Egypt was fantastic, but way too laborious. So we dumped the sand out of our shoes and headed east to Thailand (ราชอาณาจักรไทย) for a respite. Thailand, hands down, wins the award for best city names. You could visit the capital, Bangkok, and when you tire of the city, say Phuket and well, move on. Here in Charlotte, Thai food is all the rave. We venture to say it is the top ethnic cuisine sold here after Mexican. Thai House, Monsoon and Thai Taste are all amazing restaurants that we frequent. So, when fate handed us Thailand, we were excited and fearful all the same. How could we ever get to the savory level that is found in those delicious dining establishments?
After weeding through many websites, we decided to go with only two dishes for two reasons: The huge undertaking in Egypt had left us exhausted. Secondly, to make authentic Thai cuisine, you must use spices and pastes that are not normally found in a Southern kitchen. We basically had to start from scratch. Two dishes were plenty. And yet, we still cheated.
We started off the evening with Tom Yum Goong (Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup). Kaffir lime leaves are a huge part in Thai cooking, and this soup is no different. Unfortunately, these little leaves are quite elusive, even in Asian markets. It seems even the grocer has to have some sort of hook-up with the wholesaler to get these little leaves. Our neighborhood Asian grocer had no such hook-up. Neither did we. So, to make this soup, we used a Tom Yum bouillon they had instead. Here is the revised recipe:
2 squares Tom Yum bouillon in 4 cups hot water
Big handful of shitake mushroom (make sure to chop off the stems)
Big handful of dried lemon grass (couldn't find the fresh!)
Sprinkle of dried cilantro (forgot to get the fresh!)
2 limes - juice and zest
Sriracha Hot Cock (Thai red chili sauce
Handful of bean thread (clear noodle-like strands)
1 lb shrimp last, stir till pink.
Of course, if you can find the fresh herbs, use those instead. If you do dried lemon grass, don't be idiots like us - strain it out before you put everything else in. Also, we discovered that shitake mushroom stems are not soft even when cooked down. Don't use them. If not, you'll end up with a surprise in every bite. Aside from the aforesaid silly mistakes, this soup is absolutely fantastic and very quick to make. It has a ton of flavor and a good kick too. You can leave out the Hot Cock altogether if you're not a fan of the spicy.
From there we moved on to Gang Naw Mai Neuw Sub (Beef and Bamboo Shoot Curry).
We made a substitution replacing the beef with shrimp. We also added zucchini and carrot. If you’ve never had bamboo shoots, you’re in for an experience. They are eerily reminiscent of alien tentacles but amazingly tasty. Instead of making our own red curry paste, we got a packet of it made by Aroy-D from the Asian Market. We should have known it was going to be spicy when we saw 19% of the paste was pure red chili pepper. Naw, that's not that much, right? Whew. Wrong. If you have the intestinal fortitude to handle the curry assault, then we salute you. Otherwise, grab the air-freshener, take a magazine and don’t forget to light a match.
If you’re a fan of Asian cuisine then you’ll absolutely love the next part. It’s cheap. Outside of the shrimp, this meal cost us $15. And we still have enough stuff to make it all again.
Stay tuned for the next adventure, because we’re done with the Eastern hemisphere and we ship off to a country where the beaches are hot and the music is hotter. Until next time we say, Choc-tee!
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