I know the blog posts have been lacking in the stud department lately. But I assure you, while the blog perhaps should be renamed Baking for a Stud, Jack and I still cook together, every night. The other day, Jack and I not only cooked together, but I am going to blog about it too, finally.
Our friends, Annalisa and her husband Aurelian just left town, about a month ago now, to travel around the world! While I am sad not to have them nearby for so long (est. 8 months), I am mostly just jealous, and hoping I get at least one postcard, from Thailand, maybe two. I had never been attracted to visiting Asia, but about a year ago, something clicked for me; worlds most gorgeous beaches and amazing food? Thailand is a must stop on our bucket list now! And the excitement was even more because Annalisa and Aureo are also super excited about visiting there as it is the destination which spurred their trip in the first place. They are currently renting an apartment in Chiang Mai, which is in Northern Thailand, and know for it's food. Definitely a place I plan to stop when I visit Thailand. Here is a blog post Aureo wrote recently about their stay in Chiang Mai so far.
Jack and I have been experimenting with Pad Thai over the past couple of years since our first attempt, so long ago. We've tried a couple of store brought sauces, but they are usually really sweet and seem to have a vinegar, not a fish sauce tang which is likely more authentic, or so we like to think. We finally have a recipe we really enjoy eating, and is easy to make. Of course, the recipe varies each time based on available ingredients, our mood, and well, because I always make the sauce "to taste" with no hard and fast recipe.
The recipe can be really flexible, you choose your own preferred ratio of veggies to mix with the rice noodles and sauce. This time our recipe was approximately as follows:
The veggies: whole head of broccoli,
a large red pepper,
a couple of carrots,
4 cloves of garlic,
2-3 very small onions,
a large spoonful of chopped cilantro
(we used "fresh frozen" cilantro since we forgot to buy fresh at the store)
and a couple tablespoons of sesame oil.
Optional: 2-4 eggs
For Garnish: 1 cup of fresh chopped green onions
1 box of fresh mung bean sprouts (you can used canned if not available)
1 cup cilantro (if you didn't do the frozen version, recommended)
1 cup roasted & chopped peanuts (we used cashews because we had tons)
1-2 limes sliced for squeezing
Jack chopped the veggies, and added the garlic and onions to the wok to heat up for a couple of minutes. He then added the veggies to start cooking (about 5 minutes)
In the mean time, I cooked the rice noodles, one standard 16 oz package, until they were floppy, but not even al dente. I then strained them, added oil and tossed them in a bowl on the side, while I started the sauce.
The sauce: Most sauce recipes call for palm sugar. I should probably buy some next time I am near an Asian Market, but since I never have it on hand, I use regular sugar.
To a small sauce pan, add 1 cup of sugar,
4 tbs of chopped garlic
a cup of fish sauce,
(note: fish sauce can be super salty, so start with less)
and 1 cup of tamarind juice from concentrate
(we have tamarind paste on hand and soak 2-3 tablespoons in
hot water until dissolved before we start cooking.)
Boil the 4 ingredients together, add more of either of the 4 to taste, and then pour, as desired into the wok, adding the rice noodles to the partially cooked veggies at this time. Cook until the veggies are tender, noodles are cooked, and the sauce has time to flavor the meal. Finally, garnish your plate with the sprouts, cilantro, peanuts and a liberal squeeze of lime. If you are using eggs, you can push the dish to the side, crack in the eggs, scramble and mix them in to cook.
Jack found a recipe for an Iced Rooibos & Coconut Tea, which he made, an amazing compliment to the Pad Thai. He wasn't able to find the vanilla rooibos, so he added some vanilla extract, He used plain coconut milk, and in lieu of stevia he used cane sugar. Such a delicious combination of creamy, slightly sweet and smooth tea! The recipe he found is on the attached link, and below.
Thai Rooibos Iced Tea
6 Tablespoons of vanilla rooibos tea
7 cups of boiling water
1 1/2 inch long cinnamon stick
2 star anise
Sweetener of choice
1 1/2 cups of coconut milk, whisked smooth
via cooking with a stud, http://www.cookingwithastud.com/2013/11/pad-thai-and-iced-rooibos-coconut-tea.html
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment