This is Africa – a lesson on patience

Passport & Plate - Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Gai Phad Med Mamuang)

Thailand | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Ingredients (serves 2)
200g chicken breast thinly sliced
70g deep-fried cashew nuts (if you have raw cashew nuts deep fry them in half a cup of oil over a low heat until they are brown, drain)
2 tablespoons oil
3 crushed cloves of garlic
1 small onion – sliced
1 big chilli (red or green) – sliced
60ml water
a few spring onions – sliced

Sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar

 

How to prepare this recipe
Preparation:
Put oil into wok, add garlic and when it begins to turn brown add the chicken, onions, chillies – stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
Add water and stir again.
Add sauce ingredients and stir-fly briefly.
Turn off the oven and serve with rice

 

The story behind this recipe
Her hands grasped the rims of a huge rice bag tightly and her body went rigid as she was staring inside. When she looked up and her eyes met mine, I immediately knew something was wrong and I rushed towards the corner.
"I thought they were sesame seeds," her voice trembled, a finger pointing inside.
No, they were neither sesame seeds nor any other seeds. There was no denying that what we were both staring at, amongst the even pearly grains of rice, were ugly, little black bugs.
Having noticed the disgust emanating off our faces our Thai friend gently pushed me away, peered inside and gave out a hearty laugh.
"If you mind, just wash the rice and picked them out," Thom didn't even try to hide his amusement.
And that was exactly what we did. Two Cinderellas dressed in loose T-shirts and worn out flip flops laboriously working over their bowls. Later, at a candlelit dinner we looked knowingly at each other, satisfied with ourselves, plates of rice and chicken in front of us.
The following day we hugged, kissed and waved our goodbyes. They left, I stayed for a few more days. When the lunchtime came and I sat at a wooden table staring at my rice marked with small black dots I knew were not sesame seeds. Two more lunches passed before I was able to swallow the next mouthful of rice. Two more days and then I didn’t care anymore, I was hungry.