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Pan-Fried Chive Cakes (ขนมกุยช่ายแบบสี่เหลี่ยม)

By on May 21, 2012 in She Deglutenizes, She Drizzles and Smears, She Fries, She Steams, She Thais, She Veges


One of the most commonly seen street food items in Bangkok is these chive cakes. As opposed to their (almost always) round, filled cousins that are sold in both steamed and steamed-then-pan-fried forms, these square chive cakes are always pan-fried until the exteriors are crispy. Both varieties are often found right next to one another. They’re also served with the same spicy, sweet and sour dipping soy sauce.

My favorite kind of Chinese chive cakes is the round, filled kind. I also like them steamed and not fried. But since I have not been able to perfect a recipe for that type of chive cakes (not much luck with many of the recipes out there including my mother’s), this has got to do for now. Continue Reading →

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Pad Thai Recipe (ผัดไทย) – Part Four: Pad Thai Sauce

By on November 18, 2011 in She Drizzles and Smears, She Rants and Muses, She Thais


In this good news-bad news scenario, I’ve already given you the bad news in Pad Thai Recipe – Part Two in which I opine that it’s not the way Pad Thai is seasoned that makes or breaks it; it is how well or how badly the noodles are cooked. And what makes this bad news is that getting the noodles right happens to be the hardest part about Pad Thai. There are too many variables and too many scenarios generated by the combinations of these variables.

The key – and this will be addressed more fully in the final post in the series – is to use heat and moisture in such a way that you end up with well-seasoned noodles that are soft yet chewy and not clumpy, soggy, or tough. This sounds simple, but is not easy. But we’ll leave that for later.

Now the good news. Continue Reading →

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Nam-Pla Wan – Thai Sweet and Salty Fruit Dipping Sauce (น้ำปลาหวาน)

By on September 13, 2011 in She Deglutenizes, She Drizzles and Smears, She Thais


When it comes to combining sweet and salty, the Thai people are second to none. We’re just really good at it. Watermelon and dried fish? Check. Sweet custard with fried shallots? Check. Garlicky, shrimpy, spicy fruit salad? Yup. Mangoes — apples in this case — with a dipping sauce containing shrimp paste, fish sauce, and dried shrimp? A national favorite.

This sticky fruit dip called nam-pla wan (น้ำปลาหวาน)[1] is most often served with tart green mangoes (sliced lengthwise and thinly to make it easy for you to scoop up the chunky sauce with them). In fact, the name of this sauce is hardly ever invoked in isolation from the word mango, ma-muang (มะม่วง). Continue Reading →

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