Nam Tok Neua or Waterfall Beef

Nam Tok (literally, waterfall) is the North Eastern Thai or Isan food. The name “Nam Tok Neua”, or “waterfall beef” refers to the juices that flow out of the meat when it is cut, due to its being lightly grilled and so slightly rare in the center.

It is a popular Thai dish in among North Eastern Thai people or beef lovers. Actually most of the ingredients for Nam Tok are the same as “Laab” accept the meat and the process of cooking the meat is different. We use chopped meat in Laab and cook with the small amount of water in a pot. For Nam Tok, we use a big piece of meat and use grilling as the process of cooking.

For 2 servings

Ingredients

280 - 300 g.                 Beef loin (sirloin, tenderloin) or rib eye steak

1 - 2 cloves                  Garlic, chopped fine

Pinch of salt

1 tsp                             Sugar

1 tsp                            Vegetable oil (optional, if the meat has not much fat)

1 tsp                            Oyster sauce

½ tsp                           Soy sauce

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15 leaves                     Mints

4 - 5 leaves                 Culantro ( Eryngium foetidum leaves ) cut into ¼ inch long

4 - 5 leaves                 Kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin stripes

1 tbsp                         Galangal, chopped fine

2                                  Shallots, slice thin

1 ½ tbsp                     Lemongrass, chopped fine

1 tbsp                         Ground roasted sticky rice

½ tsp                          Ground Thai chili pepper (adjustable)

1 – 1½ tbsp               Fish sauce (adjustable, different brand of fish sauce has different level of sodium)

1 – 1 ½ tbsp              Lime juice

2 – 3 tbsp                 Chicken broth or beef broth (optional, if the mixture is too dry)

Vegetable Side Dish

(These vegetables are not processed; they are just plain fresh vegetables. We use them for breaking the feeling of hot and spicy on the tongue from a spicy food and at the same time we can get more nutrition from the vegetables beside from the meat and herbs in the mixture.)

  

Cabbage or Chinese Napa

Snake beans

Or any salad vegetable (like lettuce or cucumber) 

                            You can also follow the instructions from this video!

Instructions

1. Marinate beef with garlic, salt, sugar, (oil,) oyster sauce and soy sauce for at least ½ hour.
2. Grill the meat on charcoal, on gas or (broil) in oven until brown on both sides and the meat medium rare to medium cooked.
3. Slice the meat into ¼ inch thick and remove to the mixing bowl.
4. Add fish sauce, lime juice, beef broth, ground chili, ground roasted sticky rice, mints, cilantro, galangal, shallot, and lemongrass. Mix all well.
5. Add fresh vegetables on the side of the mixture and serve with hot sticky rice.

Yam Makeua Yao

Yam Makua Yao or Eggplant Salad is one of healthy and yummy popular “YAM” Thai dishes. Some recipes may have hard boiled eggs in this dish. For people who can not eat pork or don’t like pork then you can just simply change it to be chicken.

3 - 4 Servings. Spiciness: Medium

Ingredients

2                         Large egg plants (Chinese Eggplants)

200 g.                  Pork mince

1 tsp                   Soy sauce

2 cloves              Garlic mince

Pinch of salt

12                       Shrimp (size 31 -40 or any size)

3                         Shallots, slice thin or ½ cup of red onion

3 tbsp                 Lemongrass, slice very thin

2 tbsp                Kaffir Lime leaves, cut into thin stripes (about 4-5 leaves)

10 – 15 leaves     Mint

3                        Fresh Thai chilli or Prik Kee Noo (spiciness is adjustable)

1 tbsp                 Nam Prik Pao or Chilli paste with soya bean oil

3 tbsp                Lime juice

2 tbsp                Fish sauce

2 tbsp                Water

Instruction

1. Marinate pork with soy sauce, garlic and salt.
2. Roast or grill the eggplants either on charcoal or in the oven until soft and cooked. Peel the skin and cut into 1 ½ inch long. Remove to a mixing bowl.
3. Heat a frying pan or a small pot over medium heat. Add the marinated pork and 2 tbsp water cook until changes colour and breaking up any lumps, before pork is cooked add shrimp and cook until pork and shrimp are cooked (you can cook  pork and shrimp separately also).
4. Making salad dressing, combine Nam Prik Pao, lime juice, chilli and fish sauce, and mix well or until Nam Prik Pao dissolved.
5. Combine eggplants, pork, shrimp, shallots, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and mints. Pour into salad dressing and mix well.
6. Serve with steamed rice.

Yam Tuna with Herbs

Yam Tuna with Herbs or Tuna Salad with Herbs is a healthy dish. Nowadays more and more people think about healthy diet – less process, less oil, less sodium and or no chemical but contains with all nutrition.  In Thai food, there are many different Thai dishes that are considered in the category of healthy food.

                                                   

For me I am always careful what to make for my family and I to eat, the food that I make have enough nutrition or is healthy enough or not. Some people say coconut milk is not good for your health but people in many tropical countries who consume coconuts (original they used coconut oil for cooking) for hundreds of years but they don’t have cardiovascular disease or obesity problem more than others, actually coconuts have some good nutrition. Over all I think beside what we eat we should think how much quantity to have for our body base on the input and output energy of each person. In general we don’t have an obesity problem in adults in Thailand but there are more and more overweight children, especially children in cities that have less active activities but with lots of corner shops and western junk food restaurants (in Thailand, going to the import western junk food restaurants is a privilege and it is popular). It becomes a global classic problem.

One of the most important ingredients of this dish is Piper Sarmentosum leaves. The leaves, are commonly used in traditional medicine, contain the antioxidant naringenin and in cuisine are used to wrap Miang Kham or a traditional snack. Miang Kham, is a bite size snack, made of roasted shredded coconut, roasted peanuts, shallot cubes, small ginger cubes, dried shrimp, a small piece of lime, small pieces of fresh chilli and a drop of thick sweet and salty sauce wrapped in Piper Sarmentosum so this Yum Tuna dish adapted the idea of Miang Kham snack.

This yam tuna dish is typical Thai, array of flavours that addresses all 5 taste senses – sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter. You can taste only a slightly bitterness at the end of the palate so it doesn’t really bother your enjoyment but it creates the sense of (all) good for your health.

***Piper sarmentosum is available at Asian grocery stores.

2 -3 servings

Ingredients

130 g.                   Tuna (solid) in oil

2                           Small shallots, slice thin (see picture)

2 tbsp                   Lemongrass, slice very thin

2 tbsp                   Ginger, cut into very thin stripe about 1 inch long

2 tbsp                   Galangal, cut into very thin stripe about 1 inch long

2 tbsp                   Kaffir lime leaves, cut into very thin stripe

2 tbsp                   Fingerroots (see picture from the link), slice into thin diagonal slices

12-15 leaves         Piper Sarmentosum

Herb cuts

Salad Dressing

2                           Fresh Thai chilli (spiciness is adjustable)

3 roots                   Coriander or cilantro

½ tsp                     Sugar

1 tbsp                    Fish sauce (saltiness is adjustable, depends on sodium in tuna and your palate)

2 tbsp                    Lime juice

Instruction

1. To make the dressing, crush fresh Thai chilli and coriander roots (cut into small pieces first) with mortar and pestle. Remove the mixture into a sauce bowl and then add sugar, fish sauce and lime juice, and mix well or until sugar dissolve. 
2. Remove the floating oil from tuna if there is too much oil (the tuna in a can I got in Ottawa is pretty dry and it is just perfect).
3. Combine all herb cuts or slices in a mixing bowl with tuna and pour into the dressing and mix well.
4. To serve, place a spoonful of the mixture on a piper leave and fold into a bite size. You can serve this dish as salad or finger food (snack). If piper leaves are not available – can be replaced with Chinese Napa or lettuce. 

Pla Scallop

“Pla”, “Yam”, Tam”, “Laab” are kinds of processing food in Thai cuisine, all these processes are similar to the process of salad in Western cuisine, the dishes from these processes usually combine the balancing of 4 tastes – sourness, sweetness, spiciness and saltiness. We consider the food from these processes is healthy food as it is less processed, less oil and always combined with fresh herbs.

Not only “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes are healthy food but more over than that it doesn’t consume a lot of time to make which is an ideal for people who have a busy life and aim to live healthy.

All Thai people love “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes, sometimes we feel we have no appetite because of the weather as the weather is warm all round year in Thailand or other reasons, but as soon as we see “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes our mouth is watering.

Ingredients

300 g.                   Scallop

¹⁄₃ cup                  Lemongrass, slice very thin

3                           Shallots, slice thin

5                           Kaffir lime leaves, chop into very thin strip

8                           Mint leaves

2 - 3 pieces          Iceberg lettuce

Salad dressing

2                           Fresh Thai chilli, chopped fine

1 tbsp                   Nam Prik Pao or chilli paste with soya bean oil

1 ½ tbsp               Lime juice

1 tbsp                    Fish sauce

?  Sugar (there is only one brand of Nam Prik Pao in my city and it is sweet enough for this recipe.)

Instruction

1. Grill scallop in a frying pan or grill pan on both sides. Set aside.
2. To make the salad dressing, combine Nam Prik Pao, lime juice and fish sauce and stir until (sugar and) Nam Prik Pao dissolves, and add chilli. Mix well.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine scallop, lemongrass, shallots and kaffir lime leaves, then pour in the salad dressing and mix well.
4. To serve, spoon the mixture onto Iceberg lettuce on the serving plate, garnish with mints. Serve as salad or healthy finger food.

Khai Luk Koei

Khai Luk Koei, Kai Leuk Koey or Kai Look Koey (literally, son-in-law eggs) is a dish that commonly found at Raan Khoa Khaeng or short order Thai restaurants. Khai Luk Koei or Son-In-Law-Eggs made of hard boiled eggs and we also have Khai Luk Sa Pai or Daughter- In-Law-Eggs made of over easy fried eggs but Son-In-Law-Eggs seems more popular.

Eggs are a common food for everyone, we simply turn the eggs to something more interesting, and it is for families especially for kids. In Thailand we consider Khai Luk Koei is a kind of comfort food and also it is a kid friendly dish as it contains a little sweetness, saltiness and sourness but is not spicy. Many people asked me what ages of kids can eat or learn to eat spicy food – I think it depends on each kid his or herself some can eat spicy hot food at very young age like 2 -3 years old and some can eat only mild spicy food even they are adult. We both my husband and I be able to eat very spicy food but not our son, he can eat mild spicy only. I was surprised he loved my Massaman Curry; this curry is mild hot in a sense of spicy hot from chilli pepper but it has the strong flavour of the spiciness of other different spices like cumin, for example.   

Ingredients

Tamarind Liquid

1                        ¾ x 1 ¾ inches of 200 g Tamarind cake (see picture)

½ cup                water

Break and knead tamarind in water until the mixer thickens

6                       Large eggs

½ cake             Palm sugar

6 tbsp               Tamarind thick liquid

2 tbsp               Fish sauce

½ cup               Oil for frying

1                       Large shallot, slice thin

2 tbsp               Chopped coriander

1                      Big long red chilli or Prik Chee Fah, sliced (optional) this kind of chilli is mild hot.

Instruction

1. Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold tap water and boil at high heat for 12 minutes (boil 10 minutes from tap water in Thailand).
2. Remove from heat, drain the hot water and rise and soak with cold tap water in the same time shake the pot so the eggs will be cracked from hitting to each other and peel the shells.
3. Put oil on a small frying pan over medium heat until hot. Add egg one at a time if using small amount oil in the pan and roll and turn the egg to brown totally until finish all.
4. In the same frying pan with the same oil, add sliced shallot, fry until slightly golden brown and drain oil on paper towel.
5. In the same frying pan, remove all oil, reduce the heat to low and add tamarind liquid, fish sauce and palm sugar and cook until palm sugar dissolves and the mixer thickens slightly.
6. To serve, slice the eggs and arrange on a serving plate. Pour on the sauce and garnish with crispy shallot, red chilli slices and chopped coriander. Serve with steamed rice.

Pla Goong

"PLA" is kind of processing food, by using acid from lime juice, without cooking, normally it is for raw meat; beef or seafood, basically the process is the same as "YAM", and Goong means shrimp. Original this dish is made from live tiny shrimp krill but nowadays many Thai restaurants in Thailand use roasted or grilled shrimp to for this dish.

This dish is considering a healthy food and it doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare and make it, it’s perfect for people who have a busy life and love healthy and Thai food.

Ingredients

12                  Shrimp (size 31 -40)

2 - 3              Fresh chilli, chopped fine

3 tbsp            Lemongrass, chopped very fine (see picture)

3                    Shallots (about ¹⁄₃ cup), slice thin

8 leaves        Mints

1 tbsp            Kaffir Lime Leaves, chopped very fine (see picture)

1 tbsp            Nam Prik Pao or chilli paste with soya bean oil

?                    Sugar (there is only one brand of Nam Prik Pao in my city and it is pretty sweet so I don’t add more sugar in it.)

2 tbsp            Lime juice

Herb cuts

1 tbsp            Fish sauce

  

Instruction

1. Grill shrimp on pan grill or charcoal both sides until shrimp turns prink.
2. Combine fresh chilli, Nam Prik Pao, (sugar), lime juice and fish sauce and stir until sugar or Nam Prik Pao dissolved.
3. Add shrimp, lemongrass, shallots, mints and kaffir lime leaves. Mix well.
4. Serve with steamed rice or eat as appetizer or salad.

*** This dish can be served as appetizer, place each piece of shrimp on a rice cracker and put a small piece of lettuce between shrimp and the rice cracker to prevent the crackers being wet, or just simply place shrimp on a piece of belgain envide as a healthy finger food.

Spinach, pear, roquefort & walnut salad

I had this sweet salad first in a little restaurant in Edmond, Oklahoma, my home town. It was in the space where I had my first job, a clerk in a doughnut shop. We clerks got all the doughnuts and ice cream we could eat. Great perks. I lost the job when my hair got too long and I refused to cut it. Ah the Sixties! The restaurant is now kind of shishi. Like Edmond now. Now I eat sweet salads instead of doughnuts. Ah, my sixties!

If you have the walnuts and bacon ready, this is five minutes to put together. If you don't--and have an oven on for something else--you can cook the bacon and the walnuts while other things are going.

Sugared walnuts are kind of a pain to make, and messy gooey to clean up. So an easy (and easy clean-up) method is to simply put eight ounces of walnuts (whole or pieces) on a Silpat in a baking pan, spray with cooking spray, and toss with two tablespoons of sugar. Bake in a 370 to 450 degree oven (depending on what else you are cooking) for five to ten minutes, shaking once or twice. Check them after 5 minutes. They will be crisp and only slightly sugary. Slide the Silpat out of the baking pan and cool. You can add salt or a bit of cayenne pepper or Cajun seasoning.

5 minutes
Serves 4

• 3 tablespoons vinaigrette
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 8 ounces spinach leaves, from a bag--or if not, washed! (romaine works too)
• 4 strips oven-cooked bacon, crumbled or minced (place bacon on a sheet in a preheated 400 oven for 15-30 minutes)
• 1 cup crumbled Roquefort or other good blue cheese, such as Maytag
• 1 pear, cored and cut into eight sections. (An apple corer will help here.)
• 1 cup toasted or sugared walnuts (or pecans or almonds)

1. Combine the vinaigrette and honey and microwave until warm. Start with 10 seconds on high. OR if the honey is too cold to pour, microwave the honey jar until it is warm (start with 15 seconds) and pour the warm honey into the vinaigrette, stirring with a fork to combine.
2. Chop the pears sections, crumble or mince the bacon, and toss with the dressing.
3. Add the spinach, the Roquefort, and the walnuts and toss again. 

Salade de tomate ou/et concombre / tomato/cucumber salad

The best things are the simplest. I write this in early March, when there is a lot of snow on the ground. And it is barely above freezing days. And I hate Iowa. Next pic, please.

And I do dream of summer tomatoes. Heirlooms, sure. But also just Burpee garden variety tomatoes. With some basil. No vinaigrette. Maybe some salt and pepper. Maybe not.

And then maybe some cucumbers. On the deck. (next pic please). Overlooking the miserable tomato vines that I try to grow almost every year, from the glorious smelly young plants the farmers at the market sell before there's anything else to sell, except maybe rhubarb or greens.

And then, about the fourth of July, I realize, again, that I am no farmer, nor even a vegetable gardener. I am just a tomato eater. And a pretty good one.

I am, however, an excellent tomato slicer. And that is really all it takes. Some say it doesn't even take that. Some eat tomatoes like apples, whole, just biting into them, and letting the juice go where it goes.

Not me. I am civilized. See the pics?