Gỏi đu đủ kiểu Thái

Thai papaya salad. Shred the unripe papaya in long thins strips and put these in cold water for 15 minutes. Then all you need to memorise is the dressing:

4 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp fermented fish sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tps chilli powder
1 tbsp chilli paste

Fresh:
Garlic
Cilantro
Shallot
Red Chilli.

Above quantity for 2-3 people, I divided everything in two for one person. Save some dressing as a dipping sauce for other side dishes, like boiled meat.

First mix the sugar with lime until dissolved. Ten add the rest. I didn’t have Thai or Laos fermented fish sauce but I did have pickled krill Hanoi style. Krill are tiny shrimp. This has about the same intoxicating smell as fermented fish sauce, so it as a great substitute. The pickled krill is more concentrated and I used less than 5 table spoons. For the chili paste I used Thai chili paste with soya bean oil, which worked just fine. You can be flexible in making the dressing as long as you know the taste of the substitutes. “Normal” fish sauce is no substitute for fermented fish sauce!

For the papaya salade you will need some steamed shrimp and/or octopus, freshly fried peanuts, and before serving you mix in fresh shallot, cilantro, lemons grass (soft part) and more red chili, sliced. Serve with sticky rice. The dressing can also be used as a dipping sauce for anything you like.

Non-Thai substitute: pickled krill Hanoi style.

Green papaya salad (som tam)

Papaya originates from Mesoamerica and was introduced in Asia in the 17th-Century. This papaya salad was possibly invented in Laos. For this papaya salad you will need a green unripe papaya. Start by frying some peanuts in oil. This version is Thai. Many other versions are possible.

Start by pounding garlic and fresh chiles, adding soaked dried shrimp and 1 tablespoon of the fried peanuts. Pound but keep the ingredients coarse.

Add some palm sugar, long beans (3 cm pieces) and cherry tomatoes. Add lime juice and fish sauce. Finally add finely shredded papaya. Add the remaining table spoon of peanuts. Lightly pound the peanuts.

Ingredients

• 2 small garlic cloves

• 2 to 3 fresh Thai chiles

• 1 tablespoon (8g) dried shrimp

• 2 tablespoons (30g) roasted unsalted peanuts

• palm sugar to taste

• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved

• 2 long beans (about 30g), 3 cm pieces

• fresh lime juice from 2 limes

• 2 tablespoons (30ml) fish sauce

• 170g shredded green papaya, from 1 green papaya

• Cooked sticky rice, for serving

Laos pot Thai steamed sticky rice

This is a traditional northern Thailand and Laotian method of making sticky rice. After washing the rice you have to soak the rice for six hours or overnight. Before steaming soak the bamboo basket in water to prevent the rice from sticking to the basket.

The steaming method takes 15 minutes, flipping the rice over and then steaming for another 5 to 10 minutes. You can put a small (bamboo) lid in the bamboo steamer to capture the steam inside.

Minced pork and sticky rice.

Larb Muang Moo

I liked this version of chopped pork salad the best. You make a spice mixture by toasting the following ingredients:

2 small dried hot chillis, 1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds, 1/4 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, a star anis pod, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 1 piece of mace, inner seeds of 4 Thai black cardamon, or 1 green cardamon, 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns and 1 whole long pepper, which I didn’t have.

Toast about two minutes and grind everything into a fine powder.

Heat oil in a wok and throw in about 6 gloves or garlic, skins on but slightly mashed. Take out the garlic with a slotted spoon, and reserve. Add chopped pork, for convenience get minced pork, mixed pork offal like kidney, liver or tripe, which I sadly didn’t have. Add the spice mixture and a bunch of cut cilantro and cook for a short time. Add 1/4 cup of pork blood, which I also didn't have, and cook until thickened.

Season with salt and fish sauce and sprinkle with the fried garlic.

The photo above shows an earlier version I made with mint, cilantro and powdered rice.

Yam khai dao ยำไข่ดาว

This Thai fried egg salad was surprisingly easy to make. Even though there is ‘khai’ in the name, there is no chicken meat, just the eggs. Start by making a dressing of:

• 4 limes

• 1 tablespoon of palm sugar

• 2 tablespoons of fish sauce

• 2 – 3 chilies, sliced

• 1 lemongrass, sliced

Mix together 3 small tomatoes, roughly chopped, sliced shallot, a handful of cilantro, chopped, a handful of scallions, chopped. You can also add roasted peanuts.

Now fry 3 to 4 eggs in plenty of oil in a wok. You should be able to splash oil on top of the eggs. Don’t disturb the eggs until the bottom is crispy, then flip the eggs over. When done cut the eggs in about the same size as the tomatoes. Mix the dressing into the salad, but not necessarily all of it.

Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School

The one day cooking class in Chiang Mai was quite interesting. The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School is located on a former rice field just outside the city. The owners have transformed the rice field into a garden full of fresh ingredients. The recipes you practice are the standard dishes like a curry and som tam.

Ruamchok Mall, 204 Fhaham Muang District Tambon Fa Ham, Chiang Mai.

Back in the Netherlands I mainly made khao pad (ข้าวผัด) street food style, or specifically khao pad gong (ข้าวผัดกุ้ง). So with shrimp. Not fresh in my case, but dried shrimp.

Khao Pad Gong

The shopping list for Khao Pad Gong (ข้าวผัดกุ้ง):

• Rice (cooled)

• Dried shrimp (or fresh)

• Half an onion.

• Chinese broccoli. Also known as kailan. Chinese: 芥蘭. Asian spinach is also perfect.

• Garlic.

• Egg.

• 1 tbs Thai soy sauce.

• 1 tbs oyster sauce..

• Spring onion/scallion.

Prik Nam Pla Ra (chili in fishsauce น้ำพริกปลาร้า)

• Thai small chilli pepper

• Thai fish sauce.

• Lime.

When the wok and oil are hot, add the garlic to the oil. After 15 seconds add the shrimp. When the scent is well released, add a little less than half of the rice and toss well. Slide rice to one side of wok and crack an egg over wok. Mix the egg with the rice and then add the rest of the rice.

Add the soy sauce and oyster sauce and continue to stir well. Add the Chinese broccoli and onion, stir for 30 seconds and finally mix in the spring onion. You can make the prik nam plan simply by mixing about three tablespoons of fish sauce with about five Thai chilis cut into pieces.

Squeezing some lime is optional. Serve immediately with lime and prik nam pla. Some black pepper works wonders.

Kao Pad Nam Prik Pao

A variation with three types of chili: nam prik pao, prik pon and prik sod). You need to buy a jar of nam prik pao (Pantai brand is well known). The steps are easy. Sauté garlic and roasted chili flakes (prik pon) in oil. Add rice and toss. Mix a table spoon of nam prik pao with fish sauce and toss. Add onion and toss. Add scrambled eggs and fresh chilis (prik sod). Add fresh spinach and/or Thai basil and toss.

Picked in the garden of Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School.

San phra phum (ศาลพระภูมิ) op de Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School. You have to please the local guardian spirits with offerings of lemonade.

Thai mise en place.