Recipe: Thai Vegetarian Basil Fried Rice

Basil has probably got to be my favourite herb for cooking. The Thai variety, available at wet markets and known as daun selasih is smaller than Sweet Basil with delicate purple flowers. It has a sweetish, peppery taste. Here is a recipe for a popular Thai dish, Kao Pad Krapao, that has been modified for vegetarians.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups cooked Jasmine rice, preferably cooked day before
3-4 red shallots, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chilly, deseeded and chopped
50 g young asparagus, sliced on an angle into 1 inch pieces
50g French or long beans,  sliced on an angle into 1 inch pieces
100 g button mushrooms, sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced thinly
100 g vegetarian ham or sausage, diced (substitute chicken or shrimp for non-vegetarian version)
2-3 tbsp light soy sauce (substitute fish sauce for non-vegetarian version)
1/2 tsp white pepper or to taste
Pinch sugar
1/4 cup Thai basil
Additional Thai basil and coriander sprigs to garnish

Heat wok till it just begins to smoke. Add oil, swirl to coat. Add shallots, garlic and chilly and stir fry briskly. Add vegetarian ham or sausage and fry for about 3 minutes until lightly golden. Throw in beans, mushrooms and capsicum. Sprinkle in some water and stir fry for another couple of minutes. Quickly add rice, soy sauce, pepper and sugar and toss well. Add basil and mix well. Garnish with additional basil leaves and coriander, if desired. Serve immediately.

Recipe: Thai Red Curry with Pork and Pineapple

This is a beautiful dish, served inside a Pineapple "Boat" which you can make at home. It is mildly spicy (in fact not as spicy as Green Curry), sweet and sour. You can either use store-bought or homemade red curry paste. 

For the Thai Red Curry Paste:

13 small dried chilies, deseeded, soaked in water
3 tbsp chopped shallot
4 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped galangal
2 tbsp chopped lemon grass
2 tsp grated kaffir lime rind (or substitute fresh lime peel if not available)
1 tbsp chopped coriander root (or substitute fresh coriander stems)
20 white peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp ground roasted coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 tsp sea salt

To make the curry paste, grind the ingredients up in a mortar and pestle. It freezes well and can keep for several months.

For the Pineapple Boat:
1 medium-ripe pineapple (you want to make sure the flesh is still firm)

Cut the pineapple in half, and chop the stems. Using a paring knife and spoon, scoop out the flesh, taking care to leave about 1/2-1 inch border around the edges so that the curry doesn't flow out. Cut flesh into bite-size chunks. Rinse the shell and pat dry. Reserve the other half of the pineapple for other purposes.

For the curry:
300 g pork from the shoulder, with a little fat, sliced thinly
A handful of young asparagus (substitute french or long beans), cut into 1 inch pieces
Flesh from half pineapple (see above)
1 tbsp oil
1 stalk lemon grass, smashed lightly to release flavour
5 shallots, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp red curry paste
200 ml pure coconut milk
200 ml water (About 3/4 cup)
3-4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
Sugar and salt to taste

To garnish:
A handful of Thai basil
Chopped coriander leaves

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add oil. Add lemon grass, shallots and garlic and stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Do not brown. Add red curry paste and fry until fragrant. Working in batches, add pork to the pan and fry until meat just changes colour. Pour in coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves followed by water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Lift cover, add asparagus and simmer for another 3-4 minutes or until tender but crisp. Stir in pineapple chunks and stir well. By this point the gravy should be fairly thick. Add fish sauce and lime juice. Add sugar and salt to taste. Serve inside the Pineapple Boat and garnish with basil and coriander leaves. Serve immediately with fragrant Jasmine rice.

Recipe: "Big Flame" Morning Glory

Sunset at the Amanpuri, Phuket

I love vacationing in Thailand - great food, gorgeous beaches, and fabulous people. I recently went on a ladies' retreat to the Amanpuri in Phuket, during which my girlfriend, S, and I spent virtually all of four days in horizontal position - sipping wine by the beach, reading novels, and chatting about life, love and relationships under the sala at night. One of my favourite dishes from Thailand is Pahk Boong Fai Daeng or Morning Glory in Flames. Morning glory is vegetable that grows in swampy areas in Southeast Asia, and it is also known as kangkong in Malay or water spinach. While in Singapore and Malaysia the vegetable is usually fried with sambal, the Thai version uses yellow bean sauce and is lighter and sweeter. Like a bunny rabbit, I ate this for breakfast, lunch and dinner during the holiday - so much so that the restaurant staff must have thought I was a little loony. 

Whenever I have this dish I'm reminded of the brief period in my life, after graduation, when I worked as a waitress at a Korean restaurant on Newbury Street in Boston. Although it was hard work (think 13-hour shifts, which tended to extend way into the wee hours of the morning on karaoke night), I enjoyed the experience thoroughly, especially learning about Korean cuisine and meeting the many colourful people that came through the restaurant’s doors. As with many restaurants in the US, the kitchen staff was wonderfully multicultural. The diversity aside, I quickly learnt that it could prove challenging in terms of communication. As not everyone spoke English, we relied on a host of fabricated hand gestures to communicate what we needed from each other. One of my best friends at the restaurant was Pedro who hailed from Mexico. He only knew one Malay word, Apa Khabar (how are you?) while my Spanish vocabulary was likewise limited to Gracias and Ola. Pedro, aside from being chief bus boy, was in charge of preparing the fuel for table-top cooking. After a few frustrating tries where neither of us understood what each other was saying, we developed an understanding that “Big Fire” meant a full set of coals, enough for a Korean barbeque of 6 while “Small Fire” referred to the gas-powered hot pot.

Me: Pedro!

Pedro: Ola!

Me: One big fire, Pedro

Pedro: Big fire? No small fire?

Me: Yes, Pedro, one big fire

In order to make this dish successfully, you will need a wok and very high heat.  The flames should literally lick the bottom and the sides of your wok. Everything comes together in under 5 minutes, making this dish an ideal vegetable side dish.

Ingredients:

500 g or 1 large bunch morning glory/kangkong/water spinach

4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

4 shallots, sliced thinly

1 red chilly, finely sliced

1 green chilly, finely sliced

1 tbsp yellow bean sauce (tau cheong)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

A few drops fish sauce (optional)

1-2 tsp sugar to taste

A dash of pepper

2-3 tbsp water

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Pluck leaves off the vegetables and cut stems into 2 inch pieces. Wash thoroughly in several changes of water to remove grit. Drain well.

In a small bowl, combine yellow bean sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce (if using), sugar and pepper. Add about 2-3 tbsp of water and mix well.

Heat wok over high heat and add oil. Swirl to coat. Add garlic and shallots and stir-fry briefly until lightly fragrant. Add the stems of the morning glory, followed by the chilly and leaves, and stir-fry for 1 minute or so, or until wilted slightly. Add the sauce and stir well to coat. Sprinkle in water if necessary and stir-fry until vegetables are just done. Serve immediately.