Thai Wild Mushroom Salad

Jude — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:57:22 +0000

Stock up on cilantro, mint, and shallots and you’re well on your way to enjoying the aromatic salads of Thailand. Lightness and the emphasis on balancing hot, sour, and salty elements seem to be the hallmark of Thai greens. Instead of oils and vinegars, try whipping out the chiles, limes, and fish sauce for a change.

Culantro sounds and tastes like that other love-it-or-hate-it herb found on Indian and Mexican dishes. Also known as long-leaf, spiny, serrated, or sawtooth coriander, culantro looks completely different. It has a stronger scent and weaker taste compared to cilantro, but maybe it’s just me.

You’ll also need ground toasted rice, a seemingly insignificant ingredient that is easy to overlook. If you ever see it listed in any Thai recipe, just remember that it is never optional.

recipe adapted from David Thompson’s Thai Food
Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Cook Almost Anything

Thai Wild Mushroom Salad
Yam Het Bpa

makes 4 servings as a side dish

King Oyster Mushrooms.

Ingredients:

a few handfuls of wild mushrooms, about 1/3 pound, sliced
2 tablespoons stock
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
a large pinch of chile powder
4 shallots, thinly sliced
a handful of mint and cilantro, leaves only
2 tablespoons culantro (pak chii farang)
1 tablespoons scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon ground toasted rice (khao kua)
a few sprigs of Thai basil
sliced cabbage and cucumber

Pak chii farang, aka foreign coriander. ‘Tis originally from the West (Central America).

Directions:

Place the mushrooms, stock, salt, and sugar in a small pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until the mushrooms are done (the cooking time varies depending on the type of mushrooms you use). Adjust the amount of water you add so that the water is almost completely evaporated when the mushrooms are done.
Remove the mushrooms from the heat and season with the lime juice, fish sauce, and chile powder. Place in a bowl and toss with the shallots, herbs, and scallions.
To serve, sprinkle with the ground toasted rice. Serve with Thai basil leaves and slices of cabbage and cucumber.

Mushrooms seasoned with fish sauce, lime juice, and chile powder.

Cooked king oyster mushrooms have a pleasing meaty texture.

This is a post from Apple Pie, Patis, and Pate
Thai Wild Mushroom Salad

Thai Beef and Mangosteen Soup

Jude — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:40:55 +0000

Fresh mangosteens are a rare sight even at Southeast Asian groceries in Chicago. Imports of irradiated fresh mangosteens from Thailand have only recently been approved by the USDA, but they’re still far from common. Aside from being seasonal (try your luck around springtime), they seem to fly off the shelves as soon as they’re available.

When a case of pre-bagged fresh mangosteens was unloaded in front of me, a few people dropped what they were doing and headed straight for it. In the time it took to realize that there was a pile of fresh mangosteens right under my nose, a few bags were taken. I thought they were plums. I quickly grab a bag as more of an instinctive reaction but almost threw it back when I noticed the words “plant quarantine” on the label. It’s not the most inviting thing to find on anything I plan to ingest.

None of the mangosteens sported the distinctive green caps. I wonder if irradiation causes the caps to flake off.

The best way to enjoy this fruit is to eat it straight from the husk but I couldn’t help but think that there must be something I could do with it. A quick search for “mangosteen recipe” pointed to a Thai recipe for mangosteen clafoutis. Looking at this list, I had a gut feeling that guys aren’t supposed to make clafoutis so I keep looking. Whatever I’m making will likely be Thai, so I looked up recipes in David Thompson’s Thai Food, a.k.a. the tome of weird transliterations and impossible-to-find-ingredients (even more so now that Thai Grocery is gone).

So it came down to Beef and Mangosteen Soup and Mangosteen and Mussel Curry. I wanted to make something that wouldn’t overwhelm the mangosteen flavor so I decide to go with the soup.

The truth is, I found the curry recipe discouraging. Where am I supposed to find 4 pla salit or 5 pla grop or 1/2 hot-smoked trout? I’ll make the curry the next time I come across fresh mangosteens (probably never).

Thai Beef and Mangosteen Soup
dtom neua kho gap mangkut

3 oz beef sirloin (about the size of a deck of cards)
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons fish sauce (a.k.a. patis, nam pla, nước mắm)
4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
pinch of sugar
3 mangosteens, peeled and segmented
pinch of pepper
1 tablespoon cilantro/coriander leaves

For the beef marinade paste:

2 teaspoons cilantro/coriander stems
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
5 peppercorns

Notes:

The beef marinade paste calls for 1 teaspoon of coriander root and it is nowhere to be found. I have yet to make anything from Thai Food exactly as specified.

Pound the beef marinade paste ingredients until smooth. Slice the beef into small cubes. Apply the paste and marinate for an hour.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and stir-fry the beef briefly until lightly browned. It shouldn’t take longer than 30 seconds.

Add the fish sauce and immediately take off the heat. Apologize to non-Asian neighbors if residing in an apartment complex.

Bring chicken stock to a boil then add the soy sauce and sugar. Take off the heat and let the stock cool briefly before adding the beef and mangosteens. At anything over a bare simmer, the beef will toughen and the mangosteens may disintegrate.

Sprinkle with pepper and cilantro to serve.

This is a post from Apple Pie, Patis, and Pate
Thai Beef and Mangosteen Soup

Apple Pie, Patis, and Pâté» Thai