Thai Fish Cakes With Thai Dipping Sauce

I've only attempted a few recipes from "Healthy Gluten-Free Eating," as they tend to be a bit involved—lots of chopping, steps, bowls, pans, sauces. I had bought some salmon from the neighborhood fishmonger, and I was happy to find a recipe in this book that wasn't too involved. Yes, there was lots of chopping, a sauce and a sauteing step before the actually frying, but it wasn't hard. This may be because I've gotten much more familiar with the ingredients from making a Thai soup. We have the nam pla and Thai chilies, and I know where to find kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass.

Enough typing. "Fabulous recipe. Love it! No additions." That's all I originally planned to write. Recipe is below with photos of the fishcakes. Oh, they still tasted excellent the next day and the day after that. I'm sure wheat and gram flour could also be used if rice flour isn't on hand—we used brown rice flour.

(click on image to enlarge)

Thai fishcake recipe (dipping sauce recipe below)

Formed fishcakes ready to be fried

Once they're in the frying pan, dinner is almost ready!

At least the sauce is an easy one

Tom Kha Kai Part 2

Armed with a new recipe for Tom Kha Kai, M* and I made a trip to Cho Mee on Mill Road to pick up a few ingredients: kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, tamarind-chili paste and tamarind. I had bought two large chicken breasts from the local butcher, and they ended up being exactly one pound, which is the weight the recipe called for. We've found that the meats from the butcher really do taste better. We also had homemade chicken broth which is more flavorful and is less salty than canned broth.

We followed the recipe exactly, and the result was better than any we've had in a restaurant.

Just a few notes for next time:
*There was not as much soup as we'd like—if you are having it for a meal it makes about four bowls. However, we were planning on having a lot left over for the week. Next time we'll double the recipe.
*The tamarind that I bought did not blend well with water to make paste. There were fibrous bits of tamarind skin (think that's what it was) that I had to pick out. I spent a bit of time going over the shelves in the store, but I'll look again to find tamarind that will produce a better paste.
*We had red chilies that I'd bought at Seoul Plaza, and we tasted them to test the heat. M* and I both agreed that they weren't that hot, so I used five in the soup. While eating the soup, M* chewed and swallowed two and looked as if he was going to explode or throw-up. What I didn't realize is that if you are going to test the heat of the chili, you need to test the top of the chili where the capsaicin is stored. I had cut off the bottom of the chili for M* and me to test. Oops. Luckily the chilies did not make the soup too spicy and M* was able to taste the soup after much water and about 20 minutes.
*We added a red pepper. If we'd had a fresh tomato, we'd have added that as well—cut into quarters.

Tom Kha Kai - Thai Chicken, Ginger, and Coconut Milk Soup

from RecipeGullet.com

Thai-Flavored Chicken Stock
2 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 small handful cilantro stems (leaves reserved for other use)
freshly ground black pepper

Tom Kha Gai
2 cups Thai-Flavored Chicken Stock
14 oz unsweetened coconut milk (I use 1 well-shaken can of Chaokoh)
4—5 oz Siamese Ginger (Galanga), unpeeled and cut into slices
1 stalk lemongrass, peeled and sliced into large pieces then bruised
2 tbsp nam phrik pao (Chili-Tamarind Paste)*
6 pairs kaffir lime leaves, torn
1 large lime, juiced
1/2—1 tbsp tamarind sauce**
1—2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
2—3 tbsp nam pla (fish sauce) -- less if using pre-salted stock
1 can can straw mushrooms, drained (or white button mushrooms, brushed of dirt and quartered)
1 pound chicken, sliced into bite-sized pieces
3—6 stemmed and lightly crushed Thai chilies (if you want more heat)


1. Put the stock in a pan with the cilantro, garlic, and pepper. Heat over low.

2. While the stock is warming, add the lemongrass, ginger, and lime leaves. Increase to medium and bring to a simmer.

3. Add the coconut milk and return to a simmer. Stir in the chicken and simmer for 1 minute. Add the nam phrik pao, lime juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind sauce. Stir until dissolved. Add the drained mushrooms and Thai chilis. Taste for balance, adding more of whatever is needed.

4. Remove from heat and serve warm. Be sure to only eat the chicken pieces, mushrooms, and Thai chilies if you dare (feel free to separate out the aromatics before serving if you wish). Tastes great leftover (I usually leave in a few pieces of the aromatics before refrigerating).

* see this for a recipe or use about 1 1/2 to 2 T of the medium-hot Pantainorasingh brand "Roasted Chili Paste with Soya Bean Oil"

** Use 1 oz of seedless tamarind paste to 1/2 cup of warm water, strain. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for about a week. Or use premade "soup base" - make sure the only ingredients are tamarind and water. If you can't find this, use more lime juice instead until balanced.

Tom Kha Kai

Tom Khai Kai is one of my favorite Thai dishes. Since there are a number of Asian grocers in Cambridge, I decided to finally try my hand at making this coconut milk based soup. There are Tom Khai Kai pastes where one only needs to add water, meat and desired vegetables, but making the soup from scratch was my goal. I chose a recipe from ThaiCusine.com that was not complicated and included the ingredients that I expected to find.

I only had difficulty locating one ingredient: nam phrik pao (black chili paste). I asked for help locating the paste at the store, but I was only pointed to a shelf. There was a paste that I thought might be the correct one, but the name was only in Thai though the list of ingredients was in English. Since I wasn't aware of the other ingredients in nam phrik pao besides the black chilies, I opted to use a chili paste that we already had at home. I later learned that my hunch was correct, and I should have bought the paste which contained tamarind, shrimp paste, garlic and other items as well as the black chilies.

It was when I was putting the ingredients in the pot that I realized that there didn't appear to be as much liquid as I thought. I then remembered that I thought chicken broth could also be used in this soup. Since we didn't have any, I added some water and some vegetable stock powder to the dish. I think it helped, although it may have added to the overall saltiness of the soup. We liked the soup, but, since my husband is very sensitive to salt, I think that I'm going to explore a different recipe next time. I've already located a promising sounding one, which includes the straw mushrooms that I love and added to the recipe below, at RecipeGullet.com.


Tom Kha Kai (from ThaiCuisine.com)
1. 2 cups (16fl oz/500 ml) coconut milk
2. 6 thin slices young galangal (kha on)
3. 2 stalks lemon grass (ta-khrai), lower portion, cut into
4. 1-in (2.5-cm) lengths and crushed
5. 5 fresh kaffir lime leaves (bai ma-krut), torn in half
6. 8 oz (250g) boned chicken breast, sliced
7. 5 tablespoons fish sauce
8. 2 tablespoons sugar
9. 1/2 cup (4 fl oz/125 ml) lime juice
10. 1teaspoon black chilli paste (nam phrik pao)
11. 1/4 cup cilanto / coriander
12. leaves (bai phak chi), torn
13. 5 green Thai chilli peppers (phrik khi nu), crushed


Method

Combine half the coconut milk with the galangal, lemon grass, and lime leaves in a large saucepan and heat to boiling. Add the chicken, fish sauce, and sugar. Simmer for about 4 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked, and then add the remaining coconut milk. Heat just to boiling. Place the lime juice and chilli paste in a serving bowl and pour the soup over them. Garnish with cilantro leaves and crushed chilli peppers.