Tormented Kitchen

This past Sunday, I cooked up a whole bonanza feast of Thai goodies for dinner . It was Father's Day here in the US, so I had my parents over for dinner with us. We had a nice family dinner together. Dear Hubby requested the Thai spread, so I obliged. It required a special trip to the Asian market for galangal and kaffir lime leaves. However, you can get the other ingredients from typical supermarkets. By the way, galangal looks like ginger, but does not taste or smell like ginger. It's hard to explain what it actually tastes like by itself. You just have to go get some and taste it firsthand. I made Shrimp Pad Thai , Yellow Curry with Pork, Mango, and Bell Pepper, this soup, and jasmine rice. This batch of soup was very mild since my folks aren't big spicy/hot food eaters. I tossed one chili into the pot but left it whole so I wouldn't impart any heat. I left out the mushrooms because I don't do mushrooms. Tom Kha Gai Ingredients 1 can chicken stock 2 stem...

Justin gave me a whole bunch of ingredients today for Mystery Box Dinner #3. There is enough leftover from tonight's meal to have a decent dinner tomorrow, too. Today, I received fresh Brussels sprouts, green beans, beef top round steaks, pork ribs, corn tortillas, dill gherkin pickles, a chunk of banana squash, basmati rice, canned whole mild chiles, canned whole tomatillos, prosciutto, pancetta, fontina cheese, goat's milk cheese, pinto beans, and red kidney beans. I raided the fridge and pantry for vegetable oil, lemon, white wine vinegar, a habanero chili pepper, mayonnaise, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, chicken bouillon, a green apple, agave nectar, a peach, and herbs and spices.  I combined the tomatillos, half the can of mild chiles, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and a tiny bit of the habanero chili to make salsa verde. The pinto beans got smashed with some diced mild green chili, oil, and spices to become refried beans. The basmati rice, combined with c...

A while back, Justin and I took a Thai cooking class. It was astounding how easy it is to make Thai food! You just need to know the ingredients. Many of the ingredients aren't all that strange, but a few really threw me off.  Pickled radish? Tamarind juice? Where do I find those? The answer is at an Asian market. Yes, you need to look outside the boring-ness of Safeway to find what you want. I bought 3 Crabs fish sauce, pickled daikon with chili, a tub of Dragonfly cooking tamarind concentrate, rice stick noodles, jasmine rice, all kinds of tea, lemon grass, skinny eggplant, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, boba, agar-agar dessert mix (like Jell-O), saba bananas...seriously any and all exotic ingredients that you might want for Asian food. For people around Reno, check out 168 Asian Market on the corner of Virginia and Gentry. They are stocked! They have a sister store, Reno Asian Supermarket 803 W. 5th Street, which is just off of Keystone. I go the...

Some days, I get tired of eating regular salsa. You know, the kind with tomatoes. I'm also not a huge fan of cilantro. A tiny bit is OK, but too much tastes weird to me.  (I know this could be considered a "defect" of my taste buds. Or a defect in my brain processing taste-bud information.  Whatever.)  Anyhow, I decided that mango salsa would be a really easy alternative to normal salsa. I went pretty mild with batch, but you could amp it up with more onion, more pepper, and switch the herbs.  I used mint so it was much fruitier and more refreshing than the typical cilantro bite. Also, the heat in peppers comes from the inner membrane and seeds.  Remove all that to keep it mild, or leave it in for some fire. Ingredients 1 ripe mango, peeled and diced 1 green jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed 1/2 cup diced red onion 2 sprigs of mint, stems removed and finely chopped 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar sprinkle of salt Method 1. Combine all the ingre...

If someone told you to eat eggplant because it's good for you, what would you do with it? I've tried regular globe eggplant and it just doesn't taste that good to me. I've tried frying it, stuffing it, dicing it and adding it to casseroles and it has always fallen a bit short of my expectations. In my Thai cooking class, we made this dish using the thin Japanese eggplants. I've never eaten those before. And believe me, I was skeptical because my past eggplant experience was sketchy. But we made it, we all ate it and I was in utter disbelief! Eggplant that really tasted good! Even my husband liked it and he doesn't like regular eggplant at all. OMG! This is now one of my new favorite recipes. I even shared it with Grandma Rose. Pla Nuea Makreua Orn Ingredients 3 small Japanese eggplants canola oil for frying 1 lb beef tenderloin (same as filet mignon) 1 Tablespoon sliced shallots 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1 Tablespoon fish sauce (nam pla) juice of one lime 2 - 5...

I recently attended a cooking class just for Thai food. I think unless you have a real talent for exploring ingredients, it can be beneficial to have someone show you what to use or how to use it. I've been to Asian markets before and wandered around wondering what exactly was that stuff in a jar. Then, I pretty much only bought things I could recognize without having to read the wrapper, like rice, noodles, produce, or certain condiments. Thankfully, being told name brands to look for also makes a huge difference. My cooking instructor suggested Three Crabs Fish Sauce.  If you can't read the label, at least you can find one with 3 crabs. But then at the store, they also have Five Crabs Fish Sauce. Seriously? Is 5 better than 3? I went with 3 because that is what she told me. My instructor pointed out one thing about Thai food is that it requires a lot of prep work, but cooks up quickly. She said it's really perfect for busy weeknight dinners if you can get the prep wo...