Thailand is a small country in Southeast Asia, sharing a peninsula with Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Like all local and national cuisines, the food of Thailand reveals a great deal about the country. It is a palimpsest of its political history, its trade, and its geography. Thailand sits between the cultural and political powers of India and China, and its food is clearly influenced by both. Yet Thailand's food, like her people, has maintained its own distinct identity.
Americans usually don't realize that rice is the main course, not the side dish -- curries and other hot dishes are eaten by the Thai more as sauces than entrees, flavoring the cool rice. Meat is very expensive, and beef- or pork-based recipes often call for much less meat than would satisfy the average American carnivore. It is worth noting that the Thai eat with a spoon, fork and knife. In Southeast, only the Vietnamese eat with chopsticks, so next time you'll know why your waiter in the Thai restaurant coughs when you ask for chopsticks.
Thai food is either stir-fried or steamed. Some foods are grilled, but, as in the rest of the region, a lack of fuel precludes baking. Chiles and other spices are ground into powder or paste with mortar and pestle or, for the convenience-oriented cook, with a coffee grinder.
Fish sauce (nam pla) and/or shrimp paste (kapee) appear in nearly every recipe. The other distinct flavors of Thai cooking come from the indigenous spices and produce: coconut milk, lemon grass, tamarind, ginger, black pepper,and chillies. The chile has become a central player and much Thai food is fiery hot. Try to follow the recipes below to satisfy your cravings for foods.
Gambas al Ajillo (garlic prawns) is a very easy to prepare shrimp recipe. This is a satisying dish consists of shrimp that are sauteed quickly in olive oil that has been laced with lots of garlic and some red chiles. It is usually offered as an appetizer in many restaurants, but we sometimes like to accompany it with rice or pasta along with a green salad and make a full meal of it.
INGREDIENTS:
12 medium cloves Garlic
1 pound shrimp
1/2 cup extra virgin oil
1/2 tsp. table salt
1 bay leaf
1 whole chile or 1/4 tsp. red chile flakes
1 tbsp. fresh parsley leaves (chopped)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Finely mince 3 garlic cloves, or put them through a garlic press. In a medium bowl, combine minced garlic with about 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt. Stir in shrimp and let marinate at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes.
2. Smash 3 garlic cloves. Heat smashed garlic with remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is a light golden brown, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and allow oil to cool to room temperature. Remove smashed garlic from skillet and discard.
3. Thinly slice remaining 6 cloves garlic. Return skillet to low heat and add sliced garlic, bay leaf, and chile. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is tender but not browned, about 4 to 6 minutes. (If garlic has not begun to sizzle after 3 minutes, increase heat to medium.) Increase heat to medium-high; add shrimp with marinade to skillet in single layer. Cook shrimp, undisturbed, until oil starts to gently bubble, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn shrimp over and continue to cook until shrimp are cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes longer. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.
4.Serve with lots of warm crusty bread and accompanied by flutes of a good sparkling wine, such as a Cava, or even a fine Champagne.
Makes 4 to 6 for appetizer servings. If preparing as a main course, double the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 pound pork tenderloins
1 large onion (sliced)
3 medium bell peppers (sliced)
4 cilantro-flavored flour tortillas
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Mix lime juice, cumin, salt and garlic in shallow glass or plastic dish. Stir in pork. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes but no longer than 24 hours.
2. Remove pork from marinade; reserve marinade. Spray 10-inch skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Cook pork in skillet 3 minutes, stirring once. Stir in onion, bell peppers and marinade. Cook 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion and peppers are crisp-tender.
3. Place one-fourth of the pork mixture on center of each tortilla. Fold one end of tortilla up about 1 inch over pork mixture; fold right and left sides over folded end, overlapping. Fold remaining end down.
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 jalapeno flavored flour tortillas warmed
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Heat oil in 12 inch skillet or wok over high heat. Add chicken; stir-fry 2-3 minutes or until brown.
2. Add salsa, catsup, brown sugar and mustard; cook 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, until chicken is no longer pink in center.
3. Serve in tortillas.
INGREDIENTS:
5 ounces chicken breast, marinated in fajita seasoning
1/2 tomato
4 ounces onion
2 ounces peppers
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
4 flour tortillas
Fresh jalapenos
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place marinated chicken on clean lightly oiled broiler. Cook chicken until it reaches minimum temperature of 165 degrees F.
2. Slice chicken into 32 to 40 pieces. Saute tomato, onion and peppers. Place tortillas in the microwave for 14 seconds.
3. Serve with salsa, sour cream, Cheddar cheese and fresh jalapenos.
Fajitas are a dish made up warmed flour tortillas which are filled with seasoned meat, chicken or fish and other condiments such as salsa and beans.
Texans would probably like to lay claim to the fajita, but history gives credit to Mexican ranch workers living in West Texas (along the Rio Grande on the Texas-Mexico border) in the late 1930s or early 1940s. When a steer was butchered, the workers were given the least desirable parts to eat for partial payment of their wages. Because of this, the workers learned to make good use of a tough cut of beef known as skirt steak. In Spanish, fajita is a form of the word faja which translates to "belt" or "girdle" in English.
The fajita is truly a Tex-Mex food (a blending of Texas cowboy and Mexican panchero foods). The Mexican term for grilled skirt steak is arracheras, and its American counterpart is fajitas. Today, the term fajita has completely lost its original meaning and has come to describe just about anything that is cooked and served rolled up in a soft flour tortilla. The only true fajitas, however, are made from skirt steak.
Ingredients
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups canned kidney beans, drained
2 cups water
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a medium skillet and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans and mash. Gradually stir in water and heat until warm. Remove from heat and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly among the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style.
Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven and serve.
Makes 12 burritos.
