Ingredient: Chillies

Stir Fry

Phad Ga Prao / Stir fry with basil leaves ผัดกะเพรา

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Stir fried basil – Phad Ga Prao – ผัดกะเพรา

What does a Thai person order when in doubt? Exactly, Phad Ga Prao. Often with minced pork, but as well with a myriad of other proteins like chicken, fish and shrimp.

It’s a really easy dish to prepare and really difficult to ruin.
You can find this dish in many different spellings on the English version of the menus in Thailand, like Pad Ka Prao, Phad Kra Pao and many more but the one most closely resembling the Thai pronunciation is probably the Pad Ga Prao.

Holy Basil

holy basil phad ga prao recipe
The main ingredient, holy basil or “Bai Ga Prao” is sometimes not easy to find in Western countries. However, due to it’s medicinal properties it gets more and more widely available. It’s possible to replace it with Thai sweet basil / purple basil but it’s just not the real thing. The flower is in appearance closer to the European basil than sweet basil and the most distinctive feature are the jagged edges of the leaves. It is home to tropical Asia and has been grown here for more than 3,000 years.

The recipe shown is the most popular version of this dish: Phad Ga Prao Moo with “moo” meaning pork in Thai.

Print Recipe
 Phad Ga Prao / Stir fry with basil leaves
Cooking Class Pad Ka Prao
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Cooking Class Pad Ka Prao
Instructions
  1. Ingredients for the dish
    Cooking Class Pad Ka Prao Ingredients
  2. Heat the oil in a wok and add garlic and chillies
    Cooking Class Oil, crushed Garlic and Chilli
  3. Add minced porc
    Add Minced Pork
  4. Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce...
    Cooking Class Pad Ka Prao 4 Soy Sauce,black Soy Sauce,oyster Sauce,half Tea Spoon Of Sugar And Water
  5. Cooking Class Pad Ka Prao 5 Mix Well And Taste It Add Basil And Red Peppers
  6. Phad Ga Prao is served with rice and often with a fried egg on top
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Steamed fish with Lime Sauce

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Cooking Class Recipe:

Pla Kapong Nueng Manao (ปลากระพงนึ่งมะนาว)

Steamed fish with lime sauce is really easy to cook, looks impressive and tastes like heaven. There are only a few ingredients necessary and these are easy to get in the western world.
Pla (ปลา) is the Thai word for fish. Pla Kapong (ปลากระพง) is usually translated into English as Snapper. The only problem is, that the fish sold on the markets and offered in restaurants as white snapper is in reality a Barramundi or Asian Sea Bass. This fish is very popular all over Asia and northern Australia and is now becoming much wider distributed.
However, this Thai dish tastes very good as well prepared with a red snapper, grouper or similar fish. Nueng (นึ่ง) means “steamed” and Manao (มะนาว) means “lime”. You will find this dish in every single good sea food restaurant in Thailand. It is worth remembering the Thai letters or at least the Thai pronunciation of the dish: The best and most authentic restaurants in Thailand do not have the menus in English or English speaking waiters.

Now have fun with cooking!

Print Recipe
 Steamed fish with Lime Sauce
Cooking Course Steamed Snapper With Lime
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Cooking Course Steamed Snapper With Lime
Instructions
  1. Add 2 cups of water to a pan or wok which fits the whole fish and bring to boil
  2. Put the fish prepared how you learned in the cooking class in the pan / wok.
  3. If necessary add water so the fish is covered and add ginger. Put a lid on and let it simmer for 10 minutes
    Phase photo cooking course
  4. While the fish is cooking prepare the sauce
Sauce
  1. Chop garlic and ginger together so they are mixed and put in a bowl.
  2. Add Salt, Sugar, Fish Sauce and Lime juice and mix all together
Final preparation
  1. Sprinkle celery on fish, close the lid and let it boil for another 10 min.
    Cooking Course Steamed Snapper With Lime
  2. When the fish is cooked, take it out of the pan and place it together with some soup from the pan onto a large plate
  3. Pour the sauce over the fish and garnish with celery, spring onions and slices of lime
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Green Papaya Salad

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Thai Cooking – Som Tam (ส้มตำ)

Originally of Lao origin (Tam Som), Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) is now a recognized Thai dish which made it into the “World’s 50 most delicious dishes” published by CNN Go in 2011. It was introduced to central Thailand by people from Laos and Isan (Thai province bordering Laos) moving to Bangkok in the search for work. It is now prepared in many variations all over SE-Asia and in the western world, where it is mostly known under its Thai name “Som Tam”. The reversal of the Lao name means exactly the same like in Laos: “pounded sour”. It is appealing to the 5 main tastes of the Thai cuisine which are: Sour from the lime, spicy from the chillies, umami (pleasant savory), salty and sweet from the palm sugar. The green papaya itself is not sweet at all and has a slightly tangy flavor and a firm and crispy texture.
There are variations of pounded salads which do not necessarily contain papaya. It can be prepared as well with fruits for a more sweet taste. These salads are called Tam Pohlamay e.g. and we will show them to you in another cooking lesson.

Print Recipe
 Papaya Salad
Som Tum prepared in our cooking class on Koh Tao
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Som Tum prepared in our cooking class on Koh Tao
Instructions
  1. Put garlic and chilly into the mortar and pound it how you learned it in the cooking class
  2. Add the long beans and peanuts and continue
    Som Tam Cooking Lesson
  3. Next add palm sugar, continue pounding it while adding the fish sauce, tomatoes and lime juice
  4. Use the pestle to push the mixture up, taste it and add chilly to taste
  5. At last add the shredded papaya and a hand full of shredded carrots and mix it all well
    Som Tam Cooking Lesson 2