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Fruit Dips, Thai Style

By on June 4, 2012 in Featured Posts, She Deglutenizes, She Drizzles and Smears, She Stocks a Thai Pantry, She Thais, She Uncooks, She Veges


Quite a few readers have written me regarding Thai-style fruit dips saying how they wish there wasn’t any dried fish or fish sauce involved. Actually, the way the comments were worded is a little more interesting, a weird cross between disbelief and curiosity with a tiny, tiny tinge of disgust. I don’t blame them; I know how that feels. When I was invited to my first American thanksgiving dinner, I swallowed hard — and not in a good way — when I saw roasted turkey with gravy sitting between a pile of candied yams with broiled marshmallow topping and a quivering blob of fruit jelly called, “cranberry sauce.” I, of course, grew more accustomed to that combination and even came to like it. But, admittedly, the first encounter was pretty rough.

Our view regarding what should and shouldn’t be is all conditioned by culture. Tart green mangoes and a sticky dip containing fish sauce, palm sugar, and dried shrimp together are to most Thai people what apple pie and vanilla ice cream are to most Americans. In other words, fish and fruits work for us.

But if you don’t like it, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Besides, there are other Thai-style fruit dips that don’t have fish products in them. Please allow me to introduce to you the most common three that go very well with tart fruits. Continue Reading →

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Hydrated Lemon Basil Seeds in Thai Desserts (เมล็ดแมงลัก)

By on April 24, 2012 in She Rants and Muses, She Stocks a Thai Pantry, She Uncooks, She Veges

 

After having lent its irreplaceable fragrance to many pots of Kaeng Liang, last year’s crop of lemon basil (maeng lak) left me with these. If I was in a more philosophical mood, I would have written something boring about my plan to plant another crop this year with these seeds and how that reminds me of how the death of something must take place in order to make a rebirth possible and all that. But since I’m not in a philosophical mood, I’m going to be writing something boring about how the Thai people use lemon basil seeds instead.

And what makes it boring is the fact that there really isn’t much to talk about when it comes to the culinary use of lemon basil seeds. In fact, overwhelmed by the dearth of material, I’ll resort to writing in bullet points which, interestingly, is the same method I use when overwhelmed by the wealth of material. You want to read on, though. You’re already on the second paragraph; might as well stick around and see how much more boring this can get. Continue Reading →

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Young Green Peppercorns (Prik Thai On พริกไทยอ่อน)

By on February 3, 2012 in She Stocks a Thai Pantry, She Uncooks, She Veges

green peppercorns
One of the ingredients which I miss the most when living away from Thailand is fresh young green peppercorns. I also miss young tamarind leaves, water mimosa, lotus stems, and a few edible flowers. But at the top of the list is these little berries.

Referred to as Prik Thai (RTGS: phrik thai), literally “Thai pepper” or even “Thai chili,” as a way of differentiating it from the other kinds of pepper/chili that were not part of our cuisine until the arrival of European visitors, this type of pepper has been part of the diet of the inhabitants of what is presently known as Thailand since time immemorial. I’ve recently read an article [1] written by Professor Usanee Thongchai of Chiang Mai University’s History Department which asserts that Prik Thai seeds have turned up among archaeological finds, dated as far back as nine millennia ago, from the area that is present day Mae Hong Son.

Somehow that makes me feel more comfortable with my obsession with them. I love these peppercorns more than I do bird’s eye chilies. There’s something about the gentle heat that warms your throat that appeals to me more than the over-the-top, titillating kind that burns your tongue. I add young green peppercorns to pretty much everything that has chilies in it (I don’t replace chilies with peppercorns; I add peppercorns to a dish in addition to chilies). I also eat them whole. No, not just the whole berries but the whole bunches of berries, stems and all (which often freaks people out when they dine with me).

Given my love of unreasonable proportions for young green peppercorns, it frustrates me that they’re not widely available in the US. You can find them in a jar at local Asian markets, but those brined peppercorns have lost much of their potency by the time you open the jar. I shouldn’t complain, though. Brined and limp peppercorns are better than no peppercorns at all, I guess.

If you can find fresh young green peppercorns in your area, by all means use them more in your meat-based Thai curries or spicy stir-fries. Beef panaeng curry is terrific with young green peppercorns added about 5-10 minutes before you take it off the heat. I also love them in wild mushroom stir-fry, stuffed calamari braised in Sriracha sauce, and poached shrimp in red curry sauce. A rich dish such as this spicy pork belly stir-fry with Thai basil also tastes better when you eat half a bunch of young green peppercorns with every bite of fatty pork.

How do you use young green peppercorns in the food you grew up eating?

[1] Source

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