Bamboo is used as a vegetable in Thailand, only the young ground shoots are eaten, the fully grown bamboo is strictly for panda bears! There are two main types of bamboo, plain bamboo and bitter bamboo. Plain bamboo in Thailand used to be boiled and eaten with spicy sauce containing plenty of chilli. The bitter bamboo they used to chop, and serve boiled with fried meat & chilli. You can also buy bamboo pickled. For this dish we will be using fried chicken with bamboo, similar to Chinese dishes, this is a favorite among westerners. This is a medium to hot dish, use fewer chillis if you prefer.

Ingredient 2 people
200 gms. Chicken Breast
100 gms. Can of Bamboo
5 Chillis (Mixed red/green)
3 Garlic Cloves
Half a Ginger Root Shoot (About 40 gms)
1 Spring Onion
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Water
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Clean the chicken and chop it into bite sized pieces.
2. Slice the bamboo, and spring onion, into fine pieces.
3. Chop the chilli and garlic into very small pieces.
4. Slice the ginger root into thin slices.
5. Put oil in pan turn up the heat to get it good and hot.
6. Add the chilli & garlic fry it for few second to release the flavour.
7. Add the chicken in and fry it for 2 minutes until its just cooked through.
8. Add the ingredient for the sauce to the pan, the soy, oyster and fish sauces and the sugar.
7. Add bamboo, spring onion, ginger and water, fry for minutes and serve it.

Serve With
Hot fragrant rice.

Tip
It is better to use bamboo in a can, it is already boiled and as bitter as fresh bamboo shoots.

This stir-fry dish includes glass noodles which adds bulk to the meal, making this one of the more filling stir-fry dishes possible. For this dish you will need pickled cabbage which can be obtained in cans from a Thai grocer. The cabbage is normally in small pieces, but you may need to cut it further for this recipe.

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Chicken Breast
50 gms Glass Noodle
50 gms Pickled Cabbage
4 Garlic Cloves
3 Big Red Chillies
2 Tablespoons Chopped Spring Onion
2 Tablespoons Chopped Coriander Leaves
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablspoon Oyster Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1/4 White Pepper
3 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Soak the glass noodle in water for 10 minutes to soften them.
2. Chop the chicken breast into very small pieces, a consistency close to a course mince is what you're after.
3. Chop the garlic and chillies, fry in a medium hot pan with oil until the garlic smell is released.
4. Add the chicken and fry until the chicken is half cooked.
5. Chop the pickled cabbage into smaller pieces and add it to the pan, add the noodles.
6. Add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, chopped spring onion, chopped coriander leaves, sugar and white pepper, and fry it for 1 minute to finish off the chicken.

Serve with
Hot Thai Fragrant Rice

This stir fry uses the fresh beansprouts together with ginger root and chicken balls. The chicken balls are made to the same recipe as the pork balls in this recipe. Maggi sauce is the german savoury sauce that's popular in Thailand. You can find it in your local supermarket.

Ingredients Foe 3 People
100 gms Soya Bean Shoots
50 gms Ginger Root
50 gms Celery
50 gms Spring Onions
1 Teaspoon Chopped Coriander Leaves
4 Shitake Mushroom (Soak for 10 minutes in water if dried)
50 gms Chicken Ball
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
2 Teaspoons Maggi Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Chop the spring onion and chicken balls into half.
2. The chicken balls are already cooked and only need to be warmed through.
3. Fry the chicken ball and onion the pan with oil for seconds.
4. Chop the ginger root, celery, and shitake mushrooms and add to the pan.
5. Add the light soy sauce, sugar, Maggi sauce, oyster sauce and white pepper and frying for 30 seconds.
6. When serving garnish with a little chopped coriander leaves.

Serve With
Thai Fragrant Rice

The ingredients in this stir-fry are the sort of things you'd find in the Thai Jungle. Green peppercorns for spices, Doc Kae tree flowers for a bitter bite, various vegetables and wild chickens! Sadly, Thailand has very little jungle left today, and this is the closest many Thai will ever come to the jungle.

Ingredients
300 gms Corn Fed Chicken Leg or Wing
20 gms Chopped Baby Corn
20 gms Chopped Aubergine
20 gms Chopped Doc Kae
10 gms Green Pepper
10 gms Sweet Basil
1 Tablespoon Red Curry
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Oil

Preparation
1. Clean and chop the chicken into 3 cm lengths, deep fry in hot oil until crunchy, then remove and drain.
2. Preheat oil in a shallow frying pan, add the red curry paste and fry the paste for 20 seconds. This will bring out the taste.
3. Add the fried chicken, sugar and all the vegetables, together with 2-3 tablespoons water.
4. Fry for 30 seconds on a high heat then remove and serve.

Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice

This chicken is cooked in herb infused spirit to give it a kick. If you can't get Loas Dong Ya, or Thai Ya Dong, you can substitute any herb spirit.

Ingredients
150 gms Chicken Wings or Legs
1 Teaspoon Salt
Pinch White Pepper
350 ml water
2 Tablespoons Chopped Onions
2 Garlic Cloves Chopped
1 Tablespoon Laos Dong Ya
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 Tablespoons Tomato Sauce

Preparation
1. Chop the chicken wings, or legs into pieces.
2. Boil in water with the salt, pepper and simmer until the water has reduced by half.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients, and simmer until the stock has nearly completely gone.

This is a simple fried dish that's quick to make and easy to prepare. Typically served with fragrant rice, prepare all the ingredients carefully first including the rice, cook it quickly then serve and eat immediately. It originates from central Thailand and is medium hot.

Ingredient , For 2 People
300 gms Chicken
3 Tablespoons Oil
4 Cloves Garlic
5 Red Thai Chillies
1 Small Onion
2 Spring Onions
A Pinch of White Pepper
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
10 Basil leaves

Serve With
Fragrant Rice
Sliced tomatoes & sliced cucumber

Preparation
1. Clean and slice chicken into small bite sized pieces.
2. Peel and chop garlic and chillies finely, an electric blender is best but hand chopping is sufficient.
3. Chop the onion into slices.
4. Chop the spring onion into short 2-3cm strips.
5. Put oil in the frying pan and put it on a high heat. The pan should be hot before adding the ingredients.
6. Fry garlic and chilli for a few seconds to bring out the smell of the garlic.
7. Add the chicken pieces, together with all the remaining ingredients except the basil.
8. Stir until the chicken is cooked, then take it off the heat.
9. Add the basil.

Remarks
It is common in Thailand to add a fried egg, sunny side up, ontop of the dish.

A very popular dish, this is a quick easy to make stir fry of chicken and vegetables seasoned with cashew nuts. This is ideal as a side dish for Thai Fragrant Rice. The name break down as 'Guy' = chicken, 'pad' = fried, 'Med' = seed and 'Med Mamuang Hinmapan' means cashew nut. In Thai its just as long a name! ไก่ ผัด เม็ดมะม่วง หิมมะพานต์

Ingredient for 2 People
100 gms Chicken Breast
30 gms Cashew Nuts
1/2 Medium Onion
1 Spring Onion
1/2 a Red Pepper
50 gms Bamboo Shoot
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon White Pepper
3 Garlic Clove
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Chop the garlic into small pieces and put in a frying pan and fry it for a few seconds to release the garlic fragrance.
2. Chop the chicken breast into strips and add to the frying pan - stir until chicken is cooked.
3. Chop the onion, spring onion, red pepper and bamboo, into strips add in the pan.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients.
5. Cook for 2 minutes.

Serve with
Hot Fragrant Rice

Mee krob is crunchy rice noodles used to make a variety of dishes. I'll be making some Mee Krob recipes to show how it's used. By itself Mee Krob has no flavour, it is similar to rice crispies, or rice crackers and needs flavourings and ingredients to bulk it out. This recipe is a common variant, with chicken for bulk and baby shrimp for flavour.

Ingredients
50 gms Rice Noodle (Rice Vermicelli)
Oil For Deep Frying
1 tbsp. Chopped Garlic
1 tbsp. Chopped Red Small Onions
2 tbsp. Chopped Dried Small Shrimp
1 tbsp. Chopped Coriander Leaves
2 tbsp. Oil
2 tbsp. Fish Sauce
2 tsbp. Sugar
40 gms Chopped Sweet Sausage
40 gms Chopped Dried Tofu
40 gms Chopped Chicken Meat, Pork, Shrimp... Your choice.
40 gms Chopped Pickled Garlic

Preparation
1. Heat the oil to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Drop a small amount of the noodles into the oil, they only need a quick fry and will puff up almost instantly. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
3. Shallow fry all the other ingredients until the sugar has dissolved, take of the heat and mix with the crispy noodles.

Serve With
Flaked Chillies
Sugar
Vinegar
Soya Bean
Pak Choy
Lettuce