This, I miss! I used to order this everytime my officemates and I go eat at the Banana Leaf Curry House. Did you know that diners at this restaurant eat with a banana leaf instead of a plate? Quite fitting and best enjoyed when you’re eating with your hands!
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp peppercorns
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsps fresh coriander roots or stems
2 lemongrass stalks, tender midsection only, finely minced
2 tbsps oyster sauce
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tsps sugar
1 1/2 tsps Asian sesame oil
750 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 4cm pieces
36 pandan leaves, each about 12 inches long by 2 inches wide
peanut …read more

Image credit: The New York Times

This entry is intended to be my first for Wiggly Wednesdays. Oh well, better late than never. I chanced upon this healthy concoction through the NY Times website. Can’t wait to try it out soon:
You can use Southeast Asian rice sticks or Chinese cellophane noodles (made from bean starch) for this Thai salad. It makes a satisfying lunch, or serve it as a starter or side dish (it will serve up to 6 as a side).
For the dressing:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce or 1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 to 3 …read more

Here is another new, tasty twist you can cook up using beef.  Thanks once again to my sister for this Thai recipe:
Ingredients:
2 pieces of beef schnitzel, cut into chunks
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 spring onions, cut into 1 inch long
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 1/2 tbsp chili paste with soya bean oil
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 mushrooms, cut into thin slices
1 carrot, thin slices (1 cup)
Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and onion. Cook fro 2 minutes. Add chili paste. Add beef and stir …read more

June 3:
Louisville, Kentucky: Asian Water Festival Family Day
June 1-4:
Herndon, VA: Herndon Festival
June 1-4:
Ithaca, NY: Ithaca Festival
June 4:
Temecula, CA: Fourth Annual Children’s Matsuri
June 5-16:
New York, NY: Taste of Korea: 3rd UN Korean Food Festival
June 8-11:
Daegu, Korea: Dafood 2006: Daegu International Food Industry Exhibition 2006
June 7-9:
Beijing: FHC Beijing
June 9-11:
Hawaii: Pan-Pacific Festival-Matsuri
Children’s Matsuri, including a Family “Iron Chef” Contest
June 10:
Bristol, UK: The Bristol Vegan Fayre 2006
June 21-24:
Taipei, Taiwan: Food Taipei 2006
June 17:
Savannah, GA: 11th Annual Savannah Asian Festival
June 21-25:
Seoul, Korea: Tea World Festival 2006
June 24-25:
Chinatown, Los Angeles: …read more

Thai food lovers, there’s a new cookbook out you might want to see. This one is by Independence, KS resident Naam Pruitt who’s originally from Thailand. If you’d like to catch one of Naam’s classes, she teaches at the Amore Cooking Center in Joplin, MO and at the Culinary Center of Kansas City in Overland Park, KS. Here’s the link to the KC Culinary’s current class schedule (a pdf file).
I haven’t cooked anything yet from the book as I’m awaiting my copy, but the sample recipes on her website look promising.
– not to be confused …read more

Exchange student Sujitra Ueawongchoetchu shares three recipes from her native Thailand, including her Grandma’s Tom Yam Kung. Just the thing on a rainy day such as this.

Who’s in the mood for some cilantro? Jill Wendholdt Silva offers up a recipe for Cilantro Chicken. You may not believe this, but I hated cilantro as a child. Never liked it when my aunts put it into stir-fried noodles or in dipping sauces. My hatred of cilantro reached its peak while I was pregnant with our oldest child. A friend brought over some “delicious” Vietnamese spring rolls, …read more

“I eat only vegetables.” This is the phrase photographer and traveler Carl Weaver suggests you use if you’re a vegetarian traveling to Thailand. (Substitute “Pom” for “Dee Chan” if you’re a man.)
The more I learn about vegan and vegetarian diets, the more I appreciate Asian cuisine, particularly Thai. These people know how to eat vegetarian without compromising the least bit of flavor!

Most of these are open to the public. Click on the links for more information!
April 30, Berkeley, CA: Berkeley International Food Festival
May 5, Cheung Chau, HongKong: Cheung Chau Bun Festival
May 5-9, Boseong, Korea: Boseong Green Tea Festival
May 6-7, Nacogdoches, Texas: Multicultural Festival
May 10-13, Shanghai, China: China Wine and Liquor Expo
May 12-14, Pasay City, Philippines: IFEX Philippines
May 12-14, Guangzhou, China: Interbake China
May 12-14, Guangzhou, China: Ice Cream China
May 12-14, Guangzhou, China: Coffee Festival
May 13, Des Moines, Iowa: CelebrAsian
May 14-15, New York City: Ninth Avenue International Food Festival
May 17-19, Shanghai, …read more

So I had some squid in the freezer, along with some of my delicious red curry paste — and about 3 hours to go before dinner. Yes, this isn’t one of those put-together-in-a-hurry kind of dishes, but it’s useful for some kitchen therapy, if you’re the kind of person for whom chopping and slicing can be relaxation. My favorite stuffing for squid is ground pork, spiced up a bit and mixed with some liver, but I didn’t have any and wanted to do something a bit different.