Hot & Spicy Chinese Tofu, veggies in Shezwan SauceThai Vegetable Soup Some of the Chinese and Thai popular dishes and soups. Such as Hot and Spicy Thai Curry; Thai vegetable soup; Spring Vegetable Rolls; Leafy Slad Bundles; and more. Recipes of different curries used in the recipes. Some spices and sauces commonly used in the preparation of Oriental Dishes.
Hot & Spicy Thai Vegetable Curry: Serves-4 This spicy Thai Vegetable Curry made with coconut milk has a creamy silky texture that counteracts wonderfully with the heat of the chilies. Ingredient: 2 tbsp sunflower oil 7 fl oz/ scant 1C Coconut Cream 1¼C Coconut milk 2/3C Vegetable Stock 7oz Green Beans cut into 2ml/3/4” length 200 gm/7oz Baby Corn 4 Baby Zucchini sliced 1 small eggplant cubed or sliced 2 tbsp Mushroom Ketchup/Soy Sauce 2 tsp Palm Sugar (Jaggery) Fresh Coriander Leaves to garnish Bamboo shoots and spring onion can be added if desired. Noodles or rice to serve with the dish.
Thai Vegetable Soup: Serves-4 Ingredients: 10-12 medium sized button mushrooms 1 medium size Carrot, 2 spring onions ¼ medium bunch coriander leaves 10-12 Lettuce leaves 2 – 1” stalk lemon grass 3 whole red chilies 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 C vegetable- stock ¾ C bean sprouts Salt to taste 1 C thin coconut milk Method: 1. Clean, wash and slice mushrooms. Peel, wash and cut carrot into thin slices. Wash and finely chop spring onions including some of the greens. Clean, wash and chop coriander leaves. 2. Wash and shred lettuce leaves. Wash lemon grass stalks. Remove stems and chop dry red chilies. Soak them in lemon juice. 3. Bring vegetables stock or water to a boil, add carrots and lemon grass. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, spring onions, bean sprouts, lettuce leaves and salt to taste. Bring to a boil. 4. Add thin coconut milk, reduce heat, do not cover and stir in chopped dried red chilies soaked in lemon juice. 5. Serve piping hot with rice or noodles.
Thai Sauces: Ingredients used in Thai cooking:
Coconut milk: In Thai recipes unsweetened coconut milk is used and sweetened one is used in pina-coladas. If, coconut milk is not available, substitute cow’s milk.
Five spice powder: This brown powder is made from a blend of star anise, fennel, cinnamon, ginger and orange peel. This spice combination is great in marinades, especially for roast ducts, stews and vegetable dishes.
Galangal called Kha, also known as Thai ginger, galangal is a cousin of ginger. Its unique, earthy, gingery flavor is used in soups, curries and stir-fries.
Ginger: At Thai restaurant, gung or ginger, is used almost as extensively as garlic. Sharp And pungent, ginger adds extraordinary flavor and zing to food, from savory dishes to desserts.
Green curry paste: (gaeng keow wan) Ground chili paste: Is made from red chilies, garlic and vinegar. This chili paste will go a long way when you need to cook up something spicy in a pinch. Chili paste in a small plastic jars, can be kept almost indefinitely.
Hoisin Sauce is made from soy bean puree, sugar and caramel sauce. Hoisin sauce is used primarily in dipping sauces, marinades, and stir fries. When mixed with onions, garlic, chilies, vinegar and crushed peanuts, this sauce is incredibly delicious.
Kaffir lime leaves: These jade green citrus leaves impart a lemony aroma.
Lemon grass: is a common herb used for 2 main purposes-to infuse a sauce, soup or curry and to marinate meals and fish. It’s lemony and gingery aroma enhances and complements the flavor of almost every ingredient it touches.
Peanuts: many recipes are garnished with chopped peanuts. (dua phong).
Red curry paste: It is made like green chili curry paste.
Rice noodles: (Banh pho in Vietnamese or sen in Thai). These are either flat or round, these also called rice sticks, are available fresh or dried. Most popular are the dried, flat, fettucine – like noodles made from rice, flour, water and salt.
Flat rice noodles are distinguished by width, small, medium or large.
The first 2 sizes are used primarily in soup, and the widest noodles are used in stir fries such as rad-na.
The round variety, also called rice vermicelli, is known as bun in Vietnamese or Sen mee in Thai.
Round noodles are used in salad style dishes and in soups.
Rice noodles are soaked in water before using, bleach them, which removes the sometimes strong rice flour odor.
Rice Paper: The paper thin banh trang wrapper, made from rice flour, water and salt. Rice paper wrappers are used to make spring rolls and to wrap small pieces of meat and fish to be eaten with the hands. To use, rice paper, it must be soaked in warm water to become pliable. Rice paper is particularly desirable when you want a wrapper that does not complete with the taste or texture of your filling. Rice paper can be kept for months, if the package is resealed tightly. When selecting rice paper, look for a nice whitish color, an even thickness, and no broken pieces (a sign of brittleness).
Sesame Oil: This oil is made from roasted sesame seeds. This rich, nutty oil is not used for cooking but instead to flavor salads, stir fries, soups, rice and dumplings. Sesame oil is graded similar to olive oil.
Soy sauce: Soy sauce are of many varieties. Light Thai-style golden mountain brand: Sweet soy sauce (dark soy and caramel sauce) for rich, dark color.
Chinese- style dark soy sauce containing molasses and varied soy sauces that are generally mushrooms-or-onion based. Buy soy sauce in small containers, and make sure the mouth of the bottle is wiped clean after each use.
Spring roll wrappers: Lumpia is Filipino version of spring rolls, these wrappers are thin cream colored sheets made with wheat flour. Although the traditional spring roll recipes are like rice paper, but, these wrappers are easier to work with and create a less greasy product when fried.
Star-anise: 6-8 pointed star spice is known as hot in Vietnamese, imparts a flavor resembling cinnamon and cloves, is used to flavor soups and stews. This spice is sold in clear cellophane bags.
Tamarind: is called ‘me’ in Vietnamese. This sour fruit is used to flavor soups and salads. Tamarind is solid, in syrup is liquid form or in dried blocks.
To make Tamarind juice: Mix about 3 oz of tamarind pulp with ½ C hot water and let sit for 30 minutes. Push mixture through a sieve and discard the pulp. Tamarind may be substituted with lemon or lime juice mixed with a dash of brown sugar. Vietnamese curry powder: It is similar to Madras curry style powder. This curry is used to spice up stir fries and soups. Yellow Curry paste: The Indian version of Thai curry, yellow curry paste is the mildest of all, and has many uses. This is made with ingredients similar to green and red pastes, yellow curry paste includes turmeric, which gives it a beautiful golden color. Yellow curry greatly enhances fish, chicken or vegetable dishes. In addition to curries and stews, curry pastes also can be used to make sauces for topping grilled meats and fish.
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