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Thai

Crockpot Chicken or Beef Massaman Curry – Around the World in 30 Dishes – Thailand

April 14, 2014 by danawyyc 6 Comments

Come along with me as I explore the world through my kitchen. For each region, I’ll be trying about 5 dishes, drawing inspiration from authentic dishes, ingredients or techniques from that region but adapting them for a North American home cook. All the ingredients in this series will be ones I can find in my local (Calgary, Alberta) grocery store and use cooking tools I already have at home. 

Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com
 My friend Amy lived in Thailand for a while and said that this dish was her favorite. After looking at the ingredient list, I found that even though many of the ingredients weren’t super familiar to me, I could find them all in my local grocery store. I made it as a crockpot recipe, but you could easily do it on the stove top instead. You can reduce the cooking time to about 1/3 of what I recommend for the crockpot on high. I thought  this recipe was great. I ended up making both a beef and a chicken version and loved them both. It made great leftovers too.
Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

Ingredients and Substitutions:

  • Tamarind – is a kind of sour fruit. I’ve found it whole in the produce section and as a paste or as a sauce in the asian section of our local grocery stores. If you use whole fruit, remove the outer layer and use the inner fruit. Tamarind may seem unfamiliar but is a primary ingredient in Worchestershire sauce. Nothing is really recommended as a substitute for Tamarind, but what you are looking for is something to add a sweet, sour taste.
  • Sambal Olek – This is a chili sauce that is meant to add heat without effecting the flavoring. Substitute for any chili or garlic chili sauce.
  • Lemongrass – is a grass that has a herby lemon flavor. It looks like a stalk and is found in the produce section. They may be long or cut into smaller chunks and put in a package. I’ve found the lemon grass in our grocery stores to be a bit dry, but you can re-hydrate it by letting it sit in some water. It will even continue to grow. Substitute with lemon zest.
  • Cardamon – Is an aromatic spice commonly used in Indian cooking . If you can’t find it, try substituting a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavor won’t be quite the same but it should work well.
  • Fish Sauce – is a condiment made from anchovies. That may not sound awesome, but it actually is. You can substitute soy sauce with good results.
Print
Crockpot Massaman Curry – Thai Food
Author: Dana
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Thai
 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • one pound beef or chicken cut into chunks
  • one pound beef or chicken cut into chunks
  • one pound baby potatoes quartered (large potatoes cut into chunks is fine too)
  • one pound baby potatoes quartered (large potatoes cut into chunks is fine too)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • one 2 inch long piece of ginger, grated
  • one 2 inch long piece of ginger, grated
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, grated or minced
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, grated or minced
  • 2 or more teaspoons Sambal Olek or other chili paste
  • 2 or more teaspoons Sambal Olek or other chili paste
  • one 14 oz can broth to match meat of choice
  • one 14 oz can broth to match meat of choice
  • one 14 oz can coconut milk
  • one 14 oz can coconut milk
  • 1 stalk lemongrass, minced
  • 1 stalk lemongrass, minced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1½ teaspoons turmeric
  • 1½ teaspoons turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
  • 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamon
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamon
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind (paste, sauce or mashed up fruit - whatever you can find)
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind (paste, sauce or mashed up fruit - whatever you can find)
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • ½ tablespoon brown sugar
  • ½ tablespoon brown sugar
  • ¼ cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted cashews or peanuts (+ handful more for garnish)
  • ¼ cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted cashews or peanuts (+ handful more for garnish)
  • 1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium tomato, sliced
Instructions
  1. Turn your crockpot onto high heat and add a couple tablespoons of oil.
  2. After the oil is heated, add the onion, spices, cashews or peanuts and tamarind. Stir until fragrant.
  3. Add the meat, chicken, broth, coconut milk, chili garlic paste, fish sauce and brown sugar. The potatoes can be added here, or later on depending on how long the crockpot will be running. Add the potatoes right away if they will be cooking on low for 3-4 hours. If you are cooking at a higher heat or for a longer time (eg if you want it to cook while you are out or are using a tough cut of beef) add the potatoes 2-3 hours before you plan on eating. Alternatively, you can boil the potatoes and add them at the last minute.
  4. During the last hour of cooking add the peppers and tomatoes.
  5. You can vary the cooking time for this dish a lot as long as you don't add the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers too early. Curries tend to only get better with additional cooking time. As long as your meat is cooked through and no longer tough you can eat it.
  6. If you are using chicken breasts, you can probably cook it for as little as 2.5 - 3 hours on high. Beef will have a longer minimum cooking time (at least 5-6 hours) - you'll want to cook it long enough for the meat to get tender. If you have the time to cook it on low for 8-10 hours it will be even better.
  7. Serve over rice (I like brown jasmine or brown basmati) Top with additional chopped cashews or peanuts.
Notes
(Adapted from <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/massaman-curry/">Instructable's Massaman Curry Recipe</a>
3.2.1290

Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

Massaman Curry - Thai Food - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com
 

Filed Under: Around the World in 30 Dishes, Beef, Chicken, Crockpot, Food, Recipes, Thailand

Salad #43 – Easy Thai Cucumber Salad (Tam Taengkwa)

March 28, 2014 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

Easy Thai Cucumber Salad

 

This salad is a variation on the Thai green papaya salad (Som Tam). This version uses cucumbers instead of the harder to find and less familiar (to me) green papaya’s. It reminds me a lot of the cucumber salad that my Danish grandmother used to make which was flavored with salt and pepper and used cucumbers cut very very thin. It was both familiar and novel. In Thailand it would be served very hot, but at home you can adjust the heat to suit your families tastes.

This salad coincidentally matches up with my new series Around the World in 30 Dishes.

Print
Salad #43 – Easy Thai Cucumber Salad
Author: Dana
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Thai
 
Ingredients
  • 4 mini cucumbers sliced (or one large)
  • ½ tbsp salt
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup rice vinegar
  • squirt sriracha sauce or ½ jalapeno
  • 4 stalks cilantro
  • chopped peanuts for topping
Instructions
  1. Place the cucumbers in a strainer and mix with the salt. Leave them in the sink for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Rinse with cold water and dry gently with paper towels and place in a bowl.
  3. Whisk the vinegar and sugar until dissolved.
  4. Toss the cucumbers, vinegar mixture, sriracha and cilantro together.
  5. Serve topped with peanuts.
  6. Toss the cucumbers with the salt in a colander, and leave in the sink to drain for at least 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.
  7. Whisk together the sugar and vinegar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro; toss to combine. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top before serving.
Notes
Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thai-cucumber-salad/
3.2.1290

 

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:24]

Thai Cucumber Salad

 Did They Eat It?

Stephen: Oh, that’s good.

Anne: Very nice. A little spicier than I would normally eat but it was good.

Dana: Simple to put together and nice textures.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Filed Under: 52 Salads, Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: cucumber, salad, thai

Hoi Tod – Thai Street Food – Egg and Seafood Pancake – Around the World in 30 Dishes: Thailand

March 24, 2014 by danawyyc 14 Comments

Introducing my new series Around the World in 30 Dishes. My goal is to pick several regions around the world and explore it’s food through my kitchen. For each area I’ll try to make about 5 dishes. I want to take my inspiration from foods, techniques or ingredients that you could actually find in that region, but adapt them for a North American home cook. I’ll try to provide substitutions for ingredients that may be hard to find, not use anything that I can’t find in my local (Calgary, Alberta) grocery store and only use cooking tools that I already have at home.

hoi tod - Thai Street Food

The first region I’ve chosen is Thailand. My Dad recently moved to Thailand and has been trying all kinds of interesting new foods. He told me that Hoi Tod is one of his favorites. Here’s my best attempt and advice for making it at home. I used this recipe as my inspiration and watched a couple videos that you can find at the bottom of the post.

There’s a lot of different (but similar) methods to make this recipe. The method I’ve posted is the one I found the easiest to do. I tried beating the eggs and putting them in with the tapioca flour mixture first, but that didn’t seem to give quite the right result, and I also tried to mix the egg in the ladle but I found that to be a little messy and requiring a larger ladle. Feel free to play around with it, I found it to be pretty resilient to error, I even forgot the seafood one time and my husband still thought it was okay.

Ingredients and Substitutions

  • Tapioca Flour – I was able to find this in my local grocery store. It’s similar to cornstarch so you can use that in its place
  • Fish Sauce – If you can’t find fish sauce you can use soy sauce in it’s place.
  • Cilantro – If you hate cilantro you can just skip it. It is more mild after being chopped and cooked so you may want to give it a try before you decide.

Print
Hoi Tod - Crispy Egg and Seafood Pancake
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Thai
 
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup seafood (mussels are traditional - I really liked shrimp - you could also use clams or squid etc)
  • ¾ cup seafood (mussels are traditional - I really liked shrimp - you could also use clams or squid etc)
  • 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
  • 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
  • fresh cilantro (optional)
  • fresh cilantro (optional)
  • fish sauce (or soy sauce)
  • fish sauce (or soy sauce)
  • 1-3 cloves garlic (optional)
  • 1-3 cloves garlic (optional)
  • 3-4 eggs
  • 3-4 eggs
  • 3 green onions
  • 3 green onions
  • 8 tablespoons tapioca flour (or cornstarch)
  • 8 tablespoons tapioca flour (or cornstarch)
  • ½ cup soda water (or 7-Up)
  • ½ cup soda water (or 7-Up)
  • salt and pepper
  • salt and pepper
  • vegetable oil for cooking
Instructions
  1. You'll want to have all of your ingredients prepped before you begin cooking. Slice the green onions, chop the cilantro and prep the seafood you are using.
  2. Heat oil in a large pan on medium high heat. Mix the tapioca flour (or cornstarch) with salt, pepper and soda water.
  3. In a ladle, scoop up a third or so of the tapioca mixture and pour it in the pan. drop the seafood and a pinch of green onions and cilantro on top. Crack the egg in the middle of the batter and break it open with a spatula and move it around to mix in with the rest of the ingredients. I had a tendency to want to pile them into a smaller space at this point but you actually want it to be spread out over a large space in the pan. (You should use a large pan than I did - you will want a BIG pan). This step should all be done fairly quickly.
  4. As the pancake starts to set, push it to the side of the pan and leave it alone while it gets crispy. When the bottom is crispy, flip it and let it cook on the other side. The finished pancake should end up being fairly crispy. I found I tended to undercook them - they still tasted good though so don't stress too much.
  5. While the second side is cooking throw down some minced garlic onto the opposite side of the pan. (If you are using a pan that was as small as the one I used, you may want to do this in a second pan). After the garlic gets aromatic, add the bean sprouts and fish sauce and stir fry until heated.
  6. Serve the pancake on top of the bean sprouts and top with Sriracha sauce (or another spicy pepper sauce if you don't have Sriracha).
3.2.1290

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:23]

Videos of Thai Street Vendors Making Hoi Tod

I found it helpful to watch videos of Hoi Tod being made. The methods of the vendors are a little different but I found these two both really good.


Filed Under: Around the World in 30 Dishes, Food, Recipes, Seafood, Thailand Tagged With: 30 dishes, thai food, world food

Salad #41 – Thai Chicken Salad with a Spicy Peanut Dressing

March 15, 2014 by danawyyc 7 Comments

thai chicken salad

One of my favorite things in the world are those bags of pre-shredded cabbage. They keep well so you don’t have to use them right away, save time and effort and are really versatile. They are great in soups, stir frys, make an easy vegetable side dish or a perfect salad base. I had picked up a bag of cabbage (or coleslaw mix) and  a rotisserie chicken while we were at the grocery store and decided to make a meal salad with them. This salad keeps well in the fridge for a couple days too so you don’t have it eat it all at once – the cashews will get a bit mushy though so you may want to put them on at the last minute.

Print
Thai Chicken Salad
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Thai
 
Ingredients
  • Salad:

  • chicken - I used 2 breasts from a rotisserie chicken
  • ½ bag coleslaw cabbage mix
  • 1 mango sliced
  • fresh cilantro (optional)
  • 2 green onions
  • ½ cup chopped peanuts or cashews

  • Dressing:

  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 squirt hot sauce (sriracha is nice)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar (I used rice wine)
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon oil (I used canola oil)
  • ½ teaspoon fish sauce
  • ¼ cup peanut butter (if you are using natural peanut butter you may want to add some sugar)
  • approx. ¼ cup water
Instructions
  1. Shred the chicken into long strips.
  2. Add the chicken, coleslaw, mango slices and most of the green onions together in a large bowl.
  3. Whisk the dressing ingredients together.
  4. Toss the salad ingredients with the dressing.
  5. Serve topped with peanuts or cashews and a little green onion.
Notes
Adapted from http://pinchofyum.com/chopped-thai-chicken-salad
3.2.1290

 

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:21]

thai chicken salad

Did They Eat It?

Gordie: refused to try. no no no.

Nicky: liked the chicken

Stephen: It’s good.

Anne: Really good.

Dana: This is a kind of salad that makes me go back for seconds.

Filed Under: 52 Salads, Chicken, Easy Meals, Food, Recipes, Salads Tagged With: cabbage, chicken, main dish salad, thai

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About Me

I'm an experiential playground expert and mom to three young kids. I live with my husband in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. When I'm not looking after people, I'm reading all the YA fiction I can get my hands on and am attempting to learn photography. My laundry-folding suffers due to more interesting pursuits.

You can also find me over at:
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