Mango sticky rice - I think they must have made this one in a garden, because it’s got flowers on it…
I love Thai food, and I’m actually going there this evening, to a wonderful wellness resort in the very south. While that means this newsletter won’t be my usual epic waffle, I’m excited to be thinking about all the wonderful food I’ll be eating over the next week, and to share some awesome, simple and supper tasty dishes here with you.
A lot of Thai cuisine relies on meat, but the food has a long and complex history, and did you know chili peppers - surely a key ingredient in so many Thai dishes - were actually introduced to the Thai pallete by the Potuguese, via the Americas?
Thai cuisine is influenced by the flavours and culinary traditions of its neighbours - China, India, and Malaysia. The foundations of Thai cooking are based on a balance of five key tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy.
Historically, Thai food incorporated native herbs and ingredients like lemongrass and galangal, which are both so wonderfully punchy and fragrant. It took me a long time to find out that you’re supposed to peel back the outer layers of lemongrass, and then smash up/ chop/mince the softer interior for use in a dish. I often wondered why some of my Thai dishes were crunchy!
Over time, it also integrated elements from other Asian cuisines, such as stir-frying techniques and using noodles, resulting in the awesome dishes known today.
Regular readers will know by now that my watch words in the kitchen are fast, cheap and tasty. Thai food ticks these boxes. You might find you have to stock up with a few different ingredients, but it’s worth it.
And, in a bid to use spices and other ingredients when they’re fresh, one of my plans for Autumn - when I’m back from Thialand (probably laden down with herbs and spices) is to cook up lots of dishes using all the lovely fresh ingredients, and then freeze them. That way, you don’t have dusty old jars and packets lurking at the back of the cupboard for decades.
Luckily, my awesome partner says things like: “If you haven’t used that spice mix up in one month, it’s going in the trash”...and despite my prostestations, she’ll then politely point out that the packet in question has been in the cupboards of our last three kitchens, knocking around since at least 2018. Don’t be me. Don’t do that.
There are, of course, questions about the authenticity of any purportedly Thai dishes turned out in the world’s smalllest kitchen in North London…..but, my suggestion is just use the best ingredients you can find/ afford, and if you’re as lucky as I am, you'll have an Asian supermareket or six within a few miles. My cooking never aims to offend, it only aims to please my belly!
You’ll also find, as a vegan, that a lot of dishes call for fish sauce, oyster sauce and curry pastes which often contain fish and oyster and other dead stuff.
Both fish sauce and oyster sauce are there to add some umami and extra savoury twang to a dish, so there’s a host of substitutes, and if you look carefully, there are ready-made vegan versions of both in bigger supermarkets, and certainly online. However, I prefer making my own, or just adding soy or miso, lime etc, in what’s probably a horrible cultural mash-up, but often works for me. You do you.
I’m lucky enough to have been to Thailand quite a few times - it was a cheap hop from the Middle East, where I used to live. I even did the classic touristy cookery class once, albeit a tortorous event, at the end of a week-long fast.
What hits you is how food is such a huge part of the culture, as it should be everywhere, but it differs a fair bit from North to South.
Northern Thai food involves milder flavours with an emphasis on herbs, sticky rice, and dishes like khao soi (curry noodle soup) and nam prik (chili dips). It reflects Burmese and Lao influences, with dishes often featuring pork, freshwater fish, and vegetables. You can replace the pork with seitan, the fish with tofu.
Southern Thai cuisine is renowned for spicier, bolder flavours, using ingredients like turmeric, coconut milk and seafood. Influences include Malay and Indian cuisines, featuring dishes such as kaeng som (sour curry) and one of my all-time favourites, massaman curry.
So, without further ado, here are some of my quick, easy - and very much turned down on the chilli - Thai recipes. As ever, I can’t claim they’re original, they’re the result of fiddling around in the kitchen for years, hoping to create something that makes you say “Ŵāw mạn ch̀āng dī cring (ว้าว มันช่างดีจริง)” (If you speak Thai)
Recipes
Vegan Fish sauce
Apart from buying a bottle of veganised fish sauce - which is often a lot of water - save money and make yourself a nice batch at home. A major brand - probably made in a factory in Middlesex, for example - lists the ingredients as “Salt Solution (Water, Salt), Sugar, Soybean Protein, Yeast Extract, Seaweed Extract and Distilled Vinegar”, and a tiny bottle goes for £2.25. We can do better than that.
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups of water
1/4 cup nori/ wakame/ kelp/ dulse - just grab some seaweed, ok?
1/4 cup dried mushrooms (shiitake are probably the best) - or just add a tablespoon of Marmite/ yeast extract
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp miso paste
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce/ tamari/ coconut aminos
A splash of fresh lime
Preparation
Add the water, seaweed, dried mushrooms/ Marmite and sea salt to a pan, bring to the boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool. Pour this salty liquid through a fine strainer into a bowl, pressing on the mushrooms and seaweed with a spoon to squeeze out the liquid.
To the bowl, add the miso and soy sauce or variant. Taste test and adjust as needed, adding more sea salt for saltiness, miso for umami and/or soy sauce for extra flavour.
That’s it! Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a month, ensuring you shake well before use. Or, pour into an ice cube tray, freeze, LABEL and store in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
Fresh Spring Rolls - Bo Biat Sot
This fresh, raw Thai version of the Vietnamese summer roll is a quick, healthy treat.
Ingredients
1/2 grated carrot
5 spring onions - but only the green bits
10 sheets of rice paper
1 packet of rice noodles
Mint leaves - 5 leaves per roll
A heaping handful of coriander
Sweet chili sauce for dipping
Preparation
Chop the spring onions and coriander
Cook the rice noodles according to the packet - normally a few minutes in boiling water does the job
Lay the rice paper sheets in a large bowl of shallow warm water, to soften them, I find doing them one at a time is easier, otherwise you end up in a wet sticky mess
Lay a softened rice paper round on a chopping board. Place a small amount of the carrot, spring onion, rice noodles and mint leaves in the lower middle of the rice paper, and then add in some of the chopped coriander (unless, of course, you think it tastes of soap, you poor thing)
Roll it up, tucking in the edges as you roll it. Good luck. Expect a few to look terrible, until you get the hang of it. I would hit up You Tube if you’ve never rolled a spring roll type thing before.
Cut them into thirds, and serve with the sweet chilli dipping sauce.
Top tip: Add a few chopped peanuts or fried garlic for crunch, if you like.
Tom Yum Soup
In a former role, I wrote restaurant reviews under the names BB Brill, Abby Riginy and Tom Yum III. This Tom Yum is probably as authentic as my pseudonym’s passport, but it sure makes a fast, tasty lunch.
Ingredients
3 cups of water
5 slices of galangal (No galangal? Replace it with lime zest, ginger or lemongrass. It won’t be the same, but hey ho, easy swaps, right?)
2 Lemongrass stalks, with all the nasty hard outer bits removed, and the soft inner bit cut into 1cm pieces
4 kaffir lime leaves (again, these elevate it, but use lime zest and a couple of Bay leaves instead, at a push)
100 gms of mushroooms, chopped into quarters
1/2 carrot, sliced
1/2 cup of green beans, chopped
5 baby corns, chopped
1/4 cup of fish sauce (see above, or you could just use a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, really)
250 gms of soft tofu, chopped (optional)
4 tsp lime juice
A fresh chilli or two (optional)
Coriander leaves
Preparation
Add the water to a pan, and add everything up to and including the fish sauce.
Boil it, for about 5 minutes if you like crunchy veg, 7-10 if you like ’em soft.
Add the tofu, if you like, and cook for another couple of minutes.
Squeeze the lime over the soup, and garnish with the chillies and coriander.
Massaman Curry
I judge Thai restaurants by their Tom Yum soup, by their Massaman, and by their mango sticky rice. This takes a while, because of the paste, but you could always cheat and use the stuff in a jar or packet. I’m all about freestyling it.
Ingredients
For the paste:
5-10 large dried red chillies (depending on how much you want to cry and enjoy a runny nose)
2 tsp galangal, chopped finely
4 tsp lemongrass, the soft bits, finely chopped (or use the stuff in a jar)
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp red onion, chopped or minced (you could even use powder here if you like, it’s such a weird, small amount)
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick (I found some from Sri Lanka in the cupboard, but I think they’ve been knocking around since about 2016, so best just put them back)
2 tsp fennel
2 cloves
2 tsp cardamon powder
For the curry
500ml of coconut milk
400g of your vegan protein of choice (firm tofu, seitan, etc) or a firm veg
100 gms of roasted peanuts
4 tsp sugar (I use coconut sugar, because it’s the best!)
A pinch of salt
1/4 cup of tamarind paste (or a mix of brown sugar and lemon or lime juice, if you can’t get it)
2 bay leaves
1 cup of water
2 potatoes, cut into big tasty chunks
1 carrot, chunked
2 brown onions, cut into fat moons
4 tsp oil
Preparation
Dry stir-fry all the paste ingredients together, on a low-medium heat, until it changes colour - usually about five mins
Grind to a paste with a mortar and pestle, or throw the paste mix into your food processor for a minute or two. Warning, it might stain a bit.
Heat the oil in a good non-stick pan, and add your paste, frying for about 3 or 4 minutes, alllowing yourself to sniff the potent fragrance with deep joy.
Put it in a bowl, and set aside.
Next, heat half the coconut oil in a big saucepan, until it begins to boil, then add the curry paste and your protein, cooking for about five minutes, while stirring.
Add the peanuts, sugar, salt, tamarind, bay leaves, the rest of the coconut milk, water, potatoes and carrots, and gently simmer for 30 mins. You might want to put a lid on. The pan, not your head.
When the potatoes and carrots are soft, add the brown onion, and cook for another five or ten minutes.
Done! Serve with your favourite rice and / or bread.
Mango Sticky Rice
I love this. One of my favourite ever desserts, but it’s a pain to make. As ever, I like to offer up a warning before you go and find a bunch of fantastic mangoes to eat that night - you have to soak the rice for 6 or 7 hours!!
Ingredients
500gms of Sticky Rice (don’t add glue to Uncle Ben’s, this is a particular type of rice indigienous to Southeast Asia)
300gms Coconut Milk
300gms sugar (go for coconut sugar if you can get it)
1 tsp salt
4 good, ripe mangoes
For the sauce
200 gms Coconut Milk
1 tsp of cornflour/ cornstarch
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp salt
Preparation
Cover the sticky rice in cold water and soak for 6-7 hours, or overnight, as they say, but that seems like a mystically long period of time, unless you go to bed at 1am, get up at 7am, and immediately decide to make mango sticky rice.
GENTLY rinse the rice 3 or 4 times, don’t mix it aas it will break
Place in a bamboo steamer (oh yeah, you need a steamer - sorry) and steam for 40 mminutes. After 40 minutes, you’re supposed to flip the rice, but that way tears- and-grains-of-rice-absolutely-everywhere lies. Good luck. Easiest way is to take the steamer off the heat, flip the rice onto a plate, and then try to slide it back in.
Steam your rice for another 15 minutes, if you managed to flip it.
Five minutes before the sticky rice is done, mix up the coconut milk, sugar and salt, and bring to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring continuously for about five minutes.
Put your coooked rice and the coconut milk mixture in a bowl, and cover for 45 minutes, so the rice soaks up alll the sweet, sweet coconutty gloop
While gloopification is underway, slice your mangoes how you fancy. Again, good luck with that. YouTube is your friend here. I favour the ‘pushing a pint glass down the side of the mango’ technique, but it’s not foolproof.
For the Sauce
Whisk up the milk, cornstarch, water and salt, then bring all the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan.
Once boiled, pour over the mango and sticky rice, and serve this epic dish.
Dear reader, I’ve got to go and pack my bags for my trip now…so there’s nothing more to say, other than have a great week ahead, thanks for reading, and PLEASE send me pictures of any of the recipes you’ve attempted. Bonus points for any disasters. ‘Scuse any spelling mistkaes in the newsletter, too.
So much of interest in this post, thanks! I like the look of those recipes too. Have a lovely trip
That sticky rice sounds so good 🤤