Food Minia

Summer is here yeh! and therefore, I am going to take a break from blogging. Have a safe and fun summer everyone! Feel like shopping this summer? Depending on the amount of donation, I will mail you the following Thai & Lao Food product(s): $15 --> one pair of Thai hair sticks $20 --> Set 1 Thai & Lao Food Recipe Book $21 --> Set 2 Thai & Lao Food Recipe Book $22 --> Sao Lao t-shirt : youth 2, 6, L and adult S, M, L, XL $23 --> i hum yie t-shirt : youth SM, M XL and adult L, XL $33 --> Set 1, Thai & Lao Cooking Videos on DVD and recipe book $35 --> Set 2, Thai & Lao Food video on DVD and recipe book $60--> Set 1 Thai & Lao Cooking Videos and recipe book + Set 2 Thai & Lao Food videos and recipe book Thai hair sticks are included in every set of dvds and recipe books until supplies last. To mail me a donation, email me and ask for my address. Notice that my recent postings have no list of cooking ingredients or directions? T

The cucumber salad video introduces the Crab Extract. You can use this crab extract to make jeow ga boo which is a traditional sticky rice dipping sauce . Also the crab extract is a popular ingredient in the long bean noodle salad and the green papaya salad to give the sauce a dark colour. You can mix the cucumber salad with vermicelli noodles but in my video, I mix it with ground toasted sticky rice . Please refer to the list of Product Prices on how to get access to all the Thai & Lao Food dvds and recipe books.

Spring is coming, well at least in the Northern hemisphere! As with previous years, I'll be doing lighter food and drinks for the coming summer like this one. If you can get fresh guava, this is one of the most delicious ways to use it. It is a juice, really a smoothy, made from the pulp of the guava fruit. Use larger older guava for this recipe, it will give a sweet/sour taste to the drink. Ingredients 120 gms Guava Fruit 5 Tablespoons Sugar Syrup (50-50 sugar & water solution) 236 ml water ( boil ) Preparation 1. Peel the guava, take only the outer flesh minus the seeds in the middle. 2. Mix the guava, syrup and water and blend in a food processor. 3. Pour over crushed ice. 4. Optionally a tiny pinch of salt over the top fills out the flavours.

This is an unusual cold Thai drink available in cans, but here we make it fresh. It looks like frog spawn, but don't let that put you off, those little gelatin lumps with black centres are actually Thai basil seeds. Thai basil has a smaller leaf than you see in Italian cooking, but the seeds are widely available. When you add water the seed swells into small soft balls and these give an unusual texture to the drink. The traditional flavouring is rose water, but you can flavour it with vanilla or peppermint essence if you prefer, or try adding the seeds to Iced Tea for tea with texture! Ingredients for 2 Drinks 5g Thai Basil Seeds 500ml Water 2 Tablespoons Sugar 1 Tablespoon Honey 200ml Rose Water Crushed Ice for Serving Preparation 1. Using a tea strainer to hold them, rince the seeds under a tap to clean them. 2. Soak the seeds in

Ya Dong is a herb infused spirit, reputed to have many medicinal qualities. If you ask a Thai person what's in Ya Dong, they will tell you all sorts of strange stories of lizard penis' and narcotic herbs. The truth is rather more boring, there is no set ingredients for Ya Dong, each person makes their own blend and it's usually nothing more than regular herbs like ginseng, plaonoi, tree bark and vodka or whiskey. I'm not sure what's in my jar (above), it has been handed down between my friends, and I just top it up with vodka every month or so. I drink it with lime to kill the flavours a little. I'll try to find out what the herbs are and update this blog entry. (Anyone?)

Lychees on their own have plenty of taste, but little juice. To make a refreshing drink from them, we dilute it down with grape juice and a little lemon or lime juice to sharpen it up. Although I've photographed it with a lychee and lime slice, that's just to make the photograph a little more interesting. The drink itself doesn't look like much! Ingredients per 100ml 80 ml Grape Juice 20 ml Lychee Pulp A squeeze of Lemon Preparation 1. Blend the lychee to a purée, add the grape juice and lemon and serve cold.

This appetizer dish takes just as much time to make as the spring rolls made with rice paper . For me, banh cuon takes longer because I haven't mastered the process. Plus each wet rice paper must be cooked before rolling. I guess this appetizer is Thai Lao version of the French crepe. You can purchase the wet rice paper batter and follow the instructions. In my video, I cook the wet rice paper differently from the instructions because that is how my cousin taught me. I fill it with ground pork and dark fungus mushrooms. For best presentation, roll the wet rice paper spring rolls flat. Serve the wet spring rolls with the spring roll dipping sauce . Please refer to the list of Product Prices on how to get access to all the Thai & Lao Food dvds and recipe books.

French Roll Granny Bun When I cook Thai & Lao Food , I like to put my hair up in hair sticks to keep them away. I got these Thai wooden hair sticks custom made so that they are shorter and blunt. These hair sticks are less likely to get in your way or poke someone's eyes. For a donation of $15, I'll mail you a pair of hair sticks. Until supplies last, if you order the First Thai & Lao Cooking dvd and book or the Second Thai & Lao Food video and recipe book , you get a free pair of Thai hair sticks. I got rid of those cheap plastic claws and prefer the 'French Roll' and 'Granny Bun' sophisticated styles. To view all my products go to the list of product prices .