Twice a Year Thai

This is one of my favorite things to eat, but one of my least favorite things to cook. It is a royal mess (but worth all the clean-up if you do it once or twice a year). I haven't made it in a few years, but I have been craving it lately... so I thought I would share the recipe for you Thai lovers out there and inspire myself to cook it. I have YET to find a better version of this ANYWHERE (even restaurants do not make it this good). It is spicy, and yet has a lovely brown sugar sweetness... and although it is supposed to be an appetizer, I could eat this as a main dish because I love it so! You would have to have a kitchen helper to make this PLUS another few Thai dishes for a complete meal. Enlist your sweetheart to help you cook... or make some Thai Coconut Soup and a Thai Salad to accompany it (along with some Thai Tea) and enjoy!

Mee Krob - Crisp Sweet Thai Noodles

Ingredients & Tools:
WOK
Chopping Block/Knives
Food Processor
Paper towels and plates for draining grease off of cooked food
- - - - -
Medium bottle of high quality oil for deep-frying
8 oz. dried rice sticks, broken into small bunches (very thin and tiny noodles)
4 eggs (slightly beaten)
6 tablespoons light brown sugar (do not skimp!)
1/4 cup fish sauce (nam pla)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (or bottled)
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion (red is fine)
1 tablespoon minced fresh hot chili (or Serrano pepper)
1 tablespoon minced or pressed garlic
12 oz boned and skinned chicken breast (minced or ran through food processor)
2 green onions or 4-6 chives, including tops, julienned or chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Sliced red hot chili for garnish

Note from recipe book:

"Fried wiry rice stick threads crowned with sweet and sour syrup are most often served as an appetizer in a Thai meal. Small shrimp, minced pork, or cubed tofu may be substituted for the chicken."

Instructions:
Pour the oil in a wok or deep-fat fryer to a depth of 2 to 3 inches and preheat to about 360° F. Add the rice sticks (tearing them apart as they fly all over your kitchen - don't worry - you can sweep later), a handful at a time, and cook, turning once, until crisp and lightly golden, 12 to 15 seconds. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly. Hold the bowl about 8 inches over the hot oil; dip a hand into the egg, then stretch it over the surface of the oil to dribble egg in long threads. Crisscross the oil in several directions to form a thin web of egg over the oil. Cook until lightly golden on the bottom, turn carefully, and cook until egg is golden on the other side. Transfer to paper toweling to drain while repeating procedure with remaining egg. After frying all the egg, discard all but about 3 tablespoons of the oil. Transfer that amount to a clean wok or frying pan.

In a bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and lime juice. Set aside after stirring.

Heat the oil in the wok or sauté pan over high heat. Add the onion and chili and stir fry for about one minute. Add the garlic and reserved fish sauce mixture and cook until sauce is syrupy (about 2 minutes). Add the chicken and stir fry until the meat turns opaque (about 2 minutes). Reduce the heat to low and add about one third of the reserved rice sticks and egg threads and gently toss to coat. Add half of the remaining rice sticks and egg and toss until coated. Add remaining rice sticks and egg and toss until all the rice sticks are coated with syrup.

Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle with green onion and cilantro (I like to leave a bowl of extra greens on the table for those who love it like me), garnish with red chili (optional) and serve immediately. (*Then spend a few hours/days cleaning up the grease and mess in your kitchen!)

Serves 6 to 8 (*unless you are like me and horde the leftovers for yourself!)

This recipe from James McNair's Pasta Cookbook. (*my comments)

Technorati Tags: Food, Food Blogs, Recipes, Delicious, No MSG, Thai Food, Thailand, Cooking, Dinner, Rice, Noodles, Yummy

Adaptable and Delicious Asian Fried Rice

I stole this recipe from someone who stole it from someone else. I love to make fried rice. Any time we have leftover white rice from eating out, this is what we do with it. We sometimes just make it at home with our own white rice, too. I like the longer grained rice (basmati especially). But remember, the rice must be pre-cooked and chilled before you start... that is the secret to great fried rice! I am not sure how exact this recipe is. I have adapted the recipe as we have continued to make the rice. I usually don't use it at all anymore, but make it from memory (and sometimes we ad-lib and create something similar, and yet not exactly the same). Here is the original Fried Rice recipe we started with (my notes in parentheses)...

"Thai Star Thai Fried Rice"

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil (you can use peanut oil also, which I use often)

1 Egg (we like 2 eggs or more - that is my favorite part... and we sometimes just use egg and no other meat)

1 breast of chicken cut into small pieces (can use other meat if you desire, or tofu)

1 tbsp. chopped onion (can also add green onion if you like it in addition or as a substitute)

1 tbsp. chopped tomato (this is distinctly Thai... is not usually found in Chinese Fried Rice. I only use when eating other Thai dishes, and prefer without it, honestly)

1 cup COLD COOKED RICE (if you are in a hurry, cook your rice and throw it in the freezer for a quick cool-down before frying)

1/2 tsp. sugar (other recipes I have call for brown sugar instead of white. I prefer to use PALM SUGAR. Palm sugar is delicious in the rice, and tastes very natural. I add more than a teaspoon, usually... depending on how much rice. Taste as you go and add more if it is not sweet enough.)

Assorted chopped vegetables to taste (can use frozen also - we use different ones depending on what we have, what type of foods we are eating with it, and what we feel like... our usuals are small heads of broccoli, frozen peas, green onions, small slices of celery, slivers of baby carrot cut long ways, etc. When we do Chinese type rice, we add Water Chestnuts and Bean Sprouts... and like I said earlier, when we do Thai, we sometimes add in the tomato chunks, or we pan fry large slices of tomatoes and serve along side rice like the Thai restaurant we love does)

Dash of Pepper

Soy Sauce (I love soy, so I add quite a bit and my rice is somewhat darker than my husband's. He prefers it lighter and less salty. We usually get a nice big metal can of soy as it pours nicely and will make quite a few plates full of fried rice!)

Other Ingredients not listed in this recipe that we like:

dash of Oyster Sauce (use sparingly, but it does add a nice flavor, even though it sounds horrible!)

dash of Fish Sauce (use sparingly, especially if you make a Thai or Vietnamese version of fried rice - they put fish sauce in their version at the restaurants usually)

Clove of Garlic (this actually does make it taste better, but don't use more than 2 cloves - we use about 1)

Thai Kitchen Spicy Thai Chili Sauce (serve on the side if you have someone who loves hot stuff), diced red peppers (if you are a bell pepper lover)

yellow onion instead of white (adds more tang if you like the onion taste in it)

salt (if it lacks something after cooking, you can always try a bit more soy or just some plain ol' salt!)

HEATHER's INSTRUCTIONS:
Cook rice and put in fridge/freezer to cool
heat your oil over medium high in wok or large skillet
scramble your egg/s in the oil until well done (we like ours browned a bit on the edges)
remove egg and throw on your meat - cook until done
throw in your veggies to sear/cook them until they are the desired consistency
add your egg back in
add your rice (add a bit more oil if you need to)
add your soy, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar (whichever kind you chose), pepper, salt, garlic, etc. - as fast as you can get it all in the pan!
keep stirring, taste rice, add more of whatever you think is "missing" from the taste test. :)

Pretty soon, you'll have your own favorite recipe from this recipe base just like we did!

BUT REMEMBER.... THE *SECRET* TO GREAT FRIED RICE: COOK RICE AHEAD OF TIME AND REFRIGERATE UNTIL COLD BEFORE PUTTING INTO FRYING PAN!!! This also came from a Vietnamese co-worker of my husband's. He adds MSG to his rice also, but it is not good for you! MSG is called "sugar" by the Vietnamese according to him. You will get the same effect if you add palm, brown or refined sugar to your rice in a subtle quantity. :) It makes it unbelievably good!

Hope you enjoy!

(original recipe from CopyKat Creations Website @ www.copykat.com)



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