This soup is suitable for vegetarians, yet it has all the food groups. The protein comes from tofu, the carbohydrate from noodles and the flavour from shitake mushrooms. It does not contain chilli, so this is one of the few Thai dishes suitable for children.

Ingredients for 2 people
1 Packet (100gms) of Tofu
1 Small Packet of Glass Nooddle
2 Carrots
100 gms. fresh soya bean shoots
5 Fresh Shitake Mushroom
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Or Vegetable stock cube for vegetarian)
1 Ltr. Water
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon of Sugar
A Pinch White Pepper

Preparation
If using dried shitake mushrooms, soak then for 12 hours to soften them.
1. Put the water and chicken stock cube in pan and boil it.
2. Take only 1/2 of the packet of glass nooddle and soak it in the plain cold water for 5 minutes to soften them.
3. Clean the vegetables and tofu and peel and chop the ingredients into bit sized pieces.
4. When the water is boiling add the tofu, carrots, glass noodles and shitake mushroom to the pan and simmer.
5. Simmer for 10 minutes until the carrots and mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from the heat
6. Add the light soya sauce and sugar.
7. Serve in a bowl with the soya bean shoots and a little pepper.

Salting eggs in brine is a way of preserving eggs, Thailand is very hot and eggs could only be kept for a short time unless salted. As with many cultures, the Thai's acquired a taste for the salted product, and created recipes around it. It's common in Thailand to east rice soup with salty egg, the egg adds the salty taste to the dish! The salt concentrates in the yolk of the egg, the longer they are kept in the brine, the saltier they get, 14-20 days is best, if you leave the eggs too long in the brine, they will be too salty to eat. If you're unsure how salty they are, remove one, boil it and taste it.

Ingredients
12 Raw Large Eggs
500gms Salt
4 Litres Water
Large Boiling Pan
Big Glass Jar

Preparation
1. The eggs are salted in a saturated brine solution. This means the maximum amount of salt you can dissolve in the water!
2. Boil water in a large pan.
3. Add the salt to the water and dissolve it. Add more salt until the salt can no longer dissolve.
4. Leave to cool, as the water cools, salt crystals should form. If they do not, heat it up and add more salt.
5. Put the cold brine and eggs into a jar, the eggs must be submerged in the brine.
6. After 14-20 day take it out of the jar. They can be kept for a long time in that salted condition.
7. They can be used boiled or fried or to add salt to a dish.

This is the Thai version of muffins, they are made with rice flour, scented very gently with rose or other flower water and steamed rather than baked. To cook this you will need foil or paper cups, the dough mixture is runny and needs to be held in a cup during cooking. You can see from the pink muffin sliced in half in the picture above, that the mixture forms light moist muffins.

Ingredients for 4 Muffins
125 gms Rice Flour
125 gms Sugar
125 ml Rose Water
1 Teaspoon Fresh Yeast
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Food Colouring (Optional)

Preparation
1. Mix the yeast with the rice flour, add the rose water little by little and mix until the flour is soft.
2. Add sugar, and the remaining rose water and the baking soda.
3. At this point you can add 5 drops of food colouring. Or even divide the mixture into sections and colour each section separately.
4. Stir the mixture well and place in a covered bowl, leave for 1-2 hours for bubbles to form.
5. The mixture should be thick but still fluid. Fill each paper or foil cup to just below the top, the mixture will expand during cooking.
6. Place in a Chinese steamer for 10 minutes. You can check they are cooked by sticking a tooth pick or fork into the centre and if it comes out clean it is cooked inside.
7. Serve cold.

This Thai dessert is easy but messy to make. The dominant flavour is the sweetened coconut milk and it should be served warm for best results. The balls can be prepared hours ahead of time and stored in cold water, but the coconut sauce should be made just before serving. For presentation, we have added food colouring, however this is optional.

Ingredients for 2-3 People
For the Balls
124 gms Sticky (Glutinous) Rice Flour
120 ml Hot Water
6 Drops Food Colouring
A Little Vegetable Oil

For the Sauce
100 ml Coconut Milk
Pinch of Salt
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation of the Balls
1. Put a large pan of water on the heat to boil.
2. Pour the hot water into the sticky rice flour.
3. Mix and knead into a dough.
4. Add more flour if the mixture is too sticky.
5. Divide the dough into 3 sections for colouring (this is not necessary if you do not want to colour the dough).
6. Add 2 drops of food colouring to each of the 3 sections. We used red green and yellow food colouring.
7. Knead the food colouring into the 3 lumps of dough separately, you will find it easier to oil your hands with the vegetable oil to prevent it sticking to your hands.
8. Roll the dough between your hands into a sausage, and pinch off lumps of the dough and roll them into a ball in your hand.
9. This mixture will make approximately 24 balls (6 balls for each of the 3 colours).
10. Drop the balls into the boiling water.
11. The balls take approximately 3-5 minutes to cook, and will float to the top of the pan when cooked.

Preparation for the Sauce
1. Put the coconut milk, sugar and salt into a pan.
2. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture warm.
3. Do not boil!

Serving
Serve the balls in a bowl together with the warm sauce.
The sweetness comes from the sauce, so there should be ample sauce for each ball.

One of my favorite drinks in Thailand is a melon ice drink, similar to commercial drinks, however this one is made with fresh fruit rather than synthetic flavour and tastes all the better for it.

Ingredients
1-2 Kgs Sindria (Sweet Red Watermelon)
500 gms Ice
2 Thirsty People

Preparation
1. In a food processor blend the ice until it is finely broken up.
2. Chop the red part of the melon. Remove excessive seeds, but it isn't necessary to remove every one.
3. Add the melon chunks to the blender.
4. Blend a little more until the melon is puried and well mixed with the ice.
5. Serve in tall glasses with a straw.
A wondeful simple way to enjoy fresh fruit.

This is a typical sweet coconut and bean dessert from Thailand, it is black soya beans soaked, steamed, and served in a sweet coconut sauce. This is an ideal vegetarian dish as the beans are full of protein and it can be used to follow a vegetable dish. It is even suitable for vegans.

Ingredients for 2 people
100 gms Dry Black Soya Bean
150 mls Coconut milk
50 gms Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Preparation
1. Soak the black soya bean in water overnight. They will swell to approximately double their size.
2. Place them in a chinese style steamer and steam for 30 minutes.
3. Put the sugar, coconut milk and salt, together in a pan and boil on a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
4. Serve the beans in a small dish covered with the warm coconut sugar mix.
5. They can also be served cold, but warm is preferable.

This is an excellent and very tasty steamed egg omelette. It is cooked inside cups in a Chinese steamer, and when you serve it, you can either take it out of the cups (like we've done for the above photograph) or serve it inside the teacups. To remove it from the cup, place a circle of greaseproof paper in the base of the cup before cooking, this will make it easier to remove later. Then to remove it from the cup after it is cooked, run a knife around the edge and tip the cup upside down on a plate.
As a contrast, we normally eat this with a sauce made from mint coriander and chillies, however this is optional. If you are serving this as a side dish, you may prefer to omit it.

Ingredients for 2 People
3 Eggs
1 Carrot
1 Long Green Bean
1 Onion
1 Vegetable Stock Cube (you can also use Chicken Stock)
200 ml Water
1/2 Teaspoon White Pepper

Preparation
1. Boil the stock cube in the water to form a soup and leave it to cool.
2. Blend the eggs with the pepper in a food mixer.
3. Add the stock to the food mixer and blend again (with the eggs).
4. Chop the long bean, carrot, and onion into small fine pieces.
5. Add the vegetables to the egg mixture and divide evenly between the cups.
5. Steam for 20 minutes.

Ingredient For Sauce (Optional)
4 Cherry Tomatoes
2 Red Chillis
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
2 Tablespoon Oil
1 Sprig Coriander Leaves
1 Sprig Mint Leaves

Preparation for Sauce
1. Chop the cherry tomatoes, chillies, coriander, and mint, very finely.
2. Mix these with the oil and vinegar.

This is how we use up left over vegetables Thai style. It is a coconut sauce, that is sweetened and made a little spicy and used to boil green vegetables. In Thailand we use Thai vegetables, including small Thai green aubergines and a Thai green winter melon, which can be difficult to obtain. Don't be put off, the important flavour is the coconut sauce, the vegetables add bulk, texture and freshness but you can substitute other fresh green vegetables that are easier to find. I've suggested possible substitutions in brackets in the ingredients below. If you substitute softer vegetables (e.g. peas instead of Thai green aubergines) then add them later in the cooking so that you don't overcook them.

Ingredients
200ml Coconut Milk
2 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 Big Red Thai Chillies (Approx 10gms)
30 gms Chopped Onion
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce

For the Vegetables
70 gms Long Green Bean Cut to Short Lengths (Mangetout)
120 gms Cabbage Shredded
70 gms Mushrooms Sliced
70 gms Small Green Aubergine (Green Peas)
70 gms Thai Winter Melon Cubed (Courgette)

Preparation
1. Into a saucepan, put the coconut milk, sugar, soy sauce, and chopped onion.
2. Bring the sauce to the boil, and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Taste the sauce, you can adjust the saltiness and sweetness to your preference by adding extra soy or sugar.
4. Add the kaffir leaves and chopped red chillies.
5. Add all the vegetables except the soft mushrooms.
6. Boil covered for 1-2 minutes, it is important not to overcook the vegetables.
7. Add the mushrooms and just warm through for 30 seconds.

Serve With
Serve as a side dish with Thai rice.

This is a side vegetable dish, suitable for accompanying a rice or meat dish. Sweet and sour frying is common all through Asia, for this dish the sour comes from vinegar and the sweet from the sweet chilli sauce. Naturally since this is Thai cuisine it has a little chilli in it too, but not much, this is not a spicy dish.

Ingredients for 2 People
100 gms Carrot
1 Tomato
3 Mangetout, Long Green Bean or Wing Bean
75 gms Courgette
50 gms Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Teaspoon White Pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce (use Soy Sauce if Vegetarian Dish)
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Tablespoon Vinegar

Preparation
1. Put oil into frying and pre-heat.
2. Chop the garlic add to the pan, fry it till the garlic smell comes out.
3. Chop the carrot, onion, mangetout, courgette, into small bite-sized pieces and add to the pan.
4. Add light soya sauce, fish sauce, sugar, white pepper, sweet chilli, oyster sauce and vinegar to the vegetables.
5. Stir fry it for 1 minutes then serve.

Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice

This is Jok, a rice soup, made with mushrooms. It's normally cooked for a very long time so that the rice becomes mushy. However to make it easier, I've cooked it normally, and run it through a blender to break the rice grains.

Ingredients for 2 People
150 gms Rice
4 Shitake Mushrooms
500 ml Water
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Or Vegetable stock cube for Vegetarian)
Chopped Coriander Leaves (Optional)
Chopped Ginger Root (Optional)
Fried Garlic (Optional)

Preparation
1. Soak the shitake mushrooms in water for 10 minutes.
2. Boil the rice in the water until cooked. To make the smoother texture of Jok, run the cooked rice through a food processor, or hand blender for a minute.
3. Cook it for a second time on a low heat. Add the chicken stock cube and stir until it is dissolved. If the mixture dries out, add a little more water.
4. Slice the mushrooms, add to the rice soup and cook for 5 minutes longer.
5. When the soup is served, garnish it with chopped coriander, thin slices of ginger root, and fried garlic.

This is a great meat-free dish to eat with sticky rice. In Thailand we make everything with fish sauce, even vegetarian meals, however if you can use salt if you prefer. It is best to use fresh forest mushrooms such as shitake or rovellons for this dish rather than dried.

Ingredients
150 gms Fresh Mushrooms
1 Tablespoons Chopped Spring Onion
2 Tablespoons Chopped Coriander Leaves
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce (Use pinch of salt for vegetarians)
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sticky Rice
2 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoons Flaked Dried Chillies
1 Tablespoon Chopped Mint Leaves

Preparation
1. Clean the mushrooms and grill for 4 minutes.
2. Chop the mushrooms into tiny pieces.
3. Add the fish sauce, lemon juice, flaked chilli, toasted rice, chopped coriander, chopped spring onion and mint leaves, then mix together.
4. That's it, this is a very simple way to eat mushrooms.

Serve With
Lettuce
Green Bean
Cucumber
Cabbage
Small Green Aubergines
Sticky Rice

The trick with stir fried dishes is to cook for a very short time. The vegetables are almost raw and very crunchy. The frying process is not to cook them, it is to warm them through and combine them with the frying sauce. This is a stir fried vegetable plate made with big chunky vegetables that should be served as a side dish to other dishes.

Ingredients
2 Tomatoes
1 Cucumber
1 Green Pepper
30 gms Green Bean
40 gms Green Cauliflower
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Water
1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Clean all vegetables and chop into bite sized pieces.
2. Peel and chop the garlic and fry in oil for a second or two.
3. Put the all vegetables into the pan and add fish sauce, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, sugar and the water.
4. Fry for 1 minute then serve immediately.

Serve With
Hot Thai Fragrant Rice

This vegetarian spicy mushroom sandwich is a wonderful blend of Thai flavours bulked out with bread. It's both filling and tasty, and being vegetarian it's heathy too! Non vegetarians can also add fish sauce to strengthen the flavours even more.

Ingredients for 4 Sandwiches
8 Slices of Sandwich Bread
200 gms Mushrooms
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (Or Fish Sauce)
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Pounded Toasted Rice
1 Tablespoon Dried Flaked Chillies
2 Tablespoons Chopped Coriander Leaves
2 Tablespoons Chopped Spring Onions
1 Tablespoon Oil
Mint Leaves

Preparation
1. Clean and dry the mushrooms using kitchen paper. Fry them in oil for 2 minutes.
2. Remove from the frying pan and chop them finely, then put them back into the frying pan.
3. Add the soy sauce, flaked chillies, lemon juice, toasted rice, coriander leaves and spring onions.
4. Fry them for 2 minutes to form a fairly dry mixture.
5. Spoon the mixture onto sandwich bread and serve.

The Thai name for this dish means literally 'Steamed Long Time', it is silken tofu, shitake mushrooms, galangal and flavourings steamed on the plate to make a healthy vegetarian dish you can eat with rice.

Ingredients
200 gms Silken Tofu (Soft Tofu)
4-6 Shitake Mushrooms
50 gms Baby Corn
20 gms Chopped Galangal Root
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Oil
Coriander Leaves to Garnish

Preparation
1. Soak the shitake mushrooms in hot water for 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oil in a frying pan, put the tofu in and fry until the tofu is browned.
3. Layout the tofu, shitake mushrooms, baby sweet corn, slices of galangal root on a flat plate, small enough to go into a steamer. For the photograph, I stacked the pieces, but it is better to lay them flat.
4. Mix the dark soy, light soy and sugar together and pour over the plate.
5. Steam for 20 minutes, remove the plate and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve With
Hot Fragrant Rice

This recipe is made to mimic Chinese shark ear soup, but instead of sharks ear, shitake mushrooms are used, and the stickyness that normally comes from the collagen of the shark is made using tapioca strings & cassava starch. In Thailand we use the word 'Tiem' to describe 'mock' food like this.

Ingredients
30 gms String Tapioca
4-5 Shitake Mushrooms
2 Tablespoons Cassava Starch
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
350 ml Water

Preparation
1. Soak the shitake mushroom and string tapioca in water over night.
2. Slice the shitake mushrooms into thin slices.
3. Boil the water, add the tapioca strings and shitake mushrooms and boil for 5 minutes, add the light soy sauce, salt and oyster sauce and bring back to the boil.
4. Dissolve the cassava starch in 30ml water, add to the boiling soup and simmer for another minute to cook it through and thicken. Serve warm.

Serve With
Chopped Spring Onions
Chopped Coriander Leaves
Bean Sprouts

I normally eat this as a side vegetable dish, but its so nice, it's worth making the centre of a meal. The larger aubergine is sweet and the sesame seeds add crunch to it.

Ingredients
1-2 Big Aubergine
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Seeds
2 Tablespoons Butter
Tin Foil

Preparation
1. Clean the aubergine, cut it into 2 halves and slice lengthwise, but don't cut all the way through, you can see this in the photograph.
2. Mix the sesame seeds with butter and and fry on a low heat for 30 seconds. Then spread this mixture over the aubergine.
3. Wrap the aubergine in foil to keep in it's juices, and fry the foil parcel on a low heat until the aubergine is fully cooked.

Prunes are a good source of fibre and should be a regular part of a diet, but only in small quantities! This rice dish uses prunes as a flavouring to the rice, and only a little is eaten, enough to do you good, not enough to cause you problems.

Ingredients
250 gms Cooked Fragrant Rice
8 Prunes
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Chopped Celery
1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Remove the seeds of the prunes, chop it into small pieces.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.
3. Chop the garlic and fry in the oil for 20 seconds.
4. Add the fragrant rice and chopped prune, celery, fish sauce, light soy sauce and white pepper.
5. Stir fry for a few minutes until mixed.
6. Serve with Prune Sauce.

Ingredients for Prune Sauce
4 Prunes
50 ml Water
1 Teaspoon Salt

Preparation
1. Remove the pits from the prunes, blend the flesh in a blender with the water and salt.
2. Heat in a saucepan until the prune sauce thickens.
3. Spoon over the prune rice.

A spicy parcel of shredded bamboo and flavour mushrooms, steamed in a banana leaf. Bamboo can be very fibrous and hard to eat, for this dish I shred the bamboo with a fork, or grater, so that the fibres are broken up.

Ingredients
50 gms Bamboo (Canned)
50 gms Flavour Mushrooms
5 Red Chillies
10 gms Chopped Lemon Grass
10 gms Sticky Rice
2 Garlic Cloves
4 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Cassava Starch
10 gms Chopped Coriander Leaves
Banana Leaves or Foil for Wrapping

Preparation
1. Soak the sticky rice in hot water for 20 minutes.
2. Shred or grate the bamboo finely.
3. In a Thai mortar, pound the chillies, sticky rice, lemon grass, and garlic together. You should pound until you have a roughly ground mixture.
4. Mix all the ingredients together with 2 tablespoons of water.
5. Cut the banana leaves into 8x15cm pieces, spoon the mixture into the centre of the banana leaves and fold up the banana into a parcel.
6. Close the parcel with a toothpick, or a stapler, or with cloth string.
7. Steam for 10 minutes.

Serve With
Thai Fragrant Rice
or Steamed Sticky Rice

The bulk of this dish comes from the aubergine, the flavours from the fermented brown soya paste. You can eat this as a starter or a side dish.

Ingredients
1-2 Big Aubergines
1 Tablespoon Salty Soya Bean Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoon Oil
300 ml Water

Preparation
1. Boil the water, chop the aubergine into pieces, put into the boiling water and leave it for 30 seconds, then drain and rinse in cold water.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan, add the salty soya sauce, sugar and aubergines and fry until the aubergines are cooked.

A stir fry of butter beans, mushrooms, green peppercorns and Thai flavours. Even if you're not vegetarian, this is a nice dish to eat with rice.

Ingredients
30 gms Green Peas
30 gms Butter Beans
30 gms Flavour Mushrooms
10 gms Kaschai Root (Optional)
10 gms Green Peppercorn
5 gms Chillies
2 Garlic Cloves
5 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Oil

Preparation
1. Pound the chillies, kaschai, and garlic together in a Thai mortar. Put into the frying pan with oil.
2. Fry for 30 seconds.
3. Add all the vegetables, soy sauce, green peppercorns and sugar and stir fry for 1 minute.

Serve With
Fragrant Rice

A vegetarian dumpling with the bulk coming from the tofu, the flavour coming from soy sauce and peanuts and a nice texture coming from the beansprouts. I´m going to be making a lot of dim-sum style dishes like this in the following days.

Ingredients
1 Packet of Won Ton Skins (Thin pastry used for deep frying)
50 gms Tofu
100 gms Soya Beansprouts
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Crushed Peanut
1 Tablespoon Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Preparation
1. Chop the tofu into small cubed pieces.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.
3. Fry the tofu cubes for 2 minutes, then add the beansprouts, light soya, sugar, crushed peanuts and salt. Fry for a further 30 seconds and leave to cool.
4. Take a won ton skin, add some of the fried tofu mix in the middle, fold up the edges and seal. A little water or egg helps seal the top.
5. Once you've used up all the fried mixture, steam the dumplings for 5 minutes.

Serve With
Bird Chilli
Coriander
Lime
Lettuce

This is a Japanese dish, used to add a lot of flavour to otherwise plain dishes. To get the full effect, leave it to sit for a day or two, the slight decay makes all the difference!

Ingredients
400 gms Chinese Cabbage
200 gms Spring Onions
100 gms Carrot
5 Red Chillies
1 Teaspoon Chilli Powder
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
Clean Glass Bottle

Preparation
1. Clean all the vegetables, and slice to small bite sized pieces.
2. Mix all the ingredients together. The liquid should coat all the of the vegetables.
3. Place in the glass bottle.
4. Leave for 1 day at room temperature.
5. Leave for 1 night in a fridge.

I haven't done any vegetarian recipes for a while, and sometimes you just get sick of meat! Here's a nice noodles curry dish served on a bed of Pug Byong, a crunchy vegetable grown by my friend Jom.

Ingredients
250 gms Rice Noodles
480 ml Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon Red Curry Paste
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
50 gms Mushrooms
80-100 gms Pug Buong, or Green Leaf Vegetables

Preparation
1. Boil a pan of water, cook the noodle for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse. Keep the water.
2. Boil the coconut milk, add the red curry paste, salt and sugar, stir until well mixed.
3. Cook the pug buong and mushrooms in the boiling water you kept from the noodles, and cook for 1 minute.
4. Layer the green vegetables at the bottom, then the noodles, then spoon over the sauce and decorate with the mushrooms.

This is a usually a gop gam dish; snack food to eat with beer or spirits. The nest is made of taro chips, I have 2 large metal sieves that fit together. I fry grated taro between these two sieves to get the shape.

Ingredients for Ruong Purg
300 gms Taro
Oil for Deep Frying
You will need 2 metal sieves

Ingredients for the Filling
50 gms Kidney Beans
50 gms Water Chestnuts
20 gms Cashew Nuts
20 gms Champignon
4-5 Shitake Mushrooms
1 Tablespoon Oil
2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon White Wine
Optional, Shrimp or Pork Meat

Preparation
1. Peel and grate the taro. Heat the oil.
2. Dip the sieves into the hot oil - this will help them not to stick.
3. Place a handful of grated taro in the sieve and use a second sieve to press it into a bowl shape. Lower into the hot frying oil until cooked and golden. Remove and drain.
4. Chop the shitake mushrooms and champignon into pieces.
5. Place oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms, red kidney beans, cashew nuts, water chestnuts, light soy, and wine and fry for 1-2 minutes.
6. Spoon into the bird nests.

If you see 'jay' in a recipe name, it usually means vegetarian. This is a typical curry dish, if you've been visiting this site a lot, you'll know how these dishes work. Coconut milk to soften them, curry paste to spice them, tamarind to add a sour note, fish sauce to add salt. The rest of the ingredients are the bulk of the dish, in this case vegetarian ingredients.

Ingredients
225 ml Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon Yellow Curry Paste
10 gms Onion
20 gms Cherry Tomatoes
20 gms Mushrooms
20 gms Green Bean Or Green Peppers
20 gms Baby Corn
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
50 ml Tamarind Juice
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
50 gms Tofu

Preparation
1. Place coconut milk into a sauce pan put over a medium heat and bring to the boil.
2. Add the curry paste and stir in.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients and bring back to the boil.
4. Serve immediately, don't over cook vegetables, it's not necessary, they should be crunchy and nearly raw!

Serve With
Fragrant Rice
or a Baked Potato

Tofu yum. Well not everyone likes tofu and to add more flavour to it, we often spice it up a little with chillies and salad, and fry it to add more texture.

Ingredients
250 gms Tofu
50 gms Green Beans
50 gms Carrots
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oil
3 Red-Green Chillies
1 Garlic Clove
1 Teaspoon Lime Juice
1 Teablespon Fish Sauce (Use pinch of salt for Vegetarian)
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teablespoon Chopped Celery
Sliced Cherry Tomatoes
Sliced Cucumber

Preparation
1. Chop the carrots and green beans until fine. Fry with the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and oil for a few minutes. Spoon into the middle of the plate.
2. Surround with slices of cucumber and cherry tomatoes.
3. Blend the chillies and garlic together, add the chopped celery, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and blend more. This is the sauce.
4. Cut the tofu into pieces and deep fry to give it a crunchiness, cut into strips and pile ontop of the green beans in the plate.
5. Just before serving, spoon the spicy sauce over the top of the dish.

This is a great way to serve fresh forest mushrooms. When I was a child in Thailand, my grandmother would take me out into the forest in the very early morning and we would pick wild fresh mushrooms to cook for dinner. You can use any combination of flavorful mushrooms, or if those are difficult to buy, you can get mushrooms in a jar from a supermarket. But you'll appreciate this dish more if you go mushroom picking at 4am to make it!

Ingredient for 2 people
150 gms Mushrooms
(We used Oyster, Saffron Milkcap, Shiitake and Viscid)
400 ml Water
30 gms Galanga Root
30 gms Lemon Grass
2 Kaffir Citrus Leaves
3 Big Red Chillis
2 Bird Chillis
1 Tablespoon Sticky Rice
2 Tablespoons Tamarin Water
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Fish Sauce (For vegetarian use Light Soy Sauce instead)
75g Bamboo Shoots

Preparation
1. Put the sticky rice into hot water to soak for 1-2 hours.
2. Chop the galanga and lemon grass, into 1cm lengths and pound them in a mortar with the chillies until you just break them up and release the flavours.
3. Add the pounded ingredients to a boiling pan, add the water, and bring the mixture to the boil.
4. Pound the sticky rice into fine pieces and add to the pan.
5. When the pan is boiling, add the mushroom, bamboo and add all the remaining ingredients.
6. Simmer for 5-8 minutes, until the mushrooms and bamboo are just cooked through.

Serve With
Sticky rice or fragrant rice.
It is better served warm, but you can also eat it cold together with sticky rice on a picnic.

A very unusual soup, slightly spicy with the taste of cinnamon. The eggs make it a very filling meal rather than a soup, often served with rice to pad it into a full meal. This is something of an aquired taste, if cinnamon flavored boiled eggs are not for you, you may prefer to try one of the more common Thai dishes first and work up to this.

Ingredients for 2 people
1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
4 Boiled Eggs
4 Piece of Brown Dry Tofu
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Pepper Corn
1 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaf
1 Teaspoon Dark Soya Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soya Sauce
1 Level Teaspoon Salt
2 Level Tablespoon Sugar
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Or Vegetable Stock for Vegetarian)
200 ml. Water
1 Teaspoon Oil

Preparation
1. Pound the garlic, pepper corns, and coriander together in a pestle.
2. Remove the shell of the boiled eggs.
2. Put the water to boil and add the stock cube in a boiling pan.
3. Heat a frying pan, add the oil and the pounded garlic, pepper, cinnamon and coriander mix and fry.
4. Fry lightly until the garlic is softened.
5. Add the dark Soya sauce, light Soya sauce, salt, and sugar and stir it to mix it.
6. Add the whole boiled egg in fry them for a second to take on some of the flavours.
7. Put the fried ingredients into the boiling pan containing the chicken stock & water.
8. Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces and add to the boiling pan.
9. Boil for 10 minutes and turn heat on low for a gentle simmer for a further 30 minutes.
10. Leave it for cool then serve warm.

Suggestions
It is better to leave this to rest overnight for the cinnamon fragrance to infuse throughout the eggs.

This is the Thai version of apple fritters, the batter is very much creamier thanks to the coconut milk used to enrich it. It is better to use a stronger apple that can survive the deep frying, however unlike the European version, don't use cooking apples, they are too sour.

Ingredients
3 Green Apples
100 gms Rice Flour
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
200 mls Water
100 mls Coconut Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
3 Tablespoons Sugar
4 Tablespoons Desiccated Coconut

Preparation
1. Peel and core the apples.
2. Slice crosswise into 1cm thick hoops.
3. Combine all the batter ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir until mixed.
4. Heat the oil to 190 degrees C. (The hottest setting on a typical deep fat fryer).
5. Dip the apple slices into the batter and drop into the hot oil.
6. Fry until the batter is cooked and golden.
7. Drain on kitchen paper.

Eat immediately.

This is an ever popular dish with westerners. It is the Thai version of banana fritters, unlike the western version, coconut batter is used and the bananas are smaller and less ripe because they hold their shape and texture better when deep frying. The quantities shown are sufficient for 10-12 small bananas. You will need a deep fat fryer or wok filled with oil to cook this.

Ingredients
10-12 Small Bananas
100 gms Rice Flour
100 gms Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
200 mls Water
100 mls Coconut Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
3 Tablespoons Sugar
4 Tablespoons Desiccated Coconut

Preparation
1. Peel and slice bananas into two halves.
2. Cut bananas into short lengths (7-8 cms approximately, the exact size is not important)
3. Combine all the other ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir until mixed.
4. Heat the oil to 190 degrees C. (The hottest setting on a typical deep fat fryer).
5. Dip the banana pieces into the batter and drop into the hot oil.
6. Fry until the batter is cooked and golden.

Don't try to fry too many pieces at once, they will stick together. Dust with icing sugar for presentation.

A vegetarian dish made with noodles and mushrooms. This dish comes from Japan, and it's distinguished by the way it's cooked by shallow frying in a pan with water and oil. Part steamed, part fried.

Ingredients for Filling
50 gms Shiitake Mushrooms
50 gms Black Chinese Mushrooms
50 gms Glass Noodle
50 gms Chopped Carrots
2 Tablespoons Chopped Onion
1 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaves
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
Oil

Ingredients For Wrapper
160 gms White Wheat Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Oil
Warm Water

Preparation
1. Soak the mushrooms and noodles if they are dried for 30 minutes.
2. Chop them into small pieces, add all the filling ingredients and fry until half cooked.
3. For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, oil and water together. Add the water slowly, and knead until the flour is smooth.
4. Roll it flat, a little oil can be used to keep it from sticking to the pastry.
5. Spoon the filling in, fold over and crimp.
6. Into a frying pan place a tablespoon of oil, and 2-3 tablespoons of water and bring to the boil.
7. Cover and cook until the pastry is cooked and the bottom browned.

Time to make use of my heated tom yum pot, although not strickly necessary, it's nice to eat this soup good and hot and adds some drama to the dish. I use mine with tealight candles, the oil burner is too strong for this, it would break the pot.

Ingredients
30 gms Black Chinese Mushroom
30 gms Shitake Mushroom
50 gms Glass Noodle
350 ml Water
3 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Corn Flour

Preparation
1. Soak the mushroom and glass noodle in water for 1-2 hours.
2. Chopped them finely.
3. Boil the water, add the light soy, and mix the cornflour with a little cold water and add to the boiling pot.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Serve With
Flaked Chillies
Vinegar
Sugar

I'll let the photograph speak for itself.