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Thai
Cuisine is well-known for being hot and spicy
and for its balance of five fundamental flavors
in each dish or the overall meal - hot (spicy),
sour, sweet, salty, and bitter (optional).
Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use
of fresh (rather than dried) herbs and spices
as well as fish sauce. Thai food is popular
in many Western countries especially in Australia,
New Zealand, some countries in Europe such
as the United Kingdom, as well as the United
States, and Canada. |
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Green Papaya Salad
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Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons
palm sugar 3/4 lime 2 cups green papaya, shredded 6 green beans 1 clove garlic 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 tablespoon dried shrimp 2 chili peppers 5 cherry tomatoes 2 tablespoons peanuts, toasted (Optional)
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Many
Asian supermarkets have shredded
green papaya and that is what
I use. However, if you can only
find whole green papaya, the papaya
can be peeled and shreded using
a regular cheese grater with medium
to large sized holes. When you
get closer to the center, you
will see the white immature seeds
inside. Stop and move onto another
part of the papaya. Discard any
seeds that got into your bowl.
In Thailand, green papaya salad
is made using a clay mortar, wooden
pestle and a spatula. Smash a
clove of garlic first. Then add
green beans and halved cherry
tomatoes. Pound a few times just
to bruise the beans and get the
juice out of the tomatoes. Add
chili peppers and crush them just
enough to release the hotness,
unless you like your salad really
hot. Add the green papaya, dried
shrimp, toasted peanuts, fish
sauce, lime juice and palm sugar.
Use the pestle to push the mixture
up in the mortar and the spatula
to push it down so that the mixture
is mixed well. However, if you do not have a
big enough mortar you can crush
garlic, tomatoes, green beans.
Set them aside in a large bowl.
Add dried shrimp, fish sauce,
lime juice and palm sugar to the
bowl. Add green papaya and mix
well. Serve with sticky rice and
a sliver of cabbage, green beans
and Thai basil. For som tum pbooh, omit the dried
shrimp and toasted peanuts and
add salted crabs instead. I microwave
the salted crabs for 30 seconds
before adding them to the papaya
salad to kill any residual bacteria.
Add only half of the fish sauce
called for because the salted
crab can be quite salty.
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Tum Yum Goong

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Ingredients
4 cups
water 1 cup shrimp 5 mushrooms 1-2 limes 1 lemon grass 3 kaffir lime leaves 2 tablespoon fish sauce 5 sprigs cilantro 3 chili peppers 1 tablespoon nam prig pow
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Start
boiling the water in a 2 quart
pot. Peel and devein the shrimp
and set them aside. Cut lemon
grass into pieces, 5-6 inches
long. Use the back of your knife
to pound the lemon grass, just
to bruise it to release the flavor.
If you want, you can tie the lemon
grass into a knot to make it easier
to manage. Drop the lemon grass
in water and let boil for 5 minutes.
Put the fish sauce and 1 lime's
juice into the bottom of the bowls
you will serve the soup in. Crush
chili pepper and add to the bowl.
Remove the stems from the kaffir
lime leaves and add the leafy
part to the pot. Clean and halve
the mushrooms and add them to
the pot. Add the shrimp and turn
off the heat. Shrimp gets too
tough very quickly, and will cook
even when it is just sitting in
the warm broth. Scoop the shrimp
and liquid into the serving bowls
immediately. As soon as you add
the liquid to the serving bowl,
you will see that the broth becomes
cloudy because of the lime juice.
Add the nam prig pow. Sprinkle
with cilantro and serve. Be very careful, the peppers can
be hot. Take a small sip at a
time. Add more fish sauce and/or
lime juice if it tastes bland.
It's right if it's good for your
sinus.
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