Archive | She Veges RSS feed for this section

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 →

Comments are closed

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 →

Comments are closed

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 →

Comments are closed
Older posts Newer posts