Pad Kapow Gai (Thai Chicken Basil)

This past weekend I attended the Gypsy Picnic here in Austin, Texas. This was a celebration of the Austin food culture – the growing popularity of food trucks and carts.

If you've been to downtown Austin lately you'll know what I'm talking about. I’m assuming the event turned out better than expected and caught the promoters and vendors off guard; as it was one of the most chaotic things I've ever witness. Vendors were running out of food and there were no formal lines to visit each vendor; as they zig zagged and crossed each other throughout all of Auditorium Shores. However, we were able to visit a few vendors and sample what they had to offer but my group grew tired of waiting in the lines and the food running out.

So we thought the best option was to go across the street to other food vendors that weren't part of the festival. Smart plan right? WRONG! When we showed up we thought we did the right thing - until we placed our order. The Thai food vendor we ordered from stated that our food would be ready in 20 - 25 minutes from the time we ordered. That's quite a long time to wait for Thai food but we decided to do so. One person from my group ordered the Pad Kapow and I ordered the spicy beef tacos. I was really excited to see what was in the tacos. About an hour later, the vendor never called my name to pick up the food and when I approached the vendor, he stated that they haven't even started on our order yet. Mind you, we’ve already waited an hour. To put an end to this story, we didn't get our food. I was both disappointed and hungry.

Since I paid a visit to the Asian grocery store this past weekend I decided that I would make the Pad Kapow dish that we didn't get to sample. Also, an old college buddy has been harassing me to post this recipe since I prepared it for her the last time she was over for dinner.

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken (breast and/or boneless thighs) cut into 2 x 1/8 inch pieces
Ginger that has been cut to 1 x 2 x 3 inch piece (julienne cut)
2 scallions (roughly chopped)
6-8 kaffir lime leaves
6-8 sprigs Thai basil (leaves only)
3-4 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
1 medium shallot (thinly sliced)
4 Thai chili peppers (roughly chopped)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
3 tablespoon soy sauce (soy sauce with mushroom is even better)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions:

Add oil to wok or deep pan and set to high heat. When oil is ready, add garlic and shallots. As soon as the shallots become translucent, toss in all of the chicken. Cook for approximately 2 minutes then add: the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar and cook for another 2 minutes. Next, add the ginger, kaffir lime leaves, and chili peppers and cook for another 2 minutes. Finally, turn off the heat and add the basil and scallions and toss well in the wok/pan. Serve with steamed Jasmine rice or pan fried noodles.

Yam Neua (Thai Beef Salad)

Normally you would see this beef salad tossed with all the vegetables to incorporate the meat and the sauce. However, I prefer to eat this as an appetizer and have displayed it as such in the above picture. I don't go to Thai restaurants very often but when I do, this is one of my favorite dishes. The thinly sliced beef and pungent vegetables pair perfectly with the spicy sesame vinaigrette.

Steak Ingredients:

1 pound beef (skirt steak, rump roast, or sirloin)
2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon lemongrass (finely ground)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients above and let the beef marinate for at least 2 hours. You then have different choices of cooking methods; obviously grilling is preferred but if you live in an apartment like me, using the broiler in the oven isn't a bad option. You'll want to cook the beef to your desired doneness (rare, medium-rare, medium, etc.) I would recommend to not cook this cut of meat well done; as this will definitely dry out and become tough to chew and eat. Unfortunately, it’s hard to determine the time to cook the beef since the cut and thickness of the beef may be different. When the meat is at your desired doneness; let the meat rest for at least 5-10 minutes before cutting - as all the juices will run out if you cut the meat without resting. To cut: slice the beef as thin as possible against the bias.

The best way to check for your desired doneness of the meat is with a thermometer. Here is the temperature range:

(Temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit)
Rare 120 - 125
Medium-Rare 130 - 135
Medium 140 - 145
Medium-Well 150 - 155
Well Done 160 - above

Spicy Sesame Vinaigrette Ingredients:

2 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoon palm sugar
2 tablespoon sesame oil
4 Thai chili peppers (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves

Sauce Directions:

Combine the lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, and palm sugar and mix well. Next, slowly drizzle the sesame oil into the mixture while whisking. Lastly, mix in the chili peppers and garlic.

Salad Ingredients:

5-7 green leaf lettuce leaves (roughly chopped)
1/2 white onion (thinly sliced)
1/2 red onion (thinly sliced)
1 tomato (thinly sliced)
1/2 cucumber (halved and thinly sliced)
1 scallion (roughly chopped)
8-10 sprigs cilantro (roughly chopped).
2 jalapenos (thinly sliced)
Handful Vietnamese coriander (just the leaves)

Plating:

Add the salad mixture to the bottom of your serving vessel (plate, bowl, etc.) and place the thin slices of beef on top of the salad. Now drizzle the dressing on top of the beef. This dish can be served warm or cold. However, if you are serving warm, try not to place the hot beef on top of the salad as this will wilt the vegetables.

Chicken Curry

Tonight Bistro 331 had some last minute guests with last minute requests (Hey that rhymes..) One of my special guest loves quail eggs and one of my favorite things to do with quail eggs is to put them in curry. I also made a variation of the French cake, recently blogged, as well. Many prefer rice with curry but I love bread with mine. Thanks for doing the dishes ladies and thank you for signing on as followers and next time don't touch the remote control.

Curry ingredients:

6 chicken thighs (chopped and quartered)
6-8 garlic gloves (minced)
1 large shallot or small onion (diced)
2 stalks lemongrass
1 - 1 1/2 inch piece galangal root (sliced 1/8 inch thick)
2 inch piece ginger (julienne cut)
2 chili peppers (halved)
8-10 kaffir lime leaves
1 can straw mushrooms
1 can quail eggs (I used 2 here for my friend, yeah you know who you are)
2 large russet potatoes (cubed)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon red curry paste (or more if you want to spice it up)
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
3 tablespoon fish sauce

Directions:

In a stock pot over medium high heat add chicken, garlic, and shallots. No need for oil here, there's more than enough oil from the chicken thighs. Continue stirring until chicken has browned and cook all around the outside (don't worry the chicken will continue stewing and cook completely). Add each of the above ingredients one at a time while stirring curry, except the quail eggs and potatoes (make sure these are last). After adding all of the ingredients continue cooking for another 20-30 minutes on medium-low heat with the lid on (this will tenderize the chicken and give time for the potatoes to cook properly). Finally, serve over a bed of rice or sliced french bread (toasted of course).

As I mentioned earlier, we also had desert. You can check out that recipe from a previous blog. I ditch the blueberries and almonds this time and went with kiwi instead. Also, instead of making 1 large cake I made 4 smaller cylinder shaped cakes (this was actually easier to manage). To cut the cake into round pieces I used and old tomato paste can that I cleaned and cut both ends out of (sometimes you have to be resourceful). The finish product can be seen above.

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Lahb Gai (Laotian Minced Chicken Salad)

I still don't understand why when you go to any Thai/Laotian restaurant they call this "larb", the mispronunciation of this word by everyone drives me nuts. So I'm spelling it more like how it sounds "lahb". This is probably the most classic dish in Lao cuisine and every one and anyone who knows a Laotian or Thai person has probably had different variations of this dish.

Side note:

I was having a late night dinner in downtown Austin so my friends and I went to Thai Passion since they opened up late. We ordered several dishes including their "Larb Gai" yes...that's how they spelled it there too. When it came out, you could barely notice what type of meat/protein they used for the dish. In all my times I've had this dish I don't think I've ever seen anyone use a blender to process the meat. Needless to say, that's very nontraditional and it takes away from the texture needed in this dish. My mom would've laughed and returned the dish as soon as she saw it (actually, she probably would've gone back to the kitchen to show them how to use a clever or a knife to minced the meat correctly). Anyway, I'm not saying stay away from this restaurant, but if you're looking for something more traditional and authentic, definitely don't order this dish there.

Lahb Gai (minced chicken salad):

Ingredients:

8 kaffir lime leaves

1 medium shallot

Mint leaves

1 large scallion

Cilantro

1-2 fresh chili pepper

2 limes

6 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 tablespoon dried crushed chili pepper

1 tablespoon roasted rice powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 chicken breast, skin on

1 chicken quarter

6-8 chicken gizzards

6-8 chicken hearts

3-4 chicken liver

Directions:

Cut (chiffonade) the lime leaves and thinly slice the scallions, shallots and chili pepper. Rough chop the cilantro and set all vegetables aside.

Cut the gizzards, skin, hearts and liver into small thin pieces. Mince the rest of the chicken.

In saute pan begin to cook all of the chicken and chicken parts in medium high heat until done.

Drain fat from cook chicken meat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Start adding fish sauce, lime juice, rice powder, dried chili peppers and salt. Mix ingredients into chicken thoroughly. Then start adding 1 vegetable at a time and mix after each.

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