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Coconut Sticky Rice with Jackfruit

Sticky Rice Jackfruit
With jackfruits popping up everywhere these days, I thought I’d tell you about this dessert/snack: coconut sticky rice with jackfruit.

Khao niao khanun isn’t nearly as popular or ubiquitous as the iconic khao niao mamuang (sticky rice with mango), but it’s by no means uncommon. And if you already know how to make the latter, you already know enough.

Start off with a fresh batch of sweet coconut sticky rice. Page 161 of Simple Thai Food explains in detail the process of making it. Then you pinch off a small bit of the rice and fill a fresh jackfruit half (you already know how to get the flesh out of a whole jackfruit) with it. The salted coconut cream goes on top. If you’re in Thailand, fried hulled mung beans would be the standard topping; elsewhere, sesame seeds would work just fine.

Once assembled, these stuffed jackfruit halves should be consumed as soon as you can. Certain things don’t taste great after having sat at room temperature for a long time (or reheated after having been refrigerated). This is one of those things.

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Northern Thai Steamed Rice with Pork Blood (ข้าวกั๊นจิ๊น) – Happy Songkran!

Northern Thai Steamed Pork-Blood Rice - Kaho Kan Jin
I’ve been away from the blog for a few weeks due to some travels and other things. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t come back in time to at least wish you all a happy Thai New Year—Happy Songkran, everyone!

Songkran won’t officially arrive until April 14th this year. But as I’m typing this on Sunday afternoon, the traditionalists in Thailand had already been visiting and paying respect to older relatives. The religious had already gone to their local temple for all sorts of Buddhist ceremonies. Many had already been enjoying khao chae, a full-on New Year feast of rice in scented iced water and all the elaborate accoutrements. And the fun-loving non-traditionalists had already started the water battle.

Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but Songkran isn’t one of my favorite holidays at all. I can get behind the true spirit of it which is to get together with your friends and family and celebrate another year together. The water fight? Not my thing. If I was in Bangkok during Songkran this year, I would most likely get away somewhere with the people I love, and that somewhere must be a place where the water splashing thing cannot reach.

[Warning: if you’re squeamish or absolutely can’t stand to look at blood, don’t read further. You may not like the photos you’ll see after the jump. Or perhaps you can focus on the text and gloss over the photos.] Continue Reading →

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Sichuan Peppercorn-Ginger-Butter Shrimp aka M’s Shook Shrimp

Spicy Buttered Shrimp
A long trip of traveling to different parts of Thailand and East Asia was responsible for my absence of late from the blog. But then it’s also the guilty party who has given me many recipes, ideas, and stories to share with you in the weeks and months to come. So I hope you’ll forgive me (big, toothy grin; head slightly tilted to the left; ten rapid blinks).

This recipe, for example, was picked up during a brief stop in Bangkok; it came from my friend M (to understand this post better, you really should read this older post about M first).

Knowing I was in town, M called and informed me of a new dish he said was a mashup between a Chinese shrimp dish that his mother-in-law often made and my dried pepper-butter shrimp (which isn’t a traditional Thai dish; no need to write me). He added that it was so good that he always whipped it up whenever he got his wife mad, because once it was put on the table, ahem, she could never stay mad. Tender shrimp with buttery, aromatic sauce that goes beautifully with warm jasmine rice is conducive to marital harmony, M argued. Besides, it’s kind of hard to be angry when you sit at the dinner table peeling shrimp with your hands and sucking the delicious juices out of their heads. In all seriousness, though, Leela, this is good stuff, he said.

You see, according to the way my brain interprets things, that was a dinner invitation right there. So that afternoon I showed up at M’s condo with fresh ingredients and asked him to demo the dish. This is what happened. Continue Reading →

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