Stuck in a rut ... ideas for easy or moderate level exotic recipes you can cook in Thailand

[Jingthing]

OK, I consider myself a half decent home cook.

I love food and I usually love what I cook ... that works for me.

I rarely make something even close to inedible ... it's been years.

Anyway ... that said, like many I suppose I have a LIMITED NUMBER of dishes that I regularly cook so I'm kind of stuck in a rut.

I don't want to invest time and energy into buying a lot more tools, ingredients, or higher level skills, but I would like to expand my repertoire a bit.

So today I randomly came across a recipe that sounds really good and also sounds like something I can actually buy all the ingredients for in Thailand and also something I think I can cook.

It does require buying a new tool (a flour sifter) and a few ingredients I don't have stocked, but nothing extreme.

I won't reveal this mystery dish (it's Libyan) unless/until I actually cook it ...

BUT considering this new dish has inspired me to start a thread to ask for what y'all have recently cooked NEW TO YOU in Thailand.

I think it's better to only post dishes you have actually ALREADY COOKED ... and if so, even better to post a picture of the dish / link recipe or your own recipe, etc.

So if you're a professional chef with professional skills, congrats ... but I don't think that's for most of us. There's enough "food porn" of food mere mortals will never cook on the various medias ... I am hoping this thread is more about dishes that are and can actually be cooked by non-pros.

Basically a little HOME COOKING inspiration for those of us, like me, IN A RUT.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Jingthing

[Dancealot]

Makro pepper T-bone shaped like Brazil grilled 1-2 minutes on both sides. After let it rest near the fire for a few minutes.

The fat is ideal for bigger flames. My regular break from Thai food.

[wooloomooloo]

I won't reveal this mystery dish (it's Libyan) unless/until I actually cook it ...

You show me yours and I'll show you mine.

[NeverSure]

My morning smoothie.

12 ounces non-fat, sugar free yogurt.

1/2 cup raw whole rolled oats, uncooked.

1/2 cup sweet ripe fruit of any type.

Unsweetened natural fruit juice. Put oats in blender first and use enough juice to just cover. Otherwise oats may not blend well.

2 raw eggs.

After putting oats and juice in blender, add fruit, yogurt and eggs.

Run blender at increasingly faster speeds until oats are pulverized well.

Total calories 550 - 600.

(Is there a danger of salmonella in Thailand? If so I'd skip the eggs.)

[Jingthing]

I won't reveal this mystery dish (it's Libyan) unless/until I actually cook it ...

You show me yours and I'll show you mine.

I just don't think talking about a recipe I am considering making is credible unless I actually make it.

Of course this thread is pretty open but I would especially welcome recipes that people have recently made for the FIRST TIME ... not so much old standards you have been making for years or decades.

It so easy to cook what you've always cooked and I think that's what most people do most of the time.

But the idea here is breaking a little bit OUT of that rut and trying to make NEW TO YOU dishes.

Again ... please in Thailand because our accessible ingredients are not the same as other countries.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Jingthing

[David48]

You know ... I just recently found out that TESCO has 'Free Water' ... they even provide the Glasses ...

All those years of paying for water when I dine in their Food Court.

What a waste of coin ...

I personally can't wait for the 'Secret Recipe' reveal.

Sort of like Thai Visa's own version of MasterChief.

BTW ... MissFarmGirl reckons I can burn water ... you know ... she just might be right about that!

.

[wooloomooloo]

Sort of like Thai Visa's own version of MasterChief.

Don't worry about that, JT has got it wrapped up.

Anyway, quotes are distracting once again.

[Ace of Pop]

I watch Junior Season Master Chef and feel rather left behind. New one on Y.T tonight

[Jingthing]

I guess I can't blame y'all for not sharing your stuff ....

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[smokie36]

All I have is a microwave....maybe one day we will get the gas fixed to the stove.

[manarak]

Hmmm... just yesterday I cooked fried spring rolls wrapped in rice paper - not perfect, but damn near the original, much better than the wheat wrap version they serve everywhere because Thai cooks are too lazy to do the real thing.

previous achievements include:

- delicious aged ribeye steaks (makro) with proper french fries and sauce béarnaise (perfectly made, if I may say so)

- crispy-baked chicken wings (in the oven). this is again something that local restaurants don't serve since they prefer to go the easy way of frying the wings which loose all flavour in the process

- Russian pelimenie

[BrianDouglas]

try pimthaifood.com she has lots of great, local recipes and presents them well....Cheers

[Michaelaway]

Hmmm... just yesterday I cooked fried spring rolls wrapped in rice paper - not perfect, but damn near the original, much better than the wheat wrap version they serve everywhere because Thai cooks are too lazy to do the real thing.

previous achievements include:

- delicious aged ribeye steaks (makro) with proper french fries and sauce béarnaise (perfectly made, if I may say so)

- crispy-baked chicken wings (in the oven). this is again something that local restaurants don't serve since they prefer to go the easy way of frying the wings which loose all flavour in the process

- Russian pelimenie

Want to share your recipe?

[Michaelaway]

Many crock pot dishes; many roast stuffed chicken (can use pork) dishes, red chili, white chicken chili, potato kugel/latkes, twice-baked potatoes, stuffed pumpkin/zucchini/eggplant, chopped chicken (can use duck) livers/pates/terrines; stuffed cabbage, lasagna, pita pizzas (personal favorite) Greek gyros, shepherd's/cottage pie, Jimmy Dean style chicken sausages, clams casino, shrimp scampi, scallops w/garlic butter, fish & chips, gyoza, hummus, baba ganouj, salsas, pestos, tapenades, tahini sauce & dishes... too many!

Edited December 11, 2014 by Michaelaway

[manarak]

Hmmm... just yesterday I cooked fried spring rolls wrapped in rice paper - not perfect, but damn near the original, much better than the wheat wrap version they serve everywhere because Thai cooks are too lazy to do the real thing.

previous achievements include:

- delicious aged ribeye steaks (makro) with proper french fries and sauce béarnaise (perfectly made, if I may say so)

- crispy-baked chicken wings (in the oven). this is again something that local restaurants don't serve since they prefer to go the easy way of frying the wings which loose all flavour in the process

- Russian pelimenie

Want to share your recipe?

this one is really quite easy:

- marinate the wings in the fridge with your spice mixture of choice (I use a little of neutral oil, paprika-based spice mix plus italian herbs and a good amount of salt)

Important: make sure your spice mix contains just a little tiny bit of sugar, not more (sugar carbonizes at high temperatures), usually commercially available spice mixes already contain sugar, no need to add more.

- pre-heat the oven to 200 °C

- put the wings on an oven platter and bake about 15-20 mins the first side, 10-15 mins the other side... ready!

If you want extra-crispy wings, deep freeze them before baking, then the times become 25 minutes first side, 20 minutes other side.

[David48]

JT... have you cooked that mysterious dish yet ... the one that is Libyan.

Is it difficult to get authentic ingredients in Thailand for that?

Or, are you making do?

Dude ... go get baking.

Thai Visa awaits ...

.

[Michaelaway]

Hmmm... just yesterday I cooked fried spring rolls wrapped in rice paper - not perfect, but damn near the original, much better than the wheat wrap version they serve everywhere because Thai cooks are too lazy to do the real thing.

previous achievements include:

- delicious aged ribeye steaks (makro) with proper french fries and sauce béarnaise (perfectly made, if I may say so)

- crispy-baked chicken wings (in the oven). this is again something that local restaurants don't serve since they prefer to go the easy way of frying the wings which loose all flavour in the process

- Russian pelimenie

Want to share your recipe?

this one is really quite easy:

- marinate the wings in the fridge with your spice mixture of choice (I use a little of neutral oil, paprika-based spice mix plus italian herbs and a good amount of salt)

Important: make sure your spice mix contains just a little tiny bit of sugar, not more (sugar carbonizes at high temperatures), usually commercially available spice mixes already contain sugar, no need to add more.

- pre-heat the oven to 200 °C

- put the wings on an oven platter and bake about 15-20 mins the first side, 10-15 mins the other side... ready!

If you want extra-crispy wings, deep freeze them before baking, then the times become 25 minutes first side, 20 minutes other side.

Good one, thanks a lot!

[katana]

Egg fried rice with 5-spice pork belly

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/egg_fried_rice_with_86215

[Jingthing]

Well, it took me this long to finally get around to cooking this "new to me" Libyan dish so now I will post about it. So exciting.

http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/Cooking-with-JPost-Roasted-caulfilower-383998

LIBYAN "ROASTED" CAULIFLOWER!

Chef's dish:

My dish:

Dudes, the guidelines of this thread are to post about NEWER things you have started to cook ... rather than things you have cooked for years.

When you try something new for the first time, sometimes there are mistakes, sometimes the mistakes are edible and sometimes not ... so it's always a risk to try anything new, in cooking or in life

Sure enough on my new to me Libyan dish I did indeed make some mistakes, some BIG mistakes actually, and STUPID ones, but the result was still very delicious, so no regrets, and will know more to correct next time.

This recipe involved buying some new ingredients for my kitchen:

Turmeric

Cumin

Flour

Cauliflower

Cilantro

Raisins

I thought I needed a sifter but it turns out you can do sifting by whisking the flour instead, at least I read that, and did

I watched the video for the recipe and read the ingredients and steps. I got all the ingredients right but being macho I didn't write it down and ended up with some big mistakes.

First, I cut the cauliflower florets WAY TOO BIG ... so needed more cooking time, causing an issue

Secondly, I stupidly didn't mix the cumin and turmeric into the dredging flour but rather added it to the saute pan after the onions were soft (with the garlic).

It's the first time I ever tried dredging anything in flour and my technique was very clumsy but once in the pan it was clear to me the florets were too big and that the mess would burn on the recommended high heat after throwing in the florets. So the flour came off the florets and I had to add water (not in the recipe) to increase cooking time so the end result wasn't raw cauliflower.

So instead of a "dry roast" kind of dish, the end result was more like a combination of a curry and a French roux! (As the flour thickened a sauce).

From the picture I can tell you there were more raisins than it looks, they are hidden.

So I think mainly I got the intended FLAVOR of these ingredients but the way I cooked it the texture was different and probably a lot more sauce, though still a dryish sauce.

Next time I will know better. Not that what I did was bad. I loved the flavor. I have never seen a Libyan dish in a restaurant but I can say the flavor profile of these ingredients was something entirely new to me. I guess if I can say one thing it reminded me of a tiny bit is "Kugel" probably because of the mix of sweet raisins and spice.

Given that I put all the cumin and turmeric in a roux/curry style sauce I got a lot more of that spice than I would if it had just been off the dredge flour. Also it smelled up the house. But it was certainly not too spicy for me and I think I will add more spice to the flour dredge just so I get that kick again.

Other than my stupid mistakes, it was not a hard dish per se (except the flour dredging new to me), the prepping is a little involved, but the worst part is that's its a MESSY dish (the turmeric and flour) so cleanup is a bit much.

So I doubt I'll make it super often, but definitely will add this gem to my repertoire, as it is so bloody delicious!

I'm the kind of person that if reading a cookbook and I find even ONE dish that I know is easy enough for me to cook and something I want to eat, would be more than I expected. I kind of knew this Libyan dish spoke to me and I was surely right. I do recommend trying it.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Jingthing

[wayned]

!. JT, don't buy a flour sifter. The next time you're in Tesco or big C buy a large metal strainer. The ones the actually have metal screen. You can put your ingredients in the strainer and sift them but stiring them with a spoon making them go through the screen. Flour sifters have the same screen on them but are limited to sifting flor. You can use the stainer for many things especially making sauces straining the ingredients from the liquid.

2. The next time that you want to "stir fry" cauliflower, parboil it first for a couple of minutes, strain it and let it cool. You can even use the boiling water in your recipe if it needs some liquid as it does retain some of the cauliflower liguid.

3. I made a Liberian dish last week for the first time. Mozarabe Spiced Chicke with green olives. Saw the recipe on TV, Master Chef, I think, but one of the ones that show someone cooking it and at the end they show the ingredients list fo a few nanoseconds and expect that you have a photographic memory. Cooked it in my pressure cooker, whole chicken, carrots (Ilke cooked carrots so I used a lot) and it lot of spices. The only thing that I didn't have was saffron and figs. I left out thesaffron and threw in some dried mango for the figs Came out really good. I turned the leftovers into some excellant and flavorful soup. Unlesss I am baking something I never measure anything so no recipe. It had cumin, paprika, chilli flakes, celery, onion. olives, pak chee, parsley, honey, and preserved lemon in it. I used the pressure cooker but it could be cooked in a big pot.

Keep trying new things. It's fun to cook something without a recipe adding the spices that you think you will like. I've come up with some delicious food and others that my dogs wouldn't even eat. You never know, next year they might have a new Television show Master Chef Thai Visa and you could add another trophy to your case!

[bkkjames]

get your defib :

I made perogies stuffed with ooodles of sharp chedder cheese / mashed potato, boiled then gently pan-fried in butter.

Topped off with crispy bacon, cooked onions and mounds of sour cream. Add salt and close your eyes and enjoy.

Not recommended for those concerned about fat and cholesterol but are concerned with spoiling yourself from time to time

[katana]

...[snip]...

2. The next time that you want to "stir fry" cauliflower, parboil it first for a couple of minutes, strain it and let it cool. You can even use the boiling water in your recipe if it needs some liquid as it does retain some of the cauliflower liguid.

I was thinking that as well. Parboiling might be better. Without it, frying could take a long time until they're done.

Looks like a nice dish though.

Edited January 24, 2015 by katana

[Jingthing]

!. JT, don't buy a flour sifter. The next time you're in Tesco or big C buy a large metal strainer. The ones the actually have metal screen. You can put your ingredients in the strainer and sift them but stiring them with a spoon making them go through the screen. Flour sifters have the same screen on them but are limited to sifting flor. You can use the stainer for many things especially making sauces straining the ingredients from the liquid.

2. The next time that you want to "stir fry" cauliflower, parboil it first for a couple of minutes, strain it and let it cool. You can even use the boiling water in your recipe if it needs some liquid as it does retain some of the cauliflower liguid.

3. I made a Liberian dish last week for the first time. Mozarabe Spiced Chicke with green olives. Saw the recipe on TV, Master Chef, I think, but one of the ones that show someone cooking it and at the end they show the ingredients list fo a few nanoseconds and expect that you have a photographic memory. Cooked it in my pressure cooker, whole chicken, carrots (Ilke cooked carrots so I used a lot) and it lot of spices. The only thing that I didn't have was saffron and figs. I left out thesaffron and threw in some dried mango for the figs Came out really good. I turned the leftovers into some excellant and flavorful soup. Unlesss I am baking something I never measure anything so no recipe. It had cumin, paprika, chilli flakes, celery, onion. olives, pak chee, parsley, honey, and preserved lemon in it. I used the pressure cooker but it could be cooked in a big pot.

Keep trying new things. It's fun to cook something without a recipe adding the spices that you think you will like. I've come up with some delicious food and others that my dogs wouldn't even eat. You never know, next year they might have a new Television show Master Chef Thai Visa and you could add another trophy to your case!

Some good ideas there.

I will try the metal strainer idea ... sifters are expensive here and I wouldn't use it for anything else, not a baker.

Even though my picture looks like a stir fry result actually it's not really a stir fry dish, more like a stick it in there and "roast" it but my prep mistakes made that impossible.

I agree about recipes ... no need to use them as a crutch, they can be a starting point to spur on more creativity.

A number of my favorite regular dishes ... totally improvised.

In the case of the Libyan cauliflower I still think the recipe version is probably superior .. I'll find out.

BTW, I did substitute lime for lemon and in this case ... I think it's probably worth paying more for the lemon.

[wayned]

I deep fry cauliflower along with onion rings at times - actually whatever veggie is available. I make a thin batter with flour, salt and pepper and use club soda instead of water as it aerates it so that the final product is crisp. Next time I'll add some turmeric and cumin to it for kicks.

Deep fried mozzarella cheese is great with a spicy marinara dipping sauce but I use the normal flour/egg/bread crumb preparation and freeze it before frying.

I've live here for over 16 years and I don't think that I have ever used a real yellow lemon since moving here, but, I can pick the green Thai limes directly from the tree by reaching over my back patio fence. I do have to open the gate and take a short walk to get fresh oranges, pomelo, mangos, papaya, jack fruit, bananas, custard apples, guava and and assortment of spices and Thai veggies some of which I don't even know the name. My wife often "cuts the lawn and picks some flowers" and uses it in whatever she is cooking.

[smokie36]

get your defib :

I made perogies stuffed with ooodles of sharp chedder cheese / mashed potato, boiled then gently pan-fried in butter.

Topped off with crispy bacon, cooked onions and mounds of sour cream. Add salt and close your eyes and enjoy.

Not recommended for those concerned about fat and cholesterol but are concerned with spoiling yourself from time to time

Don't forget that cholesterol checkup James.

[bkkjames]

get your defib :

I made perogies stuffed with ooodles of sharp chedder cheese / mashed potato, boiled then gently pan-fried in butter.

Topped off with crispy bacon, cooked onions and mounds of sour cream. Add salt and close your eyes and enjoy.

Not recommended for those concerned about fat and cholesterol but are concerned with spoiling yourself from time to time

Don't forget that cholesterol checkup James.

Only once every few months smokes, too much work

[maswov]

I like to watch the food network to get some ideas but the last time True reorganized the channels they omitted the food network from all 3 channels it is supposed to be on

[mayview]

Hello Jingthing,

This is a good thread and an interesting stimulus. You mentioned that you don't wish to buy a new selection of implements but I think it may help to define what you may need for specific dishes.

What I make that is not an everyday dish:

Chicken liver pate with Thai truffles in season.

Pork and chicken terrine en croute

Devilled kidneys

Various daals

Hummus

Refried beans and salsas.

Apple and apricot pie.

I have purchased all ingredients at common supermarkets.

Implements:

Food processor. 3500 Baht

Sieve. 60 Baht

benchtop fan oven. 1500 Baht

[WitawatWatawit]

Not a recipe, but a spice mix I made recently - merguez. Usually used with lamb, but I have found it to be very versatile, using it in pork patties, vegetable stews etc.

Here's is one list of ingredients - there are variations on the web, but this is a basic mix. All ingredients can be found locally. I pulverised the mix and keep it in a sealed jar in the fridge.

1/4 cup sweet paprika

2 tablespoons ground fennel seeds

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds

2 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

-------------------------

[Don Aleman]

In 11 years, other then an occasional , very small taste, forced upon me by the cook, I have avoided actually consuming any Thai meals, ( fried chicken/spaghetti not Thai originals ), and wonder why any Sane

person would want to duplicate their culinary disasters ?

That being said I can offer the following recipe :

1 average sized chicken

1 " " Onion

1 " " carrot

3 " " potatoes

4 Small bags of any green , weedlike, so called veggies

with leaves, branches & inhabitants

In oven 2.8 hours, at 343 F while basting continuously with a combination of Smirnoff Vodka and Jack Daniels.

Being very careful taking from hot oven , extract the solid ingredients. discard and. DRINK THE GRAVY !