In Thai cooking, afew dishes instantly jump out at you. In my world those are Pad Thai and Tom Yum Soup with a similar 4 1/2 S flavouring (salty, sweet, savoury and spicy, and maybe (s)citrusy for an extra s sounding ingredient) a wonderful combination, now if only they threw in smoky.
I am a stickler for working with root ingredients. I wanted to start off with a basic Thai Curry Paste I would use in many of these recipes. There is the red and green variety, separated mainly by the colour of the chilies used. I make this assumption since no two recipes for a curry paste I have seen are the same, green or red.
JG had a green curry recipe to go along with his Green Curry Lentil recipe. So I figured I'd learn how to make the curry as well as take my first baby step into the “Asian Flavors” cookbook. The curry had all the wonderful new ingredients in it; lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste, nam pla. The only thing not in the curry was the lime leaves, but they were used in main recipe so I got to try all the new ingredients and see what each one brings to the dish. The results were wonderful, better cold the next day. And the left over green curry didn't last the week. I added it to other thai recipes, as well as eating it with almost everything else.
Next up was Tom Yum Soup. For this I used the Bhudda's Table recipe because it was a little simpler and I wanted to use up the ingredients I already had, plus I got to make Tamarind paste for the first time (this is the main source of the sour “S” for this recipe). The main thing I noticed was how much the lime leaves give this soup it's distinct flavour. The results were not as flavourful as I hoped. I think it was due to my omission of Chili Paste with Soybean Oil because I couldn't find a non MSG ladened version.This recipe was vegetarian and would have called for nam pla (fish sauce) if not. Usually I turn a blind eye to extracts and enhancers, but with a pregnant wife. I tried my best to keep it clean. I finally tracked one down with the addition of basil leaves. It would have to do. The broth was also lacking the subtle sweetness I have come to expect in this soup and just a weaker flavour than I have come to know and love.
My Pad Thai was a combination of two internet finds and it turned out well. Here I use shrimp paste. God all mighty that stuff stinks! But once all the flavours come together. The salty, savoury taste can't be beat. The results were very tasty. A slight sweetness, but as I despise Spring Rolls syrupy sweet Pad Thai Sauce, I was cautious of the sweetness.
I followed these up with a dish I'd be making for the evening. The Grilled Chicken with Kumquat-Lemongrass Dressing. Great dish but pitting those kumquats was annoying but I did learn that I needed to double the sauce recipe as there was barely enough for all the servings. If it weren't for the sliced kumquats I'd say it was meant to be a glaze. But still delicious. So with some familiarity of the ingredients I was ready for the challenge of making multiple dishes for 8 people. Piece of cake!?!?!!
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