Mini Yellow Bean Fruits ( Kao Noom Look Choup )
Everyone of these miniature fruits are made from sweetened yellow bean paste, and food colourings. The shine comes from a glaze made of agar. Don't be put off, they are not as difficult to make as they look, and you can have a lot of fun with your children making them.
Make each one small, 10-15gms of yellow bean paste is perfect, if you make them too big, they are difficult to dip in the agar later and will not hold their shape. A good way to hold the fruit is to skewer them on toothpicks as you paint and dip them.
Ingredients
200 gms Yellow Bean
150 gms Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
100 ml Coconut Milk
Food Coloring
Ingredients for Glaze
5 gms Agar Jelatin
150 Water
50 gms Sugar
Preparation
1. Soak the yellow beans obernight, steam for 45 minutes.
2. Pound or blend the bean to a paste, add mix with the sugar, salt and coconut milk.
3. Place into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring continuously until the paste thickens, then leave it to cool.
4. Now comes the artistic stage, take small pieces of the yellow bean paste, about 10gms each and form them into fruit shapes.
5. I find it's a good idea to use toothpicks and a block of foam to hold the shapes while I paint them with the food colouring.
6. Now to glaze, mix the agar with water and heat until the agar has fully dissolved.
7. Leave it to cool slightly, but be careful not to let it set.
8. Dip the fruit into the agar and stand them up by pushing the toothpick into foam or polystyrene. Let the agar set on the fruit, then repeat the process and coat the fruit again with another layer of agar. You may have to reheat the agar in the pan to melt it again each time.
Hints for Each Fruit
Banana - Bananas are slightly oblong, with 4 stripes running down the sides.
Chom Pu - These are a Thai fruit, a little pink yellow and orange on the base and make the top slightly green.
Cherries - The stalk I made from a stalk of coriander.
Chillies - I rolled out the basic shape and used a blunt knife to make the leaf shape at the top. Then skewer them with a toothpick and paint with food coloring.
Man Cud - the leaves on the top are made by pressing in the top of a pen to give the round leaf shape.
Melon Slices - I found it is easier to not paint the bottom edge of the melon.
Mini Orange - One of my favourites, make the leaf separately and be careful when dipping this one in agar because the leaf can come off.
Mini Sweet Corn - Make a tapering sausage shape, cut a grating into the soya with a sharp knife, then paint with yellow food colouring and green edging.
Mini Tomato - A blunt knife is used to make the star shaped leaves, by pushing down the soft yellow bean paste.
Mini Pears - I made these pears too big, and as you can see one of them bent when I was coating them in agar.
Sweet Shrimp on Yellow Rice ( Kao Niew Moon Na Gung )
This recipe may sound a little strange. It is a dessert made from shrimp on a base of (non-spicy) curried rice. A common Thai dish, but the ingredients are not common to desserts!
Ingredients for Yellow Rice
100 gms Sticky Rice
1-2 Teaspoons Tumeric
200 ml Coconut Milk
150 gms Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
Ingredients for Sweet Shrimp
100 gms Shrimps
2-3 Garlic Cloves
1 Teaspoon White Pepper
10 gms Coriander Root or Seeds
100 gms Desiccated (Ground) Coconut
150 gms Sugar
1 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Oil
2-3 Drops of Orange Food Colouring
10 gms Sliced Kaffir Leaves for Garnish
Preparation
1. To make the yellow rice, soak the sticky rice in warm water, and tumeric and leave for 4-8 hours.
2. Steam the rice until cooked, (approximately 15 minutes).
3. Place the rice in a bowl, mix with the sugar, salt and coconut milk. Leave it to soak up the coconut milk.
4. Now to the shrimp topping. Clean the shrimp, remove the shell and cut down the back to remove the black thread 'gut'.
5. Chop the shrimp into a fine mince.
6. Pound the garlic and coriander root/seeds and white pepper together until well ground up.
7. Fry the shrimp and pounded mixture in a frying pan with a little oil until part cooked, 30 seconds or so is fine.
8. Mix the ground coconut with the orange food colouring, add to the frying pan, add the sugar and salt and fry for a further 2 minutes. The sugar will slightly caramelize.
9. Serve a small bowl of the yellow rice with the sweet shrimp on top and garnish with some slices of kaffie lime leaves.
Pandan Pancakes ( Kanoom Crorg Sung Ka Ya )
The green topping on these pancakes is made from Bi Tua (pandan), the sweet reed with the bubblegum like flavour used in many Thai desserts.
Ingredients
100 gms Rice Flour
230 ml Water
80 gms Cooked Thai Rice
50 gms Shredded Coconut
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
Preparation
1. Mix all the ingredients together until smooth.
2. Warm a mini pancake pan on a medium heat.
3. Rub oil onto the surface with a piece of oiled kitchen paper.
4. Pour a little mixture into each dimple and over with a lid for 1 minute. You want them nearly cooked.
Ingredients for Topping
200 ml Evaporated Milk
100 ml Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon Wheat Flour
1/2 Salt
5 Tablespoons Sugar
2-3 Tablespoons Bi tua Water
Preparation
1. Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and cook through very slowly until it thickens.
2. Spoon the mixture onto the pancakes, then finish cooking the pancakes with the mixture on top.
Coconut Rice Nut Ring ( Ga Ya Sat Bi Tua )
This ring is made from young shredded coconut, bi-tua (pandan leaves) flavouring, nuts, and puffed rice. It's Thailand's version of crunch bars and eaten at the new year in April. I've pressed it into a tom yum pan to get that donut shape.
Ingredients
125 gms Rice Crispies ( Puffed Toasted Rice )
80 gms Peanuts
40 gms Ground Young Coconut
150 gms Sugar
2 tbsp. White Sesame Seeds
10 gms Bitua Leaves (Pandan Leaves)
200 ml Water
Preparation
1. In a dry hot frying pan, toast the sesame seeds until they are golden.
2. Toast the peanuts in the same way, until browned and leave to cool.
3. Blend the bi tua leaves with the water then sieve to get just the green water.
4. Into a saucepan, place the bi tua water and bring to the boil, add the sugar and ground coconut and stir until the water reduces and becomes sticky.
5. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix to make sure the sticky water covers all the ingredients.
6. Empty into a tom-tum pan, press flat, and leave to cool and set.
Seafood Mee Krob ( Mee Krob Rad Na Ta Le )
Another Mee Krob dish, this one is flavoured and bulked out with seafood and pak choi. Remember that mee krob is just fried puffed rice noodle and so it does not really fill you up.
Ingredients
30 gms Rice Noodle (Thin Vermicelli)
Oil For Deep Fry
800 ml Water
1 Chicken Stock Cube
50 gms Mixed Seafood Meat (Mussels Shrimp Shellfish... but no shells!)
2 Tablespoons Corn Flour
Preparation
1. Preheat the oil.
2. Fry the rice noodles for a few seconds to crisp it up. It will expand as it cooks, so only cook a little at a time.
3. Remove the noodles and drain on kitchen paper.
4. Boil the water with the stock cube, add the seafood mix. Mix the corn four with a little water and pour into the boiling water. Stir and heat until the sauce has thickened.
Serve with
Flaked Dried Chillies
Sugar
Vinegar
Pork & Crunchy Basil ( Yum Mu Sam Chun Garpow Grob )
A typical gop-gam dish to eat as a snack or with alcoholic drinks. This one is fatty pork garnished with crunchy (fried) kaprow basil leaves. We love our snack food in Thailand!
Ingredients
20 gms Large Kaprow Leaves
300 gms Pork with Rind and Fat (3 layer pork)
1 Teaspoon Flaked Chillies
1 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Lime Juice
1 Teaspoon Fish Sauce
Sliced Kaffir Lime Leaves
Sliced Red Onion
Sliced Garlic
Garnish
Sliced Coriander Leaves
Sliced Mint
Preparation
1. Clean the kaprow leaves, dry them and drop them into hot oil to just crisp up, this only takes around a minute. Set aside on kitchen paper to drain.
2. Boil the three layer pork in water for 10 minutes to cook it, chop it into tiny strips.
3. Mix the pork with the other ingredients, and shallow fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. Garnish with the fried kaprow leaves, coriander and mint.
Spicy Noodles & Sweet Sesame Pork ( Lab Woon San Mu Wan )
This is crunchy sweet pork on spicy glass noodles. The sweetness of the pork is to balance the spiciness, and the crunch of the sesame seeds balances the softness of the noodles.
Ingredients
100 gms Glass Noodle
1 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaves
1 Tablespoon Chopped Spring Onion
1 Tablespoon Chopped Mint
1 Teaspoon Dried Flaked Chillies
1 Teaspoon Sticky Rice
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Lime Juice
Preparation
1. Dry fry the sticky rice to brown it, in a clean dry frying pan.
2. Pound the toasted sticky rice in a Thai mortar. This is a common flavoring and I usually have a jar of toasted sticky rice pre-made.
3. Boil the glass noodle in water for 2-3 minutes.
4. Drain and mix with the other ingredients.
Ingredients for Sesame Pork
200 gms Pork Meat ( Cubed )
100 gms White Sesame Seeds
50 gms Black Sesame Seeds
30 gms Palm Sugar
1-2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1-2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Chicken Stock Powder
Preparation
1. Toast the sesame seeds lightly in a dry frying pan to just colour them a little. Set aside.
2. Mix the pork and stock powder and leave for 30 minutes.
3. Mix everything except the sesame seeds in a frying pan.
4. Cook over a medium heat until the pork is cooked and the sugar coasting is sticky.
5. Drop the cooked sticky pork cubes into the sesame seeds to coat them.
6. This is better served sliced, for the photograph I left it in cubes.
Red Curried Duck ( Gang Pate Pet Yang )
The most unusual part of this recipe is the rambutans, the semi-sweet Thai fruit we add to it to balance the spicy curry. Lychees can be substituted very successfully if you can't obtain rambutans. The duck though is essential, it has a soft meat that blends into the dish. If you can't get hold of duck, try one of the other pork or chicken red curry recipes on this site instead!
Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Duck
200 ml Coconut Milk
Water for Boiling
3 Tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Oil
2 Red Chillies
5 Basil Leaves
4 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
5 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
2 Cubed Raw Potatoes
4 Rambutans (From a tin is better than fresh for this recipe)
Preparation
1. Boil the potatoes in water until they are cooked, drain off the water, leaving only approx. 100 mls remaining in the pan.
2. Clean the duck and slice the meat into strips.
3. Into a frying pan, fry the curry paste in the oil for few seconds - this will release the flavours - then add duck and stir fry in the hot oil. Again this only needs to be done for a few seconds.
4. Cut the chillies and kaffir leaves into smaller pieces and add to the frying pan with the duck.
5. Add the coconut milk, salt, sugar and fish sauce, and fry for 2 minutes.
6. Add the contents of the frying pan to the potato pan and bring the liquid back to the boil.
7. Add the rambutans, basil leaves, and cherry tomatoes and serve immediately.
Serve With
Hot Thai Fragrant Rice
Spicy Thai Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Gung)
'Tom Yum' is a spicy soup made from chilli, lime leaves and lemon juice, 'Gung' is the shrimp form of this soup. 'Tom Yum' is what people think of when they think of Thai food, it is the poster dish you must learn to cook to be able to say you cook Thai food. In the North East it's common to eat 'Tom Yum' made from chicken, it can also be made from pork or even fish.
Ingredient for 2 People
150 gms Shrimp
250 ml Water
30 gms Galanga
30 gms Lemongrass
20 gms Kaffir Lime leaves
25 gms Bird Chilli
1 Sprig Coriander
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Tom Yum Paste
1 Teaspoon Chilli Paste
2 Tablespoon condensed milk
Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice
Preparation
1. Clean the shrimp and remove the black thread (the intestine) from the shrimp by cutting it down the back.
2. Slice the galanga and lemongrass, into short 3cm pieces and pound it in a mortar to break out the flavours.
3. Put the water in pan bring to the boil.
4. When the water is boiling add the galanga, lemongrass, kaffir, salt, and Tom Yum Paste, and wait for it to come back to biling again.
5. Add the shrimps in cook for 2 minutes.
6. Break the chillis into a mortar and pound them for a few moments to a pulp, add to the soup.
7. Add the fish sauce, lemon juce, chilli paste and condensed milk to the soup.
8. Turn off the heat and add the coriander leaves, serve hot.
From Appon's Thai Food
