Thai Green Sticky Rice with Mango
Last spring my sister came out for a visit and we had a girls’ day of shopping and of course a dinner out together. We both like sushi and headed for a little Thai and sushi fusion restaurant nearby and ordered our favorites. We also noticed a card on the table advertising their Thai mango sticky rice, a classic dessert made with Thai sweet glutinous rice, and decided we would share some of that as well. Read more
Cucumber Salad with Tomato, Bell Pepper, and Spicy Thai Lime Vinaigrette
Juicy cucumbers are one of my favorite summer vegetables, and I like to slice one up and eat it with a bit of salt for an afternoon snack, but using them as a base for salads is my favorite way to eat them. We’ve been on a cucumber salad binge lately, trying different vegetable combinations and vinaigrettes, and this is by far our favorite to date. The Thai vinaigrette gets a little kick from crushed red peppers (pepper flakes), which you can adjust to your taste. Make sure you use an unseasoned rice vinegar because the seasoned kind has added sugar and salt. Read more
Thai Grilled Chicken with Coconut Milk Marinade
Whenever we make a trip to Costco, I always stop to browse the books aisle, and every once in a while I come across some finds that make their way into the cart. Earlier this summer I found a big paperback book simply called Thai & Asian by Deh-Ta Hsiung (previously published as Thai and South-East Asian Food and Cooking). With a plethora of gorgeous dishes from Thailand, China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea, as well as over 100 pages of information on ingredients and proper Asian cooking gear, this book was a no-brainer and a bargain at US$9.99. My memories of the food I enjoyed on a trip to Koh Samui and Phuket in the mid 90s are imprinted in my head, and I’ve enjoyed introducing my family to the wonders of Thai flavors over the years. Perhaps someday I’ll get a chance to go back to Thailand; I would so enjoy a trip to Chiang Mai, but until then I’ll have to keep cooking Thai at home.
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Thai Basil Chicken (Kai Kraphao)
September 22, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Asian, Grow Your Own, Poultry
This dish is the main reason we grow Thai basil in our herb garden. We’ve grown many kinds of basil over the years and seem to have settled into a routine of Genovese, Lemon (Sweet Dani or similar), and Thai (Sweet Thai or Queen of Siam) basil because they cover the spectrum of our uses. The Sweet Thai variety we grew this year produces plants with purple stems and gorgeous purple flowers. Like most basils, the flowers are also edible and add a punch of anise flavor to Asian dishes. Our basils will last a few more weeks, then it will be time for the final harvest of the season and a marathon session making pesto (basic and sun-dried) and basil ice cubes. Read more
Thai Grilled Chicken with Cilantro Dipping Sauce
I’m having trouble letting go of summer. Labor Day has passed, so no more white pants or shoes, and I guess I should start thinking about autumn-ish foods, but with temperatures remaining in the 90s my mind is still geared towards grilling and cooking light foods.
Chicken may be the main ingredient, but cilantro is the star in this grilled chicken entree. The marinade uses half a cup of chopped cilantro and more goes into the dipping sauce. The marinade and sauce are spicy, but you can control the heat by reducing or increasing the amount of jalapeños and red-pepper flakes. We like it spicy and I go for the full amount, but I did cut back when I made this for my parents last week. The chicken goes well with cabbage salad and a rice side, making this an easy meal.
The recipe is adapted from a cookbook I added to my collection this summer, Food & Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Herbs & Spices Cookbook. I have five of the books in this series, and they are regulars in my kitchen. The books are designed to give you great meals in a short amount of time, and both the books and the meals are easy on the budget, too. Read more
Thai Coconut Curry with Chicken
This is the first dish I tried at the original Big Bowl in Chicago, and boy did I get hooked! I spent the next year looking up similar recipes and trying to clone the dish. This is the final version that I came up with, and it’s one that we really enjoy. You can turn the spiciness up or down by using more or less curry paste, depending on your heat tolerance.
[Updated February 14, 2010.]
THAI COCONUT CURRY WITH CHICKEN
Serves 4 to 6.
Equipment
large skillet or wok
sharp knife Read more
