Egg Noodle Soup with Spiced Broth, Stewed Chicken Drumsticks, and Baby Bok Choy (บะหมี่น่องไก่ตุ๋น)


stewed chicken noodle soup
So you’ve made some boat noodles from Pok Pok Cookbook, right? Are you wondering what to do with the remaining 2 quarts of spiced broth* you have in the refrigerator/freezer, the leftover fried garlic and its oil, and some of the table seasonings? Wonder no more. You use them to make egg noodle soup with spiced broth, stewed chicken drumsticks, and baby bok choy. Continue Reading →

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Rice-Pumpkin Porridge with Garlic Shrimp and Pumpkin Seeds (ข้าวตุ๋นฟักทองใส่กุ้งกับเมล็ดฟักทอง)


Rice Pumpkin Porridge with Garlic Shrimp and Crispy Pumpkin Seeds
This is a grown-up version of what’s supposed to be my favorite baby food. I was a pretty quiet baby, but my mom used to tell me that whenever she fed me this, I started ‘talking’ a lot. She took it to mean I liked it.

I love this dish as an adult and make it often. The salty garlic shrimp balances out the sweet rice-pumpkin porridge. The pumpkin seeds add some crunch to what would otherwise be a texturally dull mush. Vegans can use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and salt instead of fish sauce and skip the shrimp or replace them with mushrooms.

I can’t say anything about whether you’ll get more talkative after you eat this porridge. But if that happens, perhaps you and I (well, the baby version of me, anyway) have more in common than previously thought. Continue Reading →

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Shrimp Paste Relish with Lime Rind (น้ำพริกผิวมะนาว) and a Little Ghost Tale


Thai Shrimp Paste Chili Relish
What criteria do you use to gauge how much you understand another culture? How do you rank these criteria in terms of their importance? How objective is your ranking and what are the factors influencing it? What characteristics must someone from a different culture exhibit – what knowledge must they possess for you to consider them well-assimilated or at least well-versed in your culture? What are the things you need to do or say or prove in order to assure someone that you really understand their culture? What criteria do you think someone else from a culture different from yours may use to measure your understanding of their culture? I often wonder about these things. Continue Reading →

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