Cooking For Engineers

[ranger-o]

I have eaten my share of Thai food in different countries and finally landed in Thailand. The best Thai food I have ever dined on was a little place in OKC around 23'rd street, ordered the broccoli beef.

Here are a few great asian food sites, packed with photo's, descriptions and recipes.

http://www.kitchencapers.net

http://www.geocities.com/jinandmark/kitchen.html

http://www.users.bigpond.com/catch22inc/rcpthai.html
Colonel Ian Khuntilanont-Philpott's Recipes
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[holymakeral]

Having recently spent a month in Thailand, I returned home and began sampling many Thai restaurants and Thai convenience foods. While there are many good Thai restaurants in the Pacific NW, the convenience foods are dismally inadequate. I started to experiment with making my own Pad Thai and quickly found this staple is very easy to make and the home version is as good as any I had in Thailand. I will attempt to tell you how I made it.

Pad Thai for 4

Noodle preparation
Place one 16 oz (or close) package of rice noodles (linguine size) into a bowl of very hot tap water to soak 30-45 minutes until tender. Don't cook the noodles! Drain when tender, just before adding to stir fry below. Don't substitute any other kind of noodle. It must be rice.

Mix and set aside this for the sauce
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup rice (or white) vinegar
1/3 cup fish sauce* (this can be changed to a light soy sauce, but it is not as good)
1/3 cup plum sauce from the Asian food section (this is a substitute for hard to find tamarind paste)

This will produce a very wet and saucy Pad Thai. You can change all amounts to 1/4 cup for a drier finished dish. Experiment.

Wash and cut up one bunch of cilantro and one bunch of green onions. Set aside.

Wash and set aside about a pound of fresh bean sprouts (or other similar amount chopped veges like carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc. More is better.)

Chop up a half cup of peanuts or cashews. Set aside.

Scramble up 4-6 eggs. Set aside.

Stir fry - The trick to stir fry (from a quick Thai cooking lesson) is very hot and very fast. Have all your ingredients prepared for fast work at the wok.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a wok on high heat until almost smoking. Don't scrimp on the oil amount.

Quickly pour all the scrambled eggs into the oil. In the hot oil they will quickly puff up and set with little absorbtion of the oil. Don't stir, but gently fold as the eggs set to get nice big egg curds.

You will have to make some adjustments here based on exactly what veges you use. Things that need more cooking time should be added now and heated in the hot oil. Things like bean sprouts, onions, cilantro should not be added now as they will overcook. This is not a precision recipe.

Add the mixed sauce and stir to heat without burning on the high heat.

Add the noodles (that should have drained, and are not dripping wet). Keep it all in motion so it all gets hot fast and not burned. Heat just until rice noodles darken and have a good texture. Taste often. They overcook very rapidly, so watch out.

Add the bean sprouts and heat only until they are warmed up, not cooked soggy. This is also when you might add other veges that don't need much cooking, like chopped carrots. The idea is to preserve taste and texture - a hot, soggy slop will make an unhappy dinner.

Turn off the heat. Toss in the cilantro and put onto a serving plate. Top off with chopped green onion and chopped peanuts. A sprinkle of lime juice is also very good.

This sounds a like a mess to make, but it only takes about 30 - 45 minutes. Start off with soaking the noodles and by the time you have rest done, they will be ready to drain and use.

Again, this is NOT a precision recipe. Keep in mind that it is simple by nature. It is the staple food served from thousands of Thai food carts and so must have only a few basic ingredients that are quick and easy to work with. I have found some additions like firm tofu chunks, chopped chicken, etc. are also good - added to the cooking process in the appropriate time.

The real Thai hot sauce for the table is very simple to make. Thinly slice several fresh Thai chili peppers, or other small blazing hot chilis. Add to about 1/3 cup of fish sauce. Serve in a small bowl with a spoon for topping off the pad thai with the Thai dragon.

*Fish sauce. This magic elixir made of anchovies, salt, and water has been a source of fascination for me. It is a signature flavor of many Thai dishes. You can find fish sauce in any Asian grocery or well stocked Asian aisle of your supermarket. It comes packaged like soy sauce. It is amazingly cheap. When I first tasted it I thought it was simply awful. Now, as with tobasco sauce, I can't live without it on many foods. It takes a little time to get over the "fishy" taste, but you will, and will be rewarded amply for this new addition to your condiment arsenal.

[Barbarainnc]

festivals. I asked, and all they told me was that the chicken was soaked in coconut milk and other ingredients. Could you help me out with a good recipe??

[kgb1001001]

A decent recipe for which can be found here: http://www.thaicuisine.com/sataygai.html

[girdhar]

Hi , I love the gulab jamun an Indian sweet dish .It tastes so good .and it so easy to prepare have any of you tried it ?
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the coffee bean,smoker reviews,dinnerware

[howardam]

I am going to have to go with Thai. While I don't tend to cook it much myself, here is a decent site just by sheer quantity of recipes if nothing else:
Thai Food

[ERdept]

I'm a fan of Thai food, onthing else. It's good and the best. Even if it's not authintic.

[danicamoore]

tom yam prawns

3 pieces of lemongrass
2-3 lime leaves
10g mushrooms
Tom Yam broth
1 pint water
200g tiger prawns
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
Fresh coriander
Chopped lime or lemon juice
Chillies

procedure:

Drop the lemon grass, the lime leaves and the Tom Yam Broth into a pot, pour in the boiling water, and soak for 5 minutes.
Add the prawns and mushrooms with the fish sauce and bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer until the prawns are cooked.
Sprinkle the coriander, add lemon or lime juice.
Season to taste and pour the soup into a serving bowl.
Don`t forget the chilli at the end! I love this one.
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cateringrecruiter

[Inkathebadger]

I went to a Thai Restaurant a few years ago with my brother when our classes went to the ROM(Royal Ontario Museum). I ordered something I can't remember the name of it but it was curry and coconut milk and shrimp on rice and it was beautiful! I have never been able to replicate it sadly. If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about and knows the recipe I would love it thanks!
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World traveller and daughter of a chemical engineer who can cook awesome and wife to a IT tech who is too scared to cook anything!