Subject: [THAI] Dinner for 10 in 30 Minutes
From: "Colonel I. F. K. Philpott" <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Feb 1996 08:37:09 -0800
Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes

Inspired by a cooking show on the Discovery Channel and an
unexpected visit.

I was enjoying a day off, sitting watching the Discovery Channel with
my wife, when a remark on Caprial's Cafe somehow stuck in my mind: Chef
Pence said something like "imagine you've forgotten that guests are
coming to dinner, and when you remember you have only an hour."

This was still ticking in my mind waiting to prompt an idea for a posting
of a recipe, when two of my wife's sisters "dropped in" with their
husbands and children, so completely unexpectedly we had 6 adults and 5
children ranging from 3 to 12 years old to feed.  Unlike Chef Caprial, we
don't have a multired cooking hub and a double oven, but nonetheless we
forgot the simple meal we had intended to have that evening and put plan
B into effect.  The menu would be

Steamed Rice

Muoi's Salad Talay (a seafood salad)

Tom Yum Koong Suki (that is to say a Tom Yum Shrimp Soup cooked in a suki
pot)

Chicken Stew (well it has a Thai name and is quite traditional, but this
makes more sense).

Yum Moo ( a spicy pork dish)

Pad Nuea Nam Man Hoy (spicy stir fried beef)

Now I've posted a Yum Nuea (beef) version of the yum dish, but this
variation was made in a hurry, and is different.  Also I've dealt with
a tom yum before, but this version is essentially done as a tabletop
quickly.  A suki pot is the Thai version of the device I've seen
referred to in America as a Mongolian Hot Pot or fire pot: a copper
vessel with a central chimney that can be heated on the table top.
Traditional Thai pots use charcoal, but modern ones use solid fuel or gas
(ours is a butane model).

The last three dishes can all be made with beef, but together they should
each be made around a different meat for contrast.  The stew is relatively
bland, by Thai standards, the yum is hot, the stir fried beef in oyster
sauce is spicy, rather than hot. 

The salad is only a traditional Thai dish in the sense that it is my
wife's invention, and she's Thai. :-)

This meal took 30 minutes from start to finish to prepare; however, the
veggies were all ready cleaned and ready to use.  We took the meat out
of the freezer when the guests arrived and used a microwave to make sure
they were defrosted.

Rice

OK: I'm not really going to tell you how to steam rice: 10 cups of washed
Thai Jasmine rice was placed in an automatic rice steamer with the
appropriate amount of water and placed on the dining table.  Fifteen
minutes later somebody stirred the rice to fluff it and after thirty
minutes it was ready for us to eat.

Muoi's Salad Talay

Talay means seafood, and salad is the Thai word for, well, salad,
actually. :-)

You need two cups of mixed salad veggies, to which you add a cup of fresh
bean sprouts, and a cup of chopped onion (we use scallions/green onions,
but whatever takes your fancy).

Steam enough clams, mussels, and other shellfish to yield 2 cups of
cooked fish.

2 cups of parboiled potato. (Using Thai sweet potatoes, I split two large
potatoes in half lengthwise, and place them in the microwave for 5
minutes on high, then peel them.  The surface of the potato exposed to
the air turns white, and is cut off and discarded.  The potato is then
cut into bite sized chunks).  The potato is then deep fried in an electric
frier for a couple of minutes (Thai potato floats when it is cooked, and
you scoop it out and place it on paper towels to drain the oil).

Toss the veggies, potato and the shellfish together in a salad bowl and
salt and pepper to taste. 

The dressing consists of one cup of mayonnaise, half a cup of tomato
ketchup, two tablespoons of oyster sauce, one tablespoon of
Worcestershire sauce and two tablespoons of hot Thai Chili Sauce.  If
you can't get the Thai chili sauce you could use Tabasco, but it isn't as
hot, and is somewhat more salty, so be careful).  You then add enough of
the dressing to the salad to coat it thoroughly when tossed. The remaining
dressing is placed on the table as a dipping sauce, together with a few
plates of raw sliced veggies (cucumbers, carrots, etc).

Tom Yum Koong

Place about a liter (or a quart) of fish stock in the hot pot (if you
haven't got one, you could use a small "deep fryer" or a fondue pot as a
replacement).

Bring it to a boil and add:
2 stalks of lemon grass, bruised (this isn't eaten, but is an essential
flavor)
2-3 "kaffir" lime leaves (use lime zest if you can't get it)
2 coriander [cilantro] plants, chopped.
1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger
Ground chili powder (prok phom) to taste
4 tablespoons red chilies in vinegar (prik dong)
4 tablespoons green chilies in fish sauce (prik nam pla)
The juice of 3 or 4 limes
2 or 3 tablespoons of sliced bamboo shoots or coconut shoots
2-3 tablespoons "chilies in oil" (prik nam pao)

Raw shrimp (about 15 to the pound in size) are placed on the table (in
Thailand we don't bother cleaning them - you might want to remove the
heads, legs and shells, and devein them), together with fresh mushrooms.
The guests then cook these by placing them in small bronze-wire baskets
and dipping them in the suki pot.  If you are using fondue forks, you
might want to add the mushrooms to the soup liquor just before everyone
starts to dine.

Chicken Stew

It occasionally gets cold in Thailand (the temperature recently has been
below 30 at midday, and has even gone as low as 16 celsius at night
and this dish is traditional in the Isan region 

Note if done with beef, the meat is simmered slowly, for several hours.
Quite unusual in Thai food.  However, chicken cooks quite quickly and is
tender. Remember my slogan "you cook it until it is cooked!"

Take the meat from a medium chicken, and cut it into bite sized chunks.

Place it in a large stew pan, and add:

A piece of cinnamon, 
About 1 tablespoon of grated galangal, 
The chopped roots of three coriander plants, 
About 1/2 cup of fish sauce, 
2 tablespoons of dark sweet soy, 
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of chopped celery (preferably Chinese celery)
About two cups of chopped veggies (cabbage, kale,)
2-3 tablespoons of fried garlic

Cover with water, and simmer until the meat is cooked. Stir in some rice
flour or corn starch to thicken the sauce.

Yum Moo

Barbecue, grill, fry, or braise about two pounds of pork steak.  Cut into
thin strips, and then cut the strips into bites sized pieces.

Place it in a salad mixing bowl, and add

2 cups of diced or thinly sliced onions
15-20 cloves of garlic, chopped
25-30 red prik ki nu (birdseye chilies) thinly sliced
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon khao koor (ground toasted rice)
Sugar to taste
1 tablespoon pickled shallots
1 tablespoon pickled garlic

(These last two ingredients can be simply made at home.  Pickled garlic
 can also be bought in asian markets)

Place the meat, sliced onion, and a sliced cucumber on a bed of lettuce.

Mix the remaining ingredients and taste for seasoning balance, place in a
small bowl for use as a dipping sauce. 

Nuea Pad Nam Man Hoy

This is a simple stir fry dish: nam man hoy is oyster sauce.

Put a little oil in a wok and saute a couple of tablespoons of garlic,
and a couple of tablespoons of shallots (purple onions). 

Add about two pounds of beef, cut into bite sized pieces.

You then add a sauce consisting of

1 cup of oyster sauce
3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Stir it until it begins to simmer.  If it is a little dry, add a little
water.  Cover and leave to simmer for five minutes. Then add about a
tablespoon of chili powder (prik phom), fresh black pepper, a tablespoon
of fresh ground ginger, and some chopped onions, and stir until heated
through.

Incidentally we used a 24" wok for this - but for a smaller dinner party
a 14" wok would be safe enough.  If you want to cook a lot in a small
wok, divide it into safe portions or you'll stir it all over the cook
top!

The basic meal is now ready.  Serve it with the basic condiments (green
chilies in fish sauce [prik nam pla], red chilies in vinegar [prik dong],
ground chilies [prik phom], and sugar), together with pickled cucumber [a
jad], pickled shallots, pickled garlic.  You could also use any other
vegetable pickles.

A Jad

4 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon sliced cucumber
2 tablespoon shallots, sliced
1 teaspoon chopped green chilies

Mix, bottle and keep for a few days before using.

For table condiments you can do a pickled garlic and shallots similarly:

Gratiem Dong

4 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons garlic

Pickled Shallots

4 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons sliced shallots

Regards

Colonel Ian F. Khuntilanont-Philpott

Systems Engineering, 
Vongchavalitkul University,
Korat 30000, Thailand

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