Pad Prik Pla Dug (Stir-fry Catfish with Curry Paste)

Incredibly, Hot, Hot, Hot! My sister in law, who loves to cook very spicy food, made this dish. It called Pad Prik Pla Dug or Stir-fry Catfish with Curry Paste. I don’t know whether I have mentioned it or not from the past. I was from south of Thailand. The food from the south part of Thailand seems to be very hot, salty, and sour. We eat more seafood than other part of Thailand. We also use a lot of herb especially turmeric.

Here is the recipe for Pad Prik Pla Dug: http://www.gretchenspantry.com/recipe/pad-prik-pla-dug-catfish-with-curry.aspx.

Thai Fish Cakes "Tod Mun Plaa"

Blasting hot oil in a big wok, a man was performing his art of cooking at the Thai farmer market in an open air. The smell of fish, curry and oil was in the air. I walked pass this deep fried fish cakes, or we called it “tod mun plaa.” Tod mun plaa, or fish cakes had been one of my favorite in my school years in Thailand for my afternoon snack. The simply ingredients include: minced fish (mackerel or other fish), egg, red Thai curry paste, finely sliced Thai or French long bean, finely sliced kaffir leaves and salt and sugar. After its cooked you eat it with cucumber dip sauce.

Here is the recipe for fish cake or Tod mun plaa: http://www.gretchenspantry.com/recipe/thai-fish-cakes-tod-mun-plaa.aspx.

Banana BBQ

There are so many kinds of banana in Thailand. At the farmer market in Thailand, you can see them all. Thai people use raw or young banana in Thai curries, and they also use the banana that almost ripe for BBQ or fried for snack and also use ripe banana for desert in many form. Banana is not one of my favorite fruit but when it comes to BBQ banana then I just cannot resist. I love BBQ banana. As you know banana has lots of vitamin C, B6 and potassium. Eat your banana!

Here is the recipe for BBQ banana: http://www.gretchenspantry.com/recipe/bbq-banana.aspx.

More information regarding banana: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana.

Guava Fruit

This is Guava Fruit. At the farmer market that I went every morning, there is a family who always sell this fruit. I bought Guava fruit every morning. I figured I don’t get to eat much in the US then I better eat it as much as I can while I was in Thailand.

I sometime made Guava juice too. I have a recipe. You can check it out at http://www.gretchenspantry.com/recipe/guava-juice.aspx.

Here the website if you want to learn more about Guava http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guava.

Back from Thailand

We are back from our vacation now. We were in Australia for 3 weeks and in Thailand for almost 3 months. I had not been cooking at all. I did eat many good foods in both places. My Australian’s host mom was a really good cook, and my grandma and sitter in law who I stayed with in Thailand was the best cook ever. I will post more pictures and recipes from my note in the near future.

You know what; I could not believe I will say this. I really missed the outdoor market in Thailand more than I missed my families in Thailand. My routine in the morning after I got up from my comfortable bed was that I would hop on my brother motorcycle and rode to this farmer market where I got all fresh vegetables, fruits and fresh seafood. I also got my Thai ice coffee there every morning. It was so nice and so beautiful. Nothing taste like Thai ice coffee in Thailand; I would not trade my Thai ice coffee with anything even Starbuck coffee.