Text 8668, 123 rader
Skriven 2014-01-10 00:03:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE DRUM
Ärende: vagrancy 40
===================
 DD> My usual application for excess chilli oil is to use it to pop some 
 DD> popcorn.

I think I may have done that back when I had regular
access to a stove; not sure.

 ML>  DD> enough stress in their brief  lives to assure good heat. Do you
 ML>  DD> prefer dried pods or ground? 
 ML> An address, first ... then ground. Thank you.
 DD> I am assuming that is an address for you, you old homeless vagrant,
 DD> you.   Bv)=

In the last few months, this vagrant has done everything
between involuntarily sleeping on a bench to voluntarily
curling up in a disused apartment unit to being transported
like a kingpin by limo semi-voluntarily to a four-star hotel
and being semi-voluntarily ensconced in a two-room two-bathroom
suite. Interesting life. Next week it's one night of
homelessness with a chance at a hostel, one night in a
three-star hotel, one in an airplane, one in a hooker hotel,
and the rest in a Conrad and a Meridien. I actually feel kind
of blessed but also a little guilty - the suite could have
housed at least half a dozen of the worker bees who were
serving me at the place; it was close to 800 square feet.

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01

      Title: Dried Kingfish
 Categories: Thai, Fish/sea
      Yield: 6 servings

           Stephen Ceideburg                   2 tb Fish sauce
      1    Kingfish, 1 to 1-1/2lb              3 tb Lime juice
      1 tb Finely sliced shallot               1 ts Palm sugar
      2 tb Shredded green mango                2 c  Cooking oil
      1 ts Shredded hot chilli

  Snagged an excellent new Thai cookbook yesterday. It's

  "The Elegant Taste of Thailand, Cha Am Cuisine" by Sisamon Kongpan and
  Pinyo Srisawat. SLG Books, Berkeley and Hong Kong, 1989. ISBN
  0-943389-05-4.

  This is a big, well-illustrated-with-color=photos book. Mike hauled it home
  yesterday with another one, "Keo's Thai Cuisine". (Being no dummy, he
  realizes that new cookbooks inspire me to cook so every so often he'll grab
  something for me to avoid having to cook himself.) But it wasn't that
  simple...  He'd bought them both, but intended to keep one and send one on
  as a thank-you gift to a fellow that took him and Laurie sailing a couple
  of weeks ago.

  "You get to choose one to keep."

  The dreaded words...

  I paled, started to shake. Sweat beaded my brow. I grabbed the fanciest
  one--the hard bound "Keo's" book--and paged through it, awed by the
  illustrations, impressed by the recipes. Then I grabbed "Elegant Taste" and
  started on the first page, intending to skip through it. Instead I went
  through the entire book, page by page, from start to finish. I slammed it
  shut.

  "This one."

  "Elegant Taste" explains Thai ingredients (and gives both the Thai names
  and spells them out using the Thai alphabet), makes sensible
  recommendations for substitutions and has relatively simple but very good
  and authentic looking recipes, each of which is illustrated by a beautiful
  color photo. This can be really helpful when one is cooking a new dish and
  isn't sure of what it should look like and what garnishes to use. Garnishes
  are particularly important in Thai cooking as they're meant to be eaten
  with the dish but often are not referred to in the recipe. For instance, in
  the following recipe the dish is presented on a platter with a half dozen
  or so scallion brushes and tomato slices, neither of which are referred to
  in the recipe.

  As for this recipe, some of you might remember a while back when I was
  raving about a dried, fried fish dish I'd had in a Thai place, but couldn't
  find in a cookbook. It was in "Elegant Taste" and here it is.

  Plan Samli Daet Diao (Fried Sun-Dried Kingfish)

  Preparation:

  Wash, clean and butterfly the fish leaving the two sides joined along the
  belly. Open the fish out flat so that the skin is downward, remove the
  bones, and score the flesh with a knife.

  After allowing it to dry, lay the fish opened out flat in strong sunshine
  for five to six hours, turning regularly so the sun strikes both the skin
  side and the interior.

  Pour the oil into a deep frying pan and place on medium heat. When the oil
  is hot, place the fish, still opened out, in the oil. When the lower side
  becomes crisp and golden, turn the fish and continue frying until it is
  done on both sides; then, remove from the pan, drain, place on a serving
  dish.

  Toss the shallots, mango and chilli together, seasoning with fish sauce,
  lime juice and palm sugar so that a sour taste is the predominant one.
  Spoon into a bowl and serve with the fish.

  Serves two to three.

  From "The Elegant Taste of Thailand, Cha Am Cuisine" by Sisamon Kongpan and
  Pinyo Srisawat. SLG Books, Berkeley and Hong Kong, 1989. ISBN
  0-943389-05-4.

  This dish is very savoury with a crunchy/chewy texture. The version I had
  in the restaurant still had bones but was so well fried that I just munched
  up the bones and all.

  Incidentally, I'm going to buy the "Keo's" book as well. It looks quite
  good too but seems to be tailored more toward Western kitchens. For
  instance, it calls for brown sugar rather than palm sugar in most recipes.
  Now that's a perfectly adequate substitution, but why bother when I have
  palm sugar on hand? (Smug grin.)

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