Ingredient: Oyster sauce

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
Stir Fry

Vegetarian Phad See Ew

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Vegetarian and healthy Phad See Ew (ผัดซีอิ๊ว)

Our Phad See Ew recipe here reflects our strive for healthy cooking. This Chinese influenced noodle stir fry dish is traditionally done with copious amounts of oil and sugar, and rather few vegetables. The owners of street food stalls and restaurants soon realized, that Phad See Ew sells better like this. It tastes good but so does other junk food.
Doing some research I found this wonderful little video for preparing this dish which shows nicely what I mean:

Apart from the health aspect there is as well a little difficulty in replicating the shown way of preparing the dish. Watching the video I couldn’t help having an old song of Talking Heads in my head: Burning Down The House 🙂

We disagree that you need absolutely searing heat, Thai burners and the tin woks used in Thai street food stalls and restaurants to produce a tasty Phad See Ew. Our experience is rather, that for most westerners it is very difficult to get a good result with the traditionally used woks. These are very thin and light, and get hot very fast. If you don’t know exactly what you are doing, it’s a perfect recipe for disaster but not a very tasty dish.

We added a few more vegetables, reduced the use of cooking oil a lot and increased the cooking time just enough that someone who didn’t grow up using a wok can cope.

Have fun cooking and enjoy a tasty, healthy and fast to prepare meal!

 

 

 

 

Print Recipe
 Phad See Ew
Pha See Ew cooking lesson
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Servings
person
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Servings
person
Ingredients
Pha See Ew cooking lesson
Instructions
  1. Get your ingredients ready. Shown are ingredients for 1 portion. Don't do more than 2 portions at a time, otherwise the noodles will inevitably turn out soggy.
    Phad See Ew Cooking Class Ingredients
  2. Heat oil in a wok and start with frying the garlic
    Phad See Ew Cooking Class
  3. Add tofu cubes
    Phad See Ew Cooking Class
  4. Add egg and fry until a little solid
    Phad See Ew Cooking Class Recipe
  5. Add the noodles
    Phad See Ew Cooking Class Recipe
  6. Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce (not too much), oyster sauce, sugar and pepper
    Phad See Ew Cooking Class Recipe
  7. Add vegetables and mix well. It's done when the vegetables are cooked (they still should have a good bite to it)
    Phad See Ew Recipe
  8. Serve with lime and a bit of chilly powder
    Phad See Ew Recipe
Uncategorized

Chicken Cashew Nuts

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

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.

Print Recipe
 Chicken Cashew Nuts
Chicken Cashew Nuts Cooking Class
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Chicken Cashew Nuts Cooking Class
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

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

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.

Print Recipe
 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
Curry

Phanaeng Curry Chicken

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Thai Cooking Lesson – Phanaeng (พะแนง) Curry Chicken

The Phanaeng (or Panang, Penang) Curry is originating from central Thailand and the recipe goes back hundreds of years. The word Phanaeng comes from the Khmer language meaning cross, mostly used for a cross-legged seating position. Traditionally the chicken was placed in a cross legged position upright on the grill. The chicken was bathed in the curry paste with grounded peanuts and then brushed with the same mixture over the whole cooking process. Later the process was simplified by cutting up the chicken in large pieces and, instead of being prepared on the grill, it went to the pot where it was cooked in the sauce. In this cooking lesson you will learn how to cook the Phanaeng Curry Chicken or, if you are vegetarian, Phanaeng Curry can be prepared as well as a vegetarian dish with Tofu.
At home you can use the now widely available ready made pastes. However, more tasty is of course to make your Phanaeng Curry Paste from scratch.

Print Recipe
 Penang Curry Chicken
Cooking Class Penang Curry
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Central Thai, Thai
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings
person
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Central Thai, Thai
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings
person
Ingredients
Cooking Class Penang Curry
Instructions
  1. Ingredients for one portion. As you can see there is quite a bit more curry paste than a tea spoon. One tea spoon is for a European palate with very little tolerance for spicy food. Just start with a tea spoon and add more if you like it more spicy. You can always add more paste until the very end of the recipe. Just keep in mind that you can't reverse the process :-). As for the vegetables the amounts can vary as well according to taste.
  2. Fry the curry paste with the oil in a wok
    Phanaeng Curry Chicken Recipe
  3. Add coconut milk until all the paste is covered
    Phanaeng Curry Chicken Recipe
  4. Bring to boil
    Phanaeng Curry Chicken Recipe
  5. Add baby corn and carrots and a bit of water. Add oyster sauce, sugar and salt. Bring to boil again.
  6. Add chicken and stir it in.
    Phanaeng Curry Chicken Recipe
  7. Add sliced lime leaves and pineapple and bring to boil and add more coconut milk and fish sauce
    Phanaeng Curry Chicken Recipe
  8. Add the sliced long beans and chilly peppers
    Phanaeng Curry Chicken Recipe
  9. Serve with rice
Uncategorized

Morning Glory

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Thai Cooking Lesson – Morning Glory ผักบุ้ง

Thai Cooking Lesson Morning Glory
The Morning Glory used for this dish is Ipomoea aquatica, also known as Water Morning Glory or Water Spinach. It is very popular in SE Asian countries as a side or main dish. In most states of the US it is prohibited to cultivate, since it is regarded as a pest but in Texas it is allowed to be grown for personal consumption due to its undeniable culinary potential. This is nothing to worry about, since the consumption is not illegal. Water Morning Glory is now available all over the world at your favorite Asia shop.
A few years ago, when Sairee on Koh Tao still was a swamp in parts, there was a restaurant which was able to harvest their daily supply of the vegetable in a little swamp pond I could see from my office. That stuff really grows like a weed 😉
However, it is a truly popular dish here in Thailand, and, since it is missing on most menus of Thai restaurants abroad, it is a must to taste if you are in the country, and an easy done recipe to learn in your Thai cooking course with Joy.

Print Recipe
 Morning Glory
Morning Glory Recipe
Cuisine Thai
Keyword morning glory
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine Thai
Keyword morning glory
Servings
Ingredients
Morning Glory Recipe
Instructions
  1. Chop the Morning Glory to 1 1/2 " (4 cm)
    Morning Glory Recipe
  2. Crush garlic and chilly (amount to your liking or none) in a mortar
    Morning Glory Recipe
  3. Put sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, soy bean paste, crushed garlic and chilly on top of the morning glory
  4. Add a little water to the plate and heat oil in a wok
  5. Make sure the wok is evenly hot. Pour the content of the plate in and stir fry for a short time. If the morning glory turns black you stir fried it too long - start again 😛
    Morning Glory Recipe
  6. Ready to serve
Uncategorized

Thai Ginger Chicken

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Thai cooking course – Phad King Gai (ผัดขิงไก่)

Thai Ginger Chicken is a Chinese influenced Thai dish with high popularity all over the country and in Laos. Phad King is as well prepared with a variety of other meats like pork and beef or as well vegetarian with tofu. The most important ingredient is the Ginger which gives this Thai dish it’s unique characteristic taste. It is served with rice.

Print Recipe
 Thai Ginger Chicken
The pictures show a slight variation of the recipe with no mushrooms, but sweet corn and a few other amendments. Feel free to experiment yourself since ingredients for every recipe in the world are not written in stone, but a very important thing in good cooking is choosing the freshest ingredients.
Cooking lesson koh tao
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Cooking lesson koh tao
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a pan and add garlic, ginger and onions
    cooking class phase 1
  2. Then add chicken. Stir until it is cooked.
    Cooking Class Phad King Gai Phase 2
  3. Now you start to add all the sauces - first soy sauce and dark soy sauce
    Add soy sauce and dark soy sauce
  4. Add sugar and a bit of water. Heat until it boils.
    Sugar and Water
  5. Then add oyster sauce and mushrooms.
    add mushrooms
  6. Taste it and add more sauce if it still doesn't taste right.
  7. At the last minute add red pepper and spring onions.
    At last add spring onions and red peppers
  8. Stir a bit, then turn off gas