Text 9435, 178 rader
Skriven 2014-02-02 06:42:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: thailand 134
====================
 ML> It is said that some tourists want to live the local life
 ML> and so go and join the political demonstrations. Not me.
 NB> Nor I... I don't think I'd even want to be a spectator for that.  I
 NB> don't mind being able to do normal things and not be recognized as a
 NB> foreigner (easier for me in Britain, etc, of course)

I've been caught in a few but have always been close enough
to the periphery that the tear gas was not a big factor, and
the bullets, rubber or otherwise, nowhere near. I am not
uncareful.

 ML> In the light of day it turns out not to be black but rather
 ML> an appalling brownish purple. Lilli laughed and said it made
 ML> me look gay.
 NB> Will it take to black dye...?  Or maybe a button proclaiming "souvenir
 NB> of Thailand"...  (G)

Doesn't much matter; I'm pretty sure that I don't look very
gay no matter what I wear.

 ML> Sounds delicious; I've never seen tom yum with beef, though.
 NB> Probably a western addition... but quite tasty...  :)

Actually, looking it up, Col. Philpott posted a tom yum neua
once or at least said that it's possible to make.

 ML> On the plane the other day I saw some girl named Desjardins
 ML> on Iron Chef completely demolish Mario Batali; one of her
 ML> dishes was supposedly a deconstructed tom kha gai - but it
 ML> had neither chicken (gai) nor any obvious galanga (kha).
 ML> It was made with shrimp (goong) instead. I would have taken
 ML> off points, but if I were one of the judges, there wouldn't
 ML> be much show left. You! Out! You! Out! The only winner would
 ML> be the truth.
 NB> It's a show, after all...  Isn't it one of the premises, that Batali
 NB> gets demolished by some amateur...?  Was the dish assigned...?  She
 NB> should just have called it tom [whatever] goong...  :)

It was Iron Chef, of which you're probably familiar with the
format, and she's not really an amateur, having won the James
Beard award. The show you're thinking of has Bobby Flay, but I
don't remember what it is exactly: the antagonists aren't
amateurs, either.

 NB> Our host yesterday was saying that his favorite Thai soup is the tom
 NB> yum goong.

I think that yum goong was what the girl was aiming for.

=

 NB> We were treated to Thai for lunch yesterday... I noticed advertised in
 NB> the window that Singha beer you mentioned before...  I made a comment
 NB> to  Richard that that was a familar name now, from your travel reports,
 NB> so he wanted to know the context...  :)  He was wondering if you'd
 NB> given it a review...  :)   I had to say, no, just as a list of what WAS

It's a light lager, quite ordinary. When it started being
imported here, it was a special over-5% brew and was labeled
"malt liquor"; nowadays, mostly you get the ordinary modestly
hopped beer designed to quench in very steamy climates.

=
 
 ML> I had an extraordinary squid with celery at the one in
 ML> Chiang Rai, for example.
 NB> Squid tentacles included...?  That would be a neat thing to find on a
 NB> breakfast buffet, with or without tentacles, actually...  :)

No tentacles. I suspect the staff got them.

 ML>>> A lot was spent figuring out what we were going to do in
 ML>>> the far north: Hall of Opium vs. House of Opium, that sort
 ML>>> of thing.
 ML>> Turns out we got a driver who took us to the former and said
 ML>> there wasn't time to take us to the latter, so the issue was
 ML>> solved automatically.
 NB>> That works.  ;)
 ML> Turns out the latter is said to be more nitty-gritty, plus it
 ML> costs only $1.50 for entry, whereas the one sponsored by
 ML> royalty costs $9.00 for a striking building, snazzy presentation,
 ML> but not so much content.
 NB> Hmmm...  maybe you got slightly took...  another time (if ever)...
 
The building itself was impressive, and it has the cachet
of the Doi Tung foundation (named after the late princess
mother's house on Doi Tung mountain). I suspect most of
the B300 goes to the foundation's projects. The other one
is a commercial venture, where the B50 goes into the
proprietors' pockets. (So it has to be more interesting?)

Tom yum - Hot and sour soup
cat: Thai, soup
yield: 1 batch

2 lb fresh mushrooms (or other ingredient)
- cut into convenient spoonable size pieces
2 stalks  lemon grass, bruised (this isn't eaten
- but is an essential flavorant) 
2 kaffir lime leaves (use lime zest if you can't get it) 
2 coriander [cilantro] plants, chopped. 
10 prik ki nu (birdseye chilis) thinly sliced
- more to taste, to 15
2 dried red chilis - more to taste, to 5
3 or 4 limes, juice of
2 or 3 Tb sliced bamboo shoots or coconut shoots 
2 or 3 Tb fish sauce. 
1 or 2 Tb chilis in oil

Tom Yum can be made with a number of ingredients. The
version given here is for a simple tom yum het (mushroom
soup), but it can also be tom yum kai (chicken), tom yum
moo (pork), tom yum neua (beef), or tom yum khoong
(shrimp), by simply substituting the mushrooms for
another flavor ingredient. You can also mix and match
to suit yourself.

Note: the Thais serve the soup with the rest of the meal,
usually in a large soup tureen, and each diner serves
themselves, and uses it to wash out the mouth between
selections from the other foods on offer.

The fresh chillies should be bruised in a mortar and
pestle. The dried chilies should be heated first, then
crumbled into the fresh chilies. Beat the lemon grass
with the grinder of the mortar and pestle (it's called
a 'sa' in Thai, I'm never sure whether it is the mortar
or the pestle in english...) or the back of a cleaver. 

Heat 3 c water to boiling point, add all the ingredients,
and stir constantly until cooked (it doesn't take long for
mushrooms, longer for chicken or shrimp, and longest for
beef).

variation : use 3 c thin coconut milk instead of water, 
the result is tom kha, rather than tom yum...

The "chilis in oil" or nam prik pao can be bought in
small glass bottles from oriental specialty stores. You
can also make your own.

Col. Ian F. Khuntilanont-Philpott
Special thanks to Muoi Khuntilanont

Nam prik pao
cat: sauce
yield: 1 batch

4 Tb oil 
3 Tb chopped garlic 
3 Tb chopped shallots 
3 Tb coarsely chopped dried red chillies 
1 Tb fermented shrimp paste 
1 Tb fish sauce 
2 ts sugar 

Heat the oil: add the garlic and shallots and fry
briefly, remove from the oil and set aside. Add the
chilies and fry until they start to change colour,
then remove them and set them aside.

In a mortar and pestle pound the shrimp paste, add
the chillies, garlic and shallots, blending each in
before adding the next. Then over low heat return all
the ingredients to the oil, and fold into a uniform
paste.  

The resulting thick, slightly oily red/black sauce
will keep almost indefinitely. If you wish you can
add more fish sauce and/or sugar to get the flavour
you want.

Col. Ian F. Khuntilanont-Philpott
Special thanks to Muoi Khuntilanont

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