Thai 101

I have been on a Thai food kick lately and after Lauren and I ate it last weekend, I decided it was time for me to learn how to make Thai food. So I decided to make my two favorite Thai dishes: Pad Thai and Tom Kha Gai (Coconut Soup). I started out looking up many different recipes online. I didn’t really stick to one particular recipe. I kinda took different things from different recipes and it turned out delicious! 

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Pad Thai

Ingredients: rice noodles, chicken, water chestnuts, scallions, bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, soy sauce, thai chili/garlic sauce, peanuts, garlic, onion, oil, ground ginger.

1. First I soaked the noodles in warm water limp, but still a little crunchy. 
2. While the noodles were soaking I cut up all the ingredients. Garlic (4 cloves), Onion (half), Scallions (3), Cilantro (a good handful), and Peanuts (I ground some up in my coffee grinder, not too fine though). Then I sauteed garlic with some soy sauce and cooked the chicken with some peanuts and salt and pepper in the same skillet. 
3. When the noodles were ready, I sauteed some garlic and onions in vegetable oil. Then I added a between a pinch and handful of peanuts and cooked them till they were goldenish. They cooked really fast so I had to quickly add the noodles, soy sauce to taste, a little bit of oil and some chili/garlic sauce (to taste). After I stir fried the noodles for a few minutes and they were soft, I added in most of the scallions, cilantro, bean sprouts, a dash of ground ginger (to taste) and water chestnuts. (I saved some scallions, cilantro, and peanuts and lime for garnish). After this stir fried for a bit, I added the chicken in and squeezed a lime on the top. 
4. Then I served it, topped with some cilantro, scallions, peanuts and a lime.

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Tom Kha Gai: Thai Coconut Soup

Ingredients: chicken broth (bouillon packet and water), coconut milk, red curry paste, ground ginger, oil, ground red chili pepper, jalapino, mushroom, onion, scallion, cilantro, lime.

1. First I made a two cups of chicken broth. 
2. Then I sauteed the ground ginger (1 tsp) and red curry paste (1.5 tsp) in just a little bit of oil. Then I poured in the chicken broth and let the ginger and curry paste mix with the broth. When this was hot, I added the can of coconut milk, half of a large jalapino (sliced), 3-4 regular sized mushrooms, a little bit of onion, a pinch of cilantro and scallions (more cilantro than scallions). To give it a kick I added ground red chili pepper (to taste) and squeezed a lime into it. I let it cook until the mushrooms were cooked. 

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So that was my Thai cooking adventure. It was fun and turned out so good. I don’t know how it compares to real Thai food, but it was pretty close to anything I’ve ever had at a restaurant!