Everyday Thai Cooking. Katie Chin
accustomed to eating long-grain white rice until I discovered jasmine rice as an adult and what a discovery it was! this fragrant cousin to long-grain white rice, also known as Thai fragrant rice, cooks up fluffy, moist, slightly sticky and has a delicious and subtle nutty aroma...if you know how to cook it properly.
The secret to perfectly cooked rice is to wash it first. That’s right, wash your rice. This eliminates excess starch from the grains that makes rice mushy.
Fill a pot with the desired rice amount and cool water. Swirl the water around with your hands and wash the rice by rubbing it gently between your fingers; drain. Repeat this process until the water runs clear, usually about 5 or 6 times.
HOW TO COOK A PERFECT POT OF RICE
In a medium, heavy-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid, combine 1 cup (185 g) of jasmine rice and 1 ½ cups (375 ml) of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook at a gentle simmer until the water is completely absorbed and the rice is tender, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes with a lid on before serving. One cup of raw rice will yield 3 cups (450 g) of cooked rice.
If you’re using a rice cooker, wash the rice in the rice cooker bowl. Follow your instruction manual to cook using the 1 cup (185 g) raw rice to 1 ½ cups (375 ml) water ratio for Thai jasmine rice.
DICING AND CHOPPING IN THAI COOKING
Unlike Chinese cooking, Thai cooking is all about diversity, texture, and rustic appeal. So when a recipe calls for dicing, don’t worry so much about uniformity when dicing or chopping for a stir-fry or a salad.
TIPS ON STEAMING
I prefer to use a bamboo steamer when cooking Thai food, but any steamer will do. You can actually improvise in a pinch by placing two empty tuna fish cans to raise a platter 2 inches (5 cm) above the water. Always make sure there’s enough water in the pot so it doesn’t evaporate when you walk away (i’ve learned this lesson the hard way a few times, hence the charred bamboo steamers sitting in my garage). Always make sure that the water comes to a rolling boil before steaming and use a secure lid. Line your steamer basket with cabbage or banana leaves to prevent sticking.
RICE NOODLE TIPS
After softening noodles with water, they must be kept moist or they will turn hard. Cover them with plastic wrap or a damp towel if you’re not going to use them right away. You can also soak them in water and refrigerate for up to two days.
Basic Tools and Utensils
When I started cooking Thai food, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had most of the tools and utensils in my kitchen already. If you cook Asian food at home, you probably have most of the tools necessary to cook Thai food too. Simplicity applies not only to the techniques but also to the tools used in Thai cooking. If you stop and think about the amazing meals that street vendors create in Thailand with hardly any space or equipment. Or the millions of Thai people living in rustic dwellings in the country where a burner on the porch serves as the kitchen, it occurs to you how their minimalist approach to cooking applies to the whole process. That said, here’s a primer on the basic tools and utensils I think you need to make Thai food at home including some modern inventions for convenience.
WOK, STIR-FRY PAN OR SKILLET A wok is central to Thai cooking like most Asian cuisines. It’s incredibly versatile and used for everything from stir-frying and deep-frying to steaming and braising. Woks are extremely efficient as they heat up quickly and their concave shape allows the pan’s surface to become evenly heated with a minimal amount of oil.
There are two types of woks: Cast iron and carbon steel. Carbon steel woks are most readily available. Cast iron woks tend to retain heat better but either is a solid choice. The most user-friendly size is 14 inches (29 cm) in diameter. Look for a wok with sturdy handles and a lid. Woks with rounded bottoms are best for gas stoves as the flames can travel up the sides for even heat distribution. A flat-bottom wok is preferable for electric stoves. Chinese cast iron woks need to be “seasoned.” this means the wok has been put through a process of warming, cooling down, and oiling to prevent it from rusting and giving it overall protection. If you season your wok properly, a natural non-stick surface will be created and it will turn dark black.
Here’s how to season your cast iron wok:
1 Wash the wok in hot water with a green scouring pad. Dry thoroughly with a paper towel.
2 heat the wok on high heat. Tilt and turn the wok until it becomes a yellowish-blueish color. Remove from the heat.
3 Using a paper towel, wipe the inside of the wok with a small amount of vegetable oil.
4 turn the heat to medium-low. Place the wok on the burner for 10 minutes.
Wipe with a fresh paper towel. There will be black residue on he paper towel. Repeat steps #3 and #4 about three times, or until there is no longer black residue on the paper towel when wiped.
If you don’t have a wok or you can’t remember where you put the one you got for Christmas 10 years ago, you can make all of the recipes in this book with a frying pan or skillet. Just make sure you use a frying pan or skillet with high edges or else the ingredients will fly out of your pan. I like to use a non-stick skillet because you need less oil, and meat won’t stick as much. Just make sure to use a non-stick spatula to avoid scratching the non-stick surface of the pan.
For deep-frying and steaming, I like to use an electric wok that I can place in a separate area of my kitchen and provides extra space if I’m also stir-frying or braising a separate dish on my stovetop.
CUTTING BOARD Quality cutting boards are vital to Thai cooking. As with all styles of cooking, I like to keep a separate cutting board for meat proteins and one for fruits, vegetables, and breads. Invest in one large sturdy cutting board for all the chopping, mincing, and dicing in Thai cooking. I use both a bamboo cutting board and plastic cutting boards. I feel that bamboo cutting boards are superior to other cutting boards because they’re made from sustainable material which makes them eco-friendly plus they’re often made from laminated strips of bamboo so they don’t absorb as much water or odors and are less prone to warping.
KNIVES With all the mincing, chopping, and dicing in Thai cooking, invest in quality knives and keep them sharp. A standard 8-inch (20 cm) chef's knife should do the trick along with some paring knives.
You may also want to consider a Chinese cleaver because it’s extremely versatile: it slices, it dices, it shreds, it pounds, and it minces! I remember my late mother wielding her cleaver to hack chicken bones for stock and watching it dance across our wooden chopping block as she made cloves of garlic into finely minced pieces.
When shopping for knives or a Chinese cleaver, choose the stainless steel kind as carbon steel is susceptible to rust. It should feel firm and sturdy in your hand but not weigh you down.
MORTAR AND PESTLE a mortar and pestle is used in Thai cooking to pulverize and smash aromatic herbs with other ingredients to make fragrant pastes. A small food processor or blender will do in most cases but you will need a mortar and pestle to make the classic Green Papaya Crab Salad (page 59) where you smash the papaya and green beans. It’s one of those recipes where there’s nothing like the real thing, baby. It’s also used to smash and grind dry toasted rice for the Spicy Thai Salad with Minced Pork (page 54). I also use the pestle to smash lemongrass for soups. Look for a traditional heavy, large Thai mortar and pestle or kroke made of granite.
RICE COOKER I love my rice cooker like I love my dog. It’s obedient, doesn’t talk back and loves me unconditionally. All this, plus the added benefit of cooking rice perfectly every time. Rice cookers can sense through an internal temperature sensor when boiling water has been absorbed by the rice