What did you last eat/drink?

[cromag]

Pizza, with my last mug of tea for the day.

[Stitchawl]

Without a doubt, the very best Thai Fried Rice with Chicken we've ever eaten!


Stitchawl

[Stitchawl]

Tamarind Chicken topped with fried shallots, over Jasmin rice.
I am absolutely gob-smacked over how incredibly delicious this dish turned out to be! Perhaps the very best meal I have EVER eaten! Remarkably quick and easy to make, just a few inexpensive ingredients, this will become a regular in this house!


Stitchawl

[kindlekitten]

Recipe?

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Tamarind Chicken topped with fried shallots, over Jasmin rice.
I am absolutely gob-smacked over how incredibly delicious this dish turned out to be! Perhaps the very best meal I have EVER eaten! Remarkably quick and easy to make, just a few inexpensive ingredients, this will become a regular in this house!
Stitchawl

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

Recipe?

Here's the recipe for Tamarind Shrimp. I tried that last week. This week I switch it to chicken and it was 10x better!

Tamerind Shrimp (Goong Pad Makam)

500gm Shrimp (I used three boneless chicken breasts, sliced into 1/2" x 2" pieces.)

Fried Shallots for topping: Thinly slice shallots until you have about a cup full, deep fry very slowly. There is a segment of this video on frying chicken for making fried shallots.

Make paste (mortar and pestle or food processor) with:
Garlic - 4 cloves
Prik (Thai Bird's eye chilies) - 2
Cilantro roots - 2 (or stems if you can't get roots)
Shallots - 1/2 cup

Chicken Broth - 1 cup
Tamarind Paste - 3 or 4 spoonfuls (Asian markets will have this)
Nam Pla - 1.5 TBSP
Palm sugar - 3 TBSP (Very important! Do NOT use white sugar. If you can't get palm sugar, use dark brown sugar. It's not the same, but it's close enough.)

Peel and devein shrimp
Mash together paste ingredients

Fry shrimp lightly in oil. Remove shrimp. Add paste to cooled oil and fry until fragrant. Add chicken broth, Tamarind paste, nam pla, and sugar. Boil to reduce until thick. Add shrimp back in and cook two minutes. Serve over rice with fried shallots as topping. To switch this to chicken, lightly fry the chicken, then after you remove, and add the soup stock, tamarind paste and nampla, and dissolve the sugar, then add the chicken back in to finish cooking as the stock reduces,. Here is another video of the chef making this with shrimp. Good... but the chicken is actually better!


Stitchawl

[kindlekitten]

What's the nam pla?

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

What's the nam pla?

Sorry... 'Nam Pla' is the Thai word for 'Fish Sauce.' It's a bottled seasoning that is used in almost every Thai dish. Thai's rarely use salt in their cooking. Instead, they use fish sauce to satisfy that requirement. The stuff stinks REALLY bad when smelled on its own, but in not noticed when added to foods. You can find it in the Asian section of almost any large supermarket in the US. "Tiparos" brand is probably the most popular in Thailand, followed by "Squid" brand, and I've seen both in US supermarkets. There is NO suitable substitute for Nam Pla in Thai dishes, and it's a major flavor component to almost all of them.

Nam Pla doesn't 'age' well. It starts out as a clear, some what dark amber colored, strong smelling liquid, and gets darker and fishier-smelling as it gets older, looking more like dark soy sauce. This can happen in just several weeks. Old Nam Pla really stinks! Buy the smallest bottle you can find. Even fresh and new, Nam Pla does NOT smell good. But... and you'll have to trust me on this one... it works in the dishes. Without it, Thai dishes fall flat. It is THAT important!

Vietnamese cooking uses the same stuff, but calls it 'Nuoc Mam.'



Stitchawl

[kindlekitten]

Oh, I've used fish sauce actually quite a few times. The brand I'm familiar with is the second from the left end. I hadn't been aware of the age issue. Partially I'm thinking because it lives in a very dark cool cupboard. The other thing may be that I anticipate the searing of the nose hairs and I didn't realize it was turning.
Well I haven't killed anyone with it yet!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

Oh, I've used fish sauce actually quite a few times. The brand I'm familiar with is the second from the left end. I hadn't been aware of the age issue. Partially I'm thinking because it lives in a very dark cool cupboard. The other thing may be that I anticipate the searing of the nose hairs and I didn't realize it was turning.
Well I haven't killed anyone with it yet!

It's a fermented product, so even when it turns bad, it won't kill you. It just won't taste particularly good. And even when brand new, still clear as water, the smell can remove the chrome from a '56 Chevy. After two or three months, even stored in the fridge, it's getting too ripe for good taste. The Thais follow the rule; 'if you can't see through it, don't use it.'


Stitchawl

[Brazen_NL]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Sorry... 'Nam Pla' is the Thai word for 'Fish Sauce.' It's a bottled seasoning that is used in almost every Thai dish. Thai's rarely use salt in their cooking. Instead, they use fish sauce to satisfy that requirement.

In Indonesia, they use terasi, which can be described -- and used -- in much the same way. I see that there is a Thai translation, but it isn't listed as a regular ingredient. Sadly, they don't sell it in NL anymore.

Smell: awful. Flavor added to dish: godly.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Brazen_NL

In Indonesia, they use terasi, which can be described -- and used -- in much the same way. I see that there is a Thai translation, but it isn't listed as a regular ingredient. Sadly, they don't sell it in NL anymore.

Smell: awful. Flavor added to dish: godly.

That's a different ingredient. Indonesian 'terasi' is a thick paste used for its flavor, while 'nam pla' is a liquid, used as much for it's salt value as its flavor. Both smell really, really bad.......

In Thai, it's known as 'Ga-pi' or 'ka-pi.' (The first consonant sound is glottal, almost sub-vocal.) English would just call it smelly shrimp paste. It's an important ingredient in several Thai curry pastes. We can buy it fresh (if you can ever call this stuff 'fresh,') in the Thai markets, or in jars in the supermarket. Powerful stuff... half a teaspoon of it can flavor an entire dish made for four people.


Stitchawl

[kindlekitten]

I can't remember if it was a documentary that I was watching or what, but I have a distinct memory of a couple of fisherman out on the water for a few days. From their very first catch fish heads were put into a large plastic bucket with a lid that sealed and kept in the sun. This was to be their fish sauce. Or so said the commentator. I'm so glad I'd had it before and knew it wouldn't leave me on the toilet for 3 days. Otherwise I would have never touched it

[pdurrant]

The Romans has a fish sauce too - garum.

[Brazen_NL]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

That's a different ingredient. Indonesian 'terasi' is a thick paste used for its flavor, while 'nam pla' is a liquid, used as much for it's salt value as its flavor. Both smell really, really bad.......

I know it's a different ingredient, else it would be called the same.

However, we use it in the same manner: to add a salty flavor to the dish.

[Stitchawl]

Pasta, with a Basil Pesto, and garlic bread.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Romans has a fish sauce too - garum.

Salt played an important role back in the days of ancient Rome. I wonder if their reason for developing a fish sauce was because the value of 'pure' salt was too high for just daily consumption? Roman soldiers were even paid a 'Salarium,' a measure of salt, rather than cash money, which gave rise to our word 'salary.'

Every country in S.E. Asia has its own form of shrimp paste, and can be found in most meals in Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Each one smells worse than the other... It's remarkable that something that smells so badly can make a meal taste so good!


Stitchawl