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How to Score Squid: The More Practical Kind of Food Carving

By on October 3, 2015 in She Deglutenizes, She Stocks a Thai Pantry, She Uncooks, Simple Thai Food Recipe Photos

Squid Recipes
Carving is such a big part of the Thai culture. When it comes to things involving intricate details, Thai craftsmen are second to none in the world; those who have been to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok can testify to that.

The love of carving has also spilled into the realm of food. A lot of Thai people seem to like carving fruits and vegetables. Not me, though. I don’t mind it; I even carve some. But I’m not good at it; I doubt I’ll ever be. That works out fine, because I’m completely okay with the idea of me leaving this earth without having mastered the art of fruit and vegetable carving. Continue Reading →

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Jim Jum: Hot Pot Isan-Style

By on September 22, 2015 in She Deglutenizes, She Drizzles and Smears, She Simmers, She Thais

Isan Hot Pot
Here’s a modern-ish Isan dish that would be perfect for this time of year when the temperature is beginning to drop in the Northern Hemisphere.

Essentially Isan shabu shabu or hot pot Isan-style, jim jum (literally “dip (and) dunk”)* is not a weeknight meal; it’s not an everyday dish; it’s more of a party food which I enjoy no more than twice a year: the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas when palate fatigue from all the cheesy, buttery, creamy, and sweet dishes from the big feast from the day before sets in. Nothing fixes it like a piping hot, brothy meal like this—spicy, sour, salty, herbaceous. It hits all the parts of you that need to be hit. Having most of the friends who live locally around during that time to enjoy it with me makes it even more fun.

It doesn’t mean you can’t have it more often than that. Continue Reading →

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Yul Brynner’s Chicken Yellow Curry

By on August 30, 2015 in She Deglutenizes, She Simmers, She Thais, Uncategorized

Yul Brynner's Thai Chicken Yellow Curry
No thinking person would ever take the words of Anna Leonowens as the singularly, unquestionably authoritative source of information on mid-1800s Siam much less regard the musical the King and I, or the film adaptation thereof, as historically accurate—or even factual. But can one learn to make Thai food from legendary actor Yul Brynner?

That was the question on my mind as I began leafing through The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You, the book Brynner co-authored with Susan Reed, which I had recently discovered—three decades after it was published. Continue Reading →

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