http://www.khiewchanta.com/ en Copyright 2012 Sat, 12 May 2012 06:18:12 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss These fish with the fish roe inside, are called Capelin in English, at least that's what I think they're called. They are a sardine sized fish that come close to shore to spawn and fishermen catch them in the shallows when they're full of eggs. The yellow eggs, or roe, are left inside after gutting the fish. You can buy them at the supermarkets of Thailand, if you ask for 'blah-khai' (literally fish-egg), the fish monger will know what you're asking for, or print out the photo after the break to show him. I was at the opening of Mega Bangna shopping mall, and at an all-you-can-eat buffer there, I ate these BlaKhai fried in breadcrumbs. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/fried-dishes/fried-seafood-fish/fish-with-roe-in-breadcrumbs.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/fried-dishes/fried-seafood-fish/fish-with-roe-in-breadcrumbs.html Fried Seafood & Fish Sat, 12 May 2012 06:18:12 +0000 Although it's not what you expect when you make cheese bread, these are sweet and covered in bakers mayonnaise. It's rare to find bread that isn't sweet in Thailand and good cheese is often expensive, so it's common to find cheaper cheese dishes like this with added sugar to add an extra layer of flavour to them. I'd like to be enthusiastic about the sweet Thai versions of western foods. But I think they're a tragedy, all high calorie and high sugar and soft texture. Bakers mayonnaise is just a sweeter mayonnaise, and Pacto 3 is a flour improver, if you don't use it, the texture will be firmer, but not unpleasant. Without the Pacto 3, you also can't work the dough as much, work it like a regular bread dough. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/baked-cake-recipes/sweet-cheese-bread-fingers-ka.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/baked-cake-recipes/sweet-cheese-bread-fingers-ka.html Baked Cake Recipes Sun, 06 May 2012 13:17:50 +0000 My grandmother loved this recipe, but if you don't boil and rinse the Bi Khee Lage (the plant in the sauce) enough it is too bitter. A quick shortcut is to use the canned, which you can buy in Asian grocers. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/main-courses/pork-recipes/bitter-ribs-gang-khee-lage-gar.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/main-courses/pork-recipes/bitter-ribs-gang-khee-lage-gar.html Pork Recipes Thu, 03 May 2012 12:22:13 +0000 Have you ever seen those detailed fruit carvings you commonly see in Thai restaurants? Making those carvings is a skill. I've embedded a video showing how it's done below. A large part is the special narrow pointy knife needed to do the delicate carvings. You do need the right tool for the job. I've managed to find a trade supplier for those knives at the BIG+BIH trade show. They've promised to email me a list of retailers who sell the knives to the public, for the moment their website is here: Kom Kom Products (Website), in Bangkok .]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/equipment/fruit-carving-knives.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/equipment/fruit-carving-knives.html Equipment Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:33:12 +0000 Over on my Thai life blog, I'm covering Songkran, the Thai New Year, in Chonburi. Although I don't have time to make a lot of recipes at the moment, I'd like to point this out to you. In Thailand its common to salt fruit like pineapple, or orange juice with a little salt. Why not try it? ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/-over-on-my-thai-1.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/-over-on-my-thai-1.html Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:52:10 +0000 These traditional cookies are fried peanuts cookies, cooked in very hot oil, in a special metal ladle. When I was young we would buy these in the market stalls freshly made, but supermarkets in Thailand also sell them now. Ideally to make these you need a flat metal round ladle, a bowl shaped metal ladle tends to collect the mixture in the middle, leaving the cookies thick in the middle, but overcooked at the edge. You end up with all the peanuts in the middle too! The ladle is preheated in the oil, the mixture poured in, and lowered into the oil to finish cooking. The limestone water is the water from dissolved limestone used to stiffen the mixture. It's optional, but makes the cookie more crunchy. If you use the baking soda you get a fluffed up cookies, if you omit it, you get a flatter crisper cookies (as in the photos). ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/fried-dessert-recipes/thai-peanut-cookies-1.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/fried-dessert-recipes/thai-peanut-cookies-1.html Fried Dessert Recipes Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:07:43 +0000 This is a red barbeque pork dish normally served with rice, soft boiled eggs, and a thick rich cinnamon and peanut sauce. In its authentic Thai version it is a complete filling meal, however you can also simply use the pork as a side dish to another recipe. It is better to use a pork cut that has some fat, the fat adds a lot of flavour. For the best result, marinade the pork overnight. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/main-courses/pork-recipes/red-barbeque-pork-mu-dang.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/main-courses/pork-recipes/red-barbeque-pork-mu-dang.html Modern Thai Pork Recipes Mon, 09 Apr 2012 07:47:05 +0000 I'm working in the kitchen of a restaurant these days. I have hospital bills to pay from Liew's motorcycle accident and this blog makes barely enough money to pay for ingredients let alone any real bills! So on the down side, the food articles are few and far between as I'm busy, but on the plus side, I can show you some of the excellent food they sell at the restaurant I work in. Here I'm making a special dim-sum recipe, shrimp wrapped in pork and glass noodle.]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/starters/shrimp-pork-noodle-dim-sum-gou-1.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/starters/shrimp-pork-noodle-dim-sum-gou-1.html Starters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:56:39 +0000 Since I'm working in the Dim Sum section of a kitchen, I'll cover some of the Dim Sum recipes I haven't yet done. This one is known as 'Jade Dim Sum' for the green pea (or pea aubergine) in the top. It's made from shrimp and pork, and wrapped in green dim sum leaves to enhance the colour. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/starters/jade-dim-sum-geiw-yorg.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/starters/jade-dim-sum-geiw-yorg.html Starters Sun, 04 Mar 2012 10:08:45 +0000 You've seen these puffed pork rinds many times, but have you ever wondered how they're made? It turns out to be very simple. I'm using the pork skin I trimmed from the rolled pork, I made a few weeks back. It was sitting in the freezer just waiting to be used, and I decided I'd use it for a Pork Rind Salad.]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/snacks/picnic-food/puffed-pork-rind-1.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/snacks/picnic-food/puffed-pork-rind-1.html Picnic Food Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:35:18 +0000 Our version of potato chips, you have chips, we have seasoned seaweed. This one is sweet and spicy crispy seaweed, it doesn't look much in the photograph, but it packs a punch in flavour. It's better to use chilli-flakes rather than ground chilli. The sweetness will hit first, then the spiciness as you chew the seaweed, and break the chilli flakes up in your mouth. It makes for a more interesting experience. The chicken seasoning powder used in the recipe is one you've seen me use often. It's a powdered version of a stock cube. Look for the Thai Brand 'Ros-Dee' or Knorr also make a similar powder here in Thailand.]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/snacks/picnic-food/spicy-sweet-seaweed.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/snacks/picnic-food/spicy-sweet-seaweed.html Picnic Food Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:56:41 +0000 I made Strawberry Daifuku, only a few days ago. The Japanese dumpling with the strawberry in it. But if you've read my blog, you'll know by now I want to bring Thai flavours to these dishes, and here I'm filling a Daifuku with a Coconut Sticky Rice and a Mango center. Instead of strawberry, we have the mango, instead of the sweet bean paste, I have the sweet/salty coconut sticky rice. Even if I say so myself, this really worked well. The resulting dumpling had an extra texture from the sticky rice, and the coconut flavour is far more interesting than the sweet bean paste, which made it better than the strawberry original. I think with a little more practice I could keep the mango in the center, but nothing is perfect. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/jelly-agar-recipes/mango-and-sticky-rice-daifuku.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/jelly-agar-recipes/mango-and-sticky-rice-daifuku.html Jelly & Agar Recipes Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:20:46 +0000 The famouse Japanese sweet dumpling, 'Daifuku' is similar to our Thai rice ball, a sweet filling contained in a wrapper made from glutinous rice flour. There is one that has a nice variation on this theme, and that's Ichigo Daifuku, a three part Daifuku, with a whole strawberry at its center. I'm using the recipe of 'Cooking with Dog', the video blog for Japanese cooking. She makes it look easy, but I find the hardest part is wrapping the center with the glutinous rice dough. The trick is to pinch out the pastry into a circular disc first, using plenty of starch to avoid it sticking. That made it easier to pull the pastry around the strawberry and end up with something even and thin. Don't make the outer layer too think, it will be unpleasantly chewy and spoiled the effect of the daifuku, if you have too much glutinous dough when you pinch the edges together, pinch off any excess. The other thing is, use a small slightly sour strawberry for this. The strawberry sourness is the contrast for the sweet red bean paste. If it's too ripe and sweet you lose the effect. Perhaps I'll try marzipan instead of red bean paste. You need sweetness, and firmness in that layer, but it strikes me that marzipan is the perfect layer there. Or even the sweet yellow bean paste, the Chinese use for in sweet pies. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/jelly-agar-recipes/strawberry-daifuku.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/jelly-agar-recipes/strawberry-daifuku.html Jelly & Agar Recipes Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:28:51 +0000 Another variation on the sweet toast theme. This one is salty sweet pork hair toast. Pork hair or fiber is pork meat, dried and rubbed to form fibers, it is widely available in Asia grocers. The sweetness comes from sweet mayonnaise, often called 'salad cream', the kind with 20% sugar. When I bought these in the market, I thought it used a lot of pork, but when you actually make them, you realize the pork is sitting on a line of mayonnaise and that is what glues it to the toast! So its very economical with the pork. ]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/baked-cake-recipes/pork-hair-toast.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/baked-cake-recipes/pork-hair-toast.html Baked Cake Recipes Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:05:54 +0000 I first saw these buns in China Town, when I went to the Chinese New Year Celebrations. They are a steamed bread bun, stuffed with all kinds of Thai meats and salty egg till they're bursting out. There's two versions of this I've seen, one has an extra layer of pork mince and corn flour in the middle to hold the roll together. If you want to make that version, mix a couple of tablespoons of corn flour, with pork mince and seasoning. Add this at the filling stage along the center of the bun then stick the other ingredients into this. I preferred to keep the bun dry, so I could drizzle some dim-sum sauce on it, and this variation tends to soak up fat from the pork mince. You can see my Thai meat platter for ideas on meats you can use, and this dish also uses pork hair, the fibers of the pork meat.]]> http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/steamed-dishes/bursting-buns.html http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/steamed-dishes/bursting-buns.html Steamed Dishes Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:03:09 +0000