Lahb Kai : Spicy Chicken Salad

Lahb Kai is a popular Thai salad dish that originated from the eastern part of Thailand, or E-Sarn Province. E-Sarn food is typically spicy and full of robust flavor. This particular dish can be eaten alone or with rice. It is traditionally served with sticky rice, typical of E-Sarn food.

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground chicken
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup of sliced green onions
1/2 cup of sliced red onions
1/2 cup of shredded mint leaves
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup grounded roasted-rice (see below)
1-teaspoon green pepper (sliced)
Ground dry red chili

Directions:
Heat the chicken stock in a medium sized pot, and then add in the ground chicken. Cook for a few minutes until the chicken is done. Drain and allow the chicken to cool down, then add in the lemon juice, green and red onions, and mint leaves. Add in the fish sauce, and stir. At this point, you may add in more lemon juice if it suits your taste. I recommend adding in about 2 tablespoons of dried red chili, but you may use more or less than the recommended amount. The last step is to add in the roasted rice. This dish is typically garnished with a 1/4 head of lettuce and cilantro and green beans (these items are all optional)

Stir the chicken in the hot pan until it is almost done. Then mix the chicken with fish sauce and then add lemon juice; add green onion, red onion, pepper, and mint leaves; add fish sauce or lemon
juice to taste. Add the roasted rice powder. Taste it one more time and add either fish sauce or chili to suit your taste. Eat with rice or sticky rice. Look for some crunchy vegetables like lettuce or napa cabbage to eat it with.

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Roasted Rice
Set your burner to the highest setting, and add in one cup of rice. Keep stirring until the rice becomes brown and color. It will almost achieve a burnt look. Then grind it using either a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle.

Khao Soy : Chiang Mai-Style Chicken Noodles Curry Soup

Khao Soi (Khao Soy) is a traditional Thai dish served in northern Thailand. It is a soup like dish with rice or wheat noodles, vegetables and meat, seafood or tofu. It is popular as a street dish and eaten by common Thai people, though not frequently served in western Thai restaurants.

Traditionally, the dish was served with pork or chicken, but has expanded to include seafood and tofu.

	Ingredients:
	For 2 servings
	500 g. (1 lb.)		egg noodles
	2		chicken drumsticks
	4 cups		coconut milk
	2 tbs.		red curry paste
	2 tsp.		curry powder
	1 tsp.		salt
	2 tbs.		vegetable oil
	For side dishes:
	1-2 tbs.		allots, finely chopped
	4 tbs.		pickled cabbage, finely chopped
	2-4 slices		lime
	1 tbs.		roasted chilli paste
	1 tbs.		dark soya sauce

Preparation:

1. Using a deep-frying pan, deep fry approximately 100g. (3 1/2 oz) of noodles until golden brown. Then, set aside for garnishing.
2. In a pot, brown the chicken drumstick (without oil) until it becomes cooked. Then, add salt and coconut milk. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Reduce the heat, and then cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Using the remaining oil, stir fry the red curry paste until you can smell the aroma. Then, add the curry powder and stir fry for another 20 seconds.
4. Pour the curry mixture into the coconut milk pot. Stir and simmer for another 30 minutes using low heat.
5. Boil water using a large pot, and add the remaining noodles. Remove the noodles when cooked, and place in a pot of cold water for 1 minute. Then, drain.
6. When serving, top the boiled noodles with curry, the chicken drumsticks, and crispy noodles. Then, prepare the side dishes which include separated piles of shallots , pickled cabbage, lime slices, roasted chilli paste, and dark soya sauce.

Note:
The egg noodles should be fresh. If you cannot find fresh egg noodles, you may substitute almost any other noodle you desire. However if you intend to use dried noodles, remember to soak them first for 20 minutes.

Tom Kah Kai (Coconut milk soup)

Ingredients:
16 oz chicken broth
4 lime leaves
2 inch piece lemon grass
1-inch piece galangal ("kah") sliced thinly.
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 oz chicken breast, cut into small bite sized pieces
5 fl ounces coconut milk
X pinch of red chili powder
X cilantro leaves (as a garnish)

Directions:
After you have heated the chicken broth, add in all of the ingredients except for the chicken and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then add the remaining two ingredients. Let it boil for 2 minutes, until the chicken is done, then bring it down to a simmer for a few minutes.

Note: the following recipe is for chicken, but any meat can be substituted! Tom Kah can be served as part of a meal, or can be a meal in itself.

Pad Thai : Stir-Fried Rice Noodle

Pad Thai is a dish of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chilli pepper, plus any combination of bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts and coriander. It is normally served with a piece of lime, the juice of which can be added along with the usual Thai condiments. In Thailand, it is also served with a piece of banana flower.

There have evolved two different styles of Pad Thai: the version most often found in the streets of Thailand, which is relatively dry and light; and the version that seems dominant in many restaurants in the West, which may be covered in a red oil and can be heavy tasting.

This dish was introduced and made popular as a national dish by Luang Phibunsongkhram when he was Prime Minister during World War II, partly for his nationalism campaign, and partly for a campaign to reduce rice consumption in Thailand at a time when the government faced a major budget crisis. He was helped in this regard by the famous aristocrat, Prapavee Kunuchit.

Outside of Thailand, Pad Thai is one of the best-known Thai dishes, and is very popular in Thai restaurants in America.

Thai Chicken Green Curry

In Thai cuisine green curry is one of the spicier variations of curry. The thickness of the sauce varies with the amount of coconut milk used. The main ingredients are coconut milk, green curry paste, aubergine, sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and thai basil leaves. Its name, "green" curry, is consistent of Thai curry dishes, which are frequently identified solely by their color, other common types being yellow curry and red curry. Typically, green curry paste is made by pounding in a mortor and pestle ingredients including: shallots, green chillies, garlic, galangal, fresh turmeric, shrimp paste and salt.

The paste is briefly fried in a wok and coconut milk is added, then the meat and vegetables added along with a pinch of brown sugar. Finally, kaffir lime leaves and thai basil are added just at the end of cooking for fragrance.

Thai green curry can be made with meat, chicken, fish or vegetables and is usually eaten as an accompaniment to rice or round rice noodles known as "khanom jeen". Source : wikipedia

Khao Chae

As part of their celebrations to mark the first day in their lunar calendar, of what they called khao Songkran (Songkran rice) to the female guardian spirit of the New Year. The name was later modified to khao chae because a special variety of rice is soaked (chae) in water. Khao Chae (rice served with cooled flower-scented water and sweetened meat) is a renowned local dish and is popular during the summer season as it cools you down. Traditional side dishes “include peanut-sized luuk kapi (shrimp paste balls), phrik yuak (fried pork-stuffed large hot peppers), hawm thawt (fried shallots), nuea phat waan (beef), and hua chai poe (Chinese radish).”

Khao Tom Madd : Sticky Rice with Bananas

It is a sweetmeat but it can make us enough because it is so delicious. This is basically sticky rice, bananas, coconut milk and black beans wrapped in banana leaves. This is then steamed though it could also be grilled.