Passport & Plate - Kaeng Kiao Waan and Som Tam
Thailand | Monday, March 2, 2015 | 
flickr photos
Ingredients
Kaeng Kiao Waan
Curry Paste
- 3 green long chilies
- 1 tbsp of chopped shallots
- 1 tsp of chopped galangal
- 1/2 tsp of chopped kaffir lime rind
- 1 tsp of chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp of chopped lemongrass
- 1 tbsp of chopped krachai
- 1/4 tsp of roasted cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp of roasted coriander seeds
- 1/4 tsp of salt
Other ingredients
- 1 cup of coconut milk
- 70 grams of sliced chicken, beef, fish, pork or tofu
- 1 cup sliced white eggplant, carrots, snow peas or you can substitute other vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower or potato
- 1/4 cup of makheau phuang
- 1/3 cup of sliced onions
- 1 cup of water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp of fish or soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
- 2 stems of horapaa
Som Tam
- 1-2 hot Thai chilies
- 2-3 peeled cloves of garlic
- 1/3 cup of chopped long beans (3 cm in length)
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 tsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of fish or soy sauce
- 1 tomato cut into 6 pieces
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 3 tbsp of chopped peanuts
- 1 cup of shredded green papaya (peel and remove any seeds)
How to prepare this recipeKaeng Kiao Waan Method
Part 1 - Curry Paste
a. Put all the ingredients in a mortar.
b. Pound with the pestle until everything is mixed and ground thoroughly
Part 2 - Assembling the Curry
a. Pour the coconut milk in a pan on medium heat and stir until oil appears.
b. Add the green curry paste and the protein and stir until almost cooked.
c. Add your vegetables, water, sugar, fish sauce/soy sauce, salt and turn the heat up and stir a little bit.
d. When everything is cooked (soft but still with a bite for the vegetables), add the kaffir lime leaves and horapaa.
e. Serve with rice and enjoy.
Som Tam
a. Put garlic, long beans and chillies into the mortar and mash with pestle until crushed into pieces.
b. Add lemon juice, sugar, fish/soy sauce, tomato and salt and mix together.
c. Finally add the shredded papaya and peanuts and mix together well with the pestle and a spoon.
The story behind this recipeMy new years resolution for 2014 was not to cook the exact same recipe twice. I enjoyed this so much that I have kept this up in 2015 as well. I was very lucky to grow up in a home where food didn’t often come from a can or a box, instead the bread, stews, cookies and cakes were all homemade. Even though I have a busy life, I find the time I spend in the kitchen as my relaxation time.
I first experienced Thai food in a Western restaurant in Canada; I fell in love with their use of coconut milk, fresh ingredients and chilies. It wasn’t a good dish unless it was hot enough for your nose to start to run. It wasn’t by chance that my first official food tour was to Thailand; with its great diversity of dishes and flavours as one transverses from north to south. Differences in Thai cuisine are so diverse that it almost feels like traveling to many countries at once, but no wonder with a fusion of influences such as Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Portuguese and French. There is however a very distinct Thai cuisine that is best experienced on a journey throughout the country. I soon realized that there were many more flavours to Thai cuisine that just spicy. A unique aspect of Thai cuisine is that each dish aspires to obtain a balance of sour, sweet, salty and spicy. As a chemistry teacher I fell in love with Thai cuisine for this flavour equilibrium.
A Thai meal must also be balanced, that is why I couldn’t just provide a recipe for a curry, it has to be balanced with a salad. These recipes come form my experience at a cooking school in the northern town of Chiang Mai. Both recipes are favourites with the added challenge of making green curry paste from scratch using ingredients from my local Asian supermarket. When buying my green papaya there, I had a great conversation with an Asian lady who was also buying one and let me know what else I could make with it besides Som Tam. Next new recipe!
These recipes make me smile and give me a mouthful of flavours in each bite.
