Long story short, it was great.  I loved the falls, the scenery, the mountains, our Thai family (yes, I call them family as we’ve connected so well and they have done so much to care for us already), and just everything that we did today.

Another thing I hold in common with them is a love for food.  Yep, the matriarch of the family (3 generations live in one house) enjoys cooking, and all of them very much enjoy eating.  Fabulous, no?  Every time we have a meal together, they bring (or order) us new things to try, as well as remember our favorite foods.  (And, I often return favors with baked goods, knowing they’ll enjoy it!).  Today was no different – as we went from the tree vendors to the falls, our friends told us to pull over so they could buy us a roadside snack.

All along the road (as is the case pretty much anywhere in Thailand) were little stalls and cabana-type structures hawking roasted meats, veggies, fruits, salads, and snacks.  The one we stopped at was selling something called ข้าวหลาม – khaaw laam.  Fortunately for you guys, I remembered to take a photo halfway through munching in the car.

It’s really a simple snack – sticky rice roasted over a fire or coals in a piece of hollowed out bamboo.  The rice is usually mixed with some sugar, coconut cream and sometimes black beans (like mine) or sesame before being roasted.  You can eat it hot right when you buy it or take it home, pop in the fridge, and eat it later cold.   Yum.

P.S.  In case you were wondering what we had for our picnic at the waterfall, we had perhaps my favorite meal in Thailand – som tam and roasted chicken.  This combination of food is to Thai picnics what burgers, hot dogs, and potato salad are to American barbecues.

… and Brook feasted on a couple of chicken feet.  Blergh.

After having talked with the teachers about preparing our final meal together and bringing it to them, rather than going out to a local restaurant, I had to figure out just what to make.  Seeing how the Thai palette is not the same as those of us from the States (or much of the Western world, for that matter), I needed to do some polling around to find out what each of the teachers like and dislike.  It seems that most basic Italian food goes over well in Thailand, as they are already accustomed to tomatoes and tomato-based sauces, they enjoy garlic, and pasta has become quite common over the past few decades.  Since I rather enjoy making Italian food, this was no biggie… but, just what would I make?  Lasagna.

A few of the ladies asked if I could make lasagna, and wanted me to make it the way they’ve seen it in pictures – not the way other foreigners have made it, or they way it is prepared in selected Thai restaurants.  They wanted the real stuff, unchaged for Thai tastes.  Little did they know, I LOVE making lasagna (my Nana’s recipe), and I’ve been looking for an excuse to splurge (cheese is expensive, both noodles and ricotta/cottage cheese very hard to find) on this meal for the past year.  Finally, I had a good reason!  (And time to pad the budget a bit, too.)

Since we were gone all day Monday working on our new house, I had to do some of the prep on Sunday – shredding the mozzarella, and peeling/dicing/stewing my own tomatoes with finely minced onion and herbs, since the canned variety isn’t available to me here.  Boy, did it smell good in here.  Having the most time consuming things finished already, I was able to get up early today, finish making the sauce, brown the meat, prep the cheesey layer, then assemble the lasagna for baking.  Check it out.

I gave myself an extra hour for cook time, just in case my wonky oven decided to do anything to ruin my day, and I’m glad I did.  The thicker material of my new dish (found it on sale in BKK – it’s real Corningware!), plus the inconsistent gas in my oven made it take about an extra 25 minutes.  Good thing I learned from past experience, eh?  While that was in the oven, I prepared a simple salad, a tray of veggies to add to the salad, made a dish of fresh garlic butter with parsley, and arranged a couple of thinly sliced baguette on a tray.  It all looked great, smelled great… and made my house about a billion degrees this morning!  But, I didn’t care.  I got to cook, and it worked, so I’m happy.

We sat down to lunch with all but one of our teachers today, and I had to keep focused in order to keep myself from tearing up while we ate.  These women really do work hard for us.  As I said yesterday, they put up with so many people messing up Thai, messing up culturally, asking the exact same questions over and over again… and they still manage to keep a smile on their faces.  They have incredible patience and such willing hearts to help us in learning this language and keep from making fools of ourselves.  Though the year hasn’t been easy, I am incredibly grateful for them and all they’ve invested in both Brook and I.  I really can’t say thank you enough.

Today was really fun.  And… they liked it!  Seriously, most had seconds, and some even went for thirds!  If you’ve ever lived in a foreign country, and if you’ve ever tried to cook for your national friends, you know what kind of accomplishment that is.  I loved listening to them chattering away about how they liked it, and how pretty it was (yes, they noticed my meticulous layering as every slice of lasagna came out of the pan – my momma taught me well!).  Even when unwrapping the tray of bread, another said how impressed she was that I had fanned the slices out so neatly around the cup of butter – it’s those little things that count, ya know?  That’s the kind of stuff that makes it special, and I think they noticed.  I know, I know, I should have taken a picture of everything, but I didn’t remember to do so until it was mostly gone.

I really hope they felt appreciated today, because I would not be where I am without them.

Today was full of final classes, tonight full of studying (from which I am taking a short break to write this and eat a bowl of Carnation brand almond ice cream) for my module 9 (Christian communication) and final Year-One exams tomorrow.  Then, it’s a week of cleaning, packing, and seeing everyone and their brother for the next week while the Mr. completes his studies and exams (ending Wednesday, July 7th)… final Fellowship Group meeting next Wednesday night… and then we move the 8th!  Is your head spinning from that?  Again, I say whoa.

So, here we are chatting about food.  That makes me happier than studying books of course.  So, what will I introduce you to this week?  Jackfruit.  Why?  Because our new house (oh, how I LOVE to say that!) has its very own little – well, quite big, actually – jackfruit tree at the back corner of your yard.  (Yes, we have a yard, too!  Ok, I’ll stop – you have to wait until we move for more info.)

Here's a whole jackfruit.

Jackfruit are thought to be the largest of all tree-grown fruits in the world.  Depending on location and climate, this fruit can reach up to 80 pounds in weight, 20 inches in diameter, and 36 inches in length!  It has a bumpy green exterior and tends to grow low on the tree.  When opened, the fruit emits a fragrance similar to a blend of pineapples and bananas.  However, I’ve been told that if the fruit ripens and is left unopened, it will begin to smell like rotting onions until cracked open and the smell of its interior flesh can take over.  Eeew.  We’ll have to see how this works out with our own tree.

Jackfruit pods

So, what part of the jackfruit do you actually eat?  Every football-shaped jackfruit can contain between 100-500 seeds (depending on the size of your fruit) with fleshy pods or bulbs surrounding each one.  The pods are a canary yellow in color, and tend to have a crisp, slightly sweet texture.  I seem to think it tastes similar to a tart, not quite yet ripened banana.  Depending on ripeness, it may even make your teeth squeak when you bite into it, so if certain food textures or sensations give you the heebie jeebies, you may want to steer clear of this particular snack.

As with many things in Asia, every part that can be used of both this fruit and the tree it comes from will be used.  The large seeds found inside of each bulb can be boiled and eaten similar to a chestnut.  The bulbs themselves can be eaten raw as a fruit, boiled or stewed in curries, or (due to it’s texture being similar to cooked chicken) used as a vegetarian meat substitute in certain Thai dishes.  Its leaves are used for wrapping different types of foods, and making containers for small items.  The wood of the jackfruit tree is quite lovely in color and is used in making certain Southeast Asian musical instruments, as well as furniture and certain housing elements in India.  Also, the wood can also be used to create a deep golden colored dye for ceremonial clothes worn by monks.  They really do use every part of the tree.

Sadly, I doubt you’ll be able to find jackfruit in your local market or grocery store, as there are only a handful of trees located in Southern Florida, and a few more in the Asian exhibit at the San Diego zoo.  Looks like you’ll just have to come visit me in Thailand, and eat them from MY tree!  :)

I promise this looks yummier in person. We have funky fluorescent tube lights in our house.

If you know me well at all, then you know I love pretty much any type of salad, whether it goes on a sandwich or it’s the kind that’s all green and eaten with a fork.  I’m a rabbit by nature, and when it’s hot outside, I prefer to eat things that are chilled rather than hot and steamy.  What better way to end yet another day in the 100′s and full sun than with a cool, light, and refreshing supper of chicken salad croissants.  Mmmmm.

So, for this week’s Tasty Tuesday, I thought I’d share with you how I make my chicken salad here in Thailand.  There are certainly other variations that I use from time to time (like adding crushed pineapple, walnuts, or finely diced cucumber), but this has to be my most frequent recipe.  It’s a little bit sweet, a little bit tart, a wee bit salty, and has a nice light crunch.

Another thing you may already know is that I don’t really measure much when I’m preparing food.  I just kind of eyeball everything, and keep that amount in my mind for the next time I cook.  So, I’ll just tell you what I use (giving amounts when I actually know what they are) and let you take it from there, ok?  This recipe makes enough for about 6 medium sized croissants.  Here goes…

• 1 pkg. (8) chicken tenders or 3 chicken breasts, poached and shredded
• 3-4 stalks of celery, split and diced
• about half of a large yellow/white/red onion (whichever you like best!)
• a generous handful of RED grapes, seeded and split (green ones just don’t have the right sweetness)
• start with a few Tablespoons of mayo or Miracle Whip (I like the MW), then adjust it to however creamy you want it to be
• a few dashes of lemon juice
• salt and black pepper, to taste

Toss it all in a bowl, then let it chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  This will allow the chicken to soften up a bit, and the flavors will get the chance to blend nicely.  Sometimes, if the mood strikes, I’ll add a little bit of dried dill or some finely chopped walnuts to this recipe as well, but never both at the same time – something about their flavors just doesn’t mesh well with each other.

Enjoy!

I forgot to take a shot of my own bowl, so I've borrowed this one from the internet.

Let’s start with the name – Massaman Curry.  The term Massaman actually comes from an old word meaning “Muslim.”  Though known as a Southern Thai dish, the spices that are used to make the curry paste for this meal are thought to have come to Thailand long, long ago by way of Muslim traders from India.  Thus, the name Massaman Curry.

When you hear the word “curry,” do you automatically think of Indian food as I also once did?  The term essentially means to stew or cook something slowly in a pot.  That’s exactly what you do in both Indian and Thai curries.  However, the thing that sets each set of flavors apart are the spices typically used in the pastes and powders used to create these dishes.  Curries throughout both Thailand and India, of course, vary from region to region – even family to family – but there are some common spices included in each, no matter what the type of curry.  Here’s a list of typical spices and seasonings present in each country’s curries:

• India – cumin, fenugreek, coriander seed, fennel, cardamon, asafoteida, turmeric.
• Thailand – galangal, kaffir, lemongrass, basil, fish sauce, shrimp paste, chilies, coconut milk.

Sadly, the inclusion of cumin (especially fresh ground or whole seeds) makes me unable to eat the copious amounts of Indian food that I would like to.  Large amounts of that particular spice cause a rather unfriendly reaction in my body.  I can take it in smaller amounts, such as in homemade Mexican food (pre-ground or spice mixes that have naturally lost their intensity), thankfully!

Ok, so back to the Thai food.  Thailand has a wide range of curries that are classified by color – red, green, or yellow – depending on the type of chilies used in making the curry paste, or the addition of turmeric (as in the case of the yellow curries).  Massaman tends to fit moreso in the yellow category, as the spices used to make its paste are different in nature from the rest of Thai curried dishes.  The Massman paste is comprised of dried chili, black peppercorns, coriander seeds and roots, cloves, cardamon, (a small amount of) cumin, lemongrass, galangal (similar to ginger), shallots, garlic, tamarind, and shrimp paste.  It’s a sort of fusion between Thai and Indian food.  Can you smell it already?

Massaman Curry Paste

To make the curry, all you need to do is add a bit of Massaman curry paste to coconut milk and simmer it along with some cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick, and your choice of Thai basil or dried Bay leaves.  Add in some onion, chunked up beef, and diced white or sweet potatoes and let it cook for a couple of hours.  Some people even add in some star anise for an added boost of flavor.  This really is a very aromatic meal, mixing so many flavors together.  Surprisingly though, it isn’t overwhelmingly spicy or hot.  It’s just right, and just plain delicious.  You can either eat is straight from a bowl, or do like I do and spoon it over a plateful of rice.  Either way, it’s really good.

Now, to the rest of you, to whom I may sound like just another a blabbering girly girl hyped up over something insignificant, I say “whatever.”  With the kindest smile, of course.  :)

Today, Brook and I had a few hours to kill between lessons and decided our time would be best spent checking out a new store on the other end of town.  It just opened on Wednesday, and we decided (after the last Grand Opening we tried to attend) it would be better to wait a few days until the curious crowd died down a little bit.  Even better, we decided midday would cut down on the masses even more.  Yes, this plan worked, and off we went to check out this place called Makro just outside of the city.

Makro, for those of you who don’t know, is a more simplified Thai equivalent to Sam’s Club.  They sell many items in bulk (cooking oils, snacks, some fresh produce, etc.) at a discounted price, and shoppers are asked to have a membership card.  This week, they’re letting people in without a card though, so they can start shopping and get hooked on it first.  Ha.  I’ve heard about these stores, and driven by them many times during the course of the past year, but had never been inside one.

I was in sheer awe of their produce section and frozen items, the dairy case (yes, there was a dairy case!!!!!) and the bakery.  I don’t expect any of you to understand, but after living in our city for a year, lacking many food items that I’ve been accustomed to having for the past 25 years, this place about made me cry.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Thai food!  But, it’s nice to have something more familiar every once in a while, ya know?

So, what did I see that I haven’t seen before (well, sometimes in Bangkok, but not in Lopburi)??  Massive blocks of cheese (one mozzarella, one white cheddar, one yellow Australian cheddar, one gouda and one parmesean)!  Real sour cream!  Ground beef, frozen pizza dough, yellow corn tortillas, dried bay leaves, Canadian bacon in chunk form, Prego spaghetti sauce, both black and green canned olives, lasagna noodles, Granny Smith apples, balsamic vinegar, real navel oranges, fresh strawberries, lemons (very rare), real sweet corn, frozen blueberries (berries are pretty non-existent here), frozen spinach (oh my goodness!), and both red & white wine vinegars.  It took most of the power I have within me to resist grabbing some of everything and shoving it in my cart as we walked the store (though it did help reminding myself that it was all a bit expensive on our Thai budget, and these sort of things would have to limited to an infrequent “treats” basis.  Ha!).  I simply could not believe my eyes.

But the biggest thing to me, the thing that made my eyes well up with tears for some inexplicable reason, was celery.  Real, fat, bright green, large bunched, crispy, refreshing, glorious celery.  I have been wanting for this simple pleasure for a year now – chicken salad just isn’t the same, egg salad lacks that fabulous crunch, peanut butter is lonely without it… and today I found it.  I’m not kidding about how happy I was to pick it up, see the stamp from California, and take it to be weighed.  And it wasn’t too expensive either!  Only about $1.00 US for a good sized bunch.  I was like a little kid proudly carrying a new toy around throughout the store. I just couldn’t stop smiling.

I know, I know.  I’m a silly girl.  But, it’s those little things in life that help refresh this girl when day to day life in Thailand gets to be just a little bit too much.  That celery made my day.  I ate a few sticks with peanut butter for lunch, and I made the most delightful chicken salad for supper.  It was wonderful.

What’s one of your “little things” that can cheer you up or make everything all better?

For this week’s Tasty Tuesday, I thought I’d share with you a few of the places I like to go online when searching for ideas on food, recipes, creativity and what not. Living in Thailand has surely forced me to be even more resourceful when it comes to meals (and everyday life, for that matter) and food shopping. I’ve always been one to enjoy cooking and making things myself, but boy was I surprised by how little what I made back in the States was truly “from scratch.”

Back home, I used canned tomatoes, cream soups, packaged tortillas, and pre-mixed spice blends for certain things.  I got used to having things like English muffins and bagels at the store, buying a package of ricotta or sour cream, picking up a bag of hamburger buns, or buying various types of broth for cooking and soup making.  Yes, I made meals myself and rarely used a boxed something-or-other… but, I still used things (like what I just listed) that were already prepared in order to do so.  Here, it’s a whole different ballgame – none of these things are anywhere to be found.

I now make my own cream soups, sauce bases, roux, stewed/crushed/peeled tomatoes, tomato juice, tortillas, spice blends, English muffins, bagels, hamburger buns, reconstitute various dry beans, dinner rolls, broths, sausage, pickles, salsa (which I did before sometimes, too), chicken strips/ buffalo wings, pasta/pizza sauces, various breads and doughs, and so much more.  Right now, I’m even working on making sour cream and ricotta!  It’s tough work, too, when I don’t actually have a kitchen either.  I’ve got a table out in our living space, and a strip off the back of the house with an old gas range in it.  Imagine how funny I look when doing prep on one side of the house, then running to the other with something in hand for a pot on the stove.  Ha.  I do enjoy it, but it takes a LOT of time to do here in Thailand.

Seeing as I had to leave my cookbooks back in the States (all but one my mom made for me when we got married, with family recipes in it – that one HAD to be here with me!), I’ve had to begin turning to the internet for help when I need it.  Since doing so, I’ve discovered a handful of reliable food bloggers that have enabled me to learn new ways of cooking, how to make more “pantry items” from scratch, and enjoy watching them cook certain meals that I would love to make, but simply can’t find the ingredients for around here.

That said, I’d like to share with you a few links to the sites I check most often for help, inspiration, and new ideas.  I hope you enjoy them, too!  Just click on the name, and it will link you straight to the site.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks – fabulous step-by-step photo tutorials on nearly every recipe.  Good home cookin’ type food.

Tasty Kitchen – a pretty reliable recipe-sharing community developed by the previously mentioned Pioneer Woman.

Annie’s Eats – a working mom in the medical field, from Indianapolis, who does a fabulous job of entertaining and trying/developing new recipes.

FoodGawker – a collection of food photos with links to various original blog posts containing recipes and cooking tips, updated daily.

Taste – an Australian recipe collection filled with light, refreshing, healthy meals.

KitchenDaily – sure, they’ve got lots of good recipes… but, my favorite part is the How-To’s section that features lots of short instructional videos on basic kitchen and cooking techniques from the Culinary Institute of America.

CIA Intelligence – from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), comes recipes, instructional videos, and a whole lot of knowledge, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I sure am!

I made this!

Anyways, for today’s Tasty Tuesday, we’re going to check out a popular Thai soup known as “Tom Yum.” (Say it like: (d)tome yum)  I’ve just finished my most recent module (with an exam today, actually!), which was focused on all things related to the kitchen.  Of course, I didn’t enjoy this course of study at all.  Noooo.  Me?  Love things about food and cooking?  Nope.  Wait.  I loved it!  Even better than learning the names for a large number of fruits, vegetables, and herbs… spices, pastes, and sauces… kitchen utensils and cooking vocabulary… was that fact that I got to learn to make yet another Thai dish from my tutor.

The first time we lived in Thailand (6.5 months in 2005), I stayed on the top floor of a storefront church building with 2 Thai women older than myself.  One was in her mid-30′s, the other in her early 70′s.  The older of the two was in charge of getting the meal around for church every Sunday, and when she learned of my affinity for the kitchen, she gladly enrolled my help whenever I was around.  During my time with her, I learned to make several dishes the proper Thai way.  Among them were things like Som Tam, Kaeng Sapparot, Pad Thai, Khaaw Phat, Satay, and Krapow Kai.  Over the course of the past few years, I’ve used those skills to make authentic Thai meals whenever we had the craving, so I’ve kept up on it and still believe I can make them well.

Earlier in our time here in Lopburi, I also was offered a cooking lesson by one of the teachers at our language center.  You may remember my post last November about making Phat Priaw Waan with Khruu Awd and Puk.  I love learning new ways of cooking, as well as how to make meals from other cultures the right way – not the typical Americanized type of Asian food.  Well, it turned out that Puk (from the other post) became my tutor from the community for the past month, and I really enjoyed spending time both getting to know her and learning about what Thai people really eat here in Lopburi.

After finding out what Puk enjoys making, we decided Tom Yum would be the next recipe for me to add to my collection.  I have come to find out that this is not actually a “pure” Tom Yam recipe, as she adds a type of Thai chili jam to her soup.  This is not how it is commonly served in restaurants and street stalls, rather it is a personal preference.  This addition is liked enough, though, that some shops will supply customers with a dish of jam to add to their own bowl.  Doesn’t matter to me, because this is the first Tom Yam that I have actually ever liked enough to eat a whole bowl of!  Tom Yam is a sour-salty soup, often packing a punch from the chilies (though a lot flavorful heat is not necessary, if that’s not your thing).

L to R: galangal, lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaves, the finished product

What you need for 1 small pot:
(2-3 servings)

น้ำจืด – water to fill 2/3 pot
เนื้อไก่สะโพก – 1 chicken thigh+leg
เห็ดฟาง - handful of mushrooms
ตะไคร้ – 1-2 stalks lemongrass
ใบมะกรูด – 10-12 Kaffir lime leaves
มะเขือเทศ – 1 tomato
มะขามเปียก – 1 pc. tamarind in vinegar or paste
พริกขีหนู - 2-3 long Thai chilies
มะนาว – 1 lime
ข่า – 3 slices galangal
ผักชี – handful cilantro/coriander
พริกเผา – Thai chili jam
น้ำปลา – fish sauce
เครื่องปรุงรส – seasonings (salt, Thai “RotDi”, pepper, etc.)

The assembly of this soup is really quite simple -
- While bringing water to a boil, remove chicken bones and crack in half.  Add bones to water to make stock.  Slice chicken meat into strips and set aside.

- Trim rough ends from lemongrass and cut each stalk into thirds.  Pound each stalk with the back of your knife to bruise the lemongrass.  Halve mushrooms.  Remove center vein from each of the lime leaves, then tear leaves in half.  Remove stems from chilies and beat each chili once to break the skin.  Slice 3 thin coins of galangal (similar to ginger).  Add all of these, plus tamarind and roughly chopped cilantro, right away to your broth and allow to simmer for a few minutes.

- When mushrooms begin to get tender, add the chicken to your broth.  Slice tomato into large chunks (4-8 depending on the size of your tomato) and add at this time as well.  Juice half of the lime into your broth, and allow it to simmer a few minutes more.

- Once meat is cooked through, taste your soup.  Add fish sauce, salt, more lime juice and Thai chili jam (optional ingredient) according to your taste.  Remove lemongrass stalks and whole tamarind before serving.

Since it’s nice to get back on the blogging trail this week, I figured we’d go for something equally as sweet – a couple of my favorite Thai street snacks. Everywhere you go, there are hawkers with small styrofoam or paper trays and boxes filled with yummy bite-sized treats – both sweet and savory. These treats are called ขนม, or “kha-nome.” (I’ll do my best to write out the Thai names in sounds you will understand… not necessarily the proper phonetic system I’ve been taught.)

The first one is called “kha-nome ma-phrao kaew.”  This is one of the simplest and yummiest little snack balls in the world.  All it takes is a block of hardened palm sugar, a few overripe coconuts, and a touch of food coloring if you so choose.  Palm sugar is sold in various sized blocks (from the size of your hand to the size of your head!), and is tan in color.  This type of sugar is favored in Thai cooking as it is not only abundant, but has a unique flavor that suits their cuisine quite well.  All you need to do is heat it up until it returns to its original liquid form, throw in your fresh shredded coconut, and stir it around until evenly coated.  Remove your mixture from the heat, use a fork to form it into small, bite-sized balls, place on a tray or waxed paper and let them dry.  As the sugar dries, it sort of glues the coconut together and forms a semi-crispy outer shell.  The inside, however, remains chewy and oh so coconutty.  Absolutely wonderful for anyone who likes coconut.  If you don’t like coconut, then this is the worst snack ever for you.

Another interesting treat is called luke choop. These tiny treats are made to look like all different shapes and sizes of fruits and vegetables.   Most are small enough to fit several in the palm of your hand.  At first glance, they look almost like a sort of gummy or jelly candy; however, they couldn’t be farther from that!  The base of these edible replicas is made from a paste of mung beans, sugar, and coconut cream.  When mixed together, these ingredients from a dough similar in texture to marzipan.  It is easily formed into whatever shape is necessary before being painted with food colors according to whatever fruit or vegetable it is supposed to be.  After shaping and painting, each piece is then dipped into a clear gelatin and set to dry.  The gelatin is what really helps the colors pop and what gives them their lovely sheen.  Now, do they taste really good?  I don’t think they’re horrible… but they’re not amazing either.  I just enjoy them because I think each one is literally a work of art, and they can be used to make other treats even more beautiful (on cakes, displays, table settings, etc.).  If you’d like to see a recipe or photos of how luke choop is made, click here.

Sadly, those of you who have actually ventured into the world of Thai cuisine back in the States may or may not have heard of this particular meal.  It is not very well known outside of Thailand, and yet it would be considered by most to be a national favorite.  This is perhaps one of the most common things I will see others eating in the night market or small shops during the lunch hour.  Why?  It’s simple and delicious.  Another wonderful thing about this particular dish is that it is one of the few that has virtually no variation on its preparation throughout the country.  Each region of Thailand typically has its own spin or flavor added to the typical Thai dishes.  This one, however, is the same wherever you go.  It is often plated in the same fashion as well – nice mound of rice, meat on top, cilantro garnish… bowl of sauce and sliced cucumbers on the side… and a bowl of soup.  Yum.

So what exactly is khao mun gai?

Let’s start with the main ingredient of many-a-plate of Thai food.  Rice.  Most Thai dishes will use some form of steamed or boiled white rice as their foundation, and khao mun gai is no exception.  Well, except for the fact that it’s not just plain old white rice.  This rice is actually cooked in chicken stock, and usually has a bit of crushed garlic, ginger, and some bruised cilantro tossed in as well.  This gives the white rice a sort of dingy beige color, but the flavor benefits are absolutely wonderful.  I really don’t know how to describe it to you, other than to tell you to just give it a try for yourself.  It’s just good.

Next, we’ve got the protein – steamed chicken (sometimes switched out with duck, if the vendor is running low… tastes just as great).  Several slices of meat are placed on top of the rice, then garnished with a few sprigs of cilantro.  I absolutely love cilantro, and the fact that it is used so often in Thai cuisine is yet another reason why I enjoy eating in this country.  There’s just something about taking a bite of the savory rice, tender chicken, and a leaf of pungent cilantro (or coriander for my friends outside the USA) all at the same time that’s magical.  Yes, I said this food is magical.  Laugh if you want, but you’ll believe me when you try it for yourself.

Now, the sauce.  Oh, the sauce.  As I list the following ingredients, I can already see some of your noses turning up, but again, I ask you to trust me.  These things are magical, too.  (Go ahead and roll your eyes.)  The slightly sweet, slightly sour, little bit spicy sauce that’s a little bit liquid and a little bit chunks is what really brings everything together.  So, what are the scary things it’s made of – both dark and white soy sauce, some white vinegar, a few Thai bird chilies, garlic, and ginger all crunched up, a bit of sugar and… fermented soybeans.  Some of you cringe at the mention of soybeans already, let alone tagging the word fermented onto it.  The sauce is served in a small bowl to the side of the plate, allowing the diner to either dump the whole thing straight onto their meal and redistribute it with a fork (which is my preferred method), or simply dip pieces of meat into it while eating.

Also on the side are the usual fresh, thick, peeled cucumber slices.  Everything tastes better with cucumbers.

And finally, the soup.  The soup is the only part of this meal that varies according to your location.  It just depends on whose shop you are eating at, and how they like to make it.  One thing that is always the same is the base – chicken broth.  What else goes into it is up to your cook.  Most places with give a sprinkle of finely chopped green onion or chives, while others (like our shop today) will throw in a few sprigs of cilantro instead.  Some restaurants will even add a splash of fish sauce or sugar to give the broth a little more flavor.  Traditionally, there is supposed to be a piece or two of Chinese winter gourd in the bowl as well – though some vendors omit this item for the sake of cost.  I’ve had this gourd in my soup many times, and it’s quite nice – when cooked, it looks and slices sort of like a boiled potato, but with the slight crunch of a water chestnut.  Whatever broth I get, it’s usually pretty good, and several spoonfuls always seem to find their way onto my plate of rice.

So, there you have it.  Yet another Thai dish to add to your list of things you need to try… or eat when you come to visit us in Thailand.  :)