Khanom Jin Nomya

I think this recipe was intended to be mroe colorful, but I did use green Thai cillies instead of
dried chile de arbol, a decision I pass along for flavor, although red thai chillies might help the color out.

Don't be fooled, this neither tastes like a typical white sauce pasta, nor does it have the heaviness you may associate with alfredo.

Khanom Jin Nomya

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Coking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs catfish chunks (deboned)

1 anchovy, rinsed of oil

1 stalk lemongrass, with the outer layers removed and sliced into thirds

1/2 cup fingerroot, chopped

2 tsp galangal, grated

8 thai chillies, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 cup shallots, peeled

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

2 tbsp fish sauce

4 bundles somen noodles

4 sprigs thai basil

Substitutions:

fingerroot - ginger (will be somewhat less fragrant)

galangal - ginger (will be somewhat less fragrant)

shallots - small onions

fish sauce - worcestershire sauce

somen noodles - angel hair pasta

thai basil - sweet basil

lemongrass - lemon zest or lemon balm

Cooking:

Place catfish in a pan with 3 cups boiling water. Cook around 15 minutes, or until the fish is done. Remove the fish, but keep the liquid. Add the anchovy, lemongrass, and chilli peppers and boil for ten minutes. Add the shallots and garlic and boil for another five minutes.

Remove all ingredients from the liquid (reserving the liquid) and place them all, along with the catfish, in a fod processor and grind into a paste, adding just enough reserved cooking liquid to make the consistency right.

Prepare the noodles according tot he directions on their package.

In a smal pot, heat the paste to warm, and add the coconut milk and fish sauce.

Mix the noodles and paste, and serve garnish with the Thai basil sprigs.

Chapter 21 : Thailand

Thai cuisine has gained plenty of attention in recent years. Certainly it has been influenced by its proximity to China and India, but it is entirely distinct from them. Even Thai "curry" is quite different from the curries of India.

Galangal

Galangal is an aromatic root fromt he giner family (ginger, turmeric). It has a distinctly citrusy soapy aroma that is difficult to replace or emulate.

Galangal is sometimes available in specialty groceries, fresh or powdered. It often doesn't last long, but like ginger it can be peeled, frozen, and then grated as needed.

Fingerroot

Fingerroot is a ginger relative commonly found in Thai and Indonesian cooking. It is similar to ginger, but not entirely the same. Fingerroot can be found most frequently frozen.

Beef Rendang

Another one of Indonesia's more famous dishes is beef rendang, a spicy curry-like preparation of beef and coconut. Based on this recipe.

You may need to make some substitutions on this one- don't be afraid to. Tamarind pulp can be replaced by lemon juice mixed with brown sugar, kaffir lime leaves can be replaced with basil, and palm sugar can be replaced by white sugar, or preferably turbinado sugar. Galangal can be omitted if you can't find it. Toasted coconut can be made by dry roasting shredded coconut on a frying pan or wok.

Beef Rendang

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 2 hours

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb beef, cubed

5 tbsp cooking oil

1 cinnamon stick

3 whole cloves

3 star anise

3 cardamom pods

1 lemon grass, sliced and pounded

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

2 tbsp taramind pulp

6 kaffir lime leaves

6 tbsp toasted coconut

1 tbsp palm sugar

Spice Paste:

5 shallots

1 inch galangal
3 lemongrass (white part only)

5 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

10-12 chilli peppers

Preparation:

Chop the spice paste ingredients and use a food processor to turn them into a paste.

Cooking:

In a medium pot, heat the oil and then add the spice paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, snd cardamom pods, and stir fry until aromatic. Add the beef and lemongrass, and cook for one minute.

Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, and water, and simmer on medium heat until the meat is almost cooked. Then add the kaffir lime leaves, toasted coconut, and palm sugar.

Simmer on low heat 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender and the liquid is mostly gone. Add salt to taste.