Thai Coconut Sticky Rice and Mango ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง

For most Asian families, it is common to have fruits at the end of a meal as desert. I grew up eating fruits as desert often and this is one my favorite Asian sweet treats with fruit! Being Asian and a rice lover, I can't get enough of this simple Thai desert consists of yummy sticky rice soaked with sweet aromatic coconut milk, and topped with a very tropical fruit, mango. What a Genius idea to put all the very common ingredients of the tropical South East Asia together in a sweet way.

The recipe I use is below and it is easy to follow. It is also from one of my favorite Thai food blogs so check it out!

Recipe:

Author: Leela  from shesimmers.com

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  1 hour

Total time:  1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• ½ cup raw Thai sticky rice (no substitute), soaked for 10 minutes, drained, and rinsed to get rid of excess starch ( I soak my rice for at least 2 hours)
• ½ cup good coconut milk
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• One perfectly ripe good mango (preferably Ataulfo), peeled and cut into thick slices

Directions

1. Put the rice in a heatproof bowl and steam in a steamer, over medium heat, for about 20 minutes (based on one half cup of rice). The rice should be cooked through with no hard, raw bits in the middle of the grains. You can also cook the sticky rice without a steamer, using the splatter guard method.
2. Turn off the heat and let the rice stay in the steamer, with the lid on, while you prepare the coconut milk.
3. In a heatproof bowl, heat the coconut milk, sugar, and salt in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. The sugar should completely dissolve and the mixture should be very hot.
4. Take the sticky rice out of the steamer. Pour the hot coconut mixture on top of the rice and gently stir. (It may look like your rice is drowned in coconut water, but the liquid will all be absorbed.) Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the mixture stand at room temperature, undisturbed, for half an hour.
5. The coconut sticky rice is to be served at room temperature along with fresh mango. The sesame seeds are optional.
6. The rice can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave, but the texture of reheated sticky rice isn’t as good as it is when freshly made. Freezing sticky rice is not recommended.

It is really best served warm after making it rather than re heated.

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is another popular Asian dish made with rice noodles. Even though it is really a Thai dish, it is seen in many menus of many Asian restaurants that are not even Thai because of it's popularity. It can be made with any meat or shrimp or even vegetarian. My favorite is made with shrimp. As far as the recipe, there are many floating on the Internet and they all vary according to personal taste. When I lived in Thailand, I usually got this from either a street vendor who cooked this in front of me or at food courts in malls where I could also watch how they make this. My version is simplified with what is available to me in my area and my taste. Here is the recipe:

1 package rice noodles, (I use fresh ones)
12 medium shrimps (peeled and deveined)
2 TBS oil
1 egg
1 1/2 TBS Thai chili paste (see picture below)
a handful of bean sprouts
2 TBS roasted peanuts, chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 medium onion
1 Cup chopped fried tofu
1 TBS salted radish (optional)
green onions and lime wedges for garnish
fish sauce to taste

Have all the ingredients ready.












Soak the noodles in warm water.












Heat up the oil and stir fry onions and salted radish for a few minutes.









The chili paste I use. I like using this because it already has all the seasonings I need for pad Thai such as tamarind etc. You can also find Pad Thai paste in your Asian grocery stores and online.




Add shrimp and the chili paste and stir fry for a few min..









Scramble an egg on the side.











Add bean sprouts but leave some to add to your plate later as well..









Add the rice noodles and mix well.













Add sugar, fish sauce, green onions and peanuts. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.








Put it on a plate, add more raw bean sprouts and lime if you like and Enjoy!!!!

Thai Tom Yum Shrimp.....Hot and Sour Soup

This week's theme for iheatcookingclubs is Sustaining Soups and Stews. Having failed to participate the last two weeks in a row was making me feel guilty and so I made sure I participate this week and cooked up this delicious soup. Our featured chef Nigella Lawson calls this soup Hot and Sour Soup and it is hot and sour. This is a very popular Thai soup also called "Tom Yum" in Thai language. I am already very familiar with this soup since I lived in Thailand. I did look at Nigella Lawson's recipe but added a few things such as the galangal root (aka Blue Ginger, picture shown above left) and culantro leaves. Here is her recipe from food network.


Ingredients
6 1/2 cups chicken stock (I made shrimp stock and used that instead)
1 heaping tablespoon tom yam hot and sour paste
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped, optional (or use lime zest if it's easier)
1 stalk lemongrass, bottom, inner part only, roughly chopped
1 lime, juiced
4 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
2 to 3 small jalapenos or fresh red or green chilies, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons, straw or button mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 pound (2-ounce) peeled, raw shrimp
5 (1-inch) pieces small scallions, sliced thin
1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped

Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat chicken stock, tom yam paste, lime leaves, lemon grass, lime juice, fish sauce, chilies, and sugar. Once it has come to a boil, add mushrooms and simmer for 2 minutes. Add shrimp and scallions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes allowing the shrimp to cook but still be tender. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately. Place extra cilantro on the table for people to add more.



Tom yum paste can be found easily in any Asian grocery store or online. Also, can be made from scratch but I'll save that for another post. :)
Shrimp is often used but chicken, fish or mixed seafood is also delicious!
Making shrimp stock using the shrimp shells/ and or heads is easy. Just boil with some water and salt.
Herbs are very important to get the wonderful flavour of this soup. Culantro is also a good herb to add besides cilantro, green onions, and lime leaves. I remember having to go cut lemongrass and pick some lime leaves for my mom from our yard when she made this back home.
I used babybella mushrooms today but the best is fresh straw mushrooms which I cannot get easily here. The second choice is oyster mushrooms. Mix different mushrooms for more flavor and fun!
Serve this with Jasmine rice and other Asian dishes or as an appetizer before main course. Also can make it in a big hotpot family style!!

Thai Red Curry Shrimp

This is another easy dish that's very similar to my Thai Yellow Curry Chicken . This is however a little bit spicier and can be made as hot as you'd like if you like hot food, by adding Thai chili peppers. I use curry pastes to make my Thai curries and not from scratch because it is easy and works for me. I do feel guilty about it since I like to make everything from scratch if at all possible. These curry pastes sure taste great though!

The recipe as follows:

1 pound Jumbo shrimps
1 medium onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 TBS Thai red curry paste
1 Cup coconut milk
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1 TBS fish sauce
3 Thai chili peppers
1 TBS oil
1 can straw mushrooms (optional)
some chopped basil leaves
1 tsp lemon zest (Ideally lime leaves are better but it is easier to get lemon zest and tastes just as good to me!)

Heat up oil and garlic in a sauce pan. When it starts to sizzle, add chopped onions and cook till onions are almost tender for a few min. Add shrimps and curry paste. Mix well and add coconut milk, sugar, and fish sauce. Let it cook 3 min. Add mushrooms and water. Let it simmer for a few min. Add basil, lemon zest, and peppers. Turn off heat.


Red Curry Paste Jar (can get it at any Asian food store or online)

Adding the curry paste

Adding coconut milk

Straw mushrooms are very abundant in Asia and they taste much better fresh but I settled for a can here :(

Add mushrooms and let simmer for 3 min.

Chopped basil leaves and Thai chili peppers

Add herbs and chili at the end.Turn off heat.

Thai Yellow Curry Chicken

Today I woke up late so I had to make something quick but yummy. I promised my coworkers that I'll bring Thai Green Curry for lunch but it turned out that I didn't have all the herbs I needed to make that, so I made yellow curry instead. I was so excited to post my first recipe and paid close attention to how much of each ingredient I was using. Here it is:

2 large pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size

4 medium potatoes (I used Russet), cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of Garlic, minced

2 TBS Thai yellow curry paste (you can get this at most Asian stores or buy it online)

2 TBS sugar

1 TBS fish sauce

2 TBS oil

1 can coconut milk (8.5 oz)

1/2 cup water

some green onions or cilantro for Garnish

Heat up the oil in a pan with medium heat. Add onions and garlic to oil and cook for 1 min. Then add chicken and the curry paste. Cook for 3 min mixing the paste with chicken thoroughly. Then add potatoes,fish sauce,coconut milk, water, and sugar. Let this simmer and when the potatoes are done, the curry is READY! Add salt or sugar to your taste and garnish with some herbs or green onions. Serve it with steamed Jasmine rice.
Tip: I like to boil my potatoes in a separate pot until they are half way done before adding to the curry.


Yellow curry paste, coconut milk and potatoes





Green Onions for garnish

Ready!