Nam Prik Pao Fried Rice with Shrimp and Pineapple (ข้าวผัดน้ำพริกเผาใส่กุ้งกับสับปะรด)


 

Last week, in the course of interviewing my friend M, who devised this fried rice recipe, I came to realize that, based on the way he was answering my questions, I probably wouldn’t be able to get anything bloggable out of this. But it was too late. The blog post had already been planned, the dish had already been made and photographed, the conversation had already started, and I had imposed upon myself the obligation to see it through and make the most of what I got. After all, a famous American philosopher from the 1990s once said, “Anything less than the best is a felony.”

In order for you to understand the interview the translated transcript of which will appear below, I need to tell you something that happened many years ago. Continue Reading →

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Panko-Crusted Fried Baby Bananas (กล้วยไข่ชุบเกล็ดขนมปังทอด), Thai New Year, Songkran Goddess


 What did you do in the last few hours? Me? I woke up and found myself on a bed which happened to be the very same one into which I crawled last night. At one point, I felt a slight itch on my back. So I reached out my hand and scratched it thereby relieving the itch. With the itch having been sufficiently alleviated, I ceased scratching and continued to lie in bed some more. Then I noticed that the light in the closet was on, so I remedied the situation by getting up and flipping the switch to the off position thereby causing the light to go out requiring me to take no further action. Then I started doing some work on my laptop. After a while, I decided to take a short break by sitting idly for a few moments. At the end of the break, I started working again which was when I discontinued sitting idly. Half an hour later which coincided with the 30-minute mark after I’d resumed working, I felt hungry, so I went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door which allowed me to see inside it. I then decided to make a sandwich. I placed a slice of cheese on a piece of bread and a few slices of ham on top of the cheese. Then I placed another piece of bread on top of the whole thing which resulted in the ham and cheese being positioned right between the two pieces of bread. Then I ate the sandwich until it was no more at which point I stopped eating. [1]

I thought you’d be glad to find out that, luckily, things were much more exciting these past few hours in the cosmological world. How exciting? We’re talking seven beautiful women floating in the air with a severed head in tow.

Got your attention, didn’t I? Continue Reading →

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Green Papaya Pad Thai (ผัดไทยเส้นมะละกอ)


Pad Thai made with green papaya strands in lieu of rice noodles has been around for a while; I have just recently come to appreciate it. For me, the turn around point was when I ceased seeing green papaya in this context as a low-carb, low-calorie, grain-free noodle substitute and came to acknowledge it as an ingredient that tastes great on its own merit in this newer version of Pad Thai.

I would be stating the obvious in saying that green papaya doesn’t taste anything like rice noodles; “the chew” and the carby comfort just aren’t there. But what green papaya brings to this classic dish is the crunchy freshness that is surprisingly pleasant.

Pad Thai Ari restaurant (ผัดไทยอารีย์), lauded as one of the best Pad Thai restaurants in Bangkok [1], makes outstanding green papaya Pad Thai. It was at this place where I discovered the joy of this unorthodox version of one of Thailand’s most famous dishes. Huge, huge river prawns with rich tomalley that come with it are a bonus. Continue Reading →

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