My favorite Thai Salads

I love hot and spicy. However, if I cook curry everyday it would grain up more weight because of coconut milk. So today I will recommend to the menu that always for a skinny Thai ladies secret. Thai Salad.

Of cause, Thai foods is a little heat along the way, as you will see my Thai recipe I put on the blog later on. I love to put hot chillies pepper, which called in Thai " Prik Kee Noo", it is very small pepper but really hot especially the Red color ones. I slice its very thinly and try to mix with Green color pepper. For a person who never like the heat too much, I would prefer to use couple of green prik kee noo.

My boyfriend had not have any real hot or spicy foods before met me. So when I introduced him to Thai foods, he always asked about the ingredients in the dish which sometime I didn't tell him all the ingredient until he tasted it first. Once he tried the Spicy Salad that I will put on this blog, his face and ears turned red and looked for more drinks after that. Although, he is more willing to go a little farther when it becomes to spicy foods. My trick is put less in his first time, then add up more every time I cook the same dish. Now he can handle at least 5 greens prik kee noo thinly sliced in one of his favorite dish, which will put on this blog later on.

Yum Woonsen and Yum Moo Yor.

( Yum = Salad, Woonsen = Clear noodle, Moo Yor = Vietnamese Pork stick, or I called Thai Baloney)

My tips; I like to make dressing separately and pour into salad when ready to serve. So I will give the dressing recipe and salad itself separately.

Yum Dressing
(I use this dressing in almost any spicy salad with clear noodle or only Moo Yor itself)

Ingredient;  make about half of a cup, that could make 2 serving salad

1 tbsp hot water
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 tbsp fish sauce, *substitute with 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp fish sauce
2-3 green Thai hot chilies (Prik Kee Noo) for Mild taste, 7-9 red Prik Kee Noo for Hot, thinly sliced

In small bowl, add sugar in hot water just for it melts. Let it cool. Add fish sauce or salt, lime juice and chilies. Taste and set aside.

Clear noodle and Seafood with Thai Salad Dressing
(Yum Woonsen and Seafood)

Ingredient;

1 1/2 cup raw clear noodle

1/4 cup Moo Yor, thinly sliced and cut to bite size

1/4 cup mix seafood, cut into small bite size and cooked

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion or white onion

3 tbsp thinly sliced or julienned

3 tbsp celery with leaves, chopped

2 cups

1/2 cup Yum dressing as recipe above

garnish with cilantro

Direction;

1. If you have raw seafood, wash and divined for shrimp. For crab meat, mostly already cooked, cut up small bite and put in the mixing bowl.

2. In the pot of boiling water, add clear noodle, Moo Yor, shrimp and carrot, cooked until the noodle soft and clear like glass, drained and add in mixing bowl with onion and celery only stalk part, mixing all the ingredient when it is still hot.

3. Just before serving, add the dressing and celery leaves, mix it all ingredient well. Garnish with cilantro.

Another recipe that I would love to make when I feel like to have more fresh summer vegetable that all grow in the garden is "Yum Moo Yor with cucumber tomato in Thai dressing salad"

Yum Moo Yor with Cucumber Tomato in Thai dressing Salad

My tip; use fresh cucumber and tomato as you can find. It is a nice for fresh summer afternoon lunch especially in Thailand. I suggest to have this dish with warm jasmine rice.

I choose to steam the ingredient this time because I want to keep the taste as much as i can and also let the meat sit longer in the dressing before add tomato and cucumber to prevent more juice come out to the salad.

Ingredient;

1/2 cup Moo Yor

1/4 cup sliced cucumber

3 tbsp thinly slice fresh carrot

1/4 cup sliced tomato

1 medium sweet onion, prefer white onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup celery stalk, cut bite size included celery leaves roughly chopped

1/2 cup yum dressing

cilantro for garnish

Direction;

1. In a steamer, cook the Moo Yor, carrot for couple minute. Add to mixing bowl with have onion, celery stalks. Add the yum dressing, mix well.

2. Just before serve, add tomato, cucumber and celery leaves, gently mix altogether. Garnish with cilantro.

Leftover fix ; Seafood Fried Rice

Every time I have leftover from the day before I would like to create the menu with that leftover. I did create a menu that satisfied everyone in this family especially the boys. We actually have fish every Thursday since the father doesn't like fish, especially oily fish, and he will work until later that day, so that is perfect day for the rest of family who love fish. I experimented that the boys love fresh water fishes more than oily fish, however I do not want to make them choosing the meals that they are usually comfortable with, because I think when they are a grown up, they will be more picky.

Now I have tried to experiment and create new recipe about fish as much as I can to make them feel more interesting to try new dishes. Today I know they love Fried Rice and especially this dish will make a extra way for them to consume more vegetables too. I broke up the leftover, Grilled trout fillet to smaller flakes and diced all fresh vegetable we grew in the garden as small pieces as I can so they can not take it out. I suggest you can also use mix frozen vegetable.

Trout Fried Rice

Tip; Rice for making Fried rice; you would want to use less water than you used to prepare normally.

How to cook rice; 2 cups of Jasmine Rice + 3 Cups of water. In a pot of boiling water and rice, let it boiling for 3 minutes, reduce the heat to low and shimmer it about 5-8 minutes or until the top of the rice look clearer and no bubbling water. Turn heat off and cover the lid until use it. Fluffy with folk.

Ingredient;

2 cups cold cooked rice
1 cups mix vegetables; Diced carrot, corn, peas or sliced green beans
2 cups cooked Trout; flaked
2 eggs
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 cups diced crab meats
1/4 cup or 1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp black soy sauce

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp butter

salt and black pepper

garnish with cilantro, lime, cucumber

Direction;

1. Preheat wok to medium high, add oil, butter and onion, cook till translucent then add garlic cook till yellow brown add eggs, cook as scramble eggs and add cold rice, soy sauce, black soy sauce and sugar, stir until mix well.

2. Add, mix vegetables, salt and black pepper, cook for about 3 minutes or the vegetable start to get bright color. Add tomato, crab meats and trout, cook for about 3 minutes. Turn the heat off and serve with cucumber, lime and cilantro. 

Seafood Dinner

My Seafood dinner

When I was a little girl, my parents were very concerned about foods, so they wanted to make sure we consumed enough healthy and organic ingredients that why we would grow vegetable, herbs and even fed chicken for eggs and meat (I was sad when it time to murdered them !). However, we still got a health problem, my aunt and my brother had not gotten enough Iodine, that because we weren't consumed Seafood and sea salt at all. Well, we live North of Thailand where no connect to the ocean at all.

My dad was very worried about it but luckily it was fixable. They had been treating by the doctor. The doctor suggested to consume more sea foods and sea salt. Since then, we cooked more seafood and put more sea salt while we cook other dishes. I fell in love with seafood by then.

My favorite seafood dish is Stir fried Ocean Crabs in Curry sauce! I like Red Snapper in sour soup with spring vegetable. And since Japanese cuisine hits Thailand, my brother took me and my mom to Japanese Restaurant for my 20th birthday, We all tried new foods together, it was fun and interesting things I love to do! I fell in love with Sushi Maki Rolls since then. However, I decided to not like Raw fish, just because I didn't like the taste and smell. When I lived in Chicago, I always liked to go for sushi buffet all the time, it was fun going out with a lot of my Au Pair friends there, they were from all around the world, mostly I knew from Europe, some of them never heard about Sushi at all! So I just liked to introduce new menu for their life and they cooked their comfort foods they had at their hometown for me! It was a good trade!

This blog I will bring up the recipe I just cooked for the dinner. The boys I am taking care doesn't like Fish, I think because his dad doesn't like it and they got the idea that they should not like it. However, I don't agree with these kids, I think if I try to cook it right and add more favor to the fish dish, they will change their mind! I succeed with this menu because it actually taste good and easy to prepare. Let's check it out!!

Grill Herb-Topped Trout Fillet

Most trout has vivid color which depends on environment of their habitats. Trout is in the same species with Salmon but Mostly Salmon lives in salt water unlike trout that can find in the cool, clear stream or lake. 

Ingredient

1 boneless trout fillet with skin

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp each finely chopped of fresh basil, thyme and parsley
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
a pinch of salt and ground black pepper
cooking oil spray

Direction;

1. Preheat the barbecue to medium-high. In a small bowl, stir together extra virgin olive oil, basil, thyme, parsley, lemon zest, garlic, salt and black pepper.
2. Spray the flesh side of trout fillet with cooking spray. Grill trout, flesh side down, for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned. Turn trout over. Spread herb mixture evenly over the flesh side, grill it further about 2 to 4 minutes, until fillet are firm and flesh is opaque.
Serve garnished with fresh parsley and lemon slices.

My secret add on ingredient; I made Thai herbs oil earlier, so I used it instead of just plain Extra Virgin Olive oil. The lemon glass and kefir lime leaves gave the kick for the oil on the trout too!!