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Khao Soi

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Thai cooking lesson – Khao Soi (ข้าวซอย)

Khao soi is a traditional Thai dish that originates from the northern region of Thailand, specifically from the city of Chiang Mai. It is a type of curry noodle soup made with egg noodles, a rich coconut milk-based broth, and a variety of meats such as chicken or beef. The dish is typically garnished with deep-fried noodles, cilantro, green onions, lime wedges, and pickled mustard greens.

The dish has a unique blend of flavors, with a balance of sweet, salty, and spicy notes. The base of the broth is made from a blend of spices, including cumin, turmeric, and coriander, which gives the dish its yellow color. The dish is usually served with a side of chili paste, allowing the diner to adjust the spiciness level to their preference.

The history of Khao soi is quite interesting, it is believed to have been brought to Northern Thailand by Chinese traders and has been influenced by the Burmese and Laotian cuisine. Some historians believe that Khao soi is a descendant of the Burmese dish “Ohn no khao swè” which is a noodle curry dish.

Khao soi has been a staple dish in Northern Thailand for centuries, and it has become increasingly popular in the rest of the country and around the world in recent years. It is often served at street food stalls and small restaurants, but it can also be found on the menus of more upscale restaurants.

This dish is a representation of the melting pot of cultures and influences that have shaped Thai cuisine over the centuries.

The version of the dish shown here is with egg noodles and coconut milk like eaten in the western half of Northern Thailand and very similar in the cuisine of the Shan People who primarily live in Myanmar.

Print Recipe
 Khao Soi
Khao Soi Recipe
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Khao Soi Curry Paste
Khao Soi
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Khao Soi Curry Paste
Khao Soi
Khao Soi Recipe
Instructions
Khao Soi Curry Paste
  1. Ingredients for Khao Soi Curry paste in about the right amounts for a badge which lasts for several times cooking Khao Soi. From the yellow curry powder shown in the glass you will need about 2 table spoons. The dried red chilis are soaked in water.
    Khao Soi Curry Paste Ingredients
  2. Roast the dry spices (coriander, cumin and cardamon seeds, black pepper) in a pan / wok.
    starting preperation of Khao Soi Curry Paste
  3. Grind up the roasted dry spices with pestle and mortar or a blender and put aside.
    grind up roasted dry spices
  4. Grind up the rest of the ingredients (garlic, soaked red chilis, ginger, onions, galangal, lemon grass, tumeric, salt) with pestle and mortar or in a blender.
    grinding spices with pestle and mortar
  5. Add the ground up dry spices and grind it up all together
    adding the roasted spices to the mortar
  6. Add a good amount of oil to a pan and fry the contents of the mortar or blender until the color changes to a darker hue and a fragrant smell develops. Turn off the heat and put it aside. The paste is ready.
    preparing Khao Soi Curry Paste
Khao Soi
  1. Put water in a pan or pot and bring to boil. Add the chicken legs and boil them for about 5 minutes and turn them around during the process. This is done to keep the skin intact in the further cooking process. Keep the water you boiled the chicken in.
    quick boil the chicken legs
  2. Here the ingredients with the quick boiled chicken
    Ingredients for Khao Soi
  3. Add curry paste to your liking (depending on how spicy you like the Khao Soi to be) to a pan big enough for all ingredients. Heat it up and add 4 tea spoons of yellow curry powder.
    Adding yellow curry powder to the paste
  4. The next step is adding the chicken to the pan
    adding chicken
  5. Fry the curry paste together with thhttps://www.thaicookingkohtao.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-ultimate-recipe/img/arrows.pnge chicken. In this case we added some onions, which is a variation of the dish. You can as well leave them away.
    fry the curry paste together with the chicken pieces
  6. Add about 150ml of coconut milk and add some of the water from boiling the chicken until the chicken in the pan is just covered. Add salt.
    adding coconut milk
  7. Boil it on medium heat until the chicken is cooked (about 15 to 20 minutes). During that time you can prepare the egg noodles like described in the following 2 steps.
    boiling on medium heat
  8. Meanwhile boil the main part of the egg noodles in a different pot until cooked.
  9. Deep https://www.thaicookingkohtao.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-ultimate-recipe/img/arrows.pngfry the smaller part of the egg noodles
    frying egg noodles
  10. ...and remove them and let the oil drip off.
    take out the fried noodles
  11. Add sugar, another 250ml of coconut milk and taste it. If it's not spicy enough for you, add some more curry paste. Season it to your taste. Originally it should be a balance between sweet, salty and spicy. At the end a tea spoon of fish sauce.
    add sugar
  12. Serve: Put the boiled noodles first in the bowl, followed by the chicken with the curry sauce. Add the red onions and spring onions, coriander and lime.
    Khao Soi Recipe
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
Curry

Red Curry Paste

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

DIY Red Curry Paste – พริกแกงแดง

If you are already able to do the Green Curry Paste this will be a piece of cake. The only difference is the color of the chilies. Thai cooking can be so simple :-)!
If not, don’t worry. It is as easy as it looks. And if you can’t handle spicy food just use less paste for the dish you are preparing.

Print Recipe
 Red Curry Paste
Red Curry Paste Cover
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Red Curry Paste Cover
Instructions
  1. Here the ingredients for the Red Curry Paste in the right relation to each other. Just add a good pinch of salt
    Cooking Class Red Curry Paste 1
  2. Put all ingredients, including (sea) salt in a mortar.
    Cooking Class Red Curry Paste 2
  3. Grind the ingredients into a fine paste - et voila: Red Curry Paste
Curry

Phanaeng Curry Paste

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Coooking Lesson – Phanaeng Curry Paste (น้ำพริกแกงพะแนง)

The shown recipe is for a slightly altered version of the original Phanaeng Curry Paste. Joy is leaving the shrimp paste away, which is difficult to obtain in western countries and not that great to handle because of its pungent smell. Another advantage of leaving the shrimp paste away is, that this makes the Curry Paste suitable for vegetarian and vegan cuisine.
This Phanaeng Curry Paste works perfect with Joy’s Phanaeng Curry recipe. This is as well an alteration of the original Thai recipe and very popular with our students.

Print Recipe
 Phanaeng Curry Paste
Phanaeng Curry Paste Ingredients Overview
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Phanaeng Curry Paste Ingredients Overview
Instructions
  1. The shown amounts are sufficient for about 10 portions, depending on how spice you would like the dish to be
    Ingredients Phanaeng Curry Paste
  2. First mince the wet ingredients which are: dried chilies soaked in water, lemon grass, red onions, garlic, galangal, ginger and tumeric.
  3. ...until it looks like this and put aside
    ready to put aside
  4. Roast the dry ingredients for the curry paste which are: coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper and dried chilies
    Roasted Coriander Seeds,cumin Seeds,dried Chilli And Black Pepper And Crush To The Powder
  5. After roasting put the dry ingredients in the mortar and grind them
    Dry ingredients in the mortar
  6. ...until it looks like this
  7. Now it's time to mix the pre prepared dry and wet ingredients together
    Mix well
  8. To save time you can now use a blender with hardly any impact on the taste
  9. Heat up some cooking oil, add the paste, stir well and add some coconut milk for the creamier texture and bring to boil
  10. Here the finished result
    Done
Curry

Green Curry Paste

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Super fast green curry paste – พริกแกงเขียวหวาน

This is the curry paste you can prepare for just one dish! We usually advice our cooking class students to use ready made pastes at home. In this case it is different. If you are using a blender, you can manage all in less than 20 minutes. And using the amounts shown you have enough for a family and still can keep the rest in the fridge to use it up to a week later.
Already finished? – Here is what to do with the paste: Green Curry Recipe

Print Recipe
 Green Curry Paste
Lemongrass,galangal,garlic,red Onion,turmeric,black Pepper,green Pepper,green Chills And Salt
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings
Ingredients
Lemongrass,galangal,garlic,red Onion,turmeric,black Pepper,green Pepper,green Chills And Salt
Instructions
  1. Here the ingredients for the green curry paste in the right amounts. The amount of salt added you can see in the next picture where the ingredients are already added to the mortar.
    Ingredients Green Curry Paste
  2. Put all above ingredients + some salt (preferable sea salt) in a mortar.
  3. Crush and grind the ingredients into a fine paste - We are using pestle and mortar for the beginning and then put it into a blender to save time
    Crush and grind into a fine paste
  4. And here we are already ready to use the paste in our cooking class
    Ready to be used in the green curry cooking lesson
Curry

Massaman Curry Paste

Posted on by Alf Birnecker

Cooking Lesson – Massaman Curry Paste (พริกแกงมัสมั่น)

The ingredients for Massaman Curry Paste are much easier to obtain than the ingredients for the distinct Thai curries. Massaman Curry is influenced by the tastes of the Indian cuisine. Indian spices are much wider spread and most of them are readily available even in a normal supermarket in the western world.

Another difference to other Thai Curries is, that most ingredients are roasted in a pan before being pounded in the mortar. You will enjoy the fragrance of the spices filling your kitchen. You can safe time by using a blender but since the blender is cutting the fibers in opposition to crushing and separating the fibers, the result is not as satisfactory taste wise as doing the hard work with pestle and mortar.

Of course you can always buy the ready made paste, but after preparing this curry paste yourself and tasting the result, we are pretty sure that you will try to find the time for doing it yourself.:-)

Print Recipe
 Massaman Curry Paste
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. The ingredients for the paste are: Lemon grass, galangal, garlic, red onions, ginger, dry chilies, black pepper, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamon, bay leaves, cinnamon, whole cloves and dried red peppers.
    Ingredients Massaman Curry Paste
  2. Roast the coriander seeds, together with the cardamon, cumin seeds, black pepper, cinnamon and bay leaves until it all smells nice and the color changes.
  3. For the best taste use pestle and mortar to grind the roasted ingredients to powder. However, nowadays there is usually a blender used, which saves an enormous amount of time and elbow grease. Remove the powder mix and put aside.
  4. Add the dried peppers, which were soaked in water and some salt
  5. Add all the remaining ingredients
  6. Add the powder mix with the paste
    Massaman Curry Paste
  7. Now it's time to put all the ground ingredients together with some oil in the blender
  8. Cook in the pan, use what you need for your Massaman Curry and keep the rest in a jar to use later
Recipe Notes

Like in most recipes for our cooking classes we do not list exact amounts - just have a look at the ingredient pic and the phase pic to get an idea. If you attended our cooking class it should not be a problem at all.

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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
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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