Papaya Salad

 

I am not a big papaya fan. For some reason all the papayas I have ever tasted taste like smelly feet to me. Anyone else have the same problem? But, I am a HUGE fan of green papaya. In case you are wondering, green papaya is not the same as a regular papaya. I was about to say it was a regular papaya, just green and unripe, but then I used the good ole' google and found out that they are not the same. Good thing I checked, eh? You can find green papayas in Mexican or Asian grocery stores. Green papaya is nice and crunchy & completely non-smelly feet in taste. Score and score. 

This is what those green papaya beauties look like. ^ I love this salad. It's healthy, crunchy and refreshing. But be warned it has a spicy kick!

1 serving
100 g green papaya, cut into strips
100g carrot, cut into strips
1 tomato, sliced
1 cucumber, cut into strips (if desired)
30g roasted peanuts
1-2 tbs fish sauce
1-2 tsp palm sugar
2-3 red dried chili peppers
1 lime
5-6 grilled shrimp (if desired)-personally, I love shrimp with this!

 extra peanuts and mint for topping (if desired) 

*In the original Thai recipe from our Thai cooking class also called for 2 long beans, cut into 1 inch pieces. But we never tried it with them & Zachary's not a fan of the squeakiness of long beans when you eat them. 

Cut the green papaya, cucumbers and carrots into thin strips. Slice the tomato into wedges. Combine and put aside. Place garlic, chili and the peanuts into a mortar and pound those babies with a pestle until the chili's and garlic are broken up.  Add fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, and pound until the sugar separates. Add to your papaya, carrot, cucumber and tomato mixture. Mix well. To with more crushed peanuts, mint and shrimp if desired. Enjoy!

Cooking with The Mosbys: Thai Spring Rolls

 

Spring rolls make the perfect appetizer or even a great party food, don't they?! Guess what?! They are super easy to make, too! This recipe is one we learned in Thailand for the basic Thai spring rolls, but once you've mastered these, I say try switching things up and adding ingredients you love! Like, I think these would be great with added chopped shrimp! Also, I'm dying to make these with a southwest twist, leaving out the below ingredients and instead filling them with avocado, black beans, corn, and all the goodies the Tex Mex goods I can stuff in that little wrapper. But for now, I hope you try these babies!

100 g glass noodles (soak for 2 to 3 minutes)

50 g minced tofu

20 g chives, carrot and bean sprouts

2 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 beaten egg

2-3 tbs water

6-7 spring roll wrappers**
sweet chili sauce for dipping

Prepare ingredients as above. Set aside in 3 piles or bowls. 1. the soaked noodles, 2. the garlic and tofu, 3. the carrots, chives and beansprouts. I also would suggest having the water, soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce, measured out and placed in a separate bowl, as well.

In a wok, fry the garlic and tofu until brown. Add the bean sprout, carrot, chives combo. Add 2 to 3 tbs of water, soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. Mix well.

Add glass noodles. Stir until everything is mixed & heated well. Set aside & let cool for 5 minutes.

Once the filling is cooled, lay out one spring roll wrapper, rough side up, and place 1 to 2 tbs of filling in the bottom center.  I recommend making smaller spring rolls at first. Once you've mastered frying them while they stay together,  you can try making them a little bigger.

**Make sure the spring roll wrappers are not too dried out. If they are too dry they will crack, making it very difficult to keep your spring roll in one piece while assembling and frying. 

Fold the bottom corner over the filling. Next fold in the ends, then roll up tightly. Seal the wrapping closed with the beaten egg.

 

Next fry your spring roll babies up over medium heat! Use plenty of oil to almost cover them. Make sure to turn them until they are fried golden. 

If you're afraid of the hot, popping oil, let your husband, man friend or brother have a go. ;)

Serve with sweet chili sauce and enjoy!

Cooking with the Mosby's: Tom Yum Soup

Also known hot and creamy soup, Tom Yum Soup, is a delicious, spicy Thai soup. I will admit, the first time I tried it before going to Thailand, I was not a huge fan of the taste. But after trying the authentic soup in Thailand, it is now quite possibly my favorite soup. We have made it several times since returning from Thailand. Not only is it delicious but it is also healthy. 

Serves 2 

20 minutes

100 g of chicken or shrimp

2 tbs sliced lemon grass

3-4 keffir lime leaves

14-16 fresh chilies smashed or pounded*

2 limes

Sugar

2 tsp chicken stock

60 g of oyster mushrooms

1 tbs sliced galangal

2 tbs cilantro and spring onion

100 g of onion & tomato cut into quarters

2 tbs fish sauce

1 c water

1 c coconut cream

2 tbs fish sauce

3 tsp sugar

2 tsp Thai chili paste

*Adjust depending on your tastes

Prepare ingredients on a plate like above. Slice tomatoes, onion and mushrooms in 1 inch pieces. Place in 1 pile.

Remove the center stem on the kaffir leaves and tear into several pieces. Slice the purple end of the lemon grass into diagonal slices until you have sliced all of the purple. Slice the 1 to 2 of the chillies diagonally.  Pace in a pile.

Slice the lime and put aside. 

If using chicken, slice into small peices. If using shrimp peel or leave unpeeled as desired. Set aside. 

Add 1 cup of water & 1 cup of coconut cream to the pot. 

Add chicken stock and the kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, galangal and chilly pile. Add remaining whole chillies as well.

After the water and coconut cream is boiling, add tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and chicken. 

Add fish sauce, sugar, Thai chili paste and lime juice. (Squeeze limes then throw in the pot)

Taste. Add cilantro and spring onions. 

Enjoy!

Essential Thai Ingredients

In Thai cooking there are several ingredients that show up in nearly every dish. These ingredients are what make Thai cuisine so delicious and flavorful. Unfortunately, for us outside of Thailand, these  essential ingredients are not as common in our cooking, commonly known or available. Thankfully, especially those living in the West, there are still ways to find them at Asian Markets, large chains & online. It may take some time or be a small inconvenience to find them but trust me the time and trouble will be worth it in the kitchen. If you love Thai cuisine here are the special ingredients to stock up on!  keffir lime & keffir lime leaves The juice and peel are commonly used in curry paste & soups 

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The leaves are used in soups much like we use bay leaves for flavoring

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Galangal

Used in curry paste, hot and sour soup and coconut milk soup

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Lemongrass

Used in Tom Yum and curry paste

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Sweet Holy Basil

Often used with fish dishes

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 Lemon Basil

Usually sprinkled over Thai salads & curries

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Thai Basil

Used in Thai curries

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Thai Ginseng 

Used with fish dishes

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Turmeric

Used in yellow curries

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Oyster Sauce

Used for flavoring in several Thai dishes

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Thai Chili Paste
Thai's like their food with a kick! Used in most dishes

Fish Sauce

Used in everything from Pad Thai to Tom Yum Soup

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Palm Sugar

Used to bring out flavor, make things sweeter and tone down the spicy

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Palm Oil

Used in place of regular oil

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Other less exotic seasoning ingredients commonly used in Thai cooking are cilantro or coriander, chillies, lime and soya sauce. 

Thai Cookery School: Siam Rice

Thai Cooking School while in Chiang Mai was one of our favorite things we did on the whole trip. The food was delicious, the cooking was fun, we had a hilarious tour guide & we met some incredible people. We had planned to do a trekking day but after our full day with the elephants we knew we wanted something a little lower key. We called the travel agent we had booked the trek with & begged for a switch. They thankfully obliged and booked for us one of the best days we had in Thailand at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School & gave us some money back for the difference.

  

We were picked up around 9 from our hostel in a Chiang Mai taxi, which is a truck, with it's truck bed converted into bench style  seating, the optimal get close and cozy to your new friends experience. We first met Allen  from the Phillippines. He was awesome. We loved getting to know him. He owns a restaurant a little outside of Manilla and we are determined to one day eat there. Next up we met the lovely Karolien & Alex, as they piled into the car. They were from Belguim and on the end leg of a 6 month backpacking trip through Asia, New Zealand and Australia. They got us super interested in doing a farm stay in New Zealand one day. Not to mention, we're pretty much sold on seeing them again in Belgium. They were wonderful. I could have hung out with this girl all day long!  We made sure to ask all their tips on saving for a back packing trip!  As we drove around Chiang Mai to pick up each new person, we had plenty of time to chat and get to know each other.  After we were all piled in we made our way to a local market to explore all the new veggies we would use in our dishes. Our guide explained to us the difference between coconut cream & coconut milk. Coconut cream is... and coconut milk is. Let me just say, after using coconut milk the majority of my life, I am now obsessed with the thick, creamy coconut cream. Yum!  He then introduced us to some new vegetables that are foreign to our western markets like keffir lime, galgal, several types of basil and lemon grass.  Thankfully, for those in the States, these ingredients can be found fresh in Asian markets and dried at most major groceries. For those of us in China, we have to improvise on some of the ingredients.  After, our brief shopping into we were free to roam around the market and take pictures for a few minutes. And of course buy a Thai Iced Coffee.  After the market we headed off to the cooking school, which was really just a house with out door kitchens.  Once we arrived, we set down and looked over our "menu" of cooking options. We could choose 6 dishes and 1 curry. The 6 dishes included a curry, a noodle, a stir fry, soup, dessert and an appetizer. Zachary and I made sure to each choose something different so we could learn how to make & enjoy 12 recipes instead of just 6. Our guide for the day For each course, the ingredients to all of our dishes were brought out on a plate and our guide taught us, ingredient by ingredient, how to prepare them.   All of the dishes were surprisingly easy and took barely any time to cook. This explains why everything in Thai eating tastes & looks so fresh!  We prepared two dishes, and then made our way to the table to enjoy them. After, we finished eating, we'd head back to the cutting boards to prepare the next two.  Cook. Eat. Cook. Eat. Cook. Eat.  First up, we prepared & cooked Pad Thai for me & Drunken Noodles for Zachary.  Pad Thai Luckily, all the guys choose drunken noodles, which turned out to be a great surprise for them.  Alex & Zachary Alan from the Philippines.  The guys enjoyed the fire show while cooking their drunken noodles! I'm not quite sure how we will cook this noodle dish at home but I'm sure we'll try it! Next up, we made our curry pastes. This is a super labor intensive process! You have to pound, pound, pound and pound the ingredients until it makes a paste. Our guide told us there is a saying in Thailand that if you walk by a woman's house and you can hear the sound of her mortal and pestle she will make a good wife.  After our curry pastes were ready we prepared the ingredients for our curries & headed to the stoves. The curries, of all the dishes, took the longest to make, but still only took around 10 minutes.  Massaman curry for me.  The extra spices that are added to Massaman to give it it's unique flavor Pumpkin Curry Northern Style For our third dish I made holy basil with chicken and Zachary made our favorite, chicken with cashew nut.  To take a break from all of the eating and to help give our bodies time to clear space in our happy bellies for the next round of dishes our guide taught us how to cut onion flowers.  Me and Z's super beautiful flowers. ;) Next up we made our soups. Yummmm. They were delicious! Are you noticing a trend here?! Tom Yum Nam Kang for me Chicken Coconut Soup for Zachary Last we made the appetizers and desserts.  For my appetizer I choose the classic Thai spring roll. These also took a little longer to make than the other dishes because of the multiple steps involved in making them. First we prepared the ingredients for the spring roll filling & cooked it. After letting it cool we pulled out the spring roll wrappers and placed the filling in the middle. Once the filling was inside we used egg to seal the rolls up and took them on for the frying. Zachary graciously did the frying for me. Zachary made the green mango salad for his appetizer. It was delicious & so refreshing. One of my favorite desserts while in Thailand was the mango and sticky rice, other than the coconut ice cream of course.  I was excited to see what all was included in making mango sticky rice. When you taste it, it's obvious, there's alot more goodness than just mango and rice in it. It was super easy & I will for sure have to make it at home! Zachary made pumpkin in coconut milk to give us something new to try. It was also delicious, naturally.  We were all heck-a full at the end of the day but super happy!  The food we made tasted better than we had tasted anywhere else, too! It's awesome to know that we can cook such delicious Thai food at home for ourselves even outside of Thailand!  After 6 hours of cooking & laughing we were given a certificate of our completion & a book with all the recipes taught at the school! Score! I can't wait to try to make some of them at home! And don't worry! I'll be sharing with you some of our favorites which just happens to be everything we made!  The Deets Siam Rice Thai Cookery School Chiang Mai website Full Day 900 baht (we recommend the full day!) Half Day 700 baht