Saep Mak!

while we’re on the topic of exotic-looking thai foods, i thought i’d share a few of my personal favorites from this years “are you sure you’re supposed to eat that??” hall-of-fame.

i imagine in the states this dessert would most appropriately be served at an elementary school halloween party. this crazy looking thing—kanom wan ruam mit— is very popular in thailand, despite its novel appearance. “ruam mit” (very loosely) means “a combination of many different ingredients”, so you land something a bit different every time depending on what the vendor has available. here we have tub tim krob (water cress rolled in tapioca), sweetened pumpkin, corn and lawt chong (green rice noodles). mixed with coconut milk and ice, it makes for a very cold and very sweet post-meal treat.

of the many varieties of guay tiew, few are as flavorful and complex as guay tiew rua, or boat noodles. boat noodles were originally sold from- you guessed it!— boats on the canals and rivers of bangkok (which are now the bottle-necked, traffic-ridden, stress-inducing streets and the sois). this special noodle soup variety has a seeming endless number of ingredients, including but not limited to: peanuts, crushed chilis, chives, onions, sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind juice. to top it off, like it’s sister soup nam tok, guay tiew rua’s broth is cooked with pork blood (i know, i know), giving it a distinct pinkish color.

when you go to a thai restaurant, what do you order? if you’re like most americans, your answer is probably pad thai… and for good reason.  this greasy noodle dish is downright delicious, and hits that take-out hankering every time.

ironically, this iconic dish is actually a bit of an import. like most noodle dishes in thailand, pad thai (literally: noodles fried thai style) was inherited from chinese immigrants who came over here uurhmm a long time ago (click here if you wanna learn more about pad thai’s culinary history from a very reliable source). as the name suggests, pad thai was a bit of a reclaiming of territory, taking the chinese noodles and revamping them into a “thai style” dish.

while pad thai is popular here, it is a) eaten with much less frequency (thank buddha— i’d be the biggest loser’s number one pick if i ate the it every time i ordered thai food), and b) much lighter and drier than in the west. in fact, many restaurants in the west use ketchup as the base for the sauce, and Sriracha in place of ground chillis. and i must say, while there many, many variations of pad thai in thailand (depending on region, family history, etc.), you’d be hard pressed to find a pad thai stand that uses ketchup (sorry, heinz). 

beyond that limitation, the variety really is endless: some shops use tamarind and palm sugar, while others use vinegar and granulated sugar; some cook with soy sauce instead of fish sauce or a sweetened black sauce (a combination of sugar and darkly roasted ground chillis), that gives the dish a distinct dark color. you can get it with chicken, pork, shrimp, mixed seafood or tofu. And on and on and on.

though there are more westernized shops here that use more peanuts, more grease and more sugar, the most respected shops go a more traditional route, using only add-your-own peanuts and wrapping the noodles in an egg for protein. it feels a little less like thai fast food and a little more like a real meal (… just a little).

my favorite shop is featured above. it’s been passed down for three generations (in the fourth picture, you can see the next generation in training), and the women who run it have gone to great lengths to preserve their family’s culinary heritage.  rather than use a styrofoam box, they tightly wrap your to-go order in a banana leaf, and make the most tradition style in town. there’s also always has a basket of sprouts, banana flower, long beans and lots of lime ready on your table to add to the dish’s freshness… all for 90 cents!

A few weeks back, I had a weekend full of cooking lessons— pretty much my dream come true.  One of the dishes I learned to cook is a spicy salad native to this area called laab (sometimes transliterated as larb), or minced meat salad.  I made laab moo (pork), but there are many varities of the this minty and spicy salad— laab gai (chicken), laab ped (duck), laab blah (fish), and laab nua (beef). My favorite is laab blah… the fish carries the freshness of the ingredients just perfectly. I was taught with a family recipe that includes pig skin and intestines in it… two ingredients I will not be including when I make it at home.

Below I’ve listed a recipe that is almost identical to the one I used, from Real Thai: The Best of Thailand’s Regional Cooking (compiled by Nancie McDermott, San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 1992. p.126). You can replace the pork with any meat you’d like. Sorry veggies— I’ve had laab tofu and the texture just doesn’t carry over. I’d also add more mint. This is a great dish to make in hot summer months… it’s light, minty and fresh, with a nice kick. Enjoy!

Laab Moo

1 cup chicken stock
½ cup pound coarsely ground pork (beef or chicken)
½ cup coarsely chopped shallot (hawn daeng)
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (phak chi)
A handful of fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons roasted rice powder
1 tablespoon coarsely ground dried red chilli (or hot green pepper)
½ teaspoon sugar (option)
A few lettuce leaves (or Chinese cabbage)
2 wedges green cabbage
6 green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise

In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the stock to a boil. Add the meat and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing often with a large spoon to break up the meat and cook it to fairly evenly. When the meat is cooked, remove the pan from the heat.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a medium bowl, leaving most the of the liquid behind. Stir in the shallot, green onion, cilantro, and most of the mint, reserving a few leaves for a garnish. Add the lime juice, fish sauce, rice powder, chilli, and sugar (if preferred); stir to combine everything well. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed for a pleasing balance of sour, salty, and hot.

Line a serving platter with lettuce leaves and mound meat mixture in the center. Garnish with the cabbage, green bean, and mint. Serve at once.