I apologize for the lack of food diary this week. Sometimes life throws you a curve… then it hits you really hard in the balls. Oh well. Now seems like a good time to reveal the origin of this website’s name. Long ago, in the distant past, I cooked Thai food quite often. One of my roommates was told to go on a low fat diet. In deference to him I looked for Thai curries that did not use coconut milk, as coconut is considered “bad” by nutritionists who receive funding from soybean producers. Anyway, a really nice Thai person sent me a recipe for Gaeng Tai Pla, a southern Thai curry that is devoid of coconut. Instead it uses Tai Pla which is Thai for pickled fish innards. Sometimes Gaeng Thai Pla is translated as Fish kidney Curry. I’m not sure, but I don’t think fish have kidneys. The story is that fishermen in southern Thailand needed a dish that would keep for extended periods while they where at sea. Thus they invented a curry using salted fermented fish guts. I never prepared this dish for my roommates, but I did make it for the monks at the local Thai Buddhist temple. It is one of the hottest Thai dishes, and that’s saying something. Quite delicious, but perhaps an acquired taste. I can’t find the recipe I used to use, I have one in Thai, but I haven’t taken the time to translate it. I not sure my wife would be too thrilled if I made this again. I used to cook it in the mornings before taking it to the monks, as they must eat before noon. It kinda stank up the house in a weird way. The following recipe comes from the excellent cookbook Thai Food by David Thompson. If your so inclined, you can find Tai Pla sauce in bottles at you local Thai grocer. This recipe uses stock, but I used to use water. I remember it called for about 30 dried prik ee nu (bird chilies). My local Thai grocer sells homemade Gaeng Thai Pla on the weekends if I need a fix. Yum!
Curried Fish Innards
Gaeng Tai Pla
1 cup stock
pinch of salt
1 cup fish innards (tai pla)
1 T palm sugar
2 T fish sauce
2 T tamarind water
3 kaffir lime leaves, torn
handful of sliced green beans (or long beans)
5 slices of galangal
a few slices of white turmeric- if available
paste
3 T dried bird’s eye chillies, soaked and drained
2 T fresh bird’s eye chillies (scuds)
2 tsp salt
4 T chopped lemongrass
1 T chopped galangal
2 tsp finely grated kaffir lime zest
2 T chopped red shallot
2 T chopped garlic
1 T chopped fresh red turmeric
15 white peppercorns
1 T shrimp paste (kapi)
½ cup boiled or grilled salted fish (I used Pla Too)
Make the paste by pounding ingredients together with a mortar and pestle. Bring stock and salt to a boil. Add the innards. Let stand for a few minutes and then strain. Return stock to a boil. Dissolve 3 T of the paste in the stock. Season with palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind water.Add lime leave, green beans, galangal and turmeric. Simmer briefly until thick.
Serve with raw vegetable such as apple eggplants, betel leaves, cabbage, cucumber, white turmeric, and sprigs of coriander (cilantro).
Eat with lots of rice, it’s super hot!
More Korean recipe action for ya’ll. Here’s Jia’s version of Yukejang, or Yukkaejang if you prefer. Traditionally this soup includes fern bracken and beef intestine. Jia’s version does not include these sometimes hard to find ingredients so it’s easier to make here in America. This version is extra super spicy, the way I like it. Generous handfuls of kochu garu (Korean hot pepper powder) also turn the soup a nice red color. Eat with lots of rice!! BTW T= tablespoon.
YUKEJANG (Spicy Beef Soup) (Seoul style)
Simmer 1 ¼ lb Beef (a fist sized piece), in about six cups of water till done, about 1 hour, remove beef, let cool and shred by hand into 1 ½” strips. Reserve broth.
Mix shreds beef with ¼ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup Korean Red pepper powder, ½ tsp black pepper, ¼ cup of garlic (chopped fine or crushed to a paste), 1 T (dark) sesame oil, 1 T crushed roasted sesame seeds. Mix well by hand and squeeze in the seasonings
Take 3 Bunches of spring onions and cut them in half lengthwise. Then cut into 1 ½” pieces crosswise. Blanch spring onions in boiling water till wilted (less than a minute). Shock immediately in cold water and then drain. Squeeze out all the water from the onion with your hands, be aggressive. Put the onions in a bowl and mix with 1 T Korean Red pepper powder, 2 T soy sauce, 1 ½” T crushed garlic, ¼ tsp black pepper, ½ T sesame oil, and 2 tsp crushed roasted sesame seeds. Set aside.
Blanch about 1/2 lb. mung bean sprouts in boiling water in a Covered pot (about 3 min). Do not uncover pot until sprouts are cooked. Drain and rinse in cold water. Squeeze dry with your hands. Mix with 2 ½ T soy sauce, 1 T crushed garlic, 1 T Korean Red pepper powder, ¼ tsp. black pepper, 2 tsp crushed roasted sesame seeds, 2 tsp sesame oil.
In a clean dry pot put the beef, green onion and bean spout mixtures. Stir and fry on medium heat for a few minutes. Add reserved beef broth. Simmer for one hour.
It’s a strange recipe in that everything ends up in the same pot, yet you season each ingredient separately. What can I tell you? Jia also though it was strange but said that it wouldn’t taste the same if you just threw all the seasonings in the pot. I’ll take her word for it. One thing it does allow for is for you to taste as you go. All the measurements are approximate so you should taste the seasoned beef , bean sprouts, and green onions to make sure each is well seasoned before you throw them together in the pot. If fact the bean sprouts and the green onions are each a dish unto themselves and could be served as namul (Korean vegetable side dish). The beef could also be served as a separate dish I suppose. I’m told the green onion namul goes well with pork. Yum!!