Archive | October, 2011

Kluay Buat Chi (กล้วยบวชชี): Bananas Who Have Entered Nunhood

By on October 31, 2011 in She Deglutenizes, She Simmers, She Thais, She Veges

Kluay Buat Chi made with red bananas turns out more yellow than off-white

One would be hard-pressed to find anything among all the traditional, old-fashioned Thai desserts more “friendly” than Kluay Buat Chi (RTGS: kluai buat chi กล้วยบวชชี). It’s starchy; it’s sweet; it’s creamy; it contains no unfamiliar ingredients; it’s great hot off the stove or lukewarm or cold right out of the fridge; it’s liked by people of all ages and socio-economic strata; it’s the ultimate comfort food.

Its name, literally “bananas who have entered nunhood,” only reinforces the sense of simplicity and comfort associated with this dessert. In order to understand why this dessert is named as such, one has to understand a bit about the Theravada school of Buddhism in Thailand where women are ordained to be nuns. Theravadan nuns are nothing like other nuns you may have seen or heard of: they don’t fly, they don’t necessarily sing randomly or in a choir, and no edibles – as far as I know anyway – have been named to immortalize their flatulence. Continue Reading →

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Tom Yam Kung (ต้มยำกุ้ง) with Video

By on October 9, 2011 in She Deglutenizes, She Simmers, She Thais

 

Isn’t it great that one of the dishes that have pretty much put Thai cuisine on the world map is so easy to make? Tom Yum Goong [1] is a main course soup made by simply cooking whole shrimp gently in simmering infused broth and seasoning it to taste. If you can make a good cup of tea, chances are you’d be good at making Thai hot and sour soup as well.

For the sake of simplicity and practicality, let’s not talk about the version of Tom Yam I had growing up or the version you had growing up for they may be different from one another and/or from the version featured here. Let’s not talk about the various versions of Tom Yam documented in cookbooks from a bygone era by so and so who died in such and such year for the fact that most of us today have never had or continue to make them that way has rendered such discussions useful merely as an intellectual exercise with little relevance.

If I’m right in assuming that the purpose at hand is to replicate the most common version of this iconic Thai soup which you’ve most likely encountered (and fallen in love with) at your local Thai restaurant, then I hope what you find here will serve you well. Continue Reading →

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