still celebrate together while staying safe!

So here’s one I made using Redpath’s snowball cookie recipe as a base and adding my own Asian twist. The original recipe uses almonds, but I made mine with toasted black sesame with chopped cashews for some added texture. Black sesame seeds (well-toasted ones) are so flavourful in and of themselves so you don’t need any other flavourings which simplifies things.

Shortbread-type cookies like these are also great in that they stay fresh-tasting for up to a week, so you can make them in advance and even package and gift them!

The post Black Sesame Snowball Cookies appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

7 Ways to Make Thai Sticky Rice

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Why Cooking Sticky Rice is (a bit) Tricky

Why are there at least 7 ways to cook sticky rice, and why are none of them just...throwing rice into a pot of water like you do with any other kind of rice? Well, it's because Thai sticky rice is a little bit...sensitive.

Trust me, if you could cook it like regular rice the whole nation of Thailand wouldn't do it any other way. Sticky rice can't absorb much water, and it is not forgiving at all if you add even a bit too much - so cooking it in water willy-nilly can result in mushy rice very easily.

So the wise people of the past discovered that if you soak the rice in water for at least 3 hours until it is completely saturated, and then steam it OUT of water, there is no chance that it can overcook. Brilliant, right?

But not all of us have the time or the equipment to do it traditionally, so here's my roundup of all the ways that I know of that you can cook sticky rice, along with the pros and cons of each method.

To Soak, or Not to Soak?

The 7 methods can be divided into 2 categories: soak and steam , and no soak . Usually, the results are better using the soak-and-steam methods for the reasons I described above, but if you're short on time there are options!

What Do I Eat Sticky Rice With?

Generally, we love it with meats. Here are a few classic meat dishes that are often paired with sticky rice:

The post 7 Ways to Make Thai Sticky Rice appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Coconut Sesame Granola

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Granola with Traditional Thai Flavours

In Thailand we have a traditional snack called kra ya saat, and it's very much like a sticky granola bar, but made of puffed rice instead of oats. (Or come to think of it, maybe it's more like a Thai version of Rice Krispie squares??). The puffed rice bars are studded with coconut, sesame seeds and peanuts, and held together by a syrup made from palm sugar and coconut milk.

In my house, we LOVE granola and we make it regularly using this amazing granola recipe that I've shared before . But then I thought, hmm, wouldn't it be great if the nutty flavours of kra ya saat were made into crispy granola? I had to try it, and I was blown away by how well it worked and how GOOD it turned out!

I was also shocked by how much it actually tastes like kra ya saat. But honestly I like the granola more because my problem with kra ya saat is that it is rather sticky and not crunchy; but this way I get the flavours of kra ya saat , but with the crispiness of granola. The best of both worlds!

More Breakfast Recipes

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The post Coconut Sesame Granola appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Northern Curry Glass Noodle Stir Fry

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Thanks to Pine Brand Glass Noodles for sponsoring this video!

Classic Northern Thai Dish Originated from Leftovers

This dish is called gaeng ho , gaeng meaning "curry" and ho means "a mix of stuff". It might seem strange because this dish is a stir fry and not a curry, but here's the story. It started out with people repurposing leftover curry, specifically Hung Lay curry , and turned it into a stir-fry by adding veggies and glass noodles. I guess whoever did it first realized this was delicious, so it became widespread and eventually became an established dish.

But You Don't Need Leftovers to Make It!

If you look for recipes of gaeng ho in Thailand, you'll see that one of the ingredients required is " hung lay curry." Yes, technically you need to buy/make another curry before you can make this dish.

While hung lay curry is out-of-this-world delicious and you should make it one day anyway, I've come up with a way to enjoy gaeng ho without having to have hung lay curry on hand. The key is using the mix of spices in hung lay curry mixed with store bought red curry paste, which is a great basic paste that I love using as a base for building more complex curries without having to make everything from scratch.

Related Recipes

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Thai Pineapple Curry with Shrimp

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 13:00:00 GMT

The Most Important Step: Squeeze the Pineapple!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

subscribing to my YouTube channel

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THAI RESTAURANTS: Behind The Scenes!

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 13:00:00 GMT

You take 45 minutes to make a dish that it takes a Thai restaurant 5 minutes to make...how do they do it? How do they prep, organize, and run their kitchens?

In this video I'm taking you behind the scenes of Thai restaurants by visiting my 2 favourite places in Vancouver: Unchai and Maenam . It's an insider's look you probably have never seen before. Watch and take some pro tips home and apply them to your next dinner party!

Special thanks to the Thai Trade Centre Vancouver for sponsoring this video, and to everyone at Maenam and Unchai for allowing us into your kitchens!

IF YOU LIKE THIS VIDEO, ALSO CHECK OUT:

How Coconut Milk Is Made: https://youtu.be/y8pfMn9ci4c

How Rice Noodles Are Made https://youtu.be/4pLceTpeUK8

How Jasmine Rice is Grown https://youtu.be/uE505VKBx2Y

The post THAI RESTAURANTS: Behind The Scenes! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

LIVE Thai Fruit Carving Demo!

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 06:18:00 GMT

This is the edited version of the livestream with Chef Natawat (Farm) Noinith of the Thai Consul General Residence in Vancouver. In this Part 1, he shows us the basics of Thai fruit carving, and some easy stuff you can do at home to jazz up your plating!

Special thanks to the Thai Trade Center Vancouver for sponsoring this livestream.

Follow Chef Farm on Instagram at https://instagram.com/farmminggo

IF YOU LIKE THIS VIDEO, ALSO CHECK OUT:

The post LIVE Thai Fruit Carving Demo! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

LIVE Royal Thai Cooking Demo!

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 06:14:00 GMT

Part 2 of the livestream that has been edited down. We are with Chef Natawat Noinith of the Thai Consul General Residence who is showing us how to make Thai "bird dumplings" ขนมจีบนก and a stuffed coconut pudding or "kanom sod sai" ขนมสอดใส้.

Special thanks to the Thai Trade Center Vancouver for sponsoring this livestream.

Follow Chef Farm on Instagram at https://instagram.com/farmminggo

IF YOU LIKE THIS VIDEO, ALSO CHECK OUT:

INGREDIENTS FOR KANOM SOD SAI:

Filling:

Wrapper for filling:

Coconut cream:

INGREDIENTS FOR BIRD DUMPLINGS:

Filling:

Dough:

The post LIVE Royal Thai Cooking Demo! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Hong Kong Mango Pancake - Dim Sum

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Mango crepes are a classic dessert at dim sum, and while I enjoy them, I always thought they had more potential. I always wished they were more...mangoey...more flavourful, more fruity. The pancakes are simple, a delicate crepe filled with fresh mango and whipped cream. But there lies the problem...the whole thing depends on how good the mango is, and let's face it, more often than not the mango isn't as sweet, ripe, and juicy as it could be.

Fixing Less-Than-Perfect Mango

So to fix that, I turned the mango trims that you will inevitably have from prep into a luscious mango sauce. You can make this sauce as sweet or tart as needed in order to compensate for the flavour (or lack of flavour) of the mango. Mango a little tart and not super sweet? Make your sauce sweeter. Super sweet mango but not a lot of acidity? Make a mango sauce that's a little more tart to up the 'brightness'. This simple trick here adds juiciness and extra mangoey-ness that makes ALL the difference!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Epic Thai Red Curry Tacos!

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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Can You Cook Delicious Thai Food Without an Asian Grocery Store?

Turns out not only is it possible, but this was one of the best things I've ever made on the show! Our good friends at the Thai Trade Centre Vancouver asked if I could make a recipe that uses only ingredients people can buy at their regular non-Asian grocery stores. No problem! Especially because nowadays most grocery stores stock at least a few basic Thai products. I was sure I would find coconut milk, at least one type of curry paste and fish sauce. Indeed those were what I found, but not much more!

You Don't Need to Make a Traditional Dish to Enjoy Authentic Thai Flavours

I decided to make a Thai taco with what I was able to find because I wanted to show you that can enjoy REAL Thai flavours by integrating Thai ingredients into dishes you're already familiar with. Making a full-on traditional dish is great, but it's certainly not necessary if you just want to enjoy the flavours of Thai food that you love. The key is in using real Thai ingredients!

Don't Want to do Tacos? Here are some modification ideas

Tortillas are great, but this recipe can be easily modified to many other dishes, such as...

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Best & Simplest Crispy Pork Belly

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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The Many Ways to Make Crispy Pork Belly

If you search the internet, you're going to find A LOT of different ways to make crispy pork belly. How do you know which to follow?? Well, lucky for you I have gone through many of those methods myself in order to actually understand what it is that creates these puffy, crispy skin we long for.

I have discovered that many of the methods that are either not very good, where the skin is crispy but not super puffy and bubbly. Or the skin is crispy but the meat is overcooked. Or it is unnecessarily complicated calling for steps that don't really need to be done at all...I guess many of it is "trim ends off the roast" kind of situation (hope you get my reference!). But most importantly, most of them don't explain WHY they are asking you to do these things, which you know is not my style!

So this recipe has been distilled down to the essentials, along with explanations, so that you only do what is necessary for excellent result. It is also optimized not only for beautiful crispy, puffed skin but also juicy, perfectly cooked meat.

How does Crispy Pork Belly Actually Work?

To get that crispy, golden, bubbly skin, you only need to make sure a few things happen:

What To Do With Leftovers?

Try your best to not have leftovers as this is one of those things that do NOT reheat well. The skin will go from crispy to chewy and disappointing. Also, try to serve it while it's fresh for maximum crispiness. Good news is you can roast the pork in advance, let it rest at room temp for up to 4 hours, and about 30-40 minutes before you want to serve it, put it under the broiler to crisp the skin.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Crispy Garlic Fish

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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Catch and Cook!

This video is a special collaboration with my friend Rodney from the YouTube Channel Fishing with Rod. He's caught some beautiful rainbow trout, a fish that's sustainable and plentiful in BC lakes. But he's tired of the same old way he used to cook them, and asked if I could take his catch and turn them into something a little more exciting that would rekindle his love for trout! Challenge accepted!

I decided to try something different that I was sure he would not have had before - pla tod gratiem: fry a large amount of garlic until crispy, fry the fish in the now-garlicky oil, and serve with a tart, spicy, refreshing sauce. I was pretty sure it would be a winner!

Thai People Love Deep Frying Whole Fish

Yes, we do. While people tend to cook fish delicately in the West, in Thailand we like to deep fry the heck out of them!

The fish is "overcooked" by Western standards, but it's exactly what we're going for. By deep frying in high heat, with NO batter or coating, the fish develops a nice firm crust that turns the fish into something rather munchy and almost snackable. As Rod said in the video, "it's like chips!"

Deep frying also works to reduce any fishiness found in some freshwater fish. Even Rod who thinks that trout's flavour is too fishy, didn't mind it at all when he tried my deep fried version. For small fish, we often fry them whole. But we also sometimes cube the meat and fry them like nuggets, which is what we're doing here. If you start out with a whole fish, keep the head and bones and use them as part of a much more exciting presentation, which is the way I've done it here!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Crispy Garlic Fish appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai-Style Chinese Doughnuts

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 13:00:00 GMT

The Ultimate Thai Street Breakfast

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When I think about the perfect Thai morning it involves a coffee, a glass of hot fresh soy milk, and a plate of these crispy, airy pa tong go.

Pa tong go is the Thai version of Chinese doughnuts or "you tiau" or "yao tiew". Personally, I like the Thai version better, but yes, I'm biased! Most commonly you can find pa tong go sold by street carts in the morning. Sometimes the vendor also sells fresh soy milk, the perfect accompaniment, and if not, there's usually a soy milk cart nearby.

My favourite way to eat them is to simply dip them in sweetened condensed milk, but I also love dipping them in sangkaya , a pandan coconut custard . If you don't like things sweet in the morning, you can have them with a hot glass of fresh soy milk.

Key Ingredient: Baking Ammonia

The most important ingredient in this recipe is the leavening agent you may not have heard of before: baking ammonia or baker's ammonia . Technically this is ammonium bicarbonate (even though on the label it says "carbonate"), and it works in a similar way as baking soda and baking powder, but is superior in a couple of ways.

Why I Chose Baking Ammonia

Look, I am just as annoyed as you are when I see a recipe calling for weird ingredients. And I REALLY do not like it when it's my own recipes. But this means that when I do, you know there's a good reason for it. In this recipe, the difference baking ammonia makes is absolutely worth the effort of looking for it. I got mine from a local cookware store that sells a lot of specialty baking ingredients, but it's also available online on Amazon (linked through my Kit here).

Here are reasons why baking ammonia is superior in this recipe:

*NOTE: Baking ammonia has a VERY strong odour, so DO NOT SMELL IT DIRECTLY, and when mixing the dough try not to put your nose right on top of it. All the smell will go away once the dough is properly cooked through. If you can smell ammonia in the finished product it means the dough is undercooked .

Prepping Dough in Advance

The dough needs to rest for 2.5-3 hours before you can fry it (although 2 hours is probably okay too, but I've never tried), but it also can rest there for up to 8 hours until you're ready to fry it. If you want to prepare it in advance longer than that, put the dough in the fridge, but be sure to pull it out 2 hours before using so the dough has time to warm up to room temperature, and it's harder to work with a cold dough.

Reheating Pa Tong Go

I really, REALLY think you should eat pa tong go as fresh as possible. Once it's cool enough to eat but still a bit warm is perfect. It's one of those things that just isn't nearly as good once it's been sitting out for a few hours. So I do not recommend making more than you can eat in one sitting.

But if you REALLY have to reheat them, there is a way to do it that will give a decent result. Not the same, but decent. If you have a toaster oven, stick them in there using the toast function for a few minutes only, once you start to see the oil on the surface start to sizzle it's ready to go. For a regular oven, I use the broiler on low setting and broil each side for just 1-2 minutes or until the oil starts sizzling on the surface. Do not toast them too long or they will dry out and become too crispy.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai-Style Chinese Doughnuts appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

San Francisco Garlic Noodles

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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A Popular Dish from the Bay Area

Years ago I lived in San Francisco, and as many of you know it's where I went to culinary school. While I was there, I went to a seafood restaurant and I had these garlic noodles which I was told where the restaurant's signature dish. They were delicious and the highlight of the meal...almost stole the show from the crabs and lobsters!

Years later, I ran into this dish on the internet, and it was then that I realized that it wasn't just the restaurant's signature dish, but it was so famous that other restaurants had copied them, and many home cooks have also tried to recreate them at home. Now that I think back, I don't even know if the restaurant that I went to (whose name I have forgotten) was actually the original or one of the copycats!

In any case, it's unbelievably delicious, and unbelievably easy. It goes well as a side dish for a protein-heavy feast, whether seafood or a backyard barbecue.

Choosing The Right Noodles

The type of noodles you choose is very important in this recipe. You want them chewy, and you want them thick. I found these perfect precooked egg noodles at my local store, and I chose the fattest one. I tried the recipe with a slightly thinner noodle, and they were still tasty, but not as good as the fat ones. What you have available to you might be a bit different, but at Chinese grocery stores you should be able to find a selection of fresh egg noodles in the refrigerated section—go with the fattest one.

Using Uncooked Noodles

The weight given in the recipe is for precooked egg noodles, which is what I have found to work best given what's available locally to me. If the noodles you are using are fresh but are still raw, you will need to use a little more than half the weight given, about 350g . If you're using dry noodles, you will need a little less than half the weight, about 275g. This will vary between different noodles, so to be sure, I recommend weighing the noodles after you cook them so you know exactly how much you have, and then adjust the amount of sauce as needed.

What is Golden Mountain Sauce?

Golden Mountain Sauce is a brand of what Thais call "seasoning sauce" and it's essentially a type of soy sauce. Though there are other brands of seasoning sauce, Golden Mountain is the most popular and so it has become the generic name many people use. It's also the brand that's most widely available outside of Thailand, though I've also seen Healthy Boy brand seasoning sauce as well. Compared to regular Thai soy sauce it is a bit darker and has a different, slightly stronger flavour. See this video for more on different types of Thai sauces. You can simply substitute soy sauce in equal amounts, of if you have Maggi Seasoning sauce this also works well as a sub.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Coconut Sesame Candied Peanuts

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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A Classic Childhood Treat

This recipe reminds me so much of my childhood. I used to eat these all the time, and in my hometown of Hat Yai you can find them anywhere kids' snacks were sold. Peanuts coated in a crunchy sugar coating flavoured with Ovaltine and sometimes a little coffee. They're rolled in toasted sesame seeds which reminds you of that munchiness of sesame snaps. Few snacks are more addictive than these!

Choosing The Right Peanuts

You want to find raw, skin-on peanuts for this recipe. The raw part isn't as important as the skin-on part, but I don't think they sell roasted skin-on peanuts!

The skin does two very important things, 1) Keeps the peanuts whole and not split, this is important because it affects the candy-to-peanut ratio; split peanuts will have too much sugar around them per piece, and 2) It help provide friction so the candy coating can stay on evenly. As you may discover, if some of the skins fall off during cooking, those naked peanuts won't have as much sugar coating on them because the surface is too slippery.

You can find skin-on peanuts at most Asian supermarkets, but don't even bother looking at Western stores (at least in Canada), I went just about everywhere and there were NONE to be found! If you have a choice, choose larger peanuts.

Can You Use Other Nuts?

YES! But if you want to try other nuts keep a few things in mind:

1) The shape. I tried these with mixed nuts just to see how different nuts perform and found that pecans, because of their flat shape and the grooves, ended up with too much sugar for my liking. I would imagine the same would be the case for walnuts. Again, it's all about the surface area-to-volume ratio for optimal sweetness . Cashews also didn't get as even of a coating because of the irregular shape, and the candy coating slipped off a bit cuz they are also slippery. Not to say that you can't use these nuts, I just found that the result wasn't ideal.

2) The skin. As mentioned above, the skin is important in getting the coating to stick on evenly, so don't use blanched almonds, for example.

3) Of the mixed nuts I tried, almonds were my favourite in all respects—flavour, crunch, size, evenness of coating, and they're widely available! You CAN use roasted almonds too if you cannot find raw ones. FYI pistachios are similarly shaped to peanuts and performed well in the way they looked, but they're not as crunchy and the flavour didn't work as well.

But My Nuts Were Still Soft!

Most people who have made this recipe reported success, but a couple have mentioned that the peanuts were still soft inside, tasting like boiled peanuts. This has never happened to me, but I think I know why and how you can prevent it.

The way this recipe works is in the beginning, the peanuts are boiling in the combination of syrup and water and they are simply cooked through. But as the water evaporates, what's left in the pan is molten sugar, which can get extremely hot. Eventually, this super hot sugar "roasts" the peanuts and turn them into crunchy and roasted nuts. When you cut open the peanuts, it should look just like you used roasted peanuts.

If your peanuts come out still soft inside, my theory of why this happens is that your heat was too high, so the sugar ended up evaporating and crystallizing too fast, and the nuts did not have time to roast through. This is a theory, as I mentioned, but it seems to make sense. In Thailand where they make these in large batches it would not be a problem as a large batch simply takes much longer, giving the nuts a lot of time to do their thing.

To prevent it, make sure you use low or medium-low heat throughout. For the amount in the recipe below it should take you 20-25 minutes minimum. If you're done faster than that, and the nuts come out soft, that would be why.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Coconut Sesame Candied Peanuts appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Gai Lan Oyster Sauce Stir-Fry

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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A Go-To Veggie Side Dish

Could greens really be this good?? Every time I eat this dish I am surprised how much I am enjoying a plate of green vegetables. The combination of gai lan (aka Chinese broccoli) and savoury oyster sauce is a match made in heaven and a classic for a reason.

You might be familiar with a Chinese restaurant dish with long stems of steamed gai lan on a plate with oyster sauce drizzled on top, and this is a similar idea except BETTER! It's all cut up so you don't have to try to eat whole stems of gai lan while trying to be graceful about it (it doesn't happen). And because it's stir-fried, the flavours of the sauce are absorbed into the vegetables making them extra flavourful. Not the mention the soft, chunky garlic pieces, those are the cherry on the sundae!

Preventing Chewy Gai Lan

Chinese broccoli, especially older ones, can be chewy, but this isn't a problem if you know how to deal with them. As shown in the video, you want to make sure you slice any thick stems thinly (on a bias so you still get nice large pieces) and then you won't need to peel the stems as some people might do.

For the leaves, make sure you only cook them until they're wilted and remove them from the heat immediately. Cooking gai lan for a long time tends to make leaves that are super wilty and chewy.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Gai Lan Oyster Sauce Stir-Fry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

$200 vs $30 Rice Cooker Review & Taste Test

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Do Rice Cookers Really Make a Difference?

If you talked to me years ago, I would've told to just get the cheapest rice cooker - they're all the same, you don't even really need one! But times have changed and so has my mind, haha! Turns out, the rice cooker really makes a difference, and if not in the rice itself, then in the user experience. But is that difference worth the money you pay? Watch the video to find out!

In Thailand, people don't really put much thought into their rice cookers, and as I've discovered in my taste test, it turns out that it's because white jasmine rice, the rice most Thais eat most of the time, is very forgiving. You can cook it in anything, and as long as you used the right amount of water, it'll turn out fluffy and soft and delicious.

But not all rice is like that. There is a reason why the Japanese put so much thought into their rice cookers...because Japanese short grain rice is a lot more finicky.

How I'm Testing

As you'll see in the video I do two different tests: one for jastmine rice, the other for Japanese short grain rice. And for each type of rice, I cook it in the fancy Zojirushi Micom Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker, my old red Sunbeam ($30 when I bought it), and simply in a pot on the stove. Then I do a blind taste test to see which one I like best!

Watch the video above to see the verdict!

PS. I still need to do a test on brown and other whole grain rice!

Buy The Recommended Rice Cookers Online

You can check out my "Kit" where I list all my kitchen tools and appliances, including the rice cookers I recommend. These are affiliate Amazon links, so if you buy something on Amazon through my link I will get a little bit of commission.

Watch The Full Review!

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The BEST Waffles I've Ever Had!

Fri, 15 May 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video! The first 1000 people who click this link will get 2 free months of Skillshare Premium.

What Makes a Great Waffle?

The best waffles, to me at least, have a crispy exterior and a tender, moist and fluffy interior, and a great flavour that's good enough to enjoy even without any toppings. This recipe ticks all the boxes.

There are a few secrets, but most important of all, cornstarch. The cornstarch cuts down the amount of total gluten in the flour, making a super light and tender waffle. A good amount of oil keeps everything tender and crispy. And the perfect amount of sugar makes them just sweet enough so you're not relying completely on toppings to make them tasty.

Waffles Done Ahead of Time

These can totally be prepped in advance, and there are even a couple of ways to do it:

Waffle Iron

For this you want to use a Belgian waffle iron. This is the one I use and it's great. Makes 4 slices at a time, which means you only have to cook the waffles in 2 batches, and it has been working for us for over 10 years!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post The BEST Waffles I've Ever Had! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

1 Mil Subs Special: 10 Things You Didn't Know About HTK!

Fri, 08 May 2020 04:29:00 GMT

This was a live video we did to celebrate surpassing 1 million subscribers! Thanks everyone for joining our live Q&A! To be notified when I will have the next livestream, please make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, and/or follow me on Facebook , Twitter or Instagram !

The post 1 Mil Subs Special: 10 Things You Didn't Know About HTK! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Panang Curry Beef - Lockdown Special (Never Too Small Collab)

Sun, 03 May 2020 00:04:00 GMT

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About Panang Curry

This recipe is a special collaboration with Never Too Small , and it has been slightly modified for lockdown. You can find the original recipe here.

Panang is a classic, much loved Thai curry that is very quick and simple to cook, which is why it's perfect one for lockdown! Instead of being soupy like most other Thai curries, this one is more of a saucy curry with a thick, rich, luscious, flavourful sauce.

Panang Curry Paste

You can sometimes find pre-made panang curry paste, but it isn't always available. However, Thai red curry paste is very easy to find, and with that, we can make our own panang paste! Take the red curry paste and add three simple ingredients: cumin, coriander seeds, and peanuts. Typically we use ground roasted peanuts, but for lockdown, a little peanut butter will do the trick.

Substituting Beef

This recipe calls for beef, but you can substitute any protein you have in the fridge! To make it vegan, you can us sturdy roasted vegetables such as eggplant, butternut squash, or portobello mushrooms. You can also substitute firm tofu as well!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Panang Curry Beef - Lockdown Special (Never Too Small Collab) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Lockdown Glass Noodle Stir-Fry ผัดวุ้นเส้น

Fri, 01 May 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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This recipe is sponsored by Pine Brand glass noodles.

What Makes a Dish Perfect for Lockdown?

As of this writing, we've been on lockdown due to the Covid19 pandemic for about 6 weeks. So I've had a lot of time to think about what is the "perfect lockdown recipe". I came up with 5 qualities that a dish must have:

This dish, glass noodle stir-fry, ticks all of these boxes. It's a classic Thai dish that's super common, just about every family makes some sort of a glass noodle stir-fry, and kids love it as well!

The Perfect Lockdown Ingredient

Glass noodles are pretty much the perfect lockdown ingredient, most notably because it essentially never goes bad. It'll keep in your pantry for at least five years, although it's such a versatile ingredient that I don't see why it would ever last that long!

It really is one of the most versatile ingredients—it can be used in anything, you name it; stir-fry , soup , salad , spring roll filling - it's also the most important ingredient in our hot pot ! It has a neutral flavour so it will go with whatever sauce you give it.

Glass noodles are super quick to cook; just a 7 minute soak in tap water and straight into the wok, or only 2-3 minutes in boiling water. It can also be soaked in advanced, drained, and kept in the fridge for a few days in a well-sealed container.

Some Tips for Cooking During Lockdown

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Lockdown Glass Noodle Stir-Fry ผัดวุ้นเส้น appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

My Best Fluffy Pancake Recipe

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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Well, since we're all social distancing and/or on lockdown due to covid19, filming for HTK has had to be postponed. So I'm home...as we all are. But since the cooking continues, I thought I would share with you anyway what I am cooking! It's not the slick video that you're all used to seeing on my channel, but it's what we can manage right now given the circumstances. Hope this finds everyone well, safe, and sane, and I hope I can provide some entertainment and inspiration while you're all stuck a home!

For many of you, there's no longer a need to get up early to go to work or school because of lockdown/social distancing, so you might have more time to make a pancake breakfast! I am not one of them unfortunately...with a baby at home and no more childcare help...I'm busier than ever before!

But for those who do, I wanted to share my best pancake recipe for this occasion. These are the best pancakes I've ever had, honest. So good I've been making it for over 10 years and still haven't had any better ones! So light, super fluffy, just perfect.

There are a few reasons why these are extra good. The cake flour for extra tenderness, the yogurt for the wonderful flavour, just the right amount of salt and sugar, and most importantly the whipped egg whites for that light fluffiness!

Enjoy!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post My Best Fluffy Pancake Recipe appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Coffee with Me LIVE Q&A!

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 05:18:00 GMT

Thanks everyone for joining our live Q&A! To be notified when I will have the next livestream, please make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, and/or follow me on Facebook , Twitter or Instagram !

The post Coffee with Me LIVE Q&A! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Lockdown LIVE Q&A!

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 05:16:00 GMT

The post Lockdown LIVE Q&A! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

My BEST Granola Recipe!

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 15:58:00 GMT

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We just ran out of granola so it's a great opportunity for me to share my recipe with you because this is an AWESOME granola recipe. It's one that I have been making for years and years because it is so good, and hubby loves granola and yogurt for breakfast! Granola is a great thing to make during this time as it uses only pantry, shelf-stable ingredients. You can change up the dried fruit and nuts to whatever you have, change up the spices, and you can even change the honey to maple syrup for a different flavour or for a vegan version as well!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post My BEST Granola Recipe! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Massaman Curry Meatballs

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 05:37:00 GMT

This post is sponsored by Canada Beef. Click here for tons of delicious beef recipes !

I have never met meatballs I didn't like, but THESE are pretty darn amazing because they combine my love for meatballs with my love for massaman curry. It's perfect.

All the warm spices in massaman curry go incredibly well with beef. The curry paste gets added into the meatballs themselves, so even without the sauce, they are extra. But the creamy coconut curry sauce with peanuts make them perfect served over rice or even mashed potatoes! In fact, I prefer to serve them with a potato side dish of some sort to reflect traditional massaman curry which always has potatoes in it.

The Quick-Fix Massaman Curry Paste

You can find premade massaman curry paste at some Asian grocery stores, but in general it tends to be hard to find. The good news is, you can easily turn red curry paste, which is available at most stores, into massaman curry paste with just a few addition of dry spices! I've provided the recipe for this quick-fix "semi-homemade" massaman curry paste below.

Do-Ahead Tips:

You can mix the meatballs the day before and just bake them on the day, or bake them a day ahead and just reheat. The sauce can be made in advance and will keep well in the fridge for up to a week! Meatballs can also be frozen and reheated in the oven, too.

The post Massaman Curry Meatballs appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Massaman Curry Meatloaf

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 05:36:00 GMT

This post is sponsored by Canada Beef. Click here for tons of delicious beef recipes !

Add some spice to the classic American comfort food! The flavours of all the warm spices in massaman curry goes so well with the meatloaf. The curry paste gets added into the beef itself, but the "icing on the cake" is the rich and creamy massaman curry sauce on top. Since massaman curry always comes with potato, I chose to add chunks of tender potatoes throughout the meatloaf which gave it a terrific creaminess to mellow out the spice.

The Quick-Fix Massaman Curry Paste

Do Ahead Tips

You can mix the meatloaf the day before and just bake it on the day. Since the sauce doesn't need to be baked with the meatloaf like the classic version, you can make the sauce while the meatloaf is baking. You can also just bake it a day ahead and reheat when ready to serve, though I suggest keeping the sauce separate and pouring it on once the meatloaf is heated; it'll look nicer that way!

The post Massaman Curry Meatloaf appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Massaman Curry Burger เบอเกอร์มัสมั่น

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 05:34:00 GMT

This post is sponsored by Canada Beef. Click here for tons of delicious beef recipes !

If you're looking for some new flavours to add to your burger routine, this is the one to try! Grilled patties are dunked in a ruch massaman curry sauce with roasted peanuts, topped with fried potato slices and caramelized onions. Potatoes, peanuts and onions are classic components of a massaman curry, so I wanted to make sure they get included in the burger and it worked out so well. Add a few pickled peppers if you like it spicy!

The Quick-Fix Massaman Curry Paste

Short on time? There are shortcuts!

You can use store bought burger patties to make things go a little faster since the flavour is mostly in the sauce and toppings. Also if you're already serving fries with the meal, you can skip the potato slices and try just putting fries right into the burger!

No Buns? No Problem!

This burger also works really well as a bunless, knife-and-fork burger because the potatoes are acting as the carbs already. Serve with some greens and you're good to go!

The post Thai Massaman Curry Burger เบอเกอร์มัสมั่น appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Sukiyaki Hot Pot Recipe (MK Suki Style)

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 13:00:00 GMT

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This recipe is sponsored by Pine Brand glass noodles.

Hot Pot: The Best Party Food

I LOVE a hot pot party. Not only is it fun and delicious, but it is also the best way to have a relatively stress-free dinner party because you don't have to cook anything! My favourite part is the interactivity of the meal, and my ability to make up whatever combo I want from the ingredients available.

Hot Pot: The Ultimate Health Food

There are few meals healthier than hot pot, and in fact in Thailand, hot pot is popular for those on a diet because it is so healthy. The meal is filled with a variety of vegetables, good protein, and the only starch in the meal is the glass noodles which have the lowest Glycemic Index of all noodles! Glass noodles are also a low calorie option because they absorb so much water and swell up so much that you really don't need much for one serving.

Glass noodles: The Ultimate Noodles for Hot Pot

Glass noodles are the quintessential noodles for Thai hot pot for a reason. For many reasons in fact! Firstly, glass noodles have almost no flavour in themselves, so they go with anything and everything on your hot pot table. They are also very light (not heavy like pasta) so they won't fill you up and you'll have room for all the other stuff on the table. Most importantly, unlike wheat or rice noodles, they do not leech any starch into the pot so you won't end up with a murky pot of starchy broth at the end of the meal!

Choosing the Best Glass noodles

Glass noodles are made from mung bean starch...mostly. Or rather, they SHOULD be made from 100% mung bean starch, but some less expensive brands have other kinds of starch mixed in. 100% mung bean noodles, such as Pine Brand, have the best texture and also resist over cooking the most, which is important in hot pot where people often leave things sitting in the broth for a little too long!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai Sukiyaki Hot Pot Recipe (MK Suki Style) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Massaman Curry Burgers, Meatballs and Meatloaf!

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 07:28:00 GMT

3 Ways to Use Thai Curry Pastes with Ground Beef

This post is sponsored by Canada Beef.

When Canada Beef asked me to come up with a Thai inspired recipe that would be the perfect flavour match with ground beef, I immediately thought about curry flavoured burgers. But then after some more thoughts, a Thai meatloaf also sounded like a great idea...and while we're at it, how about Thai meatballs , too? Since all these ideas sounded so enticing, we decided to do them all, especially since all three recipes have almost identical ingredient lists and similar processes. So once you've done the shopping for one, you can also make the others while you're at it!

The Perfect Meat for Massaman

One of my favourite ways to eat beef is in a massaman curry. The robust flavour of beef can really stand up to all the spices and herbs in massaman, which is one of the richest curries we have. So not surprisingly, in Thailand, massaman and beef are a classic pairing. Massaman curry is also one of the most famous Thai dishes that's known around the world, it was even voted "world's most delicious food" by a CNN poll a few years back!

Irreplaceable Beef Recipes

If you love beef, you have to check out Canada Beef's The One & Only Beef Recipe Collection. Food bloggers across Canada, myself included, have contributed recipes that we think just aren't the same without beef, and there are lots of recipes from around the world here, all of which look amazing! Adapted versions of my massaman burgers/meatloaf/meatballs recipes are also featured there ��

GET THE RECIPES:

The post Massaman Curry Burgers, Meatballs and Meatloaf! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Garlic Fried Rice ข้าวผัดกระเทียม

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 14:00:00 GMT

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A side dish so good you could eat it as a meal

This simple rice dish is from Japan, but I became aware of it while living in Thailand because many hot pot and "self-barbecue" restaurants (where you grill your own meats on the table) would have it on the menu as a side dish. And it's really quite perfect for that since the meats themselves tend to be plain in flavour, so you'd want your side of rice to be a little more interesting than just plain white rice. Enter the garlic fried rice!

The secret ingredient

Hondashi . The japanese equivalent of a bouillon cube. That's my secret ingredient that makes this dish so much more addictive! Dashi is the base stock that the Japanese use in so many of their dishes, and hondashi is the "instant" version that comes in granulated form. It is a little salty, a little fishy (in the best possible way), and a lot of umami. It will instantly remind you of Japanese food as soon as you taste it.

You can omit it, and it will end up tasting more plain, but you will need to up the salt or soy sauce a little bit.

The "rice cups"

I made this recipe so that the amount of cooked rice you need is equivalent to 2 "rice cups" of raw rice. So you can just cook 2 cups of rice and use the whole thing without needing to measure the cooked rice. Much easier right??

But...what's a "rice cup"? If you've bought a rice cooker, it likely came with a little plastic cup for measuring rice. That is the rice cup I'm talking about. The lines for water inside the rice cooker pot also refer to this cup. Unfortunately things get a bit confusing because this cup is not the same as a standard measuring cup. It is actually ¾ of a measuring cup, or 180 ml. So when you cook the rice for this recipe, use 1½ measuring cups of rice, or 2 rice cups.

Tips for Garlic Chips

If you have a mandolin, now is a good time to pull it out. The key to the garlic chips is making the slices as even as you can so they cook evenly. Otherwise you might have to individually remove ones that are too thin like I did in the video! It's hard to get them even with a knife, so a mandolin would be helpful.

You can also make fried chopped garlic Thai-style, as I have shown in this garlic pepper chicken recipe .

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Garlic Fried Rice ข้าวผัดกระเทียม appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Salted Egg Fried Rice ข้าวผัดไข่เค็ม

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 20:33:00 GMT

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Salted Egg Yolk: Flavour Of The Year

If you've been to Asia in the past few years you may have come across various things that are "salted egg yolk" flavoured. Potato chips, fried fish skins, and steamed buns are some of the more popular examples. Salted duck egg yolks have always been used in traditional Chinese foods like moon cake and bamboo-leaf wrapped sticky rice, but only recently have they appeared in snacks and other modern culinary creations.

Commercially available salted eggs are always made from duck eggs, and you can buy them in-shell raw, in-shell cooked, or just the yolks alone. (Interestingly you can't buy the whites alone, and it does make me wonder where all the whites go!?) For this recipe you want to buy just the yolks, which are generally available frozen at Asian grocery stores.

Thai Roasted Chili Paste

One of the main ingredients in this dish is Thai roasted chili paste, or chili jam, known in Thai as nam prik pao. You can buy it at some Asian grocery stores, especially ones that stock a lot of Thai ingredients, but you can also make it yourself using this recipe . Commonly available brands are Pantai and Mae Pranom . I'm using the Mae Pranom brand, which I prefer because it is less sweet, but either will work just fine. Note that the Pantai brand labels it "Chili Paste in Soya Bean Oil".

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Salted Egg Fried Rice ข้าวผัดไข่เค็ม appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Coconut Water Jelly Cubes

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 14:00:00 GMT

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This post is sponsored by UFC Refresh Coconut Water.
Special thanks to Canada's exclusive distributor Canda Six Fortune Enterprise Co. Ltd .

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Want a beautiful, Instagram-worthy dessert that will impress everyone, but that is actually super easy? This recipe is the perfect thing for such an occasion. Not to mention it is healthy, naturally vegan and gluten free, so no matter what your guests' dietary needs are, they can enjoy these gorgeous coconut water fruit cubes!

Coconut water is one of my all time favourite beverages. It's high in electrolytes, much lower in sugar than juice, and oh so refreshing when it's very, very cold. But it's more than a drink! In Thailand we also use coconut water in cooking, especially in desserts. Even though this recipe isn't a "traditional" dish, it's inspired by the more classic coconut jelly duo .

Choosing The Best Coconut Water

The sweetness and flavour of coconut water REALLY matters in this recipe. So it's very important that you choose one that is sweet and fragrant, and there is a HUGE range of qualities out there on the market. Many people assume that since all packaged coconut water say "100% coconut water" on the label, they should all be the same, right? NOPE. Far from it.

Packaged coconut water is actually a combination of young AND mature coconut water. Mature coconuts are the dark brown ones with a hairy husk, and their water doesn't actually have much sweetness or flavour going on at all. On the other hand, young coconuts are green on the outside with a white husk (though ones you see at the store are probably white because the green skin has been removed) and their water can be very sweet and fragrant—definitely the more delicious one between the two!

Different brands of coconut water combine the two at different ratios, which is why some brands are rather bland, while others are much sweeter despite them all being "100% coconut water." Over the years I've tried many brands, and settled on UFC as my go-to because it has the best flavour. So I was quite excited when they asked me to develop a recipe using their coconut water!

For more about young VS mature coconuts, watch my coconut documentary !

Can I Use Gelatin Instead?

Every time I post an agar jelly recipe, this question comes up. And my answer is the same: yes...but. There are so many but's because the two "jellies" are very different even though they both turn liquid into gel. Gelatin is soft and bouncy, agar is neither of those things so they end up being very different desserts.

I talk about substituting gelatin in detail the video, so please watch starting from minute 12:10 . It could make or break the recipe so please actually watch it!

As for the ratio, 1 Tbsp of gelatin sets about 2 cups of liquid, so for this recipe you will need 2 Tbsp. You can adjust this ratio to make a softer or firmer result depending on your preference.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Coconut Water Jelly Cubes appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Vegan Laab with Tofu & Corn

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 14:00:00 GMT

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I really surprised myself how well this dish turned out! I made a vegan version of laab, a northeastern Thai salad normally made with ground meat, using leftover pressed tofu and corn, and it turned out so well I had to share it!

It's perfect as an appetizer, served with some lettuce leaves and eaten as a lettuce wrap. Or for a more traditional accompaniment you can serve it with sticky rice or jasmine rice. It's also low carb and super healthy for those of you who might be on an "eat healthy" new year resolution!

What is Laab?

Laab is a quintessential dish of northeastern Thailand, a region known as Isaan . It's a homey salad made typically from ground meat, seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce, lots of herbs, and the defining ingredient, toasted rice powder. I always say "you can laab anything" and it's true! It's a flavour that amazingly works with all sorts of ingredients.

If you search the website for laab you will see many, many varieties - the classic Laab Gai (chicken), Laab Woonsen (glass noodles), Laab Salmon , Laab Kai Jiew (omelette salad), Laab Tod (meatballs), Laab Moo (pork), and of course the Epic Laab Burger - however, this is the first vegan version that I have created a video for.

Is it Laab? Or is it Larb?

Laab is sometimes written as "larb" in English, but in Thai you don't pronounce the R so I prefer to spell it with a double A. For those of you who speak with American or Canadian accent, please do not pronounce it as if it were an English word; in other words it is not laRRRRb . It actually drives me a bit crazy when I hear it. In the movie Spiderman Homecoming, there is a scene where Peter Parker and Aunt May are eating Thai food, and they said laRRRb repeatedly and I just about died in the theatre in frustration, lol!! Of course you're not at fault if that's how your local Thai restaurant spells it. But now you know better.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Vegan Laab with Tofu & Corn appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Red Rubies Dessert (Tub Tim Grob)ทับทิมกรอบ

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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This is a beautiful, yummy, classic Thai dessert that's super easy! It's so easy you barely need a recipe. Once you understand what it's made from, and how it's done, most people can just wing it. Water chestnuts are coated in a soft and chewy tapioca gel, served in a pandan-scented coconut syrup and ice. Ah....so refreshing!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Red Rubies Dessert (Tub Tim Grob)ทับทิมกรอบ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Stuffed Chicken Wings Recipe ปีกไก่ยัดไส้

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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This recipe is sponsored by Pine Brand glass noodles.

A Unique Appetizer for the Holiday Season

If you're looking for a unique appetizer that will impress your guests, or a dish that can be a conversation starter, look no further! These stuffed chicken wings are SO delicious, can be prepped well in advance, and will likely be something new for your party guests!

Stuffing chicken wings is a technique that I've only seen done in Asia (do let me know if you've seen it elsewhere!). In Thailand it is done, but it's not the most common of dishes because it does require some skill and time to debone the wings, which I will give you complete guidance for. The result is totally worth the effort, especially for a special occasion that calls for special food!

Deboning the Wings

For this recipe I'm starting with the whole wing because I want the wing tips, but I'm removing the drumettes and using just the flat + tip. Some people debone the whole wing, which you can totally do, but if you've never deboned wings before I'd stick to doing just the half because it's much simpler. Also, this makes the wings servable as is, no need to slice, with the wing tip serving conveniently as the stick for people to grab. If you do the whole wing, you'll need to slice them up first otherwise it's too large of a portion for an appetizer. Stuffed whole wings also look kinda funny, so definitely prettier to slice them!

And because you'll likely need to see the deboning technique more than once, I've made a separate video of me deboning the wings for 9 minutes so you can keep watching without having to rewind the main video. You can also leave it to play while you're doing yours so it's like we're doing it "together" :).

What are Glass Noodles Exactly?

Glass noodles are widely available, but few people actually know what they're made from! They are made from mung bean starch which has a special property where they turn clear when cooked. This is why some brands will label them "bean vermicelli". Good quality glass noodles are made from 100% mung bean starch, and Pine Brand is one them. Some less expensive brands (not that glass noodles are expensive to begin with) have other starches such as pea or potato starches mixed in. Why is this important? 100% mung bean starch makes the noodles more resistant to overcooking and I think they have a better texture as well.

Advance Prep Tips

The great thing about this recipe is you can split up the work in a number of ways. The day before serving you can debone and marinate the wings, and/or make the filling, then the day of you can stuff and bake. Or you can stuff them the day before and just take them out and bake on party day. If you want to spread the work even more, you can also make the filling 2 days in advance, debone and stuff the next day, and bake on party day. As always, if you're prepping raw meats more than just one day in advance, make sure your meats are fresh and kept cold as much as possible.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Stuffed Chicken Wings Recipe ปีกไก่ยัดไส้ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Asian Pork Meatballs (Look Chin Moo) ลูกชิ้นหมู

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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A Classic Street Food

These meatballs are what you would find in Asian noodle soups, hot pot, or grilled on a stick. In Thailand, this is not something most people make at home, but rather something you buy. Kind of like sausages in the West; some people do make them at home, but for the most part it's something one buys from the store.

However, it's not hard to make at all, and definitely easier than making sausages because there is no casing to fuss with! You do need a good food processor to get the meat super fine, and a bit of patience in getting the hang of forming the meatballs.

Forming Meatballs by Hand

Commercial meatballs are made by machine, but back in the day they used to be made by hand. In this video I show you how to do the classic hand squeezing technique, but if you don't care much about how smooth and round they look, you can simply form them into lumps with two spoons. You can also use a smaller disher (one of those spring-loaded scoopers).

Watch this 7-min video of me just forming the meatballs by hand! I made this video for those who want to see the technique several times over, so you don't have to keep rewinding the video. You can have it playing in the kitchen while you make the meatballs, and it'll be like we're doing it together ��

Substituting Other Meats

In Thailand pork is the most popular kind of look chin, hence this recipe. But you can use the same recipe and make beef or chicken meatballs instead. For the pork ones I'm using lean ground pork because fatty ground pork yields meatballs that are too soft. But if using beef, do not use lean or the balls will be too firm as I discovered myself. Beef is a chewier meat so it needs a bit more fat to help tenderize. I have never made them with chicken, but I suspect that you would need to use lean chicken because chicken is a tender meat.

What to Use Look Chin For?

These are SO versatile! Here are some ideas:

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Asian Pork Meatballs (Look Chin Moo) ลูกชิ้นหมู appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Five-Spice Egg & Pork Belly Stew (Instant Pot & Stovetop) ไข่พะโล้

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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A Thai Childhood Favourite

Growing up in Thailand, kai palo is one of my favourite dishes. And I would be willing to bet that many Thai people would say that it's their childhood faves too. Hard boiled eggs and tender pork belly are simmered in a sweet-salty five-spice broth...how could any kid not like it! It was a staple at my school cafeteria, and a classic in many cafeterias and food courts around the country.

Instant Pot Modification

This is a great dish to make in the Instant Pot because it can save a lot of cooking time without affecting the end result. However I prefer to start it stovetop—it does create one more dirty pot but it's much faster especially the part where you caramelize the palm sugar.

In the recipe I have provided two different methods, one for stovetop and one for the Instant Pot. The ingredient list doesn't change except for the amount of stock which is slightly less if you're using the IP.

Flavourful But Not Overcooked Eggs

Typical kai palo in Thailand features hard boiled eggs that are simmered in the soup for upwards of 30 minutes. This is to allow the eggs to absorb the flavour of the broth, but it also results in what Westerners would consider "overcooked" eggs—rubbery whites and grey ring around the yolks. For Thai people, there's nothing wrong with this; it is an expected characteristic.

However, I prefer not-overcooked eggs myself, so my technique is cooking the eggs just until they're done but letting them sit in the stew overnight before serving. If you don't have time to do overnight, give them at least 30 minutes. Any less than that and you're not doing the eggs justice!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Five-Spice Egg & Pork Belly Stew (Instant Pot & Stovetop) ไข่พะโล้ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ultimate Guide to Palm Sugar

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Palm sugar is a delicious sweetener made from the nectar of the coconut or toddy palm flowers. It's an integral ingredient in Thai cooking, especially desserts. It is what I like to call the "original sugar" in traditional Thai cuisine before white granulated sugar became a thing. Unlike refined white sugar, palm sugar adds more than just sweetness In its pure form, it has a beautiful floral aroma, a butterscotchy flavour, and a smooth, fudgy texture. I can literally eat it like candy...and probably do so more than I should!

However, not all palm sugars are created equal and some are better than others. Check out the video above to find out how they are different!

In this video I talk about:

For more videos on other Thai ingredients

Check out my Thai Ingredient Playlist where I have informational videos about the most important ingredients in Thai cuisine.

Recipes with Palm Sugar

Want to start cooking with palm sugar? Here are a couple of recipes that really showcase the flavour of palm sugar:

Watch The Full Video!

The post Ultimate Guide to Palm Sugar appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Authentic Pad Thai Recipe ผัดไท

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Take it from a Thai person, it's hard to find a really good, authentic pad thai outside of Thailand. I've searched high and low, and concluded that the best option is to master cooking it at home. This recipe is the real deal with all the ingredients of a traditional pad thai—no compromise.

I'll share all the tips and tricks for success, and also a substitution guide for ingredients you may not have. Make sure you also watch the video tutorial because this is a dish that's better learned visually.

Pro Tip: Pad thai is easy to make, but it isn't quick if you make everything from scratch. So to prep it for a weeknight meal, check out my post on How to Make Authentic Pad Thai in 5 Minutes!

What does REAL traditional pad thai look like?

You've probably had pad thai in your local restaurant, but what you had may not be anything like the authentic version. First, it should not have ketchup or any tomato product in it. Second, it should not be syrupy sweet. And finally, it shouldn't be just a heavy, soggy clump of noodles with bits of green onions.

Real pad thai should be:

Why is it so hard to find good pad thai in restaurants?

Cooking pad thai is actually quite easy ; after all it's a stir-fry! But the fully-loaded, traditional version has a lot of ingredients, not all of which are easy to find. For many restaurants some ingredients may not be available, the many prep may be too complex for their simple operation, or they need to keep the cost of such a staple item low. So things get left out and substituted.

But each ingredient in pad thai contributes a flavour . Nothing in there is added just for "fluff" - so the more you take away, the less complex the flavour becomes. Sure, you can omit or substitute a few things without much harm, but past a certain point, the flavour suffers significantly.

(Of course we can't always get all the ingredients we need; hence my pad thai substitutions guide below.)

Ingredients

The hardest part of pad thai is in prepping all the ingredients. Here's everything you'll need; with more details on a few, plus the substitutions guide.

Ingredients for Pad Thai Sauce:

Pad thai sauce is deceptively simple: there are only 3 ingredients. This means you should try to use the best quality of ingredients you possibly can. You can make the sauce fresh as I showed in the video tutorial, or make it in bulk in advance and keep it in the fridge for months! Check out this large-batch recipe for pad thai sauce .

Ingredients for Pad Thai:

Choosing the right noodles

The noodles you want are dry rice noodles, size medium. This is the size used traditionally in Thailand. A lot of people mistakenly choose the large size, and though it won't really harm the dish, it's not quite the real deal.

I use Erawan Brand rice noodles which I find to be the best one with the right chewiness. Some brands, such as Thai Kitchen , make thinner noodles that are not as chewy. If using thinner noodles, you will not need to soak them as long, and you may need a little less water in the sauce.

EMERGENCY NOODLE SOAKING :

Medium size dry rice noodles take about 1 hour to soak in room temperature water . Brands that are thinner will take less time and vice versa. If you're short on time, you can use warm water and it'll take less time. Keep an eye on them and remove them once they become opaque white and completely pliable (don't resist your bending at all.) Don't over-soak.

If you're about to cook and forgot to soak them, don't panic! They can be soaked in 3 minutes in hot off-the-boil water , but it's a bit risky so I try to avoid it. Too long in hot water and they will become too soft, so you MUST time it and place them in cold water immediately after.

What is Sweet Preserved Radish: Chai Po Waan ไชโป๊

Chai po is Thai preserved daikon radish , and it comes in 2 varieties: sweet ( chai po waan) and salty ( chai po kem). You want the sweet one for this - however it is not critical that you have it, so don't sweat it if you can't find it.

You'll likely need to go to a specifically Thai grocery store to find these. Sometimes they come whole, and sometimes pre-chopped. I usually get the pre-chopped one if I can find it to make life easier.

Japanese sweet preserved daikon, takuan, makes for a decent substitute.

What is Pressed Tofu? เต้าหู้แข็ง

Pressed tofu is exactly what it sounds like.. .tofu that has been pressed to drive off most of the water , leaving only the firm bean curd behind. It is the firmest of all the tofus you can buy—firmer than extra firm!

Sometimes this is labeled "bean curd, " which I think might be slightly different because in my experience it tends to be slightly firmer, but it tastes about the same and can also be used in pad thai.

Pressed tofu and bean curds are great for stir fries because they do not fall apart. Extra firm tofu can be used instead , but if you're concerned about them breaking you might want to pan-fry them first until golden to firm up the exterior.

Ingredient Substitutions Guide

There is a substitute for just about everything, but please remember that the more you alter it, the less it tastes authentic. If I didn't include an ingredient below, it means there is no good substitute.

Step-By-Step: How to make pad thai

I highly recommend watching the full video tutorial to ensure success, but here's a bird's eye view of what you need to do:

To make the pad thai sauce:

How to Make Pad Thai in 5 Minutes

Pad thai made from scratch isn't exactly weeknight-friendly because there's so much prep to do. But good news: the prep can be done days in advance so you can have pad thai on a Tuesday night in minutes, just like at a restaurant!

There are "4 levels of preparedness" when it comes to pad thai prep, but even doing level 1 will save you lots of time. If you've got all 4 levels done, you can cook pad thai in 5 minutes - watch me do it in real time in this video!

Level 1: Pre-Make the Sauce

Having pad thai sauce done is the most time-saving, especially because you can make it in bulk, and then it will last indefinitely in the fridge. Check out the recipe for the large-batch pad thai sauce here .

If you only have the sauce done, you will have pad thai on the table in 30 minutes (with the emergency noodle-soaking trick below.)

Level 2: Pre-Soak the Noodles

This is arguably as important as the sauce, because it takes a while. Dry noodles will take about 1 hour to soak in room temp water before they're ready to be cooked, so it is best to do this ahead of time. Drain them well and store in a well-sealed container for up to 3 days.

*This timing is for medium size Erawan Brand dry rice noodles; if you're using a different size or brand, you may need to adjust .

Level 3: Pre-Cook the Protein

This is an incredibly useful tip not only for pad thai but for all sorts of dishes, especially stir-fries. Whether you're using seafood, meat, or tofu, you can cook them all in advance! Once in the fridge, they should last you the whole week.

If using seafood, there is no need to season them. But for chicken, pork or beef, it is a good idea to marinate or season them with fish sauce or soy sauce since they will not get a chance to absorb much flavour from the dish.

My super tasty, all-purpose meat marinade for stir fries:
For 8 oz (225 g) of thinly sliced pork, chicken or beef, add 2 tsp (10 ml) soy sauce, ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) sugar and 1 Tbsp (15 ml) water. Mix well and let it sit for at least 15 minutes.

Level 4: Pre-Cut Veggies

You better believe restaurant chefs are not cutting your vegetables to order. They may not have een cut them today ... or yesterday. Washed and cut veggies will last in the fridge for several days, depending on how sturdy the veggies are.

In pad thai, you can pre-chop the garlic chives, pressed tofu, and peanuts. If using the preserved radish (and they're not the pre-chopped kind), you can chop them too.

Tofu storage tip: If cutting tofu in advance and not using the next day, I recommend keeping them submerged in water to extend their shelf life. Change this water out every few days.

FAQ's & Common Issues When Making Pad Thai

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

*If you prefer, you can also watch the video on YouTube .

The post Authentic Pad Thai Recipe ผัดไท appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How to Make Tamarind Paste from Pulp

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 13:00:00 GMT

Why You Should Never Buy Tamarind Paste Again

If you've been buying ready-made tamarind paste or tamarind concentrate for cooking, like I used to, let me tell you why I stopped and what I do now. Growing up in Thailand we always made our own tamarind paste for cooking, but when I arrived in Canada I was delighted by the convenient jars from the store!

But after years of using it, I don't know if the products became worse or my standards became higher, but I eventually I became more and more dissatisfied with the quality of premade pastes.

They sometimes started to taste really bland and diluted to me. And while this isn't the case with all brands, all the time, it was inconsistent enough, even within the same brand, to warrant another solution.

Why Making it Is the Way to Go

So I started making it from tamarind pulp, the traditional way, and found the result to be more flavourful, more sour, and also more consistent. Tamarind pulp is that dark brown brick labelled simply as "Tamarind." You can find it at many Asian grocery stores, and it also usually says "seedless" on the package.

The good news is that it also keeps very well. But to make it last, you have to cook it, and then store it in a well-sealing jar such as mason jars. I now make tamarind using half a pound of pulp per batch, and I only have to make it about twice a year.

How long does homemade tamarind paste last?

If you cook the paste and store it in a mason jar as per my instructions, it will last up to 6 months, unopened in the fridge. Once it's opened, it has lasted me at least 2 months, but you have to be sure to always use clean utensils to scoop from the jar, and always put it back promptly in the fridge.

Because of this, I recommend you putting it in small jars, no larger than 1 cup per jar, to maximize its shelf life.

You can also can the tamarind, like you would jam and other canned products, and it will be shelf-stable. Though I have not personally done this.

What is tamarind?

Simply put, tamarind is a fruit. Its sticky brown flesh ranges from being very sweet to very sour, depending on the variety. The sweet ones are for eating fresh, and the sour ones are for turning into a paste for cooking.

For everything you need to know about tamarind, check out my Ultimate Guide to Tamarind video . I also show you what tamarind looks like in its original pod!

Want to learn more about other Thai ingredients ?

Check out my Thai Ingredient Playlist on YouTube where I have informational videos about the most important ingredients in Thai cuisine.

Recipes with Tamarind

Now that you've got delicious homemade tamarind paste, try using it in these recipes!

The post How to Make Tamarind Paste from Pulp appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Honey Garlic Ribs

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Improving Cheap Takeout

This recipe is inspired by my husband's favourite dish from a Chinese restaurant that his parents often go to for takeout. It is one of those very ordinary places—not bad, not great, but cheap and satisfactory when the mood is right.

Their honey garlic ribs is good, given what it is, but I knew that the combination of fried pork ribs and a sticky honey garlic sauce is one with much potential, so I wanted to make a "gourmet" version, maximizing all the flavour potential it has to offer. I'm glad to report that I succeeded, and let's just say I've raised the bar and my husband probably won't enjoy those ribs from the restaurant quite as much. A small price to pay ��

The Secrets

Here are techniques I used that elevate these to "gourmet" status:

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Honey Garlic Ribs appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Chinese Roast Duck Thai Style (MK Duck) เป็ดย่าง MK

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Classic Chinese Dish Done Thai Style

MK Suki is a popular hot pot restaurant chain in Thailand that's known for their Chinese roast duck. But their duck is different from your typical Chinese BBQ duck that you might get from Chinatown in N. America because this is done "Thai style". That means that the duck comes with a delicious aromatic gravy full of spices and enriched with coconut milk. The duck is pretty great, but the gravy is everything in this recipe and is what makes it unique.

Instead of doing a whole duck, I'm roasting only duck breasts to make it more convenient for home cooking. It's really quite easy, and the gravy can be made well in advance and kept in the fridge for at least a week.

A Few Key Ingredients

A couple of key ingredients you may not be familiar with:

Make Tossed Duck Noodles

Even though I served it with jasmine rice in the video, my favourite way to enjoy the gravy is actually with egg noodles! When I go to MK Suki I always put the duck gravy over egg noodles and toss them. I then eat the noodles with the duck and all the other proteins in the hot pot. Try making this "dry noodle soup recipe" and then use this gravy to toss with the noodles instead!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Chinese Roast Duck Thai Style (MK Duck) เป็ดย่าง MK appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Sukiyaki Stir-Fry (suki hang) สุกี้แห้ง

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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A Thai dish with a Japanese name

Sukiyaki is obviously a Japanese dish, but this particular recipe is very much unique to Thai cuisine. Here's the story. Sukiyaki is a Japanese hot pot, and Thai people took the inspiration and started making our own hot pot served with a spicy, flavourful red sauce that's more suited to the Thai palate. We still call this hot pot sukiyaki, or more commonly just "suki" for short.

Then the hot pot evolved into a noodle soup, using that same sauce to flavour the broth, and we call that "suki nam", the word "nam" referring to the broth ( get suki nam recipe here ). And THEN suki nam evolved into "suki hang" or "dry suki" which is simply the stir-fried version of the dish. The common thread among these versions is the red sauce.

What is Red Bean Curd?

Red bean curd is called "taohu yee" in Thai, but it is originally a Chinese ingredient. You can think of it as a type of fermented tofu, and the red colour comes from the specific fungus that's responsible for the fermentation. It's got a very unique, funky flavour unlike any other ingredients.

Once you've bought it, here are a couple other dishes you can make using the rest of your red bean curd: Yen Ta Fo, pink noodle soup and Mee Gati , pink noodles with coconut gravy.

Advanced Prep Tip

The sauce can be made in advanced and kept in the fridge for a few weeks. For longer term storage, cook the sauce first and bring it to a boil, then store it in a well-sealed jar in the fridge. This should last at least a few months.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Sukiyaki Stir-Fry (suki hang) สุกี้แห้ง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Garlic Pepper Pork หมูทอดกระเทียมพริกไทย

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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A Little Known Classic Thai Dish

This is a dish that's ubiquitous in Thailand, and a favourite amongst kids and adults alike. Kids love it because it's not spicy. Adults love it because it's just super yummy and goes great with a cold beer! If you know my Garlic Pepper Chicken recipe , this one is a similar idea, but different. Apart from the obvious pork VS chicken, we are also deep frying instead of stir-frying. Trust me, the deep frying makes all the difference!

It's a dish that many people make at home, but you can also find it sold by street vendors or even some nicer restaurants. Have it with some rice as part of a bigger meal, but I also love it with some Thai sticky rice .

Fried Garlic & Garlic Oil

Fried garlic is an ingredient that comes up very often in Thai cuisine. We sprinkle it on so many different dishes: noodle soups, dumplings, congee, and deep fried foods like this dish. We use it so much that you can buy jars of fried garlic already made from the store. However, the flavour is so much stronger when you make it fresh.

When you make fried garlic, the oil will become scented with garlic so keep that oil! Sprinkle garlic oil on any dish to instantly add fried garlic flavour. You can keep the oil in the fridge for a few months.

The most important thing is to not to over fry garlic—you want light golden yellow, not golden brown, otherwise you'll have bitter garlic!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Garlic Pepper Pork หมูทอดกระเทียมพริกไทย appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Dry Tom Yum Seafood ต้มยำแห้ง

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Dry Tom Yum is on Netflix

This is a luxurious recipe that is incredibly simple and delicious. I was reminded of it because it was talked about in a Netflix documentary "Street Food" in the Bangkok episode. The episode featured Jay Fai, a street food vendor who started incorporating expensive seafood into otherwise common everyday dishes, and she became globally known after she earned a Michelin Star for her humble establishment. Dry tom yum is one of the dishes that she makes.

The documentary implied that she invented the dish...but I actually don't know if that is true. This is a dish that has been around for a long time, made by many people, and I am not aware of any evidence that she was the one who invented it. It's not even a dish associated with her, or anyone in particular. Perhaps she was the one who popularized it? Note, however, that Jay Fai did not claim that she invented it; it was implied by one of the people interviewed.

What is a "dry" dish?

In Thailand there are many dishes that has "dry" in its name, or in Thai, hang. These dishes are typically derived from a normally soupy dish, and have been modified so that the soup part is gone. A classic example is a "dry noodle soup" which sounds like an oxymoron, but basically you can order most types of noodle soups in Thailand without the broth, and the noodles are instead tossed in the seasoning. It actually makes it much easier to make at home, check out this "dry wonton noodles" recipe here .

So as you probably know, Tom Yum is originally a soup, and a dry tom yum is basically the stir-fried version of it. Plain and simple. It uses all of the same herbs and seasonings, minus the broth. So what you end up with is a tom yum flavoured sauce that is light and herbaceous and just delightful to pour over some jasmine rice.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Dry Tom Yum Seafood ต้มยำแห้ง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How to Clean and Prepare a Whole Squid

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 12:00:00 GMT

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A Whole Squid is Easily Deconstructed

If you like to eat squid but have not cooked much with it because the idea of breaking down a whole squid seems intimidating, well this video is all you need! It's really not hard...and in fact, once you see it, it's almost as if squids were made for simple disassembly. Each part comes apart distinctly, easily, and intuitively. Nothing like filleting a fish, trust me.

Want a delicious Thai recipe that uses squid? Check out my Dry Tom Yum recipe here . This recipe uses a mix of seafood, but you can totally do all squid if you like.

P.S. I buy my whole squid from the seafood counter at an Asian grocery store.

Watch The Full Video!

The post How to Clean and Prepare a Whole Squid appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

KAFFIR LIME LEAVES 101: What You Need to Know

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 04:08:00 GMT

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Kaffir lime, also known as "makrut lime" is one of the most important ingredients in Thai cuisine. But most of the time we only use the leaves rather than the fruit. In this video I talk about everything you need to know to start cooking with kaffir lime leaves. I talk about what it is, how to use, how to store, and how to substitute.

What about kaffir lime fruit?

From the fruit, we only use the zest, which as you can see in the video is quite thick so you can just use a knife to slice off the green part and you don't have to bother with the zester. When zesting kaffir limes try your best not to get the white pith because it's bitter.

As for the flesh on the inside, kaffir limes have a ton of seeds and do not have very much juice at all, so we never really use it in cooking. If you have the fruit, and you can coax out some juice out of it, you can use it to add acidity to your dish, but it is very sour so use sparingly!

For more videos on other Thai ingredients

Check out my Thai Ingredient Playlist where I have informational videos about the most important ingredients in Thai cuisine.

Recipes with Kaffir Lime Leaves

Want to start cooking with kaffir lime leaves? Here are some recipes that use them in various different ways:

Simmering: Tom Ka Gai - Coconut Chicken Soup

Toasting: Laab Gai - Northeastern Ground Chicken Salad

Stir-frying and julienned: Panang Curry

Tom Yum Goong

Tom Yum Pizza

Watch The Full Video!

The post KAFFIR LIME LEAVES 101: What You Need to Know appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Pandan Coconut Cookies with Cashews

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:05:00 GMT

Sponsored by the makers of Becel.

Many of you who have been following the show for a long time probably know that I love adding Thai twists to non-Thai food. So when the makers of Becel asked me to partner with them to take their customizable cookie recipe and add my own spin on it, I was excited by the challenge! This cookie recipe is called " Plant-Based Anything Goes Cookie Dough " , and it's a versatile soft and chewy cookie dough recipe that you can use as a base and customize by adding your choice of flavours and mix-ins. The recipe uses Becel Original which is a non-hydrogenated, trans-fat free margarine that can replace butter 1:1 in baking. As a busy mom, I also love that it's soft when refrigerated, so I can use it right away without having to wait for it to soften!

Pandan and Coconut: Quintessential Thai Dessert Flavours

When it comes to Thai dessert flavour, there is nothing else more classic than the flavour of pandan leaves and coconut. So it wasn't hard for me to come up with this recipe using these two flavours. I added cashews for texture and nuttiness, and fun fact: cashews are one of the only 2 nuts we use in Thai cuisine! The other being peanuts, of course.

What are Pandan Leaves?

Pandan is basically our vanilla. Pandan leaves are long, thin, dark green leaves that have a floral aroma that goes incredibly well with coconut. It's commonly used in Southeast Asian desserts, and in Thailand, it's added to almost all of our sweets. It is even used in some savoury dishes, such as the broth of boat noodles.

You can buy pandan leaves fresh or frozen at Asian grocery stores that carry a lot of Southeast Asian products. If you buy them fresh, you can store any leftovers in the freezer. Make sure you wash and dry them first and store them in a heavy-duty freezer bag and they'll last you several months.

The post Pandan Coconut Cookies with Cashews appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Meet Baby & Ask Me Anything!

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 04:18:00 GMT

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In this video I introduce my brand new baby to you! Also I took this opportunity to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything). I asked for questions submissions on Facebook and Instagram and boy were there lots of really good questions! If you want more AMA, there are some more questions answered on my Instagram Stories (click on the AMA highlight circle).

Also, many people asked about my story. I've done a video dedicated to that questions before, so check this out: MY STORY: Who Am I and How I Got Here?

Watch The Full Video!

The post Meet Baby & Ask Me Anything! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Aunty Jenny's Braised Chicken Wings

Fri, 03 May 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Aunty Jenny is my Chinese mother-in-law, and this is something she makes ALL the time. And we love it because it looks like a luxurious stew that took time and effort to make, yet it's really quick and easy. I don't know if this is a traditional Chinese dish, but I do know it is delicious! Chicken wings are braised with sweet caramelized onions, so the chicken comes out tender and the onions practically melt in your mouth.

Key to Flavourful Wings

The recipe starts out with searning the chicken wings until well browned. Even though once the wings are braised you may not see the searing job you did, and you may be tempted to just skip it, don't! It is super important because that browning of the skin adds so much flavour—think the flavour of fried chicken skin VS boiled chicken skins...yeah, a LOT of flavour. So take the time to really get a beautiful sear.

Key to Tender Wings

Wings are small and technically can cook in just a few minutes, but in this recipe we want more than just "cooked". We want tender, which means we need to braise them. Braising is when you cook meat gently in a liquid for an extended period of time until the meat is fork tender. So as the meat cooks it goes from raw, to cooked, to overcooked, and then eventually to scrumptiously tender.

If we were doing red meat, this would take hours, but luckily for wings, it only takes 20 minutes! And this time also allows for flavour to penetrate the meat for a thoroughly flavourful wings. Not to mention the onions cook and become sweet and melty!

The Perfect Freezer Meal

Yes, you can freeze this dish! And it thaws and reheats so perfectly you couldn't tell the difference. Make the recipe as is, no need to modify anything, and freeze. You can let it thaw in the fridge first overnight (my preferred method) then microwave, or just microwave it from frozen. If using the microwave to reheat, I would stir it a few times in between for a more even heating. You can add some fresh green onions or cilantro to it after reheating to bring back some freshness, but otherwise, just eat! You can also freeze some rice to go with it so it can be a ready-made-meal for you.

Bonus content for Patreon members: For this episode I share a cooking time guideline for braising different types of meat, a useful thing to know for sure! Click here to learn more about becoming a Patreon member.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Aunty Jenny's Braised Chicken Wings appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Quick & Easy Congee with Meatballs

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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Breakfast in Thailand

There are few dishes in Thailand that are considered specifically "breakfast food". Our breakfast often looks like lunch, snacks, or even dinner foods. Growing up in Thailand my breakfast was often just leftover dinner!

Congee is the one exception. Congee, or what we call "jok" in Thai, is one of the few dishes considered "breakfast" and you can easily find it on the streets of Thailand in the morning (although you can buy jok at all times of the day, even night time, too.)

Slow VS Quick Method

I have a video that shows you the traditional way of making congee from scratch , which takes a long time stirring broken rice in a pot until thick and creamy. Well, this version is much quicker and still comes out equally delicious if you ask me! It does require that you have some rice already cooked, and you also need some good stock on hand as well.

To be honest since I discovered this method I no long go back to doing it the long method anymore!

Bonus content for Patreon members: For this episode I share other types of rice porridge/soup type dishes that we have in Thailand. We have a bunch! Click here to learn more about becoming a Patreon member.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Quick & Easy Congee with Meatballs appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Space-Saving Freezer Thai Curry

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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As my pregnancy came to its last weeks, freezer meals were on top of my mind in preparation for this baby! But with an always-packed freezer, I have to be conscious of how much space things take.

Here's how I make Thai curries for the freezer that will reheat well AND will not take up unnecessary space. This video isn't so much as recipe, but more of a tips and tricks video. You can apply this method to any of my coconut-based Thai curry recipes. And now you will have a meal that's ready to be served in just a few minutes!

Tricks & Tips for Making Freezer Curries that Reheat Well and Saves Space

Bonus content for Patreon members: For this episode I share what other foods I regularly freeze which makes my cooking much easier. Click here to learn more about becoming a Patreon member!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Space-Saving Freezer Thai Curry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Spicy Glass Noodle Salad with Mint (laab woonsen)

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 13:00:00 GMT

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What is a Laab?

In its most classic form, laab is a spicy and tart northeastern Thai salad made from ground meat, toasted rice powder, and lots of fresh herbs. Traditionally laab is meat-based, but because it's got such a delicious flavour, nowadays people make laab out of just about anything. So this dish is more of a modern variation of laab, and it's not the most common one, though you can find it at many restaurants in Thailand that serve Northeastern food.

If you want to check out other kinds of "non-traditional laab" see my recipes for Laab Omelette , Laab Salmon , Laab Burger and Laab Meatballs .

Is it a Laab? Or larb? Or laap?

This popular dish goes by many English spellings: laab, larb, or laap are a few common ones you see on Thai restaurant menus. Spell it how you want, but for the love of god do NOT pronounce the "r" (I'm looking at us North American English speakers here). Makes me cringe every time I hear someone say "laRRRRb". Writing out Thai words in English is a challenge because English has such limited consonants and vowels compared to Thai, this is why people will be looking for a dish on my website and they can't find it because they spell it differently!

Bonus content for Patreon members: For this episode I share with you other types of unconventional laab that you can find in Thailand. Click here to learn more about becoming a Patreon member.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Spicy Glass Noodle Salad with Mint (laab woonsen) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Stir-Fried Turnip Cakes ขนมผักกาด

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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A Little Known Thai Street Food

When people go to Thailand, and often make sure they get to try Pad Thai. But many may not realize that at some of those Pad Thai vendors, there is another dish on the menu that is almost like a hidden gem, ordered only by locals. That dish is called Kanom Pakkaad, or Kanom Huapakkaad for the long version. It's basically an immensely satisfying stir-fry that uses cubes of Chinese turnip cakes. Yes, the same turnip cakes that you often see at dim sum restaurant, also known as lo bak go, radish cake, daikon cake, or even carrot cake (but no, there is no carrot in it).

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Dim Sum Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go) ขนมผักกาด

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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My Mother-in-lay's Famous Chinese New Year Classic

This is my mother-in-law's famous turnip cake recipe that she makes every Chinese New Year, and they are the best I've ever had anywhere, fancy Chinese restaurants included.

It's so good that I made it a mission to immortalize this recipe into a YouTube video because I do not want this to ever get lost, and I want my son to be able to recreate it when his grandma is not around to make it for him.

As with most recipes from our mothers and grandmothers, there isn't much written down, so I insisted on filming her making it so as to not miss any details. Thankfully she had all the ingredient amounts written down, so I just had to make sure I got the process right!

What is a Turnip Cake?

If you've never had this, it may not sound super appetizing. But trust me, with the addition of dried shrimp, scallops, Chinese sausage and shiitake mushrooms, this is one of the most umami-filled comfort foods. There's a reason why it's a classic!

Turnip cake, or "lo bak go" in Cantonese, is sometimes called Chinese carrot cake, which is bizarre because it doesn't involve any turnip or carrot! It should actually be called a daikon cake because daikon radish is the main ingredient. It's also not a "cake" like a chocolate zucchini cake. It's just...cake-shaped.

How to Eat/Serve Lo Bak Go

The most classic way to eat turnip cake is to slice the chilled cake and pan sear them until browned, then served with hot sauce and soy sauce.

But you can also cut them into cubes and stir fry them. A favourite of my in-laws' is lo bak go cubes stir-fried with XO sauce and beansprouts. My husband loves cracking an egg into the pan while pan frying them, then scrambling everything together.

Also, even though it is a Lunar New Year classic, it can be eaten anytime and you can get it at any dim sum restaurant year round.

How Thai People Eat Turnip Cake

My FAVOURITE way to eat it though? The Thai way, of course! In Thailand, we always stir-fry it with beansprouts, garlic chives, and eggs, and it is called called kanom pakkaad . Check out my recipe for Thai-style stir-fried turnip cake recipe here .

Where to buy all these dried ingredients?

The dried shrimp, scallops, mushrooms, and Chinese sausage are absolutely key to this recipe. They're the reason this tastes like an umami-filled delight rather than a lump of steamed radish. The scallops are optional, but keep at least 2 of the dried ingredients below.

Storing Turnip Cakes

You can keep the cakes in the fridge for up to a week, and fry them up whenever you want to eat.

You can also freeze them, but slice them BEFORE freezing so you can just thaw what you want to eat.

To delay freezer burn, wrap the cake in foil before placing them in a freezer bag. Let them thaw at room temp, or in the fridge overnight, and fry them up as usual. I find the texture to be a tad softer after frozen, but still perfectly fine.

The Most Common Problem and How to Prevent It

Most people have made this recipe successfully, but by far the most common issue is that the cake comes out too soft. Here's how to make sure it does not happen to you.

Related Recipes

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Dim Sum Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go) ขนมผักกาด appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Panang Curry Beef แพนงเนื้อ

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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A classic, much loved Thai curry, and a very quick one to cook: panang curry! Instead of being soupy like most other Thai curries, this one is more of a saucy curry with a thick, rich, luscious, flavourful sauce. In this video I also give you a recipe for how to make a "semi-homemade" panang curry paste using store-bought red curry paste as a base.

About Panang Curry:

Panang curry is kind of an interesting dish, because it's quite unique compared to other Thai curries. You may have noticed that most dishes that are classified as "curry" of " gaeng" in Thai cuisine are rather soupy. Lots of sauce, thin and runny sauce, some are even water-based and eat very much like brothy soups like this sour curry or this breast milk boosting curry . (If you have my cookbook, I talk about what is curry in there.)

Panang, on the other hand, might be closer to what you imagine when you think of the word "curry"— a thicker, richer sauce, and just enough of it to coat all the stuff and pool a little. We even have a special word for this amount of liquid in a dish, it's called "kluk klik". Panang is also unique in that it is all meat—it never has any vegetables added to it. The meat is always thinly sliced, and at most you'll get some red peppers thrown in as garnish.

It's a great weeknight curry because it comes together so fast. The cooking technique is almost more of a stir-fry, which awesome!

How to Ensure Tender Beef

When eating a beef curry or stir-fry, my biggest pet peeve is when the meat is chewy. I hate it. No matter how delicious it is...if the meat it chewy, the dish is ruined in my books. There are a few simple keys to make sure you have tender beef without having to braise it for a long time.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Panang Curry Beef แพนงเนื้อ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Tom Yum Pizza พิซซ่าต้มยำกุ้ง

Fri, 08 Feb 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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This is my favourite pizza ever. I was first introduced to the concept of tom yum pizza when I was a teen by none other than Pizza Hut Thailand! They put "tom yum goong pizza" on the menu and I loved it! I loved the bold, bright flavours of lime and lemongrass on an otherwise rich and cheesy pizza.

Changing up the toppings:

The most important thing about this recipe is the Tom Yum Pizza Sauce. In fact, if you already make pizza at home, you just need the sauce recipe and apply it to your pizza making regimen, and put whatever toppings you like on it. (Although you might want to check out my brilliant pizza cooking method as well!)

I'm using classic Tom Yum toppings here: shrimp and oyster mushrooms, through straw mushrooms would be more traditional but I can't get those here. You can change the shrimp to chicken (make sure the chicken is precooked), or add calamari (which is what a big pizza restaurant chain does in Thailand), or keep it meat free and load up on a couple of types of mushrooms. Hey it's pizza, top it with whatever you want!

I love using fresh mozzarella cheese on pizza, but the regular block type that you need to grate would be fine.

Storing Leftover Sauce

The sauce recipe uses up one whole can of tomatoes, but it'll make more than you need if you're only making 2-3 pizzas. You can make about 6-8 10-inch pizzas with this amount of sauce. You can make only half the sauce recipe if you don't want to have much leftover, however, the sauce freezes really well so you can keep it and have it for future pizza cravings! It'll also last about a week in the fridge. You can also thin out the sauce a bit and use it as a pasta sauce as well.

My Pizza Cooking Method

The coolest part of this recipe might be the way the pizza is cooked. I use a broiler-skillet method which I got from Serious Eats and I think it's brilliant. Saves so much time and yields better results than baking in the oven. I love that I only need to preheat the broiler, which takes only a few minutes, as opposed to preheating the whole oven to 450°F or 500°F which would take nearly an hour. No pizza stone needed, and the bottom crust still gets a nice crisp, slightly charred bottom. And it's done cooking in 5 minutes!

Oven Broiler Safety Note:

I've had one person report to me that when he put his pizza under the broiler, the baking sheet buckled, putting the pizza in direct contact with the broiler element which caught it on fire! Though this has never happened to me personally, and I've made this in 3 different ovens, please watch your pizza carefully if this is your first time using this method. A few things to keep in mind:

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Tom Yum Pizza พิซซ่าต้มยำกุ้ง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Cucumber Challenge! Spicy Chicken & Cucumber Stir-Fry

Fri, 01 Feb 2019 15:00:00 GMT

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The post Cucumber Challenge! Spicy Chicken & Cucumber Stir-Fry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Kaeng Liang - Breast Milk Booster Shrimp & Veggie Soup! แกงเลียง

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 14:03:00 GMT

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Healthy Soup with a Bonus for New Moms.

Since I became pregnant, many people have asked whether there is a dish in Thai culture that pregnant and new mothers are encouraged to eat. And this is it!

Kaeng Liang or Gaeng Liang is a peppery, light, yummy vegetable soup believed to help boost breast milk supply in Thai culture. Whether or not it actually does, who knows, I don't think there's been a real study on it. But hey, it's delicious and healthy, so why not!

Now, if you're not having a baby, you can still enjoy it! This is not something that is reserved only for new moms—anybody can enjoy it at any time, and people do have it at home regularly, but new moms are especially encouraged to eat more of it. This is a dish I grew up eating, and my grandmother makes it quite often because my mom loves it. It's also popular amongst the health conscious because it's full of nutritious vegetables!

An Interesting Flavour

I have to say that the flavour of this dish is unlike any other dish in Thai cuisine. The combination of dried shrimp, shrimp paste and grachai in the curry paste creates an emergent aroma that is really unique to gaeng liang. It's a bit funky, and when I was a kid I didn't love it, and didn't understand why my mom loved it so much. But now as an adult I do and finally get it! So if you're new to it, it might take a bit of getting used to, I just wanted you to be prepared for it!

So Many Vegetables!

As you can see, kaeng liang uses a ton of different kinds of vegetables, especially squashes. You don't have to have everything I used, as it can be a bit much and you'll have so much leftover veg, but I recommend having at least the following 3 vegetables:

Is it a Curry or a Soup?

To Thai people, this dish is a curry ( kaeng or gaeng means curry), but I understand that it's more like a soup in the Western sense of the word. This is because Thai people define curries differently from people in the western world. To us, a curry or a kaeng is any soupy dish that uses a "curry paste"—a ground up mixture of herbs and spices—as the flavour base. So that's why this is classified as a curry, even though to you it might be a soup. To us, the richness or consistency has nothing to do with whether it's a curry or not.

Another "soupy curry" that's really popular in Thai cuisine is gaeng som , or a sour curry, you should try it out!

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share with you a quick Thai recipe that you can do with any of your leftover squashes, which you will probably have after making this dish. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Kaeng Liang - Breast Milk Booster Shrimp & Veggie Soup! แกงเลียง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Super Easy Fried Ice Cream w/ Pineapple Caramel Sauce ไอศครีมทอด

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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How Does Deep Fried Ice Cream Work?

Deep fried ice cream is a wonderful oxymoronic recipe. How can ice cream be deep fried without melting? There are many ways to do deep fried ice cream, but the principles are all the same. You wrap or coat a scoop of ice cream in a crust of some sort, then you freeze the whole thing until it is as cold as it can possibly be. You then fry the ice cream in high heat for a very short time so the crust will brown and crisp before the ice cream has a chance to melt. Et voila!

So there are 3 keys to this: 1) The crust has to be something that brown very quickly. 2) The oil has to be hot enough. 3) The ice cream has to be very cold.

In this recipe I show you the Thai way of doing it, which happens to be the easiest, simplest way I've ever seen. Two ingredients: sandwich bread and ice cream.

I discovered this method when I worked as a server at a Thai restaurant (way back when I was a university student). It was a very popular dessert at this restaurant, and when I saw how they made it in the kitchen I was equally shocked and delighted at how easy it was!

Other Methods of Deep Frying Ice Cream

A quick search through the internet will reveal a few other ways to make deep fried ice cream. Many people will do the egg-breadcrumb or egg-cornflakes crust, and I've also seen a recipe that use pound cake as the crust. The Thai method, however, is the easiest of them all, and it's easy enough that you can get kids to participate in as well. (But don't let them do the frying unattended!!)

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share with you a quick recipe that uses the leftover bread crusts which you will have from this recipe, and how to turn it into yummy little sweet treats! Also, I'll share an idea for another snack my mom used to make using plain sandwich bread. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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The post Super Easy Fried Ice Cream w/ Pineapple Caramel Sauce ไอศครีมทอด appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice ข้าวมันไก่สูตรง่าย

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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From a Project to a Weeknight Meal

The traditional way to make Hainanese chicken rice is a bit of a project. You can find that method in my older post here, but basically you gotta poach a whole chicken, which takes a long time and a very big pot. Then you take the broth from poaching the chicken and use it to make the rice. And then after all that you gotta carve a whole chicken.

For this recipe, I use chicken pieces instead of whole chicken, so cooking time is greatly reduced. Then I also cook the chicken and the rice in the same pot, which means the whole thing will cook in only 25 minutes! Yay! Well, okay, plus maybe 5-7 minutes of rendering chicken fat and sautéing rice.

However this does require that you have some good chicken stock on hand. You can use store bought chicken stock if you wanna make it super quick, but for the most authentic flavour I recommend you use homemade Asian style chicken stock. I always keep homemade chicken stock in my freezer, and I recommend you do too because it comes in so handy in so many situations! Chicken noodle soup in a snap, anyone?

I have a recipe for Thai-style chicken stock here.

Stock Aromatics Options

At the very basic level, you can simply simmer chicken bones in water and you'll have a basic chicken stock. But to boost the flavour, adding some aromatics will help, and that's how you can "customize" the chicken stock. For my basic Thai chicken stock I like to use onions, garlic, white pepper and cilantro stems. But If you're making the stock specifically for Hainanese chicken rice, I recommend adding a few slices of ginger into the stock as well because ginger is such a key flavour in this dish.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share more ideas on other variations of Hainanese chicken rice you can get in Thailand. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice ข้าวมันไก่สูตรง่าย appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Instant Pot Massaman Beef Curry แกงมัสมั่นเนื้อหม้ออัดแรงดัน

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 14:00:00 GMT

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After many requests, I finally got a pressure cooker! An Instant Pot to be exact. In this video I show you how you how to make this delicious Thai Massaman curry that would normally take 3 hours to make, but we can do it in just 1 hour in the Instant Pot or another pressure cooker you have. Follow this recipe, or use this video as a guideline for how you can take a Thai curry recipe that you already have, and modify it to work with an Instant Pot.

Check out the Instant Pot I use on Amazon

How to Modify Regular Recipes for the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself when attempting to use a regular recipe in a pressure cooker:

Is it worth doing it in the Instant Pot at all?

The instant pot promises that food will be done quickly—it can cut cooking time by hours! But...if the original recipe doesn't take hours to cook to begin with...the how much time does it really save?

Remember that before the Instant Pot can get to pressure cooking the food, it has to spend time preheating AND releasing pressure. A "quick release" of pressure lets you open the pot in 1-2 minutes, but it's not something you can always do, and a "natural release" of pressure takes at least 10 minutes. So you must factor these into the "cooking time" of your food as well. See video at 8:22 when I talk about a "quick release" VS the "natural release" of pressure.

Not to mention...not all parts of the recipe can be done under pressure (see below) so don't forget to take that into consideration too.

ALSO, if reducing liquid until thick is part of the recipe, you're still gonna need to do that stove top because a pressure cooker is a closed environment and water does not evaporate during cooking.

What part of this recipe can be cooked under pressure? And what parts cannot?

For this recipe, I chose to cook only the beef under pressure, which is the part that takes a long time. But I finish the vegetables, potato and onions, at the end on regular "saute" mode. Yes, there are some recipes that say you can put all the veggies and meat into the instant pot and be done with it in one go, but I am particular with the doneness of my veggies, and I do not want my potatoes to become too mushy, so I choose not to do that. This depends on what vegetables you're using, and whether or not you care about how soft they are.

Also remember that vegetables don't generally take that long to cook so it's not like you're spending that much more time. Totally worth it for well-cooked vegetables, I think.

How much liquid do I need to reduce?

As I mentioned earlier, the pressure cooker is a closed environment, so whatever liquid is there to start will still be there when it's done. This includes liquid from meats that will inevitably come out during the cooking process. This is not the case when you cook stovetop, as liquid is constantly evaporating. So you have to generally reduce the amount of liquid used in the recipe in order for it to not come out too watery. In Thai curry recipes, conveniently there is usually water or stock added to thin out the sauce, so I find it works well to simply omit that and use only coconut milk.

However, reducing liquids CAN result in flavour problems because if the liquid called for is not water, say coconut milk or chicken stock, then reducing it will also reduce flavour/fat/richness or whatever that liquid provides. So alternatively you can spend time reducing it after it is done cooking under pressure. So if that's what needs to happen, factor it into your plan.

What types of food is good to cook in an Instant Pot?

Generally, pressure cookers are great for anything that needs to stew or braise for a long time. Beef stew, short ribs, pulled pork...slow cooking meats basically.

Making stocks (bone broths) is also great in the Instant Pot. A bonus is that the scum tends to just end up sticking to the sides of the pot...so you don't have to skim!

What doesn't benefit much from pressure cooking?

These are just my thoughts so far:

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share some of my other experience using the Instant Pot. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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The post Instant Pot Massaman Beef Curry แกงมัสมั่นเนื้อหม้ออัดแรงดัน appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Roasted Eggplant with Garlic and Shrimp Stir Fry

Fri, 28 Dec 2018 17:00:00 GMT

This recipe is one of a couple Ingredient Challenge videos on my YouTube channel. The idea is that I will create a dish around a specific ingredient using only 5 additional ingredients (plus some freebie staples), and I will film me cooking it for the first time, unrehearsed, and I have to do it in 20 minutes!

The idea is that I want to build a repertoire of simple, quick recipes using everyday ingredients that are easy to find. I might use a harder-to-source Thai ingredient but I'll try to keep it that to no more than 1 ingredient per dish.

As you can see in the video, I went over time! To be fair, I didn't really rush and I spent a lot of time talking you through the recipe. And hey, I am 6 months pregnant in this video, with a pulled ligament in my leg, so moving quickly was just NOT gonna happen!

Ingredient Challenge Rules

1. The ingredient will be one suggested by viewers on social media (I will take suggestions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.)

2. I am allowed to bring 5 additional ingredients, plus some "freebies" which are staples most people have at home. Freebies include: salt, pepper, sugar, oil, flour, ONE OF fish/soy/oyster sauce, and a neutral spiciness. And by "neutral" I just mean it's not going to add any other flavours to the dish other than heat, so this might be a Thai chilies or dried chili flakes, but no hot sauce!)

3. I must cook it within 20 minutes (which did not happen in this first one, haha!)

4. I must not have made this dish before, and I cannot practice this dish prior to filming.

5. The video will be left minimally edited so you can see the entire process. I will only speed up parts where nothing is happening, or trim off a second or two of silence here and there just to keep the pace going.

Let's see how I do with this first one!

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share some other ways you can cook eggplant Thai style. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

The post Roasted Eggplant with Garlic and Shrimp Stir Fry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Brussel Sprouts Thai-Style

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Add a little Thai flavour to your holiday table with this incredible veggie side dish recipe! This is Brussel sprouts like you've never had before. The Brussel sprouts are cooked stove-top (no oven required!) until perfectly al dente, then tossed with a spicy, garlicky, iconic Thai dressing. Guaranteed to brighten up your Christmas dinner table!

Choosing Brussel Sprouts

If possible, always choose small/medium Brussel sprouts and avoid really large ones, because the bigger they are, the more bitter they tend to be. Inevitably you're going to get a variety of sizes of sprouts, but if you see a few that are just double the size of other ones, be sure to cut them into quarters so they will cook with everyone else.

Customizing Doneness: No more mushy sprouts!

I've provided two different ways of preparing this recipe. If you like brussel sprouts that are still a little firm in the center (which I much prefer), use the stove-top pan-sear method shown in the video. Not to mention it's the quicker method that doesn't require oven real estate! However, it is a little more hands-on than the oven method.

If you prefer Brussel sprouts that are tender all throughout, roast them in the oven. This takes longer but at least you can set it and let it go. You won't get as dark of a char, and do check the doneness early to avoid over cooking them into mush!

Tips for Making This Dish in Advance

For the holiday table, you want to make as much in advance as possible. See my guide for stress-free holiday cooking here for some more tips. Specifically for this dish, you can:

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share some other Thai ways to cook Brussel sprouts, and talk about some nutritional value of these tiny little cabbage heads! Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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The post Brussel Sprouts Thai-Style appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies - Crispy & Chewy!

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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This is by far my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and trust me, I've made MANY a chocolate chip cookies in my life. It's a relatively simple recipe, but there are a couple of tricks in here you'll want to know for extra yumminess. Make these and bring to your Christmas dinner, or whatever you're doing for this holiday season, and I promise you people will be in love!

How to Best Enjoy These Cookies

Seriously, these are best eaten shortly after they come out of the oven—when cookies have cooled enough so the edges are crispy, but the chocolate is still gooey and melty inside, and the middle is nice and chewy and even slightly warm...omg there is just nothing like it!! However, this doesn't mean you gotta make them right away, you can simply reheat a completely cooled cookie in a 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes, or until they soften. Then let them cool for about 10 minutes or until cool and firm enough to pick up, and you'll get the same effect. If making as a gift it's worth including reheating instructions with them cookies ��

What's With the "Aging" of Cookie Dough?

In the recipe I call for the dough to be "aged" for 2 days in the fridge. Sounds unnecessary right? Well, trust me, it's totally worth while. I was super skeptical of this when I first came across it, but I had to see it for myself so I baked up 3 batches, one right away, one at 1 day aged, and one at 2 days aged. And indeed the flavours of the cookie became noticeably better at 1 day, but significantly better after 2 days. What do I mean by better? More intense in every way. It's like all the flavours that are there in the cookies are amplified plus a more caramelly note to the dough. And the cookies brown more deeply.

How Does "Aging" of Dough Work?

How does it work? Well, to put it simply, when cookies bake and brown, protein and starch molecules breakdown and then rearrange into more flavourful versions of themselves. This process takes time to complete, so when you rest the dough, the proteins and starch get a chance to breakdown more, so that by the time they bake, the result is a more fully developed flavour. This is explained in more detail in this Serious Eats article here (you have to scroll down close to the end of the article to get to this part, but the whole article is very interesting and worth a read.)

Freezing the Cookie Dough

Yes, you can freeze these and bake up only as many as you want to eat, so you'll always be eating freshly baked cookies! Freeze the pre-portioned dough in a freezer bag, and get as much as out of them as you can. When you want to make them, lay out frozen cookie dough on a baking sheet and let sit at room temp for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven. Bake at 350°F, and you may need to bake them for a minute longer than normal. Important note: as you'll see the key to fully developed flavours in these cookies is 48 hours of aging in the fridge. You want to make sure you AGE THEM FIRST before freezing because once they freeze, the aging process will not continue.

Cookie Baking Temperatures: 350°F? or 375°F?

As I mentioned in the video, you can go about this one of two ways. The lower temp will give you wider spread, resulting in thinner crispier cookies, and the higher temp will give you less spread and thicker cookie. But I recommend that you first do a test batch at 350°F for 15 minutes and adjust from there, because there are many factors involved in how far a cookie spreads aside from oven temperature...so it's good to know where your starting point is. In the video I baked mine at 350°F.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I troubleshoot some common cookie problems, so if something goes wrong, you know how to fix it! Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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The post My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies - Crispy & Chewy! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

BONUS EPISODE: Tips for Eating in France!

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Bonus episode! I recently went on a "babymoon" to France with my husband Craig, and instead of filming the usual "travel vlog", I compiled a list of tips for eating in France, of course with some footage and photos to share as well. Obviously I'm not an expert as I only went there once, but I did do a LOT of research prior to going (and I do speak some French) so I hope that if you make it to France one day this will be helpful for you!

Extra resources: I listened to the podcast "Join Us in France" and learned a lot from these ladies prior to my trip. If you're planning a trip there, I highly recommend it!

Here are details on some of the places we went, most of these were shown in the video, and my brief yay/nay on them:

PARIS

LYON

Aix-En-Provence

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I tell you ALL about my experience of the legendary Paul Bocuse 3-michelin star restaurant! Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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The post BONUS EPISODE: Tips for Eating in France! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Indonesian Mie Goreng | Wok-Fried Egg Noodles

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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A classic indonesian dish that will please just about everyone in the family! Chewy egg noodles stir-fried in a sweet-salty sauce, with lot of crunchy veggies and juicy tomatoes.

Mie Goreng simply means "fried noodles", so as you might imagine, there are many many variations of this dish that can be made. So free free to change up the veggies and protein! The common threads that run through all variations of mie goreng is that the noodles are WHEAT noodles, because "mie" refers to wheat noodles! And the noodles tend to be on the thicker, chewier side. So this could be egg noodles, or some people even use instant noodles! In fact, one of the most popular versions of mie goreng is...you guessed it...instant noodles! Indomie makes and uber popular mie goreng instant noodles, and it's one of my cameraman's go-to lunch when I'm not feeding him with food I cook on the show!

The sauce is also the heart of this dish, more specifically, the sweet soy sauce is the heart of this dish. To learn more about types of soy sauces, check out this video here .

Omit the chilies if you're making it for kids, obviously, but you may want to add a bit of black pepper instead.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I talk about the cultural context of mie goreng, and also another variation that you can try at home! Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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The post Indonesian Mie Goreng | Wok-Fried Egg Noodles appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Banana Pancakes (Banana Roti) โรตีกล้วยหอม

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Thai roti is one of THE most popular snacks/desserts amongst visitors to Thailand! You can see roti carts at many tourist attractions around the country, and nowadays, vendors offer so many different filling options like bananas, chocolate sauce, nutella, apples, etc. which, by the way, were not available when I was a kid, so roti has come a long way! If you go to non-touristy parts of Thailand you may still see some old-school roti vendors that still don't offer many fancy fillings.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share with you how an old-school variation of roti that I used to get all the time as a kid! Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

Healthier Roti At Home

No one will ever say roti is good for you, but by making it at home, you can make it a little less bad! Street vendor rotis are tasty, but they don't usually use the best of ingredients. You'll notice that many vendors use what looks like butter, but it's really margarine which is full of trans fat and is really bad for your health. They also most likely use the cheapest vegetable oil they can get a hold of, which is also not the best for you. This is not true of some fancier roti places, by the way, but it is true of most street carts. So at home, I can use real butter, and for the cooking I use avocado oil which is a healthy, heat resistant, neutral flavoured cooking oil that I use for most of my cooking nowadays.

Making the Dough in Advance

Admittedly, this isn't an easy, simple weeknight recipe. The dough itself is pretty straight forward, but the work is in the actual cooking of because you gotta stretch the rough and cook them to order, and you can only make them one at a time unless you've got many pans going. Cold roti is not good! So it's not the most party-friendly food, but there is a way to make it more manageable by making the dough in advance. Once you divide the dough into balls, butter them and and put them in the fridge, covered, and cook it the next day. Bring it out of the fridge 2 hours before cooking to let it come to room temp. I've actually done this up to 3 days in advance and it still came out fine, though more than that and the dough started to get weirdly mushy and hard to work with. The dough also developed some dark spots after 2 days, though this didn't seem to affect the end result.

Reheating Roti

If the roti has been filled and topped with sauce...don't bother reheating it. It'll be chewy and not the same. BUT if you really want to do it in advance and reheat when serving, you can make a plain unfilled roti. Don't put any toppings on it, then when ready to serve you can pop it in a toaster oven for few minutes and it'll crisp back up, and then you can top it with toppings after. Obviously this isn't gonna be the same cuz the bananas won't get cooked...but if you're not doing a banana filling it may work for you.

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The post Thai Banana Pancakes (Banana Roti) โรตีกล้วยหอม appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Oxtail Soup ซุปหางวัว

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Oxtail soup may not strike you as a dish that sounds particularly Thai, but yes in fact we do have our own version of it! It's not a super common dish (beef isn't a popular choice of meat in Thailand to begin with) but you can most often find it at Thai Muslim restaurants. There are two main versions of oxtail soup, one is the Thai Muslim version, which you can find in restaurants I mentioned. Another type is the "Thai version" for lack of a better term, which tends to be simpler and use simple staple herbs most people have at home. This is the version I'm sharing with you.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share with you how to modify this recipe to make it the Thai-Muslim version of the soup! Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

Tips for choosing oxtail

I like to pick large, meaty pieces of oxtail so there is more meat to eat. However, if you can only find smaller ones, that's totally fine. In fact, smaller ones will give even a richer soup because there will be more bones and connective tissue to enrich the broth. If you feel like there isn't enough meat on your oxtail, you can always add more stew-friendly meat (I would go with beef shank or the "super digital flexor muscle").

How to make this dish in advance

Oxtail soup does require long cooking time because the oxtail needs a lot of time to cook. So you can definitely divide it up into 2 days. First day, simmer the beef for 2.5 hours on its own with the lemongrass tops and kaffir lime leaves. Put this in the fridge, which will also make fat skimming much more convenient once it all solidifies on top of the soup! Then bring it out, bring it to a simmer gain, and add tomatoes and onions and pick it up from there. You can also just make the whole thing in advance, and just finish it off by adding fresh tomato pieces when ready to serve!

As a side note, this is the perfect recipe to do in your pressure cooker or slow cooker!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai Oxtail Soup ซุปหางวัว appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Steamed fish with black bean sauce is my mother in law's signature recipe and I'm so excited to be sharing her recipe with you for the first time! It's also my husband's favourite way to eat fish, partly because of nostalgia cuz it's something his mother has made his whole life and he never gets tired of it. Simple, quick and healthy, it's really the perfect weeknight dinner. We always use black cod, also known as sable fish, because it's such a tender, oily, flakey fish that is really forgiving.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode of "Show-After-The-Show" I'm going to be talking you through a different fish steaming technique that's more commonly done in Thailand, and I will discuss the pros and cons of each technique. And as usual, answer some questions from Adam the cameraman! Find out more about becoming a Patreon member here.

Choosing the right fish

If you're not using black cod, you can use any white, tender fish with a mild flavour. Anything you would want to steam, such as ling cod, sea bass, or tilapia. I chose to use steaks because the bones and skin keep everything more moist, and adds flavour to the sauce. But if steaks is not available, you can definitely use filets instead, just be sure to reduce cooking time. I would check filets at 8-10 minutes depending on the size.

About Chinese Black Beans or Dao Ci

You may have heard, or even eaten, "black bean sauce" many times but did you know what these black beans are exactly? Even though these are always referred to as black beans, they are NOT black beans, but rather soybeans. The soybeans have been fermented and turned black in the process. They are quite salty, and has an interesting funky flavour...think of it has the cousin of miso. This funky flavour adds character to many many Chinese dish, including theses dim sum spare ribs that are super popular if you ask any dim sum lovers. If used too much, however, it can be quite overpowering, not to mention salty, so a little bit goes a long way. I always give them a quick rinse before using to wash off some of the salt.

There are many brands, and the most popular one is "Yang Jiang Preserved Beans" which has ginger in it and comes in a big tub. I find that this is too big for me because I don't use it often, so I opt for one of the smaller bags that my grocer carries. I have found some brands to have moist, sticky beans, while others have drier ones that do not stick together. Honestly do not know the difference and I have used both with success, so I am partial towards the dry ones which are easier to use.

Once opened, store black beans in a sealed container in the fridge and they'll last you for years to come.

What if you don't have black beans?

Chinese black beans are a stable at any Chinese grocery store, so if you have access to one, you will likely be able to get it. But if not for whatever reason, or if you don't want to stock yet another ingredient in the fridge, try this other recipe of mine: Steamed Fish with Ginger and Thai Miso . Of course you'll then have to look for Thai miso! But that can be easily substituted with Japanese miso paste (use half the amount called for).

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Soy Sauce 101 - What You Need To Know

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Have you ever been intimidated by the soy sauce aisle at the Asian grocery store? In my experience, it is the single biggest section dedicated to one type of product at most Asian supermarkets. At my local store it's half of the entire aisle, and I've seen so many people stand in front of the aisle and looking entirely overwhelmed. Well, this video is here to help you clarify some of those questions.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share a few "unconventional ways" I use soy sauce (that is, outside of putting it in Asian stir-fries and the other usual suspects), and my cameraman Adam also shares his favourite soy sauce and why! Find out more about becoming a Patreon member here .

You can also buy Thai soy sauces online here!

Types of Soy Sauce

Regular soy sauce

They're those bottles that just say “soy sauce” on it, or maybe "premium soy sauce" if they want to sell it for more money! The main purpose of regular soy sauce is saltiness, obviously right? But you’ll see why it’s important to point out when we talk about the other types.

For all of my Thai recipes, when I use soy sauce I use Healthy Boy Brand Mushroom Soy Sauce . Now it’s IMPORTANT to note that when it comes to Thai soy sauce, there are 2 types of “regular soy sauce” the mushroom soy sauce and the non-mushroom one. They are interchangeable in all recipes, it’s just a matter of preference what you use. I happen to like my the mushroom one and it's the one my family has always been using. The non-mushroom version of the Healthy Boy soy sauce will have a yellow label. However, the Chinese also make a mushroom soy sauce, but that is different and can be really dark, so do not substitute non-thai mushroom soy sauce for my Thai mushroom soy sauce.

Dark Soy Sauce or Black Soy Sauce

This is what you’ll use if your main goal is to give your dish a dark rich brown colour. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way so you never need much, and if you put too much it tends to taste a bit bitter. In Thailand our version of dark soy is actually called black soy sauce, it’s how I refer to it in my recipes. Thai dark soy sauce is not very salty at all so you don’t add this if you want to add saltiness.

Thai black soy sauce can be hard to find, but Chinese dark soy sauce this is much more available. However, it is a lot saltier than the Thai one, so while it does work as a substitute, be sure to cut down on the amount of regular soy sauce or other salty ingredients in the recipe slightly.

Sweet Soy Sauce

We rarely use sweet soy sauce in Thai cooking, but it is widely available in Thailand as people use it to make some dipping sauces. But most of the time you’ll see it in Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. This is used when the main goal is to get sweetness, with a touch of saltiness, and a rich flavour. It’s sort of like a combination of molasses and soy sauce.

Low-Sodium Soy Sauce

Basically regular soy sauce with less salt. Only use this as a sub for regular soy sauce if you're concerned with sodium intake. You can use the same amount as is called for in the recipe.

Light Soy Sauce

Many people think this is "low-sodium" but it isn't. From what I've seen, if a brand has light soy sauce, it won’t also have “regular soy sauce” because the light IS the regular. It seems like some brands label it “light” because they also carry a “dark soy sauce” and they want to clearly differentiate the two. Some brands, as you see in the video, will have a light AND a low-sodium as well, so it can be confusing!

Other Soy-Based Seasoning Sauces

Golden Mountain Sauce, Thai Seasoning Sauce, Maggi, Bragg's Liquid Amino (or liquid soy seasoning)...these are basically a type of soy sauce in a sense that they are all fermented, salty soy products. They just don't call them soy sauce because the flavours are different. In the case of Bragg's is also gluten free and can be used as a gluten-free soy sauce.

A better option for gluten free soy sauce substitute is perhaps tamari. Tamari is a type of Japanese soy sauce that is made with little or no wheat, but most brands on the market in N. America make it with no wheat so it’s appropriate for people who don’t eat gluten.

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Black Sesame Balls in Ginger Tea บัวลอยน้ำขิง

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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I grew up on these black sesame balls and for a long time I thought it was a Thai dessert. And I suppose one could argue that it is because of how commonplace it has become. But the truth is that it has its roots in Chinese cuisine, and the easiest place to find these black sesame balls in Thailand is indeed in nice Chinese restaurants. However, while Chinese people tend to make many different filling variations and broth variations, in Thailand, you can only find this combination of black sesame and ginger tea.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share tips on how to choose the right coconut oil, and how to make a white sesame version of this dessert. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

How to tell if black sesame is toasted

As mentioned in the video, I like to throw in some white sesame in the mix so I have something to watch. When the white ones are golden, then I know they're ready. But if you don't have any white sesame seeds, I wouldn't want you to buy them just for this! Here's another trick: you can toast the black seeds until they start to smoke over medium low heat. After they smoke, continue to toast them for 30 more seconds and then remove from heat. Immediately spread them out onto a plate to cool. This method is not ideal, as you’re kind of guessing the doneness of the seeds. But I always err on the side of them being under-roasted, because it’s better than burnt! Once they’re cool enough you can taste them, and they should be crunchy and aromatic when properly roasted.

How to make them in advance

This is the perfect dessert to make for a dinner party because they hold up so well in advance. Once you’ve got the balls made, put them on a tray or plate and do not to let them touch so they won’t stick to each other. Wrap them with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge until ready to use. You can do this even a few days in advance. If space is an issue and you want to pack them more closely together, brush them first with oil so that if they do touch,they won't stick together so much. I still wouldn't pack them tightly together, but at least you can pack them into a tupperware and they can touch a little bit and will be fine..

If you want to freeze the balls, put them on tray without touching each other, then freeze them on the tray. Once frozen, you can consolidate them into a container or a ziplock freezer bag. I noticed that if I keep these for too long in the fridge (a month), when I go to boil them again, the surface of the dough flakes off into the water. This isn't a big deal and it won't break the dish...but it is a curious thing happened to me and thought I should let you know. Probably has to do with the ice crystals that formed and chipped away at the dough a bit. This did not happen to me when I had it in the fridge for a week.

Customizing the ginger tea

Thai people like our ginger tea SPICY. We want it to heat our throats on its way down! This, however, might be too much for some of you, and when Chinese people make this they tend to make the ginger tea quite mild in comparison. So please feel free to use less ginger or add more water to dilute if you have made the tea too spicy. Also, if serving guests with different sweet preferences, I would make the tea lightly sweetened, just a few tablespoons of sugar, and let people add their own sugar when serving.

Storing leftover cooked balls

If you have leftover cooked balls, don’t keep them in the water! Toss them in oil and refrigerate. The oil is important to prevent them from sticking together. They last at least a few days in the fridge but they will *probably* up to a week (though I haven't kept them for that long myself). To serve them again simply re-boil them to heat up.

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6 Must-Try Thai Snacks on Amazon.com

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Another way to experience Thai food culture is to try our snacks! Snacks make up a big part of our diet. Thai people LOVEEE to snack! These are super delicious treats from Thailand you can buy on Amazon.com. All products in this video ship to the US, and If you don't live in the US, like me, be sure to note them down as things to look for on your next trip to Thailand!
Special thanks to Amazon Thailand for sponsoring this video!

Also see: 7 Must-TryThai Supermarket Snacks

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share a few more of my favourite Thai snacks that I currently have stocked in my "junk food cabinet!" Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

1. MezzoX Thai Tea & Thai Coffee Kit

Making Thai tea traditionally might be a bit of a hassle, but MezzoX has made it super easy so all you need is some hot water and ice! The tea leaves that come in the bag are the same tea leaves that come in the big bag of loose-leaf tea you might be more familiar with. Each serving requires 2 tea bags, but if you just want a small glass, of course, you can just one 1 bag, which is super convenient!

If you want to customize the creaminess and sweetness simply add your own milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, or sweetener. You can also use a milk-substitute for those who are lactose intolerant, but I would choose something that is quite rich (like Silk coffee creamer) because Thai tea really needs that creaminess that you won't get from regular soy or almond milk.

HOT THAI TEA: It's not commonly done, but you can make a hot tea out of this kit as well, and it is quite nice! As the instructions indicate, you will need to add more water than if you were to make Thai iced tea, because you won't have any extra water from melted ice.

MY TIP: In the instructions it tells you that after the tea steeps for 5 minutes, you can pour it over ice immediately. You will need a FULL glass of ice for this (like in the video). I personally prefer to use more water, let it steep for longer than 5 minutes so it's not as hot, and then I can use less ice. This method will extract more tea flavour from the leaves, giving it a stronger tea flavour which I prefer.

Buy MezzoX Thai Tea

MezzoX Coffee

The most important thing to note is that the coffee in this kit is 100% coffee beans. This is NOT "oliang" Thai coffee, which is the old-school coffee made from a combination of coffee beans and other roasted things (corn, tamarind seeds, soybeans, etc.). Oliang powder what I used in my Thai Iced Coffee and Thai Coffee 4 Ways videos. If you've ever had "Thai iced coffee" at a Thai restaurant, they will most likely use oliang coffee. Oliang has a different, darker, smokier flavour than regular coffee.

What makes the Mezzo coffee "Thai" is a little more subtle than that. In recent years, oliang has become harder to find in Thailand. Now most of the coffee available in coffee shops are made from 100% coffee beans. But we still like to add a ton of milk, condensed milk, and sugar! So it's a sweeter, creamier (more delicious, one might argue) iced coffee than what you can get in N. America. So if you use the MezzoX coffee and the creamer mix given, you will get exactly the kind of iced coffee Thai people like.

If you're in Thailand and you want to get Thai iced coffee made from oliang powder, you'll have to look for shops, most likely old school carts, that sell what we call "Gafae Boran" which means "vintage coffee". These are the places that will use the long "coffee socks" to make their coffee. You won't find it in nice coffee shops in shopping malls!

Note: Mezzo is actually a chain of coffee shops you can find in Bangkok. So if you're there, you can also stop by the shop and try out their coffee.

Buy MezzoX Drip Coffee Kit

2. Freeze Dried Durian & Sticky Rice

Durian and sticky rice is a lovely traditional Thai dessert. It's a simple combination of coconut sticky rice, fresh durian, in a sweet coconut broth. Check out my video here for the recipe! Well, Rozocha has simply taken that dessert and freeze-dried it into a crunchy snack. The flavour remains amazingly like the dessert. They also make freeze dried durian meat if you want to try it out, but I personally prefer the sticky rice version!

Buy Rozocha Freeze Dried Durian & Sticky Rice
Buy Rozocha Freeze Dried Durian

3. Suan Dusit Milk Tablets

Made simply of milk powder and sugar compressed into tablets, these were the obsession of my childhood years! These milk tablet candies are a product of the late King Rama the 9th's milk powder factory which he created to help deal with milk surplus in Thailand almost 50 years ago.

The milk tablet also comes in chocolate flavour, though I was only able to find the original flavour online.

Buy Suan Dusit Milk Tablet Candies

4. Honey D Dried Longan

Fresh longans, solar dried into sweet, fragrant, chewy little nuggets. No sugar, no preservatives added. Though you can find dried longans at many Chinese grocery stores, these are different. What you most likely find in Chinatown are made specifically for adding into soups, desserts or tea. They're not meant for eating straight up. And for good reason as they don't taste great (and might not be clean enough). These Honey �� longans are totally snackable. Naturally sweet with the flavour of fresh longans still intact. Honestly I don't know how they're processed differently from the soup ones, I just know that with these, I can just eat them like candy!

To make longan iced tea: You can boil them in water just for 5 minutes or so until the fruits look fully rehydrated. Add more sugar or honey to taste, then you can serve it iced or hot. There's no need to drain the longans out of the tea, but you will find that they don't have much flavour left by the time they're done.

To use them as a natural tea sweetener: Simply add a few fruits (I do about 3 per cup) to steep along with your tea and they will add a subtle sweetness and a unique fragrance.

Buy Honey D Dried Longan

5. Cheva Vacuum Fried Mangosteens

A product made by my own childhood friend! Vacuum frying allows fruits to be fried at a much lower temperature, which means that you can use riper, sweeter fruit. And it also results in less oil absorbtion in the end product. These mangosteens are crunchy, with a sweet/tart flavour. I love the spicy shrimp salad flavour, but you can also get the original as well.

Buy Cheva Crispy Mangosteen

6. Banana Joe Banana Chips

Banana chips you can get anywhere...but not like these! These are thin, crispy, and made from Hom Tong bananas which grow well in Thailand. They don't have the same flavour as the supermarket banana variety, and they are just so addictive! My favourite is the Sriracha flavour, which has just the right about of heat and tartness. But the other flavours are all good too. My only complaint is there isn't enough in one bag to satisfy me!

Note: In the video the packaging of the ones I received doesn't have the brand name "Banana Joe" on it for some reason, but when you buy it on store shelves you should find ones that say "Banana Joe Banana Chips" on it.

Buy Banana Joe Chips

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Tom Yum Spaghetti สปาเก็ตตี้ต้มยำกุ้ง

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Tom yum and pasta, the perfect marriage

Tom Yum Spaghetti is a true flavour bomb! It's one of the most popular Thai pasta dishes in Thailand, and it is no doubt my favourite. All the iconic tom yum flavours— lemongrass, lime leaves, chili paste, lime, etc.—go so incredibly well with tomato sauce. If you love a good tomatoey pasta, and you love the tart, herbaceous flavours of tom yum, get ready to be completely blown away by how delightful this dish is!

This recipe is also quite easy and definitely weeknight friendly. In the video I show you an "efficiency" technique so that once you've got all your ingredients prepped, the cooking will only take you as long as it takes to cook the pasta.

See the original tom yum goong recipe here.

Other Thai Pasta Recipes

We actually have several "Thai fusion" dishes that involves the use of pasta in Thailand, many of which has become common. One might even argue they have become part of Thai cuisine. Tom yum spaghetti is certainly one of them, as is "spaghetti pad kee mao" or "drunken spaghetti" . A more kid-friendly version might be this "pad macaroni" which my siblings and I loved growing up. (And I still do!). You can find these Thai pasta dishes served at many restaurants that offer pasta selections. Usually these would be more modern, trendy Thai restaurants you can find in Bangkok shopping malls or in the downtown area.

Substituting Button or Crimini Mushrooms

I chose shimeji mushrooms for this recipe as they are delicious, available, inexpensive, and super easy to work with. Other Asian mushrooms like fresh shiitake, oyster or even King oyster would work as well. If you want to sub white button or the brown crimini mushrooms, however, make sure you cook them off first. These button varieties give off a lot of water, so what I like to do is slice them, then saute them off with a pinch of salt in a little bit of oil until they are fully cooked. Remove them and set aside, and throw them into your pasta when you add your tomatoes. Fun Fact: You can't overcook mushrooms, so don't worry about double cooking them. Once mushrooms reach a certain point of being cooked, they don't ever become mushy or disintegrate, so you can cook them as long as you need.

*Extra Goodies for Patreon Members: In this episode's "Show After The Show" I share my tips on how to choose the best quality key ingredients for this recipe: pasta, canned tomatoes, and chili paste. Click here to find out more about becoming a Patreon member!

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Crispy Fried Wonton Recipe with Sweet Chili Sauce เกี๊ยวทอด

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This fried wonton recipe makes the most munchy, addictive snacks that are perfect for a party. They're also really easy to make, especially if you've got people to help you wrap them! Hey, how about wonton wrapping party? This recipe is a classic street food you can find at many outdoor markets.

To dip, you can simply use the Thai sweet chili dipping sauce which you can make or buy (see my recipe linked below). But the one I recommend is a sweet, spicy, tart chili sauce that's simply made by combining the sweet chili sauce with sriracha. You might already have both in the fridge, which makes it easy, but if not, they're easy to buy or you can also make them using my recipes!

Changing up the filling

There are many fried wonton recipes, but if you look them up in the context of Thai cuisine, they're most likely going to be pork.You can also do a combination of pork and shrimp, which is quite common in Thailand as well. If you want to use chicken instead, just make sure you use ground chicken with some fat mixed in so you get a moist filling (or grind your own using thigh meat). Beef and other red meat fillings are not usually done in Thailand, and if you want to make something similar to the original, don't go with beef as beef has a strong flavour. This is not to say that it won't be good, but it will be significantly different from the classic version.

Tips for making wontons in advance

Fried wontons are perfect party food, but nobody wants to be wrapping wontons day of the party! Well the good news is you can wrap them the day before, and even upto 2 days as long as your pork was fresh. Wrap them well in the fridge, and comes time to serve you simply need to fry them, which takes a mere minute!

Can you freeze them?

Yes, you can also freeze these and fry them from frozen. The only thing to keep in mind is when wonton wrappers are frozen, especially thin ones like the one I like to use, they become super brittle and the edges will break off very easily. So be careful how you store them in the freezer. Place them carefully in a container, maybe add some bunched up paper towel in it to provide some cushioning. And don't toss the box around once they're frozen!

Fried Wonton Wrapping Tips

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5 Ways to Use Whole Grain Rice (Brown, Red & Black Rice)

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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As much as I LOVE a beautiful bowl of fragrant white rice, there's no denying that it isn't the healthiest option. Lucky for us Thailand grows many different types of whole grain rice, namely brown rice, red rice and black rice, also known as riceberry. In this video I share with you some of the ways you can incorporate these healthy whole grain rices into your recipes, beyond just steaming it up as a side dish!

For more information on different types of Thai rice, check out my special Thai Rice 101 series here!

1. Rice Salads

Rice salad, yes! If you’ve never used rice in a salad, well, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised. It is a thing we do in Thailand, and one of my favourite recipes is " Kao Yum " (or what I call rainbow rice salad) which is a classic southern Thai dish. Riceberry is perfect for something like that because it adds not only another colour, but also texture and a unique aroma. You can even make it into a "Laab ", which usually has all meat, and I would try adding a little riceberry into it.

And it doesn’t even have to be a Thai salad! The Italians do rice salads apparently, or you can try incorporating rice into something like a tabouleh.

My only advice for making a rice salad is to make sure the rice is not refrigerated. So think room temp or warm salads here. When you refrigerate rice the starch becomes hard and brittle, and really isn’t very good. It’s not like a pasta salad where you can completely chill the pasta and it’s still a pleasant texture.

2. Fried Rice:

Yes, you CAN make fried rice with whole grain rice. Not only that, it’s even easier to do so because whole grain rices are whole grain. This means each grain has a jacket of fiber all around it, preventing the rice from becoming clumpy. So rice grains separate beautifully in the wok and you never have to worry about clumpy fried rice, which is often an issue with white rice!

You can make fried rice with any of these whole grain rices, but I personally love using brown rice. This is because it’s mildest in flavour so you can still taste all the sauces and spices you add. If you use Thai jasmine brown rice, it's also more tender than any other kinds of brown rice so you will still get that wonderfully soft fluffy fried rice. Also it’s light in colour, so if you’re making something like a pineapple fried rice , the yellow iconic colour will still come through. And a green curry fried rice would still be green!

TIP: When cooking whole grain rice for fried rice, make sure you don’t undercook it. Make sure you cook it until the grain’s little bran jackets burst open, exposing the inside starchy bit because that's the part that will absorb the sauce.

3. Soups & Congee

In Canada people love making chicken and wild rice soup, beef and barley soup, or soups with lentils or grains in them. Any of the Thai whole grain rice would be perfect in those dishes. Having said that, this is something I love using Thai red rice for. This is because red rice is firmer and less starchy than the other colours, so it holds its shape really well in soups, and won't disintegrate or gum up your soup easily. Simply stir cooked red rice into soup at the end of the cooking process, let it simmer for a few minutes and you're done!

You can also do congee! Red rice makes the most beautiful congee (see video for how pretty it is!) and so does riceberry. But because it is not starchy at all, you’ll need to add a little bit of white rice to give it that creaminess to help it bind together. I usually do half and half, but you can get away with even just ¼ part white rice.

C heck out my recipe for riceberry congee here!

4. Sushi

Yes, you CAN make riceberry sushi! This really surprised me when I found out because I didn’t think it would be sticky enough, but turns out riceberry is quite sticky. However, the trick is that you have to make sure you cook it enough (I usually do 1 part rice to 2 parts water for this). You wanna make sure the grains really open up and release a lot of the starch, which is the glue that will bind the grains together. If you cook it JUST enough, and the grains haven't really burst and released the starch, you will have a hard time getting the grains to stick together.

You can season the rice as per your usual sushi recipe, and when you stir it you will notice that there's some purple goo sticking to the bottom of the bowl. That is a good thing. That tells you there's enough starch that's been released and your rice will stick well. You can also do a mix of riceberry and sushi rice too if you're afraid it won't be sticky enough. To do this, cook the 2 rices separately and stir them together after because they do not take the same amount of water.

5. Desserts

Finally, dessert! This is something I also love using riceberry for because it’s softer and has that beautiful aroma that works incredibly well in desserts. It is also visually striking, which is also a bonus for desserts. It makes a gorgeous rice pudding , whether Asian style or Western. Again for a little extra binding for that added creaminess, add a little bit of white rice in the mix, or you can add a little bit of cornstarch slurry to help it thicken. Serve it warm, and it’s such an easy, soul-satisfying dish.

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Chinese BBQ Pork Recipe - Char Siu หมูแดง

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 19:10:00 GMT

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Chinese BBQ pork is loved the world over, and it's not hard to make at home! With some key ingredients and a couple of techniques, it might even be better than buying, actually, it probably will be :). Once done, you can slice and have it wit rice, noodles, use it in a sandwich or a steamed bun. Or just have it straight up!

Choosing Pork for Char Siu

This is perhaps the most important step. Classically, Chinese BBQ pork uses pork butt, a.k.a. pork shoulder. It is a flavourful and fatty cut that is perfect for dry roasting application.

I go to the butcher and ask for a pork shoulder roast, something that is at least 5 inches long so you have a nice long-ish piece at the end. It'll be at least 4 lb, more than what you need for this recipe, but you can double the recipe or save the rest for pulled pork, a slow braised pork dish like adobo , or make Thai street-style grilled pork skewers . Oh, and make sure you get boneless roast so you don't have to debone it!

The only thing about pork butt is that it is a highly irregular piece of meat and it can be intimidating for some to deal with. The roast is made up of various different muscles that look (and taste) slightly different, which I think keeps it interesting. This is also why some pieces don't taste the same as others. It's also got lots of fat (yum) and some connective tissue running throughout the piece which means some parts are a bit chewier. The chewiness will be mitigated by slicing thinly when serving.

Despite its irregular shape, breaking it down is simple—you're literally just cutting it down into log-shaped pieces and don't let the connective tissue or fat get in your way. Cut right through them. Chinese BBQ pork is supposed to be rustic looking anyway!

How About Something Leaner?

Some people like to use pork loin or tenderloin as they are more "straightforward" cuts and they are leaner, not to mention easier to find. Are these okay to use?

Sure, you're the chef! But please remember that pork loin and tenderloin are extremely lean, and so if you overcook them they become dry very easily.

NOTE: I know I said the words only once cuz there are many to get through, but you can press the back arrow to replay the last 5 seconds to hear them again! Or on mobile, tap the left side of the screen twice to replay the last 10 seconds.

How do you say "vegetarian" in Thai? What about "I'm allergic to peanuts." Or "Not spicy" or just "Can I have some ice/coffee/beer"?

Thai food terms will help you not only in Thailand, but also when you read a Thai menu in Thai restaurants! Knowing these words will allow you to know about the dish based simply on the name.

Make sure you check out PART 1 of this series so you know the basics of Thai language before you dive into this one, it will help you with pronunciation and understanding. Also check out PART 2 where I teach you phrases for using in a restaurant , or when buying food from a street vendor.

Please see my Thai Language Basics video first and it'll make this lesson make more sense!

MEATS:

Chicken gai ไก่
Pork moo หมู
Beef neua เนื้อ
Duck bped เป็ด
Eggs kai ไข่

SEAFOOD:

Shrimp goong, gung, kung กุ้ง
Fish pla, bpla ปลา
Seafood ahaan talay อาหารทะเล (when used as a noun, as in "I want some seafood");
talay ทะเล (when used as an adjective, as in "seafood soup")
Squid pla meuk ปลาหมึก
Bivalve shellfish hoi หอย
(This is a general term for things like mussels, clams, oysters, scallops and cockles)

PLANTS:

Tofu taohu    เต้าหู้
Vegetables    pak    ผัก
Nuts tua ถั่ว
(can also refer to all legumes such as beans)
Peanuts tualisong    ถั่วลิสง
Cashews med mamuang himapan เ ม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์ (or just med mamuang for short)
Vegetarian mangsawirat มังสวิรัติ
(general term, some people who eat mangsawirat eat eggs, some eat dairy, some are basically vegan, so the term itself isn't specific, but there will definitely be no meat if you get something that is mangsawirat)
Vegan    Jay    เจ
(this doesn't actually mean vegan, it's a specific way of eating that means no animal products and also pungent herbs like garlic, onion or chives. But if you're very concerned and want to make sure there is absolutely nothing in there that might be animal based, this might be a good term to use.)

COOKING METHODS (TYPES OF DISH):

Stir-Fry    Pad    ผัด
Soup Tom    ต้ม
Curry    G aeng    แกง
Steamed    Neung นึ่ง
Deep fried Tod ทอด
Grilled (big pieces of meat) Yang    ย่าง
Grilled (skewers or smaller things like bananas)    Ping ปิ้ง

SPICY TERMS:

Chilies    prik พริก
Spicy ped เผ็ด
Very spicy ped ped เผ็ดๆ or ped mak เผ็ดมาก
A little bit spicy ped nid noi    เผ็ดนิดหน่อย
Not spicy   mai ped    ไม่เผ็ด

DRINKS:

Water    nam plao    นำ้เปล่า
Ice    nam kang นำ้แข็ง
Coffee gafae    กาแฟ
Tea    Cha/nam cha ชา / นำ้ชา
Iced drinks Y en    เย็น
(so gafae yen is iced coffee)
Hot    Ron ร้อน
Beer Bia เบียร์

OTHER USEFUL TERMS:

To ask for something Kaw ขอ
Sentence structure: Kaw [the thing you're asking for] [polite suffix]
E.g. Kaw nam plao ka (can I have a water please); or add an amount Kaw nam kang 3 krub (3 glasses of ice please)
You can also use the same word to request your dish to be made in a specific way
E.g. Kaw ped ped ka (make it very spicy please)

Please don’t add Mai sai ไม่ใส่
Sentence structure: Mai sai [the thing you don't want] [polite suffix]
E.g. Mai sai kai krub (no eggs please), mai sai prik ka (no chilies please)

Allergic pae แพ้

I am allergic to ...
chun pae ฉันแพ้ ... (female speaker)
pom pae ผมแพ้ ... (male speaker)

**If you want a Thai writing that says "I'm allergic to _____" so you can show people in Thailand, feel free to copy/paste the above "I'm allergic to" followed by any of the food items listed here.

I'm allergic to nuts
Chun pae tua ฉันแพ้ถั่ว (female)
Pom pae tua ผมแพ้ถั่ว (male)

I'm allergic to shrimp
Chun pae goong ฉันแพ้กุ้ง
Pom pae goong ผมแพ้กุ้ง

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The post Thai Language Lesson - Food Words appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry (Gai Pad King) ไก่ผัดขิง

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This classic recipe is one of my childhood favourites, and I continue to love it just as much today. This easy stir-fry of chicken, mushrooms and tons of ginger, with its unique sauce, has a flavour unlike any other stir-fries in the repertoire of Thai cuisine. Your kids will love it, and YOU will love it too! In this video I give ways to make it spicier for grown ups, and also ways to modify it for kids ��

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry (Gai Pad King) ไก่ผัดขิง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Classic Pad Thai Recipe ผัดไทย

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 18:03:00 GMT

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Do You Know the Real Pad Thai?

In North America, every Thai restaurant has Pad Thai, and most people think they know what it is. But the truth is that there is so much Westernized Pad Thai out there that I bet few people actually know what real Pad Thai, like ones we have in Thailand, actually tastes like! Well, take it from a Thai person (me), it's supposed to taste like this recipe. Yes, there are many variations of pad thai out there in Thailand, so of course this isn't the only way to do it, but if you want to get to know the basic, original, classic flavour, this is the one.

Why is it not orange?

When I worked as a chef, I had Pad Thai on the menu. A customer called me out one day and asked, "Why is your Pad Thai not orange?" She was clearly disappointed. I explained to her that classic Pad Thai in Thailand is not orange, and that most of the orange Pad Thai in the US has been made that way so that the colour would be more appealing to customers. Some places use ketchup for the colour, others use paprika. Neither of these are Thai ingredients, needless to say. She didn't look convinced, but there was nothing more I could've said.

But there is orange, authentic Pad Thai.

It's just not the "classic" version. As I mentioned, there are many, many variations of pad thai in Thailand, and some are indeed orange. In fact, one of the most famous Pad Thai vendors in Bangkok makes theirs bright orange! That colour, however, comes from shrimp tomalley, not ketchup or paprika. Though popular, it is not considered the classic or original version. Amongst Thai people we call it shrimp tomalley pad thai or "Pad Thai Mun Goong."

If you want to try some an orange, but still authentic Pad Thai, check out my Pad Thai Variation recipe here!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Classic Pad Thai Recipe ผัดไทย appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

HTK Merch - Shirts & Aprons!

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 18:18:00 GMT

The official Hot Thai Kitchen merch store has launched with fun t-shirts and aprons! Check out the store here!

Some Details:

For other ways to support the show, consider becoming a Patreon supporter and gain access to exclusive content and other perks!

The post HTK Merch - Shirts & Aprons! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Shaking Beef (Bo Luc Lac)

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Beef lovers, this one's for you! Intensely beefy and full of flavour, this dish looks super premium but it is so easy and quick to put together that you can easily have this on a weeknight! A classic Vietnamese dish that really highlights the flavour and texture of beef, so make sure you use a cut that is flavourful and tender. Rule of thumb for choosing the right cut for this is to choose whatever cut you like to have as a steak. Essentially, these are little steak cubes!

I'm using tomatoes to provide some colour and acidity, but you can do red or orange bell pepper as well. If you prefer the vegetables more cooked, cook the vegetables first, remove, and then add it back in when the steak it done.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Shaking Beef (Bo Luc Lac) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Coffee & Cream Agar Jelly

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This is an easy, no bake, coffee dessert recipe that is a showstopper! Agar agar jelly is used instead of gelatin, which makes it vegetarian, or vegan if you only use coconut milk. Watch the video to see how simple it actually is to make this beauty! #coffeedessert #vegan #coffeejelly #agaragar #nobake

Agar agar jelly is a popular dessert in Thailand because it's so hot all the time! It's light, refreshing and delicious. This latest addition to my agar jelly recipe collection is quite different because of the robust Thai coffee flavour, perfect for all coffee lovers out there!

Making a big jelly with several layers like what I have here takes a while because you have to wait for each layer to set, so if you don't have much time, make your jelly in smaller molds so you don't have to wait so long. Any size cups work will work, any jello molds, animal shapes, flower shapes any shapes you want will work for this recipe!

Agar agar is made from seaweed so it's a great vegetarian or vegan alternative to gelatin! However, the texture between the two is quite different, agar agar doesn't melt in your mouth like gelatin does, and it's not jiggly and wobbly. It's firmer and crumbles in your mouth, but still really refreshing!

Also Watch: Agar Jelly Fruit Cake

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The post Coffee & Cream Agar Jelly appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

10 Cuisines in 1 Day - Food Judging at the Heritage Festival

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 13:00:00 GMT

I am back at my favourite summer event ever: Edmonton Heritage Festival! This event is the only time I can try food from over 70 countries all in one place, including cuisines I would not have a chance to try otherwise! It is such an incredibly unique opportunity.

My job here is to judge who's got the best food at the festival, and I'm so excited to be able to share this experience with you!

Edmonton Heritage Festival is the world's biggest multicultural festival, celebrating the diversity of people that we have here in Canada. It welcomes over 400,000 visitors over 3 days, and it's been going on for over 45 years! There's arts and crafts, performances, and of course tons and tons of delicious FOOD!

Also Watch: Food Judging at Heritage Fest 2017

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Finger Dining & Royal Thai Cuisine in Bangkok

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 02:36:00 GMT

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In this video I visit a friend's restaurant, and a very unique dining experience in Bangkok! Ruen Mallika, located in Sukhumvit Soi 22, is a Thai restaurant that serves "royal Thai cuisine" with elaborately decorated food fit for royals! What's more is you can even rent a Thai outfit and order from the "finger dining menu" to get the full experience. The building is actually an old traditional Thai wooden house that is over 200 years old!

This isn't some gimmicky, touristy stuff though. The food is legitimately delicious and well executed. This restaurant is recommended by the Michelin Guide, and its sister restaurant (the regular, non-royal version of this place) has been my family's regular place for years. The price is reasonable, it's not cheap but definitely not super expensive, about standard for this "class" of restaurant in Bangkok. The portion sizes are generous (which is not the case for many BBK restaurants) so I think it's a good deal.

Ruen Mallika Restaurant เรือนมัลลิการ์
189 Soi Sukhumvit 22, Sukhumvit Rd.
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel : +662 663 3211,084-088-3755

Note: The cost to rent the Thai outfits is 500 baht each at the time of this filming.

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Mapo Tofu

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This is easily my favourite Chinese recipe. Soft, silky tofu in a rich, spicy, flavourful meat sauce...it's always a crowd pleaser. There are a few ingredients to get to know if you haven't had much experience with Chinese cooking, but the process is really straight forward and can be a relatively quick dinner. It also keeps well, so make lots and have extra for lunch the next day!

Ingredients & Kitchen Tools I Use

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The post Mapo Tofu appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Vegan Noodle Stir-Fry - Grandma's Signature

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Pad mee sua, also known as pad mee tiew, is a very popular vegan noodle dish during the vegan eating festival in Thailand. My grandmother happens to love making this delicious and simple noodle stir-fry, and it has become her signature dish that I must have every time I come home! They're so satisfying and addictive! She usually puts pork in it, but I've chosen to make it vegetarian and so I'm using pressed marinated tofu which is delicious in this dish. You can absolutely use chicken, shrimp, beef, or no protein at all.

In Thailand this dish uses a special type of noodles that we call "mee tiew" or "mee sua", but here I've discovered that you can substitute Chinese wheat, no-egg noodles that are similar in shape/size. Mine says "chow mein" on the package, but I find sometimes other chow mein noodles contain eggs. A note of caution, I've found that some noodles are only good for soup and do not hold up well for stir-frying, so when buying I would make sure the instructions on the back do say it is appropriate for stir-fry.

Also Watch: Vegan Pad Thai (Pad Mee Korat)

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The post Vegan Noodle Stir-Fry - Grandma's Signature appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How Coconut Milk is Made - From Farm to Cans! Mini Documentary

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This video was the most fun shoot I've ever been on! My brother Art (who's the camera man) and I went on an adventure to find out how coconut milk is made in Thailand, all the way from how the coconuts are grown to how they package it into the cans that you buy half way across the world. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it, and I hope the information is interesting!

Special thanks to the Thai Trade Centre Vancouver for sponsoring this video and making all the arrangements for this trip. And thanks also to my brother for the great camera work through Thailand's summer heat!

MORE THAILAND FOOD DOCUMENTARIES:
How Rice Noodles Are Made
How Jasmine Rice is Grown

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The post How Coconut Milk is Made - From Farm to Cans! Mini Documentary appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How Rice Noodles Are Made

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 21:10:00 GMT

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An HTK SPECIAL!! How did those rice noodles you eat in Pad Thai end up on your store shelves? And what kinds of noodles are there in Thailand anyway? In this episode we will answer these questions about rice noodles and more.

First, I take you to Thailand's noodle capital, Baan Pong in the province of Ratchaburi, to give you some Thai noodles 101, then we look at how a typical bowl of Thai noodles are made, and finally we visit a noodle factory to see how they make the ever popular pad thai noodles! It was an incredible learning experience for me, I hope you enjoy it!

A special thanks to the Thai Trade Centre Vancouver for sponsoring this video!

ALSO WATCH: JASMINE RICE MINI DOCUMENTARY https://youtu.be/uE505VKBx2Y

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Malaysian/Indonesian Beef Rendang

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Voted the most delicious food in the world, this Indonesian/Malaysian beef curry is one of the most complex flavoured dishes I've ever made. Herbs, spices and coconut milk are slowly cooked and reduced into a thick flavourful sauce that coats the fork tender beef.

It's a dish that takes patience, but it's quite easy and is well worth every minute spent. Beef is my favourite but you can also try making chicken rendang, using bone-in dark meat chicken.

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The post Malaysian/Indonesian Beef Rendang appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Language Lesson - Restaurant Phrases

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Now that you know the basics of Thai language from Episode 1 (and check it out if you haven't seen it!), time to step it up a notch! In this video I teach you phrases that would be useful in a restaurant setting, or when buying food from a street vendor. This is a pretty important set of phrases because eating is probably the most important thing you'll do in Thailand, right??

Next up in the series we will go over some basic food terms so that at the very least you will recognize when someone says they're serving you "chicken" or "pork". Let me know if you have suggestions on other videos around Thai language and culture!

But first, some ground rules:

I explained this in detail in my Thai Language Basics video so make sure you check that out and it'll make this lesson easier!

How many people in the party? Gee taan ka/krub .
Instead of taan you might also hear them use the words kon or tee which all mean the same thing.

Getting the server's attention:
Kaw toad ka/krub = I'm sorry / excuse me
Nong ka/krub = Calling a younger server
Pee ka/krub = Calling an older server '

I'd like to order my food please : Sung ahaan noi ka/krub.

Where is the bathroom? Hong naam yoo nai ka/krub

The bill please: Check bin noi ka/krub

How much? Tao rai ka/krub

How much is this one? Un nee tao rai ka/krub

What is this? Un nee arai ka/krub

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There will be a whole series of Thai lesson videos coming up, so this first one goes over all the basics, and the next couple will tackle words and phrases that are useful when eating around Thailand. Let me know if you have suggestions on other videos around Thai language and culture!

Here are all the words and phrases I went over in the video

But first, some ground rules:

Hello/goodbye: Sawaddee ka/krub
Note: You might have seen goodbye translated as "la gorn" but that word is used more in written language and is not used in everyday speaking. It's literally like saying "goodbye" in English, when was the last time you used that when talking to someone!

Thank you : Kob kun ka/krub

Okay, I'm gonna stop writing out ka/krub on every phrase from this point onward, so just mentally add them ��

I'm sorry/excuse me : Kaw toad

It's okay/don't worry/no problem : Mai pen rai

How are you? (Literally, "Are you well?"): Sabai dee mai

I'm fine : Sabai dee

I = Pom (male), Chun (female)

You = Kun

What's your name? = Kun cheu arai

My name is .... = Chun/pom cheu [your name]

I'm not Thai = Chun/pom mai chai kon thai

Yes = Chai; No = Mai chai (literally "not yes").
Note: these are only applicable for is/am/are questions, such as "Are you from Canada?" or "Your hotel is on Silom road, is that right?" So essentially "chai" is a way to say "correct" or "right". When people ask do/did/done questions, as in "Did you eat yet?", we don't answer with a yes/no, but instead we state the answer in a complete sentence, i.e. "I ate already". Or if someone says, "Do you want this?" We would reply "I want." But as a tourist, chai/mai chai is generally useful enough to get you by.

Do you understand? = Kao jai mai

Please = There is no Thai equivalent for please! So simply add ka/krub to your sentences to be polite ��

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The post Thai Language Lesson for Travelers - The Basics - Ep.1 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Chicken Potato Soup ชุปไก่มันฝรั่ง

Fri, 08 Jun 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This dish was a regular in our household growing up, particularly because it was my brother Eddy's favourite! It's a very comforting soup that may not sound particularly Thai, but my theory is that it started out as Thai people's attempt to make a Western-style dish using ingredients that are available to us, and because it's so simple and delicious, it became a regular in many families in Thailand!

Wondering what to do with the flats of your chicken wings? Try these 3-Ingredient Fish Sauce Fried Wings!

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The post Thai Chicken Potato Soup ชุปไก่มันฝรั่ง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Fish Sauce Wings - 3 Ingredients Only!

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Next time you have a steak dinner, make some extra steaks and you can have this scrumptious and nutritious Thai meal in a snap later in the week. A pre-cooked steak is super versatile and can turn into many delicious dishes! This video is sponsored by thinkbeef.ca who reached out to me for a Thai meal idea that uses a cooked steak. It didn't take me long to think of a dish for that request—this dish came to mind instantly as soon as I heard "steak"!

BONUS CONTENT! In addition to the recipe, in this video I also got to interview a registered dietitian, Carol Harrison RD, to ask her some questions around the nutrition of red meat. If you want to get in touch with her, she's on Twitter @greatmealideas, or find her at yummylunchclub.ca

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The post Black Pepper Beef Stir-Fry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Singaporean Laksa - Seafood Curry Noodle Soup

Fri, 11 May 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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After a trip to Singapore a couple of years ago, I fell in love with their laksa! Singaporean laksa uses a coconut curry broth that is complex, fragrant, and just the right amount of richness. Seafood stock is the base of the broth, and the flavour the comes through is every seafood lover's dream. You might be tempted to skip the clams but trust me...the clams make a huge difference in the flavour of the broth.

There are many types of laksa across Malaysia and Singapore, but this version enriched with coconut milk is the one common in Singapore and is also known as laksa lemak, peranakan laksa, or nyonya laksa.

ADVANCE COOKING TIPS: It's a bit of work to get all the stuff together, as is often the case for noodle soups, but you can make many components in advance and spread out the work. You can freeze the paste, so not a bad idea to make some extra. The broth can be made days in advance, and even the noodles can be cooked in advance. If you're going to make the broth ahead of time, make sure you cook off your clams and shrimp as well since raw seafood doesn't last long, but cooked seafood can last up to a week in the fridge.

Ingredients & Kitchen Tools I Use

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The post Singaporean Laksa - Seafood Curry Noodle Soup appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Fruit Dip (Nam Pla Waan) นำ้ปลาหวาน

Fri, 04 May 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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Sour fruits are no longer a bummer, but an opportunity to dip them in this sweet, salt, umami dipping sauce! In Thailand, we make this simple dipping sauce specifically for tart green mangoes, but it also works well with any tart, firm fruit you might have. Green apples, underripe strawberries, dry tart pineapple...you name it!

If you're weirded out by the combination of fish sauce and fruit, I get it, Adam my camera man was very suspicious of it in the beginning too. But watch the video to the end and you'll see his reaction—he was pleasantly surprised, and I think you will be too! In fact, many other countries in South East Asia have some version of this funky sweet dip for fruits, that's how good it is!

It's very easy and it will last in your fridge for months, so you can keep it for any time you need ��

P.S. When in Thailand you can buy nam pla waan already made in a jar in the supermarket, or find them sold with fresh green mangoes in outdoor markets

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Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Yellow Curry ดอกกะหล่ำผัดแกงกะหรี่

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This flavour-packed recipe is delicious as vegetable side dish, but it's also robust enough to be a vegetarian entree! Cauliflower is seared to develop a more intense flavour, then stir-fried a curry paste that is the most perfect flavour match with this healthy vegetable. Tart tomatoes offer pops of brightness...it's really a stunning dish that is incredible quick and easy to make. A "cauliflower stir-fry" may not be the most exciting sounding dish, but trust me, this is on another level!

The searing step might seem like extra work you are tempted to skip, but that is the step that makes all the difference. When you sear the vegetable you brown it which means you're developing bold, intense flavour. AND you're also drying it out of its liquid which means you're concentrating the natural flavours. If you throw them into the wok 1) they'll take way longer to cook in the wok, so you're not really saving that much time, and 2) you'll be eating an equivalent of boiled cauliflower by the time it's done in terms of textture, so it's not gonna be nearly as good.

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Easy Sweet Potato Doughnuts ขนมไข่เต่า ไข่นกกระทา

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 13:00:00 GMT

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This popular street food is also the easiest doughnut recipe ever! (Or more like doughnut holes?) No yeast, no kneading, no proofing, yet they still have that yummy chewiness and airiness we all love in doughnuts. Sweet potato makes up the majority of the dough, so not only does that make it flavourful, it's even healthier! As healthy as doughnuts could ever be anyway ��

You can use any kind of sweet potato you like (or even mix in some taro) as long as they're not the orange-flesh ones often referred to as "garnet yams" or "jewel yams" because they are too wet. If you can get the really dark purple sweet potatoes, they make the most beautiful purple doughnuts!

Make sure you eat this while they're fresh as they don't keep well. The dough can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a few days, so you can fry up only as much as you can eat in 1 sitting. Warning, they are absolutely addictive!

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Gaeng Hung Lay is one of the most iconic dishes of Northern Thailand, and arguably one of the tastiest! Pork belly and pork ribs are slowly stewed in a WHOLE bunch of herbs and spices. The result is tender fatty pieces of pork that has been entirely permeated by the rich and aromatic sauce. It is a dish to impress, and though it takes time, most of the process is hands-off!

This dish came to Northern Thailand via Myanmar, which in turn has a lot of Indian influences on their cuisine. This is why there are a lot of spices in this recipe, and why you can use Indian garam masala which you can buy from Indian grocery stores instead of making your own hung lay curry powder.

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The post Gaeng Hung Lay - Northern Pork Belly Curry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Okonomiyaki

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 14:00:00 GMT

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Following up on my previous episode where I showed you how to make a beautiful roast beef ( link to that video here ), here's a classic Thai beef noodle soup that is the perfect way to use up any leftovers!

Noodle soups are a great way to use leftovers from the holiday table because you don't even need to worry about reheating the meat, it'll heat up perfectly in the hot broth. And it's just so nice to have a pot of steaming broth in the kitchen when it's cold this time of year!

Don't have any leftover roast beef? No problem! Making the beef from scratch is pretty easy, and I include instructions in the written recipe as well.

The post Shakshuka - Eggs Poached in Spiced Tomato Sauce appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Holiday Gift Guide For Foodies!

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 14:00:00 GMT

The holiday season is coming up, so I thought I would make a gift guide for all the foodies in your life! These are items that I either received as gifts and liked, items that are on my wishlist, or just things that I think are generally cool and would make great gifts!

A few more ideas in my "Top 5 Small Kitchen Tools" video: https://youtu.be/TyNSwnPl5ns

See the Full List of Gifts Here: https://kit.co/hotthaikitchen/gift-guide-for-foodies

Cookbooks on My Shelf: https://kit.co/hotthaikitchen/cookbooks-on-my-shelf

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Vegan Red Curry แกงเผ็ดมังสวิรัติ

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 14:00:00 GMT

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Don't just make a vegan curry, make an AWESOME vegan curry! In this video I share with you my tricks and tips on how to maximize the umami in red curry without a drop of fish sauce!

You all know I love my meat and fish sauce, but I absolutely LOVED this curry and I did not miss the meat at all, and it's because of the little decisions you make along the way, and also one secret ingredient!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Vegan Red Curry แกงเผ็ดมังสวิรัติ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Coconut Rice Pudding w/ Longans ข้าวเหนียวเปียกลำไย

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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There are many types of rice puddings in the Thai dessert repertoire, but this one is an absolute classic. Longan is a juicy, sweet, aromatic fruit that goes so well with the rice pudding. It's a comforting, satisfying, ward dessert that is also a ridiculously easy recipe that you really cannot screw up. It is also gluten-free and vegan ��

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Spicy Omelette Salad ลาบไข่เจียว

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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An egg salad like you've never seen before! This omelette salad or "laab kai jiew" is something we made at home one day because we didn't have any meat ready, but eggs are always something we have in the fridge, so we tried something different and it turned out to be delicious! Laab is a salad from northeastern Thailand normally made of ground meat, but Thai omelette works really well instead of meat and it's very unique too! I lightened the salad a bit with some crunchy cucumber, and loaded it full of fresh herbs. Yummy, healthy, gluten-free and so easy!

For more on the "premium" fish sauce I used: WATCH THE FISH SAUCE 101 VIDEO

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The post Spicy Omelette Salad ลาบไข่เจียว appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Pancit Canton - Filipino Egg Noodle Stir-Fry

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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Pancit Canton or literally translated as "cantonese noodles" is the Filipino interpretation of Chinese stir-fried noodles. This comfort food is wildly popular and is really easy and quick to make at home. The secret is in getting good noodles and Chinese sausage (lap cheong), and if you can find a calamansi, squeeze some juice on top at the end for a bright citrus finish!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Pancit Canton - Filipino Egg Noodle Stir-Fry appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ultimate Guide to FISH SAUCE + Tasting!

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 10:00:00 GMT

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Yup, I tasted fish sauce straight up, just for you ��

Fish sauce is my favourite seasoning in the kitchen, and arguably the most important ingredient in a Thai kitchen. It is used in almost all of my recipes, it is indeed our equivalent of salt in the Western kitchen.

But there are some common questions I get about fish sauce:

The video below answers ALL of these questions, plus a live tasting of different brands of fish sauce at various price points. But if you can't watch right now, here's a brief overview:

Frequently Asked Questions About Fish Sauce

Watch The Full Video!

This video goes into much more depth about fish sauce, AND the most important part is I go through in depth review of various brands that are available on the market at different price points. If you like my videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel !

"Sai Ua" Northern Thai Sausage ไส้อั่ว

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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An iconic dish of Northern Thailand, "sai ua" is one of the most flavourful sausages I can think of. The pork is mixed with an aromatic curry paste, grilled, then served with sticky rice and fresh veggies. Yum!

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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Don't let the amount of vegetables in this popular street food throw you off. I didn't love vegetables as a kid and I would devour these every time. Garlic chives become so tender they almost melt in your mouth, and with the soft & chewy dough that is crispy on the outside...and the sweet & sour dipping sauce...oh man...these are a MUST try.

They are also perfect make-ahead appetizers. You can make the dumplings and keep them in your fridge, and fry them up when ready to eat. The dipping sauce will also last you a long time in the fridge as well.

There are two types of kanom guichai: the stuffed version, which is much harder, and these fried ones, which are much easier and quicker to prepare, and IMO they're just as delicious if not more because they are crispy! Oh yeah, and it happens to be gluten-free and vegan and all that good stuff ��

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Crispy Garlic Chive Dumplings (Guichai Tod) กุยช่ายทอด appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Lemongrass: Everything You Need to Know

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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Lemongrass is absolute staple in Thai cuisine, so I made a video to hopefully answer all your questions about it! Here you'll find info on everything from what it is, how to use it, how to store it and what your options are if you cannot find fresh lemongrass.

Watch The Full Video!

The post Lemongrass: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Sukiyaki Soup (Suki Nam) สุกี้นำ้

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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"Sukiyaki" is a Japanese hotpot, but Thai people have taken the idea and created our own version of this hotpot with a bold flavoured sauce that better matches our palates. Not only that, we have created 3 different ways you can have sukiyaki (or just "suki" as we call it in Thailand)!

In this video I show you "suki nam" which is the kind of suki we have most often at our home. "Suki nam" is basically taking all the ingredients of the hot pot, and rather than the table-top cooking, we turn them into ready-to-eat individual bowls of noodle soup. A lazy man/woman hot pot is what I like to call it! The key is in the sauce whose flavour is so unique I cannot compare it to any other food. The only way to experience it is to try!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai Sukiyaki Soup (Suki Nam) สุกี้นำ้ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Kua Gling - Southern Pork Stir-Fry w/ Curry Paste คั่วกลิ้ง

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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This dish is an absolute classic southern Thai food. Ground pork, or any other ground meat, or even crumbled tofu, is stir-fried with southern curry paste laced with turmeric. It's spicy, it's super flavourful, and it's versatile! We toss it with some jasmine rice, but you can put it in an omelette or perhaps...a taco? Oh and it's also gluten-free and can be made vegan if you substitute crumbled firm tofu or TVP (detailed vegan substitutions below).

In Thailand, this dish is often way too spicy for me to enjoy (southern food is often super spicy), so I gotta make it myself so I can make it just right for me!

The post The Best Beef & Broccoli เนื้อผัดบรอคโคลี่ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Hokkaido Milk Bread (Soft, Fluffy Asian Bread)

Tue, 29 Aug 2017 13:00:00 GMT

Massaman curry has been a classic recipe on HTK and a favourite of so many, and now you can make the curry entirely from scratch! In this video I also show you my new favourite technique/tools for making curry paste WITHOUT a mortar and pestle—the immersion blender! It makes a perfect consistency paste without needing to add any extra liquid. If you make a lot of curry paste, it will come in super handy! It's also great for soups and smoothies as well.

My Curry Recipes Playlist

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Massaman Curry Paste Recipe พริกแกงมัสมั่น appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Food Judging at World's Biggest Cultural Festival!

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 17:56:00 GMT

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I was so fortunate and honoured to be a guest FOOD JUDGE at the Edmonton Heritage Festival 2017! Watch the video to find out who won! The work entailed driving around in a golf cart eating food from all over the world...so awesome. This is the world's biggest multicultural festival celebrating food, art and culture with over 100 different cultures!

I think it's an event worth traveling to if you live in Canada or the US, and here are some useful info:

Our fellow food judges: Hana Etsuko Dethlefsen and Natalia Machado, my co-hosts on the Canadian TV show One World Kitchen. Phil Wilson the most well known food blogger in Edmonton! Find him at baconhound.com. Canadian minister of infrastructure and communities, Amarjeet Sohi and his wife Sarbjeet. Andrew Knack, Edmonton city counsellor.

Special Thanks to the Heritage Festival Association for the invitation and a warm welcome!

Watch The Full Video!

The post Food Judging at World's Biggest Cultural Festival! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Toasted Coconut Cold Brew (Starbucks Copycat Recipe!)

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 18:57:00 GMT

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Coffee and coconut are two flavours that go together like peas in a pod, and I know this because we use this combo in a Thai dessert, too. So when Starbucks came out with a "toasted coconut cold brew coffee" I really wanted to try it. My conclusion after tasting it: I can make a better one at home! ��

So I went home and got busy, and came up with this delicious recipe that is just the right amount of creamy, nutty, and refreshing. And you can prep all the ingredients in advance, and put it together in a matter of seconds!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Toasted Coconut Cold Brew (Starbucks Copycat Recipe!) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Glass Noodle Stir-Fry Recipe Hainanese Style ผัดวุ้นเส้นไหหลำ

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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Pad Woon Sen or glass noodle stir-fry is a well-known Thai dish, but this version is lesser known. However, it is the one we make most often at home because it comes from Hainan, my grandma's birthplace! This is one of her signature dishes, and a dish she makes every time I come home to visit. Makes me so happy to know that her recipe will now live on!

My Grandmother's Recipes Playlist http://buff.ly/2vpVq5C

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Glass Noodle Stir-Fry Recipe Hainanese Style ผัดวุ้นเส้นไหหลำ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

LIVE Tour of the Vancouver Thai Fest!

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 00:50:00 GMT

Join me for a brief LIVE tour of the Thai Festival in Vancouver! This event happens every year, usually at the Art Gallery downtown. Food, ingredients, traditional music, performances, fruit carving, it's a great way to spend a beautiful day on the weekend!

Chili Garlic Tofu Bites เต้าหู้ผัดพริกเกลือ

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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These addictive little munchies are my newest obsession! Think the satisfaction of potato chips crossed with soft silky tofu...crossed once more time with fried garlic, with a kick of chilies. Worth every effort. Perfect vegetarian appetizer for any party!

DIM SUM VLOG: The original inspiration for this recipe http://buff.ly/2tLUyIT

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Chili Garlic Tofu Bites เต้าหู้ผัดพริกเกลือ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Indian Eggplant Curry (Baingan Bharta)

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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Whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, this dish is always on my table. This easy eggplant "curry" has a soft, luscious texture that works well as a dip for bread or poured over rice. Iconic aromas of Indian spices blooms from it, with a little kick of heat to wake up your taste buds! It is also vegetarian and vegan friendly, AND it is gluten-free!

Tip: If possible, plan ahead and make the dish in advance so it can have a chance to sit, allowing flavours to mingle and develop further. Even 30 minutes of this “sitting” will help! You can also roast the eggplant up to a few days in advance, scoop out the flesh and keep it in the fridge until ready to use.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Indian Eggplant Curry (Baingan Bharta) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai BBQ Pork Jowl คอหมูย่าง นำ้จิ้มแจ่ว

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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When is comes to barbecuing, this recipe is an absolute classic. Pork jowl is a cut that is greatly underappreciated in North America. It is a flat, grill-friendly piece of pork that is incredibly flavourful because of the fat that runs through the meat. You can find this dish at restaurants that specialize in Isaan or northeastern Thai food, and serve this with some papaya salad and sticky rice and you're in heaven! You can also turn this pork into a "nam tok" salad.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai BBQ Pork Jowl คอหมูย่าง นำ้จิ้มแจ่ว appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Grandma's Twice Cooked Chicken ไก่เค็ม

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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This is not only one of my absolute favourite chicken dishes, it's also one of the most meaningful. It is something my grandmother makes for me every time i come home to Thailand! Usually the chicken she uses is the leftover from Hainanese Chicken Rice , but you can make it directly by simply poaching up some chicken first �� OR actually, you should intentionally too much hainanese chicken rice, and get 2 epic meals out of it!

The chicken is twice cooked, and tossed with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and palm sugar for a sweet-salty-umami flavour that is unparallelled simplicity. The kids will love it, and for the adults, make the spicy-tart dipping sauce and it's a flavour explosion in your mouth! Poach the chicken in advance, keep it in the fridge, and dinner will be ready in just a few minutes!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Grandma's Twice Cooked Chicken ไก่เค็ม appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Mini Documentary: From Rice Paddy to Table

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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What an INCREDIBLE experience! I got a chance to go to Thailand to look at the journey that Thai jasmine rice takes before it ends up on your store shelves, and I am so excited to share it with you!

I have cooked and eaten thousands of bowls of rice in my life, which is truly a lifeblood of Thai people, yet I had so little idea about how it ends up on my table. I hope you will enjoy and learn a lot from this fascinating trip with me!

Big thanks to the Thai Trade Center Vancouver for sponsoring this trip!

MORE VIDEOS FROM THAILAND

Support Hot Thai Kitchen

Watch The Full Video!

The post Mini Documentary: From Rice Paddy to Table appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Durian and Sticky Rice ข้าวเหนียวทุเรียน

Please do yourself a favour, watch this "Recipe Footnote" video before you make this. It will tackle common problems people have, one of which might actually ruin the recipe if you're not aware of it.

Trust me, I've received many many questions about agar jelly desserts over the years, and without fail, people who come to me would've not had these issues had they watched the footnote video. It seems like a simple dessert but there are a few tricks that you need to know to ensure you will not fail!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success. If you enjoy them, consider subscribing to the YouTube Channel to not miss an episode. Thank you!

If you prefer, you can also watch the video on YouTube .

The post Agar Jelly Fruit Cake เค้กวุ้นผลไม้ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Fish Cakes (Tod Mun Pla) ทอดมันปลา

Fri, 26 May 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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A classic recipe, these red-curry-flavoured fish cakes can be found everywhere in Thailand. The preparation is really simple; the hardest part is getting the right fish. Go with something tender and you'll be fine, because the firmer the fish, the firmer the fish cakes, and I personally prefer them on the softer side. I'm using basa and it worked out great. If the fish you have access to is a bit too firm, try adding 1-2 more egg yolks to help tenderize the mix a bit.

The dipping sauce is similar to the "sweet chili sauce" that you can find on many grocery store shelves, and you can use that as a base if you're feeling lazy, but it really makes a difference if you make it!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai Fish Cakes (Tod Mun Pla) ทอดมันปลา appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ancient Cookbook Recipe Experiment! - Galloping Horses ม้าฮ่อ

Fri, 19 May 2017 13:00:00 GMT

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This recipe is an a bit of an exploration into Thai history! Here's the story: A lovely HTK fan recently sent me a copy of a very special Thai cookbook: The very first Thai cookbook to ever be written in English! The book is titled "Everyday Siamese Cooking" by Sibpan Sonakul, who is the granddaughter of King Rama IV. What's even more special is that the photos in the book were taken by King Rama 9, our beloved king who recently passed away in October of 2016.

So, I wanted to cook a recipe from this book, and I wanted to do it "live" along with you guys! So in this video, it is the very first time I'm making this recipe! And it's so fun and so interesting! This gorgeous dish is called "Ma Haw" or translated as "galloping horses", and it is a bite-size appetizer of various fruits, topped with a sweet-savoury pork and peanut filling.

Here's the recipe as written in the book, and I have made my notes on it as well in case you want to try making it!

From "Everyday Siamese Cooking" by Sibpan Sonakul

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Ancient Cookbook Recipe Experiment! - Galloping Horses ม้าฮ่อ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Healthy Yummy Green Muffins!

Tue, 16 May 2017 13:00:00 GMT

These green muffins are moist, tender, healthy and super yummy! Packed full of spinach and nutritious wheat germ, but you'd never know it with the yummy pecans, bananas and dried cherries going on! A great way to get kids to eat more greens by turning them into cool looking muffins!

Storage/Advanced cooking tip: These are perfect for a packed lunch, grab-and-go breakfast, or an afternoon snack, but you gotta store them right so they'll last you a long time. If you keep them in the fridge they will stale and dry out quickly, but they will not dry out in the freezer (or at least not for a long time!). So, I recommend freezing these in a freezer bag, not sandwich bags, and reheat in the microwave for just 20-30 seconds when ready to eat. If you want to freeze them for a LONG time, say a few months, wrap them first in foil before putting them in the freezer bag and they will not get freezer burned as quickly.

The post Healthy Yummy Green Muffins! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Duck Noodle Soup Recipe บะหมี่เป็ดตุ๋น

Fri, 12 May 2017 22:24:00 GMT

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Here's a recipe for a popular Thai street food that you can easily make at home. The soup is flavoured with aromatic 5-spice mix, and the duck is flavourful and tender. Another great recipe to make once you know how to make Thai-style chicken stock !

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai Duck Noodle Soup Recipe บะหมี่เป็ดตุ๋น appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Eggplant w/ Basil & Chili Paste Stir-Fry มะเขือยาวผัดพริกเผา

Fri, 05 May 2017 16:00:00 GMT

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The importance of a good stock cannot be overstated, especially when making a soup, stew, or sauces. I am so passionate about this I even wrote about it in my cookbook . And considering how easy it is (almost no effort, it just takes some time!) there should be no reason why you shouldn't! And when cooking Asian food there is an even bigger reason why you should make your own, and that is because Western style store-bought stock may have a flavour that doesn't work as well with that dish.

Storage tip: Trust me, make a bunch, freeze them in bags (in small amounts for convenient thawing), and you'll be glad you did! When freezing I like to divide it into no larger than 2-cup portions and put them into the medium size freezer bags. Lay them flat to freeze so you get a thin disk that is quick to thaw. Make sure to label the bag so you don't forget what it is!

When thawing, SOMETIMES the freezer bag may have a little hole in it especially if it's been in the freezer for a while, rubbing up against other frozen stuff, so make sure to place the stock bag inside a bowl or a pot to thaw, so if it does leak, the stock is still contained! And you can refreeze any stock you don't end up using without any problems.

Here are some recipes you can use this chicken stock for:

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai-Style Chicken Stock น้ําสต๊อกไก่ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Sticky Rice 101 - 5 Colours of Thai Rice Ep.5

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 16:00:00 GMT

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We can't talk about Thai rice without talking about Thai sticky rice! This chewy, delicious rice is the second most popular kind of rice in Thailand next to jasmine rice. You may see it often in desserts, but we also eat it as a side dish often, especially in the North and the Northeast of Thailand.

How to make sticky rice using traditional bamboo cone steamer

No time to soak sticky rice? Here are 2 ways to make sticky rice without soaking

Support Hot Thai Kitchen!

Watch The Full Video!

The post Thai Sticky Rice 101 - 5 Colours of Thai Rice Ep.5 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Light Chicken Curry w/ Winter Melon แกงไก่ใส่ฟักเขียว

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 16:00:00 GMT

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Here's a curry so good I can drink it....literally! Cuz what's special about this is that it's so light a brothy. Think comforting chicken soup, but with the flavours of a red curry. Winter melon absorbs the flavours like a sponge, which is why it's such a popular vegetable used in curries in Thailand. And for hardcore eaters out there, there's blood! Cubes of pork or chicken blood is not uncommonly added to curries in Thailand—a great way to add iron to your meal!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Light Chicken Curry w/ Winter Melon แกงไก่ใส่ฟักเขียว appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

What is Riceberry and How to Cook it + a Recipe!

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:00:00 GMT

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This is the 4th episode of my 5 Colours of Thai Rice mini video series! Dubbed by some as Thailand's newest "superfood" this beautiful black "riceberry rice" is both healthy and delicious! In fact, it is the only rice my mom eats these days!

About the 5 Colours of Thai Rice Series: Did you know that Thai people nowadays are eating so many colourful varieties of rice? That's right! There are several options of Thai rice you could be having with your Thai meal! In this series, I am giving you the lowdown on 5 types of rice Thailand has to offer, each with its own unique colour, and these are the 5 main types that Thai people now eat on a regular basis. Thank you Thai Trade Center Vancouver for sponsoring this awesome series!

Extra Notes on Cooking Riceberry:

VIDEO: Everything You Need to Know About Riceberry

Bonus Recipe: Riceberry Congee

EXACTLY HOW I SEASONED MY WOK (video by Typhoon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxMP3rCn67o

PART 1: WHAT IS THE BEST WOK TO BUY

LINK TO BUY THE WOK & OTHER EQUIPMENT I USE

Watch The Full Video!

The post Caring for Carbon Steel Wok! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

The Best Wok to Buy!

Sat, 25 Mar 2017 06:48:00 GMT

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Questions about woks are easily some of the most frequently asked questions in my years of Hot Thai Kitchen. SO, I've got 2 videos to hopefully answer all of the questions that I have been asked! The first video (this one) is about which kind of wok you should get and why, including the complete lowdown on my particular wok.

Part 2 CARING FOR YOUR CARBON STEEL WOK

LINK TO BUY THE WOK & OTHER EQUIPMENT I USE

Watch The Full Video!

The post The Best Wok to Buy! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Brown Jasmine Rice 101 - 5 Colours of Thai Rice Ep.2

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 16:00:00 GMT

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This is part 2 of special video series "5 Colours of Thai Rice"! After exploring Thailand's staple white jasmine rice, it's time to look at the healthier sister: brown jasmine rice. Now, if you don't like brown rice, hear me out, this is not your average brown rice! Being of the jasmine variety, it's tender, fluffy, and a little nutty, but it still has that same floral aroma we love in jasmine rice. But because it's a whole-grain rice, all of its nutritional benefits are still intact.

Extra Notes on Cooking Brown Rice

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and rewards!

Watch The Full Video!

The post Thai Brown Jasmine Rice 101 - 5 Colours of Thai Rice Ep.2 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Steamed Tofu "Deluxe" เต้าหู้นึ่งทรงเครื่อง

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:03:00 GMT

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I'm on a bit of a health kick right now after having eaten so indulgently in Bangkok! So I came up with this recipe which is light, healthy, and absolutely delicious! Soft, silky tofu is steamed with a delicious ginger soy sauce, topped with colourful julienned vegetables...it'll convert any "tofu haters" I promise! I think this might be my favourite tofu recipe yet and I can eat as much of it as I want without feeling guilty. Although this is something one would normally eat with rice, because I'm limiting my carbs I can eat it straight up on its own, and it's still super yum because the soft, mild tofu acts like a base for the sauce and veggies. Oh and as a bonus, it's vegan, so anyone can enjoy it!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Steamed Tofu "Deluxe" เต้าหู้นึ่งทรงเครื่อง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

LIVE COOKING! Pai Makes Pie on Pi Day!

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 16:00:00 GMT

It's Pi Day 2017! (Pi = 3.14.... so March 14th is pi day). This is the most appropriate day of the year for me (Pai) to be making pie!! So here's a little fun live cooking video for mini cherry cheese pies: an easy and quick pie recipe you can make in a pinch. Delicious, beautiful pie doesn't need to take you hours of labour! Here are the ingredient amounts I used below (it makes only a small amount as you can see in the video, so feel free to double/triple the recipe!)

Note: This probably makes about 12-15 of the little pies I used in the video...although I'm not sure cuz I ended up using the rest of it as ice cream topping!

The post LIVE COOKING! Pai Makes Pie on Pi Day! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Jasmine Rice 101 - 5 Colours of Thai Rice Ep.1

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 16:00:00 GMT

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This episode is part of a special video series: 5 Colours of Thai Rice! Did you know that Thai people nowadays are eating so many colourful varieties of rice? That's right! There are several options of Thai rice you could be having with your Thai meal! In this series, I am giving you the lowdown on 5 types of rice Thailand has to offer, each with its own unique colour, and these are the 5 main types that Thai people now eat on a regular basis.

And of course we have to start off the series with our staple grain: white Thai jasmine rice. Stay tuned for the next episodes in this series, there are many delicious and healthy options to come! Thank you Thai Trade Center Vancouver for sponsoring this awesome series!

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and rewards!

Watch The Full Video!

The post Thai Jasmine Rice 101 - 5 Colours of Thai Rice Ep.1 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ayutthaya Trip: Giant River Prawns & Best View in Town!

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:00:00 GMT

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My high school friends and I took a day trip to Ayutthaya, starting with a breakfast in downtown Bangkok before heading out to eat GIANT river prawns, and some classy afternoon tea to the best view in town! It's a great little day trip just about an hour's drive from Bangkok!

Breakfast in Bangkok:
Plernwan Panich Restaurant
Thong Lo Soi 13,
Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea,
Khet Watthana, Bangkok 10110

River Prawn Lunch:
Tonnam Riverview Restaurant
26 Moo 6, Tambon Ban Len
Amphoe Bang Pa-in
Ayutthaya

Chic Afternoon Tea:
Sala Ayutthaya Hotel
9/2 Moo 4, U-Thong Road
Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya District
Ayutthaya

Roti Sai Mai Stalls:
(The best one is the one with a super long line, which we didn't go to cuz they ran out. It's called "Abeedeen" but there is no sign in English.)
32/1 Moo 4. U-Thong Road
Tambon Pratuchai
Ayutthaya

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and rewards!

Watch The Full Video!

The post Ayutthaya Trip: Giant River Prawns & Best View in Town! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Vegetarian Chilli & Egg Breakfast

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 17:00:00 GMT

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I'm always trying to come up with new, yummy breakfast idea that is quick to put together in the morning, and this one is just perfect! The rich vegetarian chili, which is great on its own, can be made in advance and kept in the fridge. Comes morning time, you crack an egg into a pan, stick a piece of toast in the toaster, and heat the chili up in the microwave, and voila! Everything will finish about the same time, and you have a beautiful, healthy breakfast in just a few minutes!

Oh, and if you want to just have the chili on its own for dinner, that's cool too!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Vegetarian Chilli & Egg Breakfast appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Live Tour of the HTK Set!

Mon, 06 Mar 2017 22:20:00 GMT

In celebration of my YouTube Channel reaching 300,000 subscribers, I'm taking you on a tour of the HTK set, showing you all of my equipment set up and the whole deal!

The post Live Tour of the HTK Set! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thailand Vlog: Chatuchak Market "Kae Noodles" & Coconut Ice Cream

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 17:00:00 GMT

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My brother and I took a short trip to look for some souvenirs at the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which is a place I visit every time I go home. It is one of those places that is popular amongst tourists AND locals, so it's not just a tourist trap and it's worth a visit!

How to get there: The subway MRT (Chatuchak Park Station) and the skytrain BTS (Mo Chit Station) both go right to the market. When I leave, I don't like to take taxi from the market, cuz it's kind of a pain and there will be scammer taxis who are waiting for foreigners there.

My Chatuchak Tip: It's huge. And not everything will be of interest to you. Luckily, things are divided into departments so think about what you want to explore (food, clothing, home stuff, plants, pets...) and find out where that section is (I'm sure there's a map somewhere). It'll be hot, but don't drink too much water cuz bathroom isn't easy to find there especially if you're deep in the middle of the market!

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and rewards!

Watch The Full Video!

The post Thailand Vlog: Chatuchak Market "Kae Noodles" & Coconut Ice Cream appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Panzanella Salad with Donair Meatballs

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:30:00 GMT

This is a special recipe I received from Kelly Neil , a food photographer/blogger from Halifax, Nova Scotia as part of the Rethink Beef Recipe Swap challenge that I talked about in my "Thai Bolognese" or Rice Noodles with Curried Meat Sauce video! I traded recipes with Kelly and she sent me this rather interesting fusion of the two cultures that are significant in her life. Here is how she prefaced it:

What is donair? (Or döner). Well if you've ever walked passed a Turkish or Middle Eastern restaurant and see a massive vertical rotisserie with the most fantastic smelling ground meat mixture wrapped around it...yep, that's donair. Typically the way I see it served here in Canada is the meat just spins on the rotisserie all day, and the vendor slices off the outside part of the meat and puts it in a pita bread wrap along with fresh veggies and sauce. It is delicious. So Kelly took the idea of donair and turned it into meatballs which go on top of a sourdough panzanella, which is a classic Italian bread salad. I was quite intrigued by this idea and at first wondered how it would turn out, but let me tell you it was so good!!

My Swap Experience. It was SO fun to be following someone else's recipe for a change! As you know, I spend most of my cooking time coming up with recipes for other people to follow, so to be on the other end was such a refreshing experience. I printed out the recipe and took it to the (non-Asian!!!) grocery store, grabbed ingredients I rarely buy, and had a lot of fun with the whole process. It gave me a great insight into how YOU guys feel when you print out my recipes, go to the (Asian) grocery store grabbing ingredients you rarely buy!

I followed the recipe almost exactly as I wanted to taste the recipe the way it's intended, and any changes I made I indicated in the recipe below under "P:". I was extremely happy with the result! This is definitely something I'll be making again.

Advanced Prep Tips: I made the meatballs, the dressing, and the pickled onion one day in advance, and then took it over to my friend's house and composed the salad the next day. This way, I was able to put a beautiful lunch on the table in 15 minutes, which was a bonus! Here are some photos I took (forgot the onion in the first photo!):

Thank you ThinkBeef.ca for sponsoring this fun project! There should be info on there soon-ish about what other recipes the other bloggers have come up with, I'll keep you posted!

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Rice Noodles w/ Curried Meat Sauce ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเนื้อสับ

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:30:00 GMT

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Bolognese sauce with Thai flavours...does that sound delish or what!? This recipe is a special one because it’s a part of Canada-wide recipe swap! 9 food bloggers and a YouTuber (me!) across Canada are being challenged to "Rethink Beef". So, each of us are coming up with a recipe that reflects our cultural backgrounds or culinary journey, and all of us are using the same main ingredient: ground beef!

When people think ground beef (in N. America at least), they usually think burgers, spaghetti and meatballs, and not much more. But ground beef is such a versatile ingredient that is used all over the world, so the 10 of us are here to help inspire you to "think outside the pantry" with new recipe ideas from cultures around the world, and this recipe is my contribution ��

Here's the fun part: we are swapping our recipe with another blogger's from across the country, so even I get to learn something new, and I get to share it with you! My swap partner is Kelly Neil, a food photographer from Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is on the east coast of Canada, and she shared with me "East Coast Panzanella Salad" which is as delicious as it is interesting! So check out THIS PAGE for the BONUS recipe!

Thank you ThinkBeef.ca for sponsoring this fun project!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Rice Noodles w/ Curried Meat Sauce ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเนื้อสับ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Mackerel Fried Rice "Salad" ข้าวคลุกปลาทู

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 17:00:00 GMT

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We're once again cooking with ingredients from mom's backyard! During my trip to Thailand, I had this dish at a small restaurant in Bangkok and just fell in love with its rustic simplicity. Ingredients used are no more than the very basic staples of any Thai home kitchen, and the flavours are light, fresh, and delicious.

Simple garlic fried rice topped with the fish that is the epitome of simple Thai cooking: Short Mackerel. Served alongside a variety of fresh veggies and herbs, and you've got yourself a slice of Thailand on a plate!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Thailand Vlog: Authentic Thai food in Cute Boutique Hotel!

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 17:00:00 GMT

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This is a restaurant called "Rathkeaw" located at the Tewa Boutique Hotel which is the cutest little place! It's an old Thai home converted into a hotel and restaurant, with a lovely lush surrounding. They specialize in old, traditional eastern Thai cuisine. Food was delicious with a very simple, home-cooking feel about it which I adored. A bit out of the way of downtown, and they're often closed for weddings and events, so please call ahead if you plan to go!

Rathkaew Authentic Thai Restaurant (@Tewa Boutique Hotel)
131/3 M.4 Soi Chaengwattana 13
Chaengwattana Road
Thungsonghong Laksi
Bangkok 10210

Watch The Full Video!

The post Thailand Vlog: Authentic Thai food in Cute Boutique Hotel! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Oven Ribs & Homemade BBQ Sauce

Tue, 21 Feb 2017 17:00:00 GMT

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I have been making these ribs for years because it's so easy and unbelievably delicious! It's as simple as rub, cover, bake, and in a couple of hours you will taste the juiciest, most tender ribs you've ever had! The secret is in the amazing spice rub on the ribs, which is so good I also add it to my chili and taco fillings.

I used to put store-bought BBQ sauce on these ribs (no shame in that!) but since I was gonna share with you the rib recipe, I wanted to also have a homemade BBQ sauce to go with it. So I developed this BBQ sauce recipe just for you guys, using ingredients I already have at home, so you'll notice there are a lot of Asian ingredients involved! The result is far better than any store bought BBQ sauce I've had!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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"Miang Kham" Wild Betel Leaf Wrap เมี่ยงคำ

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 18:00:00 GMT

This is Part 2 of the campbell's broth challenge! This time, I've got a delicious pho broth to work with, and as a pho lover, I was very excited! So I decided to give it a Canadian treatment and came up with Pho Poutine. How is it? Let's just say that Adam's first words after tasting these were, "OMG. You need to sell that," and then he proceeded to eat pretty much the entire plate by himself (I maybe got 2 more bites after the on camera tasting!).

Poutine is a quintessential French-Canadian comfort food. French fries topped with melty cheese, and gravy...what could be better?! If you can't find pho broth where you live, I have provided substitution information in the recipe!

The post Thai Waffle Recipe ขนมรังผึ้ง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Live Q&A - Holiday Cooking Questions

Wed, 28 Dec 2016 18:34:00 GMT

NOTE: VIDEO STARTS AT MINUTE 5:30

This is a recording from my first livestream Q&A session, focusing on holiday cooking questions! It's a pretty long video so here are some timestamps for you:

5:30 - Video starts
11:40 - Interactive dinner party ideas
14:00 - How to efficiently lay out food on a buffet table
18:30 - How to keep food warm longer
21:50 - Steaming fish for a party
25:35 - What do Thai people eat for Christmas
27:10 - Tips for hosting cocktail parties
32:35 - How to cook a Thai meal when one person doesn't like spicy food.
35:27 - Dishes for a couple's dinner.
37:45 - What kind of drinks can be served with Thai food.
40:50 - How to cook a big Christmas dinner in a tiny kitchen.
42:19 - Party Planning Guide & Template
46:00 - Do I wear contacts in my cooking videos?
49:53 - Thai Christmas dish with duck
50:45 - What dishes I suggest serving at christmas
51:06 - Leftover turkey ideas
54:10 - Savoury snack ideas
57:00 - Advanced freezing ideas
58:15 - 4-5 dishes for a dinner party that's workable
1:03:31 - What do I eat for breakfast on a holiday
1:04:30 - My hair smells when I have hot pot, what do I do??
1:05:30 - Tips & tricks for the catering industry
1:08:45 - Where do I get my mini whisks?
1:09:22 - How do you know how much food to cook for a certain amount of people?
1:14:21 - How I made fried rice for 60 kids!

The post Live Q&A - Holiday Cooking Questions appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ask Me Anything - Ep.1

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 21:24:00 GMT

Fri, 02 Dec 2016 18:00:00 GMT

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In my previous "Top 5 Rice Dishes in Thailand" video, I took you all over Bangkok to explore the delicious, must-try rice dishes. This recipe was the first one on the list! Kao mok gai is the Thai version of chicken biryani. Though there are a lot of ingredients and steps here, if you split the work and marinade the chicken and/or fry the shallots a day in advance, the rest is really straight forward, and the result is well worth the time! And after making this a couple of times, you'll be a pro and it won't feel like too much work.

Fri, 11 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT

This recipe is courtesy of Natalia Machado, my lovely Argentinian co-host on the TV show One World Kitchen! This is the recipe for a traditional Argentinian cheese bread that Natalia serves at her restaurant as a gluten-free option for the bread basket. They're amazingly cheesy and addictive! Think hot, chewy, cheesy mochi with a crunchy crust..that's exactly what these are like. The chewiness comes from the tapioca starch which you can find at any Asian grocery stores. The recipe is almost exactly as Natalia gave me, with slight modifications I made to better suit a home kitchen ��

And if you're not convinced that these are going to be delicious, just check out Natalia's impressive bio: she's a Chopped Champion, a Sweet Genius Champion, and she's the executive chef of a fine dining Argentinian restaurant in Montreal called L'atelier D'argentine. Amazing!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Chipa - Hot Chewy Cheese Puffs! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Pink Noodles w/ Coconut Gravy (mee gati) หมี่กะทิ

Fri, 21 Oct 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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I call this incredibly delicious and beautiful dish the "creamy sister of pad thai." Mee gati shares many of the same ingredients as pad thai, but is truly unique in that it has a rich coconut gravy poured over the pink noodles! The thread-thin rice noodles are enriched by coconut milk and tinted an iconic pink colour by red bean curd.

And that gravy...my oh my...there's nothing quite like it—somehow its flavour is reminiscent of peanut sauce...but there are no peanuts in it!! That's right! The combination of "tao jiew" and coconut milk magically takes on the characteristics of peanuts after being simmered together, so if you're allergic to peanuts, but want to experience what peanut sauce tastes like, this is the dish to try.

Oh, did I mention there is no fish sauce in this dish? No fish sauce?!?! Had to happen eventually �� Enjoy!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Tapioca Melon Dessert Soup สาคูแคนตาลูป

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 17:00:00 GMT

We eat a lot of dessert soups in Thailand, hot and cold, but this super easy recipe has got to be my favourite cold one. It's a magical combination of aromas: the sweet ripe melons (or try mango!), coconut water, coconut milk and pandan leaves. I love the way the tapioca pearls slip and slide in your mouth, which makes it fun to eat. Refreshing, light, and mildly sweet, this is the perfect dessert for the summer or after any big meal. And it's gluten-free!

Other Recipes You Might Like

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Son-in-Law Eggs ไข่ลูกเขย (kai look keuy)

Fri, 07 Oct 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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This is one of the most popular dishes for kids in Thailand, and it was definitely my favourite! I'm not really sure why it's called "son-in-law eggs" even though there are lots of theories, but whatever the reason, it's a delicious and unique dish that you must try at least once in your life!

Medium-boiled eggs (preferably duck eggs) is deep fried in hot oil so they develop a browned chewy skin that gives the eggs a distinct texture. Then a sweet-and-sour tamarind sauce is drizzled over it, topped with crispy fried shallots and garlic chips. For the adults in the family, break up the crispy dried chilies and add a little spice to your eggs! The combination of these ingredients is magical, and it'll be like nothing you've ever had. This is one of those classic Thai dishes that most Thai people grow up on, and I really hope you try son-in-law eggs out!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Son-in-Law Eggs ไข่ลูกเขย (kai look keuy) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ultra Soft Ginger Milk Pudding

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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Ginger + Warm milk = Pudding. That's it. No agar agar, no gelatin, no cornstarch...nothing to set the pudding other than the ginger itself!

I recently came upon this Chinese dessert and I was absolutely fascinated by how it's made and just HAD to share it with you. It's a super soft, warm ginger pudding, and it is so soothing that I consider it "spa food". It's softer than the softest of tofu—it can almost be a drink—but at the same time it's got a luscious silky body to it. The enzymes in the ginger ever so gently curdles the milk, creating an ultra soft pudding within minutes. The Chinese figured this out before they knew what an enzyme was and created this most wonderful dessert. I hope you try it and please let me know how it goes!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Ultra Soft Ginger Milk Pudding appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Spicy Salmon Salad (Laab Salmon) ลาบปลาแซลมอน

Fri, 30 Sep 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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Every time I had salmon sashimi, I'd always think to myself, "This would be SO good if I laab it!" So finally I tried out my culinary dream, and it's even better than I thought it would be! Spicy, herbaceous, fresh, light, healthy, gluten-free, not to mention it is a show stopper when you bring it out to the table!

In this video I also review how to make toasted rice powder (or what I call "magic powder") which is the key ingredient in a laab. Most importantly, make sure you use good quality, sushi-grade salmon that is super fresh for this dish!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Spicy Salmon Salad (Laab Salmon) ลาบปลาแซลมอน appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Spicy Shrimp Dip (Nam Prik Goong Sod) นำ้พริกกุ้งสด

Fri, 23 Sep 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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This shrimp dip has spicy and bold flavours, yet it's one of the simplest nam prik you can make at home. It's heatly, gluten-free, and easy to make. Ready to take your veggies and dip platter to the next level? This is the recipe to try!

What is nam prik ?

"Nam Prik" is a type of Thai dip that is spicy ("prik" means chilies) with very bold flavours. Outside of Thailand, Thai dips are severely underrepresented, but Thai people have dips as often as you might have a sandwich! It's served as part of a bigger meal, and for many families, a meal isn't quite complete without a nam prik on the table.

Noodle soups are all over the streets of Thailand , but did you know that for most of those noodle soups, you can order the "dry" version where the noodles don't come with a broth? Instead of the broth, the steaming noodles get tossed in a flavourful seasoning sauce, but they are still topped with the same yummy toppings of your favourite noodle soup.

In this video, I'm showing you a recipe for "Bamee Hang" which is one of the most popular types that people order dry. And now that there's no broth to worry about, it is SO much faster to put together as you'll see! In this video I used Chinese BBQ pork and wontons as my protein which is very common, but you can just do one or the other as well!

If you want to make your own BBQ pork, check out my Banh Mi video where I share a delicious recipe for a simple grilled lemongrass pork that works fantastically in this dish!

In this video, I declared that I can't think of another dish that I prefer to this dish, which is a bold statement. And after thinking about it some more, I still stand by that. It is one of my, and my brothers', all-time-favourite dishes. The fish is fluffed up and fried until golden and crispy. The savoury crunch is contrasted by the fresh tart green mango salad—it's truly a match made in heaven and there are no other dishes quite like it.

Traditionally this dish uses Thai charcoal-grilled catfish (pla duk yang), which is widely available on the streets of Thailand. But considering what we're doing to it, it really doesn't matter much which kind of fish you use, and indeed Thai people routinely use various other types of fish when the catfish isn't available. In this video I go with tilapia which is a versatile, inexpensive white fish I usually have in my freezer. This method also works with shrimp, FYI!

SAFETY NOTE: After watching the frying of the fish, you may feel intimidated to try it, and I felt the same way the first time I made it! Let me assure you though that AS LONG AS you take the precautions I mention, you will be fine. So: LEAVE PLENTY OF ROOM for the oil to bubble up so it won't overflow and catch fire (that would be bad!!). My rule of thumb is: don't fill the oil any more than ⅓ of the depth of the pot/wok, and the oil only needs to be about 1-inch deep so you don't need a lot! For maximum fluffiness, I mentioned that the oil should be about 400F (like my second round of frying in the video) but if you feel a little scared by the aggressive oil bubbling, you can drop the fish at 375F and it won't be as aggressive (like my first round), and either of them will be delicious. While we're on this subject, it's always a good idea to keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, so something to think about if you don't already have one!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Mushroom Tom Yum (vegetarian) ต้มยำเห็ด

Fri, 22 Jul 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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Another treat for my vegetarian fans that I promise will satisfy my meat eaters as well! I was determined to develop a great recipe of our famous tom yum soup for my vegetarian fans, and after trying out several things, I am proud to announce that this version was so good even I was surprised! Mixed mushrooms are the trustworthy meat substitute Thai people turn to when making a vegetarian dish, and there are so many types to choose from so take your pick! (But don't pick the button mushroom!) Light but bursting with flavour, and the citrusy tartness is balanced by subtle natural sweetness. This easy soup will please even the most carnivorous among us ��

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Nasi Goreng - Indonesian Fried Rice

Tue, 19 Jul 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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I love Indonesian food. I find the flavours similar to that of Thai cuisine yet distinct and wonderful in its own way. Nasi goreng is a simple fried rice that you can often find on the streets of Indonesia, but it is also really easy to make at home. What I love about it is the rich flavour from the sweet soy sauce and also the fun fixings that are placed around the plate—pickles, shrimp crackers, fried shallots, fried egg, fresh veggies...the options are endless! There are lots of variations on nasi goreng, and it's a great way to use up any end bits of vegetables or leftover meat. Let me know what you like on your nasi goreng!

Tip: There are lots of little components, but most of them can be made in advance. Shrimp crackers and fried shallots can be made up to a week in advance, stored in an airtight container. Pickles can (obviously) be made far in advance as well.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Nasi Goreng - Indonesian Fried Rice appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Underwater Chicken ไก่ใต้นำ้

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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A ridiculously simple ice cream recipe that is also ridiculously delicious! This mango ice cream is done in a blitz (literally!) using only a blender and 3-4 simple ingredients. Trust me, you'll be amazed, as I was, at how good this ice cream is given how easy and quick it is to make. Now every time good sweet mango goes on sale I buy a whole bunch and freeze them just for this occasion!

Important Tip for Success:

Mango makes up a very large proportion of this recipe so it's really important that you use good, flavourful, ripe mango for this. The quality of your ice cream depends largely on the quality of your mango! If your mango isn't very sweet, you may need to bump up the honey a bit. If it's sour, you may not need the lime. Because we're dealing with fresh ingredients, you'll need to taste and adjust according to what Mother Nature gives you!

The Key to Creaminess:

It's important to use Greek yogurt for this because regular yogurt has a LOT of water content, and that water will make for less creamy ice cream AND ice cream that freezes harder and will be difficult to scoop. Greek yogurt is rich and creamy, which in turn makes rich and creamy ice cream that is also softer to scoop.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

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Laab Gai - Thai Chicken Salad (Larb/Laap) ลาบไก่

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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This famous dish is iconic of northeastern Thai cuisine, and it's probably the healthiest chicken salad I've ever seen! A few years ago I made a pork laab video, this time I make it with chicken with lots of new tips and tricks to help you make a laab to impress! And that crazy good crispy chicken skin makes an appearance at the end as well ��

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Laab Gai - Thai Chicken Salad (Larb/Laap) ลาบไก่ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Crispy Chicken Skin in Minutes!

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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"The distillation of all that is good about chicken" is how my brother described these crispy chicken skin. Let's face it, the skin is the best part about eating chicken, especially if it's crispy, AND can be done in just a few minutes!

These are the BEST ribs ever!!! Super easy, and doesn't even require the oven, you just need a bit of patience, but it will be well rewarded. ��

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:00:00 GMT

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I'm starting this video not by prepping ingredients, but by catching my main ingredient straight from the ocean! My friend Rodney from fishingwithrod.com took me out on my first ever fishing trip, and in this video I show you a bit of the fishing/prawning/crabbing action in the beautiful city of Vancouver, and then we get right back in the kitchen where you'll learn how to make "black pepper prawns," an easy and delicious way to highlight the natural flavours of fresh seafood.

Check out the full video of the fun fishing trip here: https://youtu.be/_sPbaBxPv9A

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Black Pepper Prawns + Bonus Fishing Footage! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How to Cook Perfect Rice without a Rice Cooker

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 17:11:00 GMT

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After several requests, it's time to go back to the basics and talk about how to cook the perfect rice without a rice cooker. There are some tips and tricks to know, but once you know them, you'll cook perfect rice every time and in a snap!

During my trip to Thailand I met up with the amazing Thai food blogger/YouTuber Mark Wiens! In this video Mark took me to a delicious Northeastern Thai restaurant that he recommends for any first-timer to Thailand, and while we eat, I interview Mark about his life as a Thai food video blogger. Hope you enjoy the video!

Restaurant address:
Gai Yang Kao Suan Gwang, Soi Bang Na-Trat 23, Bangna-Trat Frontage Rd., Bangna, Bangkok, 10260

ไก่ย่างเขาสวนกวาง ซอยบางนา-ตราด 23, ถนนบางนา-ตราด, บางนา กรุงเทพฯ, 10260

Mark's Websites:
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/migrationology
Migrationology.com: http://migrationology.com/
EatingThaiFood.com: http://eatingthaifood.com/

Watch The Full Video!

The post Eating & Chatting with Mark Wiens!! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Steamed Fish w/ Lime and Garlic with Mark Wiens ปลากะพงนึ่งมะนาว

Wed, 27 Jan 2016 18:43:00 GMT

This popular Thai dish has many English spellings: Pad Kra Pao, Pad Ka Prao, Pad Ka Pow, Pad Krapow...etc. "Pad gaprao" is the phonetically closest spelling, but it seems to be the least popular way because most Thai people mispronounce it to begin with! Doesn't matter, because no matter how you spell it, they all point to this same delicious, rustic, spicy stir-fry featuring the aroma of holy basil. For a truly classic way to serve this dish, pour it over rice and top with a fried egg!

Thai "Fast Food"

In Thailand, this dish might be considered the equivalent of a sandwich or a burger. Something quick, easy, and ubiquitous that lots of people have for lunch. You can find pad gaprao at a simple street-side restaurant or in a food court, and many people have it for lunch. Sometimes vendors will make it fresh for you, other times, you can find it premade in a big tray and they just scoop it up and pour it over hot rice.

Frying an Egg Thai-Style

You can have this dish on its own with rice, but the most popular way is to have it with a fried egg. This classic combination is called "kao pad gaprao gai kai dao", which simply means rice with chicken holy basil stir-fry and a fried egg. Thai fried egg is fried in a LOT of oil because the key characteristic you want is that bubbly browned edges of the egg whites.

The creaminess of the slightly runny egg mellows out the strong, spicy flavour of the stir-fry, and that's why it's such a winning combo.

Changing Up the Chicken

Although this recipe is most popular with chicken, you can make it with just about every kind of protein imaginable. Pork, beef, seafood, or even vegetarian version made with tofu and/or mushrooms. So if chicken isn't your thing, feel free to change it up!

I use ground meat in this recipe because it's the most classic and the most "street" way you'll find pad kra pao, but you can use thinly sliced pieces of meat instead. Although, I REALLY think it tastes better with ground meat, so give it a go!

What else can you use holy basil for?

If you've got some extra basil after trying this recipe, you must check out the other recipe that is a classic use of holy basil, and that is pad kee mao (drunken noodles) recipe. Holy basil is used for drunken noodles, but just like pad gaprao, you can also use Italian basil or Thai basil as a substitute.

If the basil isn't gonna last, and you don't really need anymore food yet, here's my go-to way to save any wilting basil from going bad : I make an all-purpose Thai basil sauce which can be stored in the fridge for at least a week and even frozen. When you're ready to eat, simply pour it over any cooked protein, or use it as a stirfry sauce. It is truly delicious and versatile!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

Also Check Out...

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Guay Tiew Kua Gai ก๋วยเตี๋ยวคั่วไก่ Rice Noodles w/ Chicken

Fri, 25 Dec 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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This recipe is sort of the sister of the popular pad see ew . Chewy fresh rice noodles wok-fried until toasty, served with Sriracha hot sauce, it's a street food you can find all over Thailand that is super easy to replicate at home.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Guay Tiew Kua Gai ก๋วยเตี๋ยวคั่วไก่ Rice Noodles w/ Chicken appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

My 5 Favourite Small Kitchen Tools

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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This is an extra special episode! As promised, my amazing Japanese chef-friend Hana is here to teach us a fail-proof way to make the quintessential Japanese lunch box item: Onigiri. This is a bit of a longer episode because Hana shares with us SO MUCH interesting stuff including:

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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This is the pumpkin pie for those who think that they don't like pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving calls for pumpkin pie even though there are a great number of people who don't actually like it, right? When I first came to Canada, I had never had pumpkin pie before. And when I tried it, I wasn't really a fan. I didn't like the monotonous texture, and I wasn't excited by the flavour. But I love that it's a traditional food for this Canadian (and American) tradition, so it feels like there SHOULD be pumpkin pie on the table for thanksgiving. So I made it a mission to create a recipe that I would actually like!

Now, not only did I end up LIKING this pumpkin pie, I LOVED it. It is not like any other pumpkin pies I've had—it's light and fluffy yet it's still creamy with melty bits of white chocolate all throughout. It's scented with citrus which brightens up the warm, sweet spices. The best part is that it is topped with candied pecans which adds a crunchy texture that I found lacking in the traditional pie. All in all, I'm a pumpkin pie convert...but only when they taste like this one!

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

Notes: This cut of beef is officially called "super digital flexor muscle" which is a part of the cow's hind legs. It is unique in the clear marbling of tendons all throughout the meat.

To make plain beef stock for this recipe, simply simmer 1½ lb of beef bones in about 8 cups of water for 3 hours, skimming off all the scum that floats to the top, adding more water as needed to keep the bones submerged. If you end up with less than 5 cups of stock, simply add more liquid to make up the shortfall. I highly recommend homemade beef stock so that you don't get extra flavourings and salt often added to commercial beef stock. But if you're gonna buy it, make sure it is UNSALTED!

INSTRUCTIONS

Sprinkle salt over the meat on both sides. In a pot, add a little bit of oil to coat the bottom and heat over medium high heat. Add the meat and sear without stirring until well-browned. Do not crowd the pan; you will have to do this in batches. Flip and sear the other side.

Once you're done, pour off excess oil but leave the browned bits in the pot; however, if you've burned these bits and they've turned black, scrub them off before proceeding. Browned bits give a nice flavour, but burned bits do not!

Return all beef to the pot, cover with the beef stock and add soy sauce, Golden Mountain sauce, oyster sauce, black soy sauce, and brown sugar. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer.

While the beef is coming to a simmer, make your spice bag: In a muslin soup bag or on a square piece of cheesecloth, place all the spices and herbs except onions, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, and daikon. Close the bag, or if using cheesecloth tie the corners together to secure the spices inside.

With the recipe, you'll never need to buy another bottle of Sriracha again! It's easy, quick, and in my opinion it's way tastier than the store bought stuff. (Yes, it's even better than the original Thai Sriracha!)

Here are some recipes you can use your new hot sauce for: Pad Thai (variation 2) , Sweet & Sour Stir-Fry , Thai Omelette .

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

Why pre-order? It means that the moment the book goes on sale, a copy will be automatically shipped to you so you will be the first to get your hands on it. (You won't be charged until the book ships.) Pre-order numbers will also help me get the book on to bookstore shelves, so if you do plan on getting it, I would appreciate the pre-order!

I owe this book to all of you: thank you so much all HTK fans! If it wasn't for my viewers' support and encouragement, this book wouldn't be possible. And now, I would love to share with you all of my hard work and passion that went into this book. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Big hugs,

Pai

The post Pai's Cookbook is Ready for Pre-Orders! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Behind the Scenes of Hot Thai Kitchen

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 17:00:00 GMT

This was a live video we did to celebrate surpassing 100,000 subscribers. As a thank you to everyone I would like to invite you to come behind the scenes and see the making of each HTK video. Again, thank you for your never-ending support, and for always sharing with me your Thai cooking success stories!

Watch The Full Video!

Behind the Scenes

The post Behind the Scenes of Hot Thai Kitchen appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Chili Paste/Chili Jam - Nam Prik Pao

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 17:00:00 GMT

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This classic chili paste is super versatile. We use it in the famous tom yum goong soup, we add it to stir-fries like this classic cashew chicken , and we even use it in a salad dressing like in this wing bean salad ! We also use it simply as a spread on toast, sometimes as part of a sandwich, but really, use it in whatever way you can think of!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Thai Chili Paste/Chili Jam - Nam Prik Pao appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Banana Coconut "Foster"

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:00:00 GMT

The post Banana Coconut "Foster" appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Mackerel in Red Curry Sauce - "Choo Chee"

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 21:25:00 GMT

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The post Shirataki Noodles with Curry Sauce appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Mango Coconut Jelly Cubes วุ้นมะม่วง (woon mamuang)

Fri, 10 Jul 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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There's a reason why this recipe is now my Number 1 all-time most popular video. It's got everything you could ever ask for in a dessert, delicious, refreshing, beautiful, easy, and without even trying or needing to be modified, it's naturally healthy, vegan, and gluten-free. Agar agar jelly is widely used in Thai cuisine to make a variety of dessert, and I have always loved agar agar jelly growing up. This is a recipe I developed because I wanted to utilize the ripe mangoes that are in season by making a dessert that lets the mango flavour shine.

If you've got more question about agar agar, check out this Agar Agar FAQ video .

For more agar agar jelly recipe, check these out!

Coconut Jelly Duo

Agar Jelly Fruit Cake

Coffee & Cream Agar Jelly

The post Thai Chicken Fried Rice Recipe ข้าวผัดไก่ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Caramel Custard Cake คาราเมลคัสตาร์ดเค้ก

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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Caramel custard cake is easily my favourite cake ever. Period. No questions asked. And I don't say this about very many things. The perfect combination of light fluffy chiffon, and a creamy rich custard and that deep-flavoured caramel is just unlike any other cake. If you're a fan of flan, or creme brulee, this is a must-try. You can buy this cake at many bakeries in Thailand, however, commercial bakeries typically make them with too thin of a custard layer than I would like. I'm happy to report that I've been able to make this recipe exactly how I want it: the perfect amount of custard for the perfect amount of cake.

I will say that this recipe can be a bit tricky especially if you're not an experienced baker, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't turn out the first time! Pay attention to the techniques, definitely watch the whole video before you start.

Can I Make a Bigger/Smaller Cake?

Smaller cakes? Yes! In fact, most caramel custard cakes in Thailand are sold as individual little ones, about the size of a ramekin. And I've had many reports of people attempting smaller versions that are successful, but larger ones have not been so straight forward...

If you want to make MORE cake, I recommend making TWO separate cakes instead of one bigger one. First of all, flipping out this cake is tricky, and the larger the cake, the more fragile it becomes. Secondly, the timing is tricky...you want the cake and the custard to finish cooking at the same time (and the custard will always cook last). While making smaller ones seem to present no issues, the custard in the larger ones take a really long time and the cake will overcook before the custard has a chance to set.

However, if you've had success trying out different shapes/sizes, do let me know!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Caramel Custard Cake คาราเมลคัสตาร์ดเค้ก appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Drunken Spaghetti สปาเก็ตตี้ผัดขี้เมา (spaghetti pad kee mao)

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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The post Drunken Spaghetti สปาเก็ตตี้ผัดขี้เมา (spaghetti pad kee mao) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Chilled Tofu & Herb Salad ยำเต้าหู้เย็น (yum tao hu yen)

Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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I demonstrated this tofu salad recipe at Veg Expo in Vancouver, and it was a hit with the audience! If you're not a lover of tofu, it's probably because you haven't had it done right. If you've got tofu-haters in your life, try making this for them and see if they might change their mind!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Chilled Tofu & Herb Salad ยำเต้าหู้เย็น (yum tao hu yen) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Pai's TV Cooking Show Has Launched on Gusto TV!

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 23:33:00 GMT

It's Official! My first cooking show on television, One World Kitchen, premieres on June 1st, 2015, with back-to-back episodes starting at 5:00pm PST on Gusto TV. There are 5 hosts from 5 different cuisines—Argentinian, Italian, Japanese, Indian and Thai—and each episode will feature a different cuisine!

Gusto TV is a Canadian food and lifestyle channel which is available nationally through Bell, Eastlink, MTS and Telus. If you're not in Canada, you can check out little snippets of the show here .

The show celebrates the new meaning of "Canadian food!" Canada is made up of people from around the world, so dishes like Pad Thai, chimichurri, butter chicken, tempura and gnocchi are all a part of what makes up the real Canadian food culture today!

The post Pai's TV Cooking Show Has Launched on Gusto TV! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Red Curry with Chicken แกงเผ็ดไก่ฟักทอง

Fri, 22 May 2015 18:00:00 GMT

Red curry is the curry that I recommend people try as their first venture into Thai cuisine. The process is so simple it is essentially fail-proof, but the flavours are so complex and very representative of the spirit of Thai cuisine. If you use store-bought curry paste (and let me assure you most Thai people buy their curry pastes) it's a dish that's quick enough for a weeknight, and red curry paste is available just about anywhere these days!

What is Red Curry?

The English term "red curry" refers to a coconut milk curry whose flavours come from a specific kind of curry paste, not surprisingly, red curry paste. In Thailand, there are actually two slightly different types of red curry pastes: gaeng kua and gaeng ped, but we won't go there for now.

Red curry paste is what I consider the most basic paste, in a sense that the paste has fewer ingredients, and it is a base upon which many other more complex curries are built, such as panang or massaman curry. So it is a good one to start with.

What kind of meat should I use in a red curry?

Anything and everything. Seriously! While other curries in Thailand have common meat pairings, for example massaman is usually paired with chicken or beef, the basic red curry can take any and all proteins and vegetables.

This is because the flavours of red curry paste are again, basic, meaning it doesn't have a lot of spices, so the flavours can go with anything from delicate fish to gamey beef, or even no meat at all such as this amazing vegan red curry .

In this recipe I'm using chicken, because it's an easily accessible protein we all have access to, and it's delicious! I prefer chicken thighs and let it cook for a while to tenderize, because the longer cooking time allows it to absorb the flavour of the curry as it cooks. If you want to use chicken breast, you can, but it requires slightly different instructions as indicated in the written recipe.

What kind of vegetables are best in a red curry?

Again, anything and everything! In this recipe I like using kabocha squash because creamy squash and red curry is one of my absolute favourite flavour pairings. While you can use a different kind of squash or whatever vegetables are available to you, here are a few common pairings in Thailand: bamboo shoots (see the green curry recipe for how to deal with bamboo shoots), pineapple , and winter melon .

Pro Tip: Changing up the protein and veggies

If you're going to use different proteins or vegetables, you totally can! But make sure you adjust the cooking time accordingly. Some proteins such as shrimp and chicken breast only want to be cooked briefly, just until they're done, so be sure to add these at the end. Some vegetables take a long time to cook, others take 30 seconds. You will have to use your judgement here, or check out my other curry recipes to see how different ingredients are handled!

Is it better to make the curry paste from scratch?

Not necessarily. I want to get this misconception out of the way because it hinders many people from making Thai food. You do not have to make the curry paste, and most Thai people do not make their own curry paste. Growing up in Thailand my family always bought curry pastes, with the exception of very simple curries such as the sour curry or gaeng som .

Making curry paste takes a lot of time and energy, and even if you're using a power tool to help, gathering ingredients is no small feat. And just because you made the curry paste from scratch, does not mean you'll end up with a better curry than one you made using store bought. Think of it like jam...sure you can spend the time and effort to make your own jam, and it'll probably be better than Smucker's, but is it going to be better than that really great jam from the farmer's market? Maybe, but maybe not.

So when I make curry paste, I do it more for the experience of it. It connects me to the dish and the cuisine in a deeper way, it's a labour of love, and I love it when I can really taste the difference between mine and the store bought one. Or sometimes I make it because it's not available to buy, such as the paste for kao soi .

So how can making it be worse than buying? Well, if you don't have the right ingredients and have to make substitutions, for example. Or if you don't have the right tools and end up with a paste that's too-coarse, it also may not be as good. Or maybe you want to do it by hand but find that it's way more work than you thought (and it is always more work than you thought), turning the whole experience unpleasant!

Choosing the Best Curry Paste

Just as making curry paste is't always better, buying also isn't always better because there are many bad brands out there. So the real key is knowing which are the good brands. I encourage you to watch this comprehensive guide to Thai curry pastes where I go through how to choose a good brand for you (which may not be a good brand for me, more on that in the video!).

In the meantime, here are a few important notes:

While I haven't tried all of the brands out there, these are the few Thai brands that I have tried and like: Maeploy (my go-to, but it's heavy on the salt), Maesri, and Aroy-D.

If you don't have an Asian market, "Thai Kitchen" is widely available and it is made in Thailand, and I recommend this for those with low spice tolerance as it is not very spicy. It has good flavours, but I find that you have to use more of it than the Thai brands as it is not as concentrated.

Check out more Thai curry recipes!

The post Thai Red Curry with Chicken แกงเผ็ดไก่ฟักทอง appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Shrimp & Chili Paste Stir-Fry กุ้งผัดนำ้พริกเผา (goong pad nam prik pao)

Fri, 15 May 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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The post Shrimp & Chili Paste Stir-Fry กุ้งผัดนำ้พริกเผา (goong pad nam prik pao) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Tom Yum Noodle Soup ก๋วยเตี๋ยวต้มยำ (guay tiew tom yum)

Sat, 09 May 2015 00:21:00 GMT

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When you go to Thailand, sitting at a noodle shop on the street somewhere, please order yourself a tom yum noodle soup if they have it. This is not the "tom yum soup" that you know...the one with lemongrass, galangal, and shrimp. Nope, but this is something else that's equally delicious. You can technically turn any kind of regular noodle soups into "Tom Yum Style", and what that means is the vendor will add lime juice, roasted chili flakes, ground pork, lime juice, and roasted peanuts. In other words, it's AMPED UP noodle soup that is spicy and sour and all kinds of yum.

Fri, 17 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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Q&A: Your Questions Answered!

I often get many questions about Thai food, Thai culture, and Thai cooking, so here's a video to answer some of the good questions that were asked. There will be more Q&A videos, so if you've got questions that you want to submit send them here !

Watch The Full Video!

The post Q&A - Your Questions Answered appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Honey Roasted Pork Tenderloin หมูอบนำ้ผึ้ง (moo ob nampeung)

Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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The post Honey Roasted Pork Tenderloin หมูอบนำ้ผึ้ง (moo ob nampeung) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Ginger Soy Chicken ไก่เค็ม (gai kem)

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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This super easy and delicious ginger soy chicken stir-fry used to be a yearly treat for me. My grandmother would make this out of what I call "worship chickens" which are whole, boiled chickens that are used to in the annual "cheng meng" ceremony where we pay respect to past ancestors at their graves. I've modified to recipe so that I can enjoy the same flavour without having to wait for the ceremony!

Admittedly it is not the same as one made from the worship chickens which is usually drier as the chicken is cooked twice (and if it's been used as a worship chicken, it has been out air-drying in the Thai summer weather for at least half a day!) But this version is tasty in its own way, and still fixes my craving every time ��

If you want to check out the real deal, a slightly more involved recipe but one that is true to what my grandmother makes and is REALLY what I prefer when I am not in a rush, check out this one: Grandma's Twice Cooked Chicken.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

The post Ginger Soy Chicken ไก่เค็ม (gai kem) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Rice Noodle Salad ยำขนมจีน

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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The post Steamed Red Curry Custard ห่อหมก (haw mok) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Satay & Peanut Sauce หมูสเต๊ะ

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 19:00:00 GMT

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Thai satays can be found all over the streets of Thailand, and they're usually made from pork, but you can also use chicken or beef. The peanut sauce in this recipe is so good you can put it on anything you like, however, few people know that in Thailand, peanut sauce is only used on satays and a handful of other dishes like this salad . (No, Thai people do not put peanut sauce on everything despite what you might have been led to believe!)

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

Satay and Peanut Sauce หมูสเต๊ะ

Join me to check out a little floating market that's off the beaten path, and see what yummy things they have to offer. Don't forget to check out a bonus sequel video of the bizarre animal museum at the market!

Watch The Full Video!

Floating Market Tour

The post Market Tour - Wat Talingchan Floating Market appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Bizarre Animal Museum

Fri, 09 Jan 2015 18:00:00 GMT

At Wat Talingchan Floating Market, there is a "bizarre animal museum" which is just so interesting! All of the animals are actually pets of one gentleman who has agreed to put them at the market to help promote this new market! P.S. This is a sequel to the Floating Market Tour video.

Watch The Full Video!

The post Bizarre Animal Museum appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Iced Coffee Cocktail

Fri, 02 Jan 2015 18:00:00 GMT

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The post Salmon with Corn & Bean Salsa appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Long Bean Stir-Fry ผัดถั่วฝักยาว (pad tuafakyao)

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 20:00:00 GMT

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Boat Noodles 1 ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ (guay tiew reua)

Wed, 03 Sep 2014 18:42:00 GMT

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It may look like a long list of ingredients, but it's really an easy and straightforward recipe! And remember, ALL components of this dish can be made in advance and stored in the fridge. And once everything is prepped, all you have to do is assemble which takes minutes. That's how noodle vendors in Thailand can serve you this dish so quickly! In fact, if you make all the components on the weekend, boat noodles can be a quick weeknight meal.

One of the best ways to learn about any food culture is to see the everyday food that the locals eat! So, during my trip home to Thailand, I filmed a series of food vlogs (video blogs) to give you a glimpse into the food culture of the average Bangkokian family. Of course, other regions and other families will have their own norm, nonetheless, here's a slice of the Bangkok food life our family can share with you!

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Thailand Food Vlog Ep. 7

The post Thailand Food Vlog Ep. 7 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Water Spinach Stir-Fry ผัดผักบุ้ง (pad pak boong)

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 22:01:00 GMT

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The post Water Spinach Stir-Fry ผัดผักบุ้ง (pad pak boong) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Garlic Pepper Chicken ไก่ผัดกระเทียม (gai pad gratiem)

Sun, 24 Aug 2014 22:20:00 GMT

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This is an excerpt from my Hainanese Chicken Rice (Kao Mun Gai) video, which shows you how to carve the chicken once it's cooked.

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How to Carve a Chicken

The post How to Carve a Chicken appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Hainanese Chicken Rice ข้าวมันไก่ (kao mun gai)

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 18:22:00 GMT

The post Hainanese Chicken Rice ข้าวมันไก่ (kao mun gai) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Coffee 4 Ways กาแฟไทย สี่แบบ

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 17:59:00 GMT

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The post Thai Coffee 4 Ways กาแฟไทย สี่แบบ appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Seafood Dipping Sauce นำ้จิ้มซีฟู้ด (nam jim seafood)

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 23:57:00 GMT

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Serves 1

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The post Spicy Kaffir Lime Cocktail appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How to Meal Prep Like a Pro - with Downloadable Dinner Party Planner

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 20:12:00 GMT

Over my long career of teaching cooking I've had many people write me to share this similar story:

Or maybe it's not a dinner party, but just a regular, weeknight meal:

In this post I'll share with you all the tricks I've learned from working as a chef in restaurants and catering that you can apply at home for the smoothest dinner parties and weeknight meals!

Hosting a dinner party? Check out the video guide below for how I plan and prep for a dinner party, using pro-chef tricks. Also comes with downloadable planners!

3 Pro-Chef Secrets to Meal Prep

After years working in restaurants, aside from the cooking skills the #1 most valuable thing I learned from being a professional chef is how to prep meals to the MAX.

How does a busy restaurant get everyone's food out, hot and fresh, in 10 minutes? How do they cater a 200-people wedding in the park?

Here's the secret: Half, if not all of the work, was done before you even got there.

The good news is, these prep principles can apply at home. Whether it's a Thanksgiving feast, a Christmas dinner, or just a Wednesday night meal, knowing these pro-tricks will make all the difference.

Secret #1: Make Sauces in Bulk, in Advance

Do you have a marinade you always turn to ? Are you making 2 salads for the dinner party this weekend? Does your favourite chili recipe use a mix of dry spices?

Well then ... make an 8x batch of that marinade.

Make those 2 salad dressings today.

Pre-mix a big batch of those dry spices.

The only thing you might want to reserve for adding on the day is fresh, delicate herbs; like cilantro or mint.

PRO TIP: For most sauces, each ingredient can be scaled proportionally with no modification needed. But once you've made the sauce, you should measure the final volume and divide it by the number of batches to find out how much sauce you need per batch.

For example, if you've made a 10x batch of the stir-fry sauce, and it comes out to 300ml (10 oz), then you need 30 ml (1 oz) of sauce per batch. Tape this number onto the container so you won't forget!

Worried about shelf life? Don't be. Most sauces and dressings are high in salt, acid, and/or sugar, all of which help preserve food. So if you keep it in the fridge, it's unlikely that your soy-sauce-based marinade is going to go bad any time soon. We're talking months.

For example I have a container labeled "rib rub" because we make this Epic Oven BBQ Ribs regularly, so it just makes sense to make the spice rub in bulk. It then doubles as a spice mix I can use for my vegetarian chilli as well.

Some sauce recipes you can make in bulk:

Secret #2: Pre-Cook the Proteins

I don't know about you, but I find dealing with raw meat rather annoying, because after it's done, I can't just keep going. I have to stop and wash my hands, clean my station, get another knife and cutting board...ugh...it just interrupts my flow. So I am always DELIGHTED when I open the fridge and see pre-cooked protein ready to go.

You DON'T have to have all your meals planned for the week to do this (I don't!), so here are some examples:

For dinner parties: Have a look at your menu and see if any of the meats can be cooked ahead of time then reheated and added to the rest of the dish on the day.

How long does cooked meat last? When properly cooled (which means quickly cooled), cooked protein will last in the fridge for up to 7 days.

Some recipes you can throw pre-cooked meat into:

Secret #3: Pre-Cut Vegetables

Many people feel that vegetables should be dealt with fresh; but cut veggies last a surprisingly long time in the fridge. In restaurants, sturdy vegetables such as broccoli, mushrooms, eggplant, cauliflower, onions, etc. can be cut for the week.

Even leafy greens can be washed, dried and cut ahead of time; and with time you'll learn how long each of the veggies last once they're cut. You also don't need to put them in containers like you see on "inspirational meal prep Instagram"; you can put cut veggies back into the produce bag it came in (if it's clean).

If you're new to this technique, the first time you open the fridge and realize that you do not have to peel the garlic or cut that broccoli ... the fridge angelic choir will sing!

Or you can buy pre-cut veggies from the store. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't personally do it because they're not always cut the way I want them. (And from my experience, pre-peeled garlic isn't nearly as aromatic.)

Dinner Parties: Guide to a Stress-Free Dinner Party

Dinner parties require a little bit more planning than a weeknight meal-prep, though the principles are the same. I used to work in catering, which basically meant one dinner party after another. Here are some techniques I learned, adapted for home cooks, so you can cook up a storm and STILL enjoy the party! Watch the video below to see the planning system I still use today, but here's the gist of it:

1. Plan your menu...sensibly

Write your menu down on a piece of paper. YES. Paper. Trust me this will help give you a bird's eye view of everything, and you can think about whether you've got a DOABLE menu. Think of the following:

2. Go shopping at least TWO days ahead.

Not the day before, and definitely NOT the morning of. ALL ingredients will last 2 days, even fresh herbs. I also like 2 days, and not more, because even raw meat will last 2 days without having to freeze them.

Grocery shopping for a big meal is exhausting, and you don't want to be doing this the same day you're prepping. This will also give you time to come up with a plan B if something is unavailable!

The only exception is fresh seafood, which I like to get the day of if possible.

3. Plan your prep.

You want to write out exactly what you are going to do the day before, and what you'll do the day of. If it's a big dinner party, I would even extend the prep to 2 days before.

I use a template to do this which makes it so much easier. You can see in the video how it's used, and I've made it available for download; links below the video.

4. Get a sous chef or a dishwasher.

This is probably my most ignored advice, but actually the most helpful one.

You will not believe how incredibly freeing it is to not have to stop to wash that spatula while you cook because it's dirty, or god forbid having to stop to take out the garbage because it's full!

STORY TIME: For my most recent cookbook photoshoot, I had to cook 10-12 dishes to be photographed in one day. It was intense. On my prep days, Adam (the show's cameraman) came to help me clear dishes as I was working. Trust me, when I turned around, exhausted from the cooking, and saw that the sink was empty, the angelic sink choir sang.

VIDEO: Guide to a Stress-Free Dinner Party

This video will really help you see how to prep for your dinner like a pro! You can also download the templates that I use in the links below!

Watch on YouTube instead.

Download Dinner Party Planning Templates:

In the PDF files I've included the blank template, instructions on how to use it, and an example of a completed one which I adapted from a real party I catered. I've also included an excel file of the blank template so you can fill it in directly.

PDF: HTK Menu & Ing Template

PDF: HTK Prep Sched Template

XLS: HTK Party Planning

The post How to Meal Prep Like a Pro - with Downloadable Dinner Party Planner appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Shrimp Cake ทอดมันกุ้ง (tod mun goong)

Sat, 07 Dec 2013 00:50:00 GMT

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The post Shrimp Cake ทอดมันกุ้ง (tod mun goong) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Fresh Rice Noodles (ho fun)

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 20:10:00 GMT

Since I shared my Pad See Ew ผัดซีอิ้ว recipe, many people have told me that they can't find the fresh rice noodles. And when the dry ones really are not nearly as good, the only other sensible option is to make it. And you'll be glad to know it's not that hard!

Choosing the right pan

Choosing the right pan to steam the noodles is perhaps the hardest part of this whole thing. The ideal pan should release the noodles cleanly without too much stickiness left behind, leaving noodles smooth on the underside.

When I filmed the video originally, the noodles released beautifully from the pan I used. But when I tried other pans later, I found some did not release as well and created a sticky bottom. Still usable in dishes, but they were more difficult to work with and needed more oil in between the sheets.

I found that the pan surface needs to be super smooth in order for things to release cleanly. Stainless steel, glass, porcelaine, or some nonstick surfaces are great. Aluminum and some rougher non-stick pans are not as great.

Thinner pans are also better because they cool down much faster, allowing you to move from one plate to the next quickly.

Creating Optimal Noodles

Many Thai recipes for fresh rice noodles calls for kneading the flour with a small amount of water first before adding the rest of the water to dissolve the dough into a batter. The kneading essentially forces the starch molecules to absorb water more readily, allowing the starch to hydrate more fully. The longer you knead, the better.

Why does this matter? Because fully-hydrated starch yields softer, shinier, and chewier noodles.

I was curious about this phenomenon, and a chain of introductions led me to Dr. Teeprakorn Kongraksawech, a food scientist from Oregon State University who told me:

So there, you can either knead or wait for the perfect noodles.

Use your fresh rice noodles in...

The post Fresh Rice Noodles (ho fun) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Rad Na ราดหน้า (rice noodles with gravy)

Fri, 22 Nov 2013 17:52:00 GMT

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Chewy, tender fresh rice noodles drenched in a tasty gravy and tender pork, Rad Na is one of the most popular lunch items in Thailand!

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The post Rad Na ราดหน้า (rice noodles with gravy) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Top 5 Noodle Soups in Thailand - A Mini Travel Documentary

Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:34:00 GMT

When food lovers go to Thailand, the same issue arises: So much good food to try in only so many meals! Noodle soups are one of the must-haves in Thailand, but there are so many different types, which to choose?

In this 2-part mini documentary, I take you around Bangkok to discover my top 5 noodle soup recommendations , PLUS a dessert noodle soup for a sweet finish!

Part 1: Yentafo, wonton noodles, and tom yum noodles + Noodle ordering tips!

Part 2: Guay Jub 5-spice noodle rolls, boat noodles, and bonus dessert noodles!

The post Top 5 Noodle Soups in Thailand - A Mini Travel Documentary appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Top 5 Noodle Soups in Thailand! Pt 2

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 19:32:00 GMT

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Finishing off our trip with 2 more mouth-watering bowls, and as a bonus: A dessert noodle soup!

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The post Top 5 Noodle Soups in Thailand! Pt 2 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Custard in a Pumpkin ฟักทองสังขยา (faktong sangkaya)

Mon, 28 Oct 2013 19:11:00 GMT

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The post Custard in a Pumpkin ฟักทองสังขยา (faktong sangkaya) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Black Sticky Rice Pudding ข้าวเหนียวดำ (kao niew dum)

Mon, 28 Oct 2013 19:03:00 GMT

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The post Black Sticky Rice Pudding ข้าวเหนียวดำ (kao niew dum) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Panang Curry พะแนงหมู

Sat, 26 Oct 2013 05:18:00 GMT

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INGREDIENTS

Serves 2

Recipe Notes:

*If you are using store bought curry paste, you may need a little less (~3 Tbsp) depending on the brand. You will also need to add 2 tablespoons of ground roasted peanuts to your curry when using store bought curry paste.

**When you let coconut milk sit, the fatty part usually floats to the top. This thick, fatty coconut milk is great for using as garnish, so don't stir your coconut milk until you have spooned out some! I forgot to do this for the video...sadly.

INSTRUCTIONS

Sauté the curry paste in some vegetable oil until aromatic, and deglaze with ¼ cup of the coconut milk. Note: Traditionally, we sauté the curry paste in rendered coconut oil. See more information about this method in Massaman Curry and Green Curry videos.

Add the 3 torn kaffir lime leaves and let the mixture cook, stirring constantly, until the coconut milk dries up again.

Once the coconut milk dries up, add the pork to the pan and toss to coat the pork thoroughly in the curry paste. Add the remaining ½ cup of coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar. Let cook until the pork is done. When the pork is done, remove from heat immediately.

To serve: pour the curry on to a deep plate or a shallow bowl, spoon the 2 Tbsp of coconut milk over the top for garnish. Top with thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves and spur chili slices. Serve with hot jasmine rice!

The post Panang Curry พะแนงหมู appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Panang Curry Paste

Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:08:00 GMT

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The post Panang Curry Paste appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Cashew Chicken Recipe - Better Than Takeout!

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 22:45:00 GMT

The post Cashew Chicken Recipe - Better Than Takeout! appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Toasted Rice Powder

Fri, 27 Sep 2013 19:06:00 GMT

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Thai Vocabs for Easy Menu Reading

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The post Basic Thai Food Vocabs appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

I use mashed taro root in my dessert Bua Loy, and this is a quick tutorial for how to deal with this strange looking root!

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The post How to Prep Taro Root appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Basic Thai Ingredients Part 1

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:29:00 GMT

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My presentation at The Dirty Apron Cooking School in Vancouver.

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Presentation Excerpt pt 1 - Basic Thai Ingredients

The post Basic Thai Ingredients Part 1 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Basic Thai Ingredients Part 2

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:27:00 GMT

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The continuation of the presentation. More on what I call "The Basic Thai Pantry."

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Presentation Excerpt pt 2 - Basic Thai Ingredients

The post Basic Thai Ingredients Part 2 appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai Curries, Soups, Salads & Stir-Fries

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:25:00 GMT

The "structure" of the 4 major categories of Thai dishes. I.e. What makes a Thai curry, a curry?

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The post Thai Curries, Soups, Salads & Stir-Fries appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Green Papaya Salad ส้มตำ (old version)

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 23:46:00 GMT

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The post Green Papaya Salad ส้มตำ (old version) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Shrimp Stock

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:58:00 GMT

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Use this shrimp stock for your Tom Yum Goong to add extra oomph of flavour!

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The post Shrimp Stock appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Red Curry Paste

Tue, 28 May 2013 18:56:00 GMT

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INGREDIENTS

Serves 2-3

Yum Dressing

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak glass noodles in room-temp water for 15-20 minutes to soften.

Mix the dressing ingredients together and stir to dissolve sugar a bit. It doesn’t have to be completely dissolved at this point, it will dissolve eventually in the salad.

Pound soaked dried shrimp and Thai chilies in a mortar and pestle until the shrimp is shredded. Alternatively, use a coffee grinder or finely mince them with a knife. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add to the bowl, tomatoes, onion, and Chinese celery.

Cook the ground pork in a small sauté pan in a little bit of water. Transfer the pork, not the liquid, to the vegetables. Add water into the same pan so it’s about ½” deep, bring to a boil and add the shrimp and cook just until done. Add the shrimp to the mixing bowl as well.

Bring a pot of water to a full boil, cook the noodles for 2-3 minutes until done. Taste the noodles to check for doneness. Drain noodles well and transfer noodles into the mixing bowl and don’t mix everything just yet.

Pour the dressing directly onto the noodles in the mixing bowl, and then toss everything together. You can serve it now, but if you have time, let sit for a few minutes to let the noodles absorb the dressing and all the flavours mingle.

Pour onto a serving dish, and sprinkle with chopped roasted peanuts. Enjoy!

The post Glass Noodle Salad ยำวุ้นเส้น (old version) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Laab ลาบหมู (ground pork and mint salad)

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:38:00 GMT

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The post Laab ลาบหมู (ground pork and mint salad) appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Thai BBQ Chicken ไก่ย่าง (old version)

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 06:15:00 GMT

What to do when you can't get pre-made tamarind juice or concentrate from the store?

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The post Tamarind Juice appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Exotic Fruit in Mom’s Garden

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:22:00 GMT

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My mom has an incredible edible garden in Bangkok. Here's a peek into what kinds of exotic fruits we have along with some interesting facts for each fruit.

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Exotic Fruit in Mom’s Garden

The post Exotic Fruit in Mom’s Garden appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

Bangkok Market

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:20:00 GMT

A tour of the weekend market in Bangkok that I go to every time I go home! This is called "Summakorn Market" and is located at Ramkhamhaeng Soi 110 Rd, Saphan Sung, Bangkok 10240.

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Bangkok Market

The post Bangkok Market appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .

How to Make Sticky Rice

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:42:00 GMT

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Change it up a bit and try some Thai sticky rice. I use a traditional bamboo cone steamer in this tutorial, but you can use any kind of steaming device you have at home.

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The post How to Make Sticky Rice appeared first on Hot Thai Kitchen .