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Chicken Cashew Nuts

Cooking Lesson – Chicken Cashew Nuts (ไก่ผัดเม็ดมะม่วง)

Gai Pad Med Mamuang / chicken cashew nuts has its origins in the Sichuan Chinese kitchen. When the recipe made it to Thailand is unknown, and it is even lesser known when the peanuts of the original Chinese recipe were replaced by cashew nuts. What we really know is, that Chicken Cashew Nuts is a well respected immigrant and does now belong to the staple dishes of the country.
The recipe shown in this cooking lesson is a simplified version. It more than halves the preparation time and more importantly: It’s healthier. Time is saved by not frying the cashew nuts before starting the actual dish. Cashew nuts are exceptionally rich in omega 3 fatty acids and, in particular, palmitoleic acids and oleic acids. Cashew nuts are a valuable source of minerals including potassium, calcium, sodium, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorus and magnesium. In short, they are a super foods. It would be a shame to expose them to a lot of heat just to make them more crunchy and taking most of the health benefits away. Another time saver with health benefits is not to deep fry the chicken beforehand.

However, if you like, then just deep fry the chicken and fry up the Cashews until crunchy first. Then add the same way like in the recipe shown below.

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Chicken Cashew Nuts
Instructions
  1. Ingredients for 2
    Chicken Cashew Nuts Ingredients
  2. Heat oil in a wok or big pan and fry the Garlic until yellow
    Chicken Cashew Nuts Oil And Garlic
  3. Add chicken and fry until almost cooked
    Chicken Cashew Nuts - Fry the Chicken
  4. Add carrots and onions and stir until the onions are glassy
    Chicken Cashew Nuts: Add Carrots And Onions
  5. Add soy sauce and chilli paste
    Chicken Cashew Nuts: Add soy sauce, chilli paste
  6. Add cashew nuts
    Add cashew nuts
  7. Add water, sugar and oyster sauce.
    water, sugar and oyster sauce
  8. Last but not least add the red peppers and spring onions. Just add more water if you like more sauce
    red pepper and spring onion
Curry

Massaman Curry

Cooking Lesson – Massaman Curry (มัสมั่น)

Massaman Curry is a relatively mild, but rich Thai curry which is actually a Thai interpretation of a Persian dish. You can find is as well on many menus written as Matsaman, Mussulman or even Muslim Curry since it is believed that the name refers to the Muslims.
Where the dish really originates from is disputed. Some think it is coming from Central Thailand, namely the court of Ayutthaya. Others believe that it is a Southern Thai dish, influenced by Malay and Indian cuisine.
The most common variety of Massaman Curry is Massaman Curry Chicken with other varieties being beef, duck, mutton and goat. Porc is not very often used, since it is “haram”, meaning forbidden, for muslims.
The Massaman Curry paste is quite different to the other common curry pastes in the Thai cuisine. This is due to the use of rather non typical spices in the paste like Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, star anise, bay leaves, nutmeg and mace. These ingredients came from the Malay Archipelago and South Asia, a trade route dominated at the time by Muslim traders from the middle east. These ingredients were then combined with local produce spices which are used in the other Thai curry pastes like dried chili peppers, lemongrass, coriander seeds, shrimp paste, galangal, white pepper, shallots and garlic.
If you are a curry fan check out our other curry recipes like Phanaeng Curry, Green Curry and Yellow Curry. If you did the cooking class with Joy you should be able to prepare them after the recipe shown.

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Massaman Curry
Cooking Lesson: Ingredients Massaman Curry
Cuisine Thai
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Cuisine Thai
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Cooking Lesson: Ingredients Massaman Curry
Instructions
  1. Heat up the oil in a suitable pan or wok
  2. Add onions and potatoes and fry them until the onions are soft
    potatoes and onions
  3. Add the curry paste and mix it all up
  4. Add the chicken cubes and keep stirring
    Added Curry paste and chicken
  5. Add some of the coconut milk (200ml)
    Add the coconut milk
  6. Add salt and some water until everything is covered.
    Add water and salt
  7. Bring to boil and simmer it until the potatoes are cooked - if necessary add more water and coconut milk
    Cook until potatoes are soft
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Sweet Sour Fish ปลาสามรส

Thai recipe Sweet and Sour Fish

Thai recipe – Sweet and Sour Fish

The many different sweet and sour sauces used in Thai cooking originate from China. And this is just one of the many popular Thai dishes coming from there. In the 15th century the Hokkien people migrated to Thailand, followed by the Teochew people from the late 18th century on, who settled mainly in the towns and cities. They were as well the ones, who introduced the Wok in Thai cooking and the technique of stir-frying and deep-frying dishes. The use of chop sticks and even the popular Thai breakfast Chok (โจ๊ก-rice porridge) comes from there as well.

Some experts say, that the original sweet and sour sauce comes from the province of Hunan and was just a weak mixture of vinegar and sugar. If this is the case, the following recipe has very little to do with the original sauce. This version of the sweet and sour sauce could easily be served as a vegetarian stand alone with rice.

What makes this recipe really Thai, is what the name already implies. Pla saam rot literally means 3 tastes fish and refers to the aim of Thai cuisine to appeal to at least 3 taste senses in one Thai meal. In my opinion, if well balanced, this meal even appeals to four: Sweet, sour, salty and spicy.

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Sweet Sour Fish ปลาสามรส
Instructions
Fish preperation
  1. Chop the fish like you learned in your Thai cooking course with Joy
  2. Dust the fillet pieces with flour and deep fry in the hot oil. Arrange on plates - Some sliced tomatoes or cucumber on the side.
    Fried fish waiting for the sweet and sour sauce
Sweet'n Sour Sauce
  1. Chop the onion, red onions, garlic, chilly, pineapple, 2 color bell peppers, tomatoes (remove the seeds) and cucumber.
  2. Heat up the pan with some cooking oil. Add the chopped onions, red onions, garlic and chilly and keep stirring.
  3. Add pineapple, tomatoes and bell peppers and add some water. Add sugar, salt and vinegar to taste. Let it simmer for a while.
  4. Add cucumber and lime juice (squeeze out the limes)
    Thai Cooking - sweet sour sauce
  5. Pour the sauce over the fish, decorate with spring onions and coriander and serve with rice.
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Yellow Curry แกงเหลือง

Yellow Curry Chicken

Yellow Curry

The following recipe is not the Yellow Curry แกงกะหรี่ (gaeng kari) commonly found under the label Yellow Curry in Thai restaurants in the west, but แกงเหลือง (kaeng lueang), literally translated “Yellow Curry”. This Thai dish is also known as gaeng som and belongs to the Southern Thai Cuisine. It is lighter in color than the gaeng kari and more sharp and spicy in taste.
Like most other curries in Thai cuisine it can be prepared with different main ingredients. The recipe below is the vegetarian variety with Tofu. In our cooking courses you can choose which main ingredient to go with the Curry.

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Yellow Curry Tofu
Cuisine Southern Thai, Thai
Servings
People
Ingredients
Cuisine Southern Thai, Thai
Servings
People
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Chop tofu, potatoes and onions the way you learned it when cooking with Joy.
  2. Pour coconut milk and water in a pot.
  3. Add paste and potatoes.
  4. Boil until potatoes are almost cooked.
  5. Add fried onions and tofu, salt and sugar.
  6. Keep stirring, if too thick add more water.
  7. Done when potatoes are cooked.