Graduation Vacation

4th year English majors

Being an English Language Expert at a second tier university by the sea has its perks. There's the seaview from the classroom. Free apartment across the street. A canteen where you can get three curries and a rice for a buck. And a lot of free time due to cancelled classes.

In addition to the national and Buddhist holidays, classes have been cancelled this semester for the following reasons: Sports Week, 2 weeks for midterms, various vague activities students must prepare for, education trips, and most recently, one week to prepare for the graduation ceremony. One week!

The "gown"is a lovely gauzy thing that is worn over the school uniform.

I didn't attend the ceremony (having not been told where it was) but I did participate in the campus-wide photo ops that were held a few days before. 

The colored squares are actually real flowers

Faculty of Liberal Arts teachers. Teachers are considered government employees and have a uniform depending on their status.

I'm not sure why the armed guys were there but they didn't mind taking a photo.

 

The campus had a festive carnival like feel and through there were no vendors selling stuff on sticks, there were plenty of stuffed bears about.

Graduation Bears!!

egg and peanut vendor 

 Freshmen gathered around their elders and chanted congratulations and well wishes.

The freshmen were practicing the chants and moves all week (hence no classes)

 

I stood in the middle to see the routine and felt like a dork

 

Stephen sweltered in his Irish wool suit as we waited for the group photos for our faculty and department.

Stephen got the last chair so I'm not in the official school photo

The day made me reflect on my own university graduation day. I find I can't remember it at all, save for a pang of regret that I hadn't spent more time with my Dad. Perhaps I've blocked it out as I'd realized months before the big day that I didn't, in fact, want to be a public high school English teacher. But through a series of twists on education related paths, I've ended up here on the ESL Trail, living a rather comfortable life with a fantastic guy, a cat, good friends, and the sea always nearby.

Dad, myself (eyes closed to the future), mom. ISU, 1996

More bears!

Mr. and Mrs. Don Dapper

me & my boss

engineering graduates head for the bleachers

The Faculty of Liberal Arts

Dim Sum-ptuous

Teacher Benz made this lovely plate. At the local shops, the presentation isn't as pretty.

Chinese have been around in Thailand for about 1000 years and according to Wikipedia, "The community is the best-integrated overseas Chinese community in the world". In Songkhla, the old streets like Nga Nam Road have many shops surrounding the ornate Chinese temple with signs in Thai and Chinese. Along with the gold jewelry shops and shops with cheaply made stuff for 20 baht or less, one can find another Chinese staple: dim sum, little tapas like snacks such as steamed dumplings and meat or custard filled buns.

My new favorite restaurant in Songkhla with tons of real Chinese flavor.

On a Sunday, a group of teachers and students from the Food & Nutrition Department made a short trek to a local community center to teach another group of housewives how to make these Chinese bites that have become integrated into Thai cuisine.

the housewife on the left really enjoyed giving me a hard time :)

The Thai version of both of these treats is a bit sweeter than those I experienced in China. I'm not sure why Thais like to add sugar to savory dishes but even at a noodle shop, the typical condiments are: fish sauce, pickled chilis, sour chili sauce, chili powder, and sugar. A roubao or meat bun in China is a soft steamed bun with a big, greasy, savory ball of seasoned meat in the center. When you bite into it, a big burst of juice squirts out. The meat buns we made are much lighter, which may also be due to using chicken rather than pork (some of the women in attendance are Muslim so we used only chicken and seafood.). The dumplings we made aren't like gyoza, or the fried/steamed things you get at Chinese takeaway. That's not to say they aren't traditional. China has so many varieties of cuisine from region to region and this particular kind may not be known where I was in Nanjing.

I think almost any meat or vegetable could be used in these treats if chopped finely and put in the right proportions. Additionally, I think sugar could be eliminated or substituted with spice or more salt. But here is the recipe that is used in the traditional dim sum shops around town.

Shrimp and Pork Dumplings

Ingredients:

380g peeled and deveined white shrimp

75g minced pork

2 steamed egg yolks

20 g tapioca or corn starch

18g sugar

20g soybean sauce

35g sesame oil

a head of garlic

a package of square yellow wanton wrappers

banana leaves (this prevents the dumplings from sticking to the pan and adds a bit of flavor)

prep for both snacks

 

Procedure

Dredge the shrimp in cornstarch and let sit for a few minutes. This helps with the texture.

Rinse the cornstarch off the shrimp and then mash them into a paste with the flat end of a cleaver.

mashed shrimp

Mix all ingredients but the egg yolk and garlic in a large bowl, adding the starch last. Pick up the mixture and slam it against the side of the bowl to remove air and to make it more paste like.

To fill the wrapper, make a circle with your thumb and middle finger. Place the wanton wrapper over the hole and press down a bit to make a pocket. Add a spoonful of the mixture and form the wrapper so that it can stand. The wanton should be unclosed. Put some water on your fingers and squeeze the sides to ensure it doesn't fall apart when steaming. Put a piece of egg yolk on the top of the mixture.

not as easy as it looks

Line a steamer pan (has holes on the bottom) with banana leaves. Brush a little oil on the leaves. Place the dumplings on the banana leaves, leaving a little space between them.

Put a lid on the steamer and place over boiling water for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, dice the garlic into small pieces and fry in a good amount of oil until brown and crispy. Make sure the heat isn't too hot or they will burn and taste bitter.

they cut some banana leaves into strips to use as a brush--ingenious!

Take the dumplings out of the steamer and brush the bits of garlic and some of the oil on top. Serve with pieces of lettuce and other herbs. Can also be served with nam jim, a sweet and spicy dipping sauce.

the little rose is made from tomato peel

Steamed meat buns (sarapao)

Unfortunately I don't have the amounts for the ingredients, but you can get the general idea.

some ingredients--the egg things on the right are a Songkhla specialty

The filling:

Chinese sausage (made from chicken or pork and are a little sweet)

dried mushrooms soaked in water

a root vegetable like jicama

bamboo shoots

spring onions

ground chicken (could use ground pork or beef)

boiled egg yolks

Method:

Fry the sausages in oil until browned.

Dice and boil the bamboo until it's yellowish. This removes the bitter taste.

I never knew what bamboo looked like before this day

Dice everything very finely and put in a large bowl. Add:

soy sauce

sesame oil

corn starch

sugar

salt & pepper

Mix everything together thoroughly and set aside.

 

Bun dough

all-purpose flour

yeast

baking soda

shortening

sugar

water

Procedure

add water slowly and knead dough into a big ball. Cover with a cloth for about 1 hour.

In a mixer, add baking soda, shortening, sugar, and water. Mix on medium-high speed for about 5-7 minutes.

prepping, cooking, mixing on the floor is normal

Sprinkle flour on a table and remove the dough from the mixer. Knead into a long tube.

Cut off about 40 grams of the dough and mix into a ball (about the size of a golfball).

Flatten the ball with the palm of your hand and pound into a round pancake like shape.

Place a spoonful of the filling in the center of the dough. Add egg yolk. Fold up the sides and pinch at the top.

 

mine is the atrocious looking one on the upper left

 

Place on a small square of non stick paper and into a steamer for about 15-20 minutes.

 

 

makeshift kitchen outside

student works on cleaning and prepping the veggies

 

Cooking Thai Snakes

Hahahaha, you thought I was going to write about grilled reptile, didn't you? Actually, it's quite common for non-English speakers in Asia to say "snake" instead of "snack" which leads to all sorts of hilarity.

finally in a real kitchen!!

I had been hounding people in my department for ages about teaching me how to cook Thai food. I had received some advice ("be careful about the chillis, you are farang!!") and learned words for ingredients but hadn't ever been into a kitchen. So I was very excited when my good friend, Paipan, invited me to join an activity that involved teaching local people about traditional Southern Thai food. I learned later that this activity was done to meet criteria for the university's KPI program (KPI=key performance indicator). Departments receive points based on projects that they develop and carry out that benefit the community. This cooking project was lead by the Food & Nutrition department and the goal was to preserve local traditions.

housewives prepare the ingredients. Paipan in the middle supervising

When I arrived, I experienced that pleasant, yet rare, feeling of being one of the youngest in attendance. The group of about 12 "housewives" as Paipan called them (and much more demure and real than their reality tv counterparts) were decked out in their casual gear--brightly colored tops made from local fabric and comfy pants. They smiled and applauded my garbled attempt to introduce myself in Thai.

I was given a packet of menus and was so excited to see Thai on the left and English on the right. Until I read the English and realized I couldn't understand it (blast you google translator!!). "Roll the dough into the middle of a sufficiently mature to a circular bar." Huh??

making rolled pancakes

 I was also a bit disappointed to see the recipes were for Thai desserts rather than the curries and soups I love so much. When a Western thinks "dessert", we imagine cake with 1/2 inch thick frosting, pastries and pies filled with gooey, dripping fruit sauce, dense and decadent brownies, doughnuts in hundred different incarnations. Sugary, rich, buttery, messy, chocolatey bliss.

Thai desserts, by comparison, are small, tidy, mildly sweet, and more about texture and presentation than about taste. Whereas a Western might take a box of vanilla wafers and add butter to make a crust for a banana cream pie, a Thai will find one or two of the wafers to be a sufficient dessert.

sticky rice, coconut, and banana in steamed in banana leaves. nice taste, strange texture

Thais also love glutinous rice flour in their desserts. Many a thing is steamed or grilled in a banana leaf and comes out with the consistency of something already chewed. But maybe it's just because I didn't grow up with it. I have a feeling Thais would be equally appalled by the combination of peanut butter and jelly on bread.

I had the choice of learning to make small tubes that taste a bit like fortune cookies, grilled coconut goo in a banana leaf, a mini pancake, deep fried donut, or crispy fried noodles. I chose the latter because it seemed to be the most complex and most savoury. It's also a speciality only found in the south. I ended up learning to make all the desserts and was astounded by how much fun I had!!! It really made me want to give up this teaching racket and try a whole  new career. What follows is the recipe and some photos.

fancy plating of Mee Krop

Mee Krop (Crispy Fried Noodles)

Ingredients

1 or 2 packages of thin rice noodles (sen mee)

1 cup large white shrimp

1 cup chicken breast cut into small pieces

1 "cake" of bean curd (hard tofu) diced into cubes

1 cup of bean sprouts

2 small shallots diced finely

1/2 cup diced spring onions (green part)

1 bunch of cilantro leaves

1 red sweet chili pepper for garnish

1 egg (beaten)

10 cloves of  pickled garlic diced (you could make this by putting some garlic cloves in vinegar, salt, sugar overnight)

2TB glucose syrup (this is the thickening agent, so you could substitute corn starch and water, especially if you'd rather the dish turn out not too sweet)

2TB palm sugar (this is made from the sap of a palm tree and is better for you than other sugars, but brown sugar would make a nice substitute)

1TB ketchup (I have no idea why an old Thai recipe would have ketchup)

1TB fish sauce (smells horrible, but tastes a bit and is used like soy sauce)

1TB sugar (If I made this again, I would eliminate this)

1TB fermented soybean sauce (probably could substitute basic soybean paste)

juice of 2 or 3 limes

Palm oil for frying

Vegetable oil for frying

Procedure

Prepare all the ingredients first to make the entire assembly go more smoothly.

most of the ingredients prepped and ready to go

Use a wok to cook everything. The order doesn't really matter but should be done separately.

Cook tofu until yellow/brown and remove to a paper towel to drain.

Cook chicken until white and remove to a bowl. Set aside.

Dip shrimp into flour and cook about 1 minute. Remove and set aside.

Heat a good amount of palm oil in the wok. Pour the beaten egg through a sieve so that when it hits the oil, it resembles a net. The higher you hold the sieve, the more net-like the egg will be. Flip it over and cook until golden. Remove to drain oil.

egg nets--so simple and so fun. who knew?

Add new palm oil to the wok and heat until the smoking point. Add a small bunch of uncooked rice noodles to the oil. They will immediately puff up and crisp. Flip over and remove to drain. Repeat until you have enough noodles to fill a large bowl. Discard the palm oil.

dropping the noodles in. Carefully.

only takes about 5 seconds to cook

 

To make the sauce:

Add vegetable oil to the wok. Add shallots and cook until translucent. Add sauces and sugars and stir until everything is dissolved.

saucy!

Pour the sauce on top of the crispy fried noodles. Add spring onions, sprouts, garlic. Use two large spatulas or salad forks to mix everything together.  The noodles will break into bite sized pieces.

This bowl full would serve 4-6 depending on if it was just  a snack or a meal

To plate for a meal (see pic above):

Put a banana leaf on the bottom of the plate. Put the noodle mixture in the middle. To the side place a portion of the sprouts, tofu, and chicken. On top of the noodles place some of the egg net. Place 1 or 2 shrimp on top of the net on top of a few sprigs of cilantro. If you know how, make a flower garnish with the pepper and put on the side of the dish.

Benz shows us how to turn a pepper into a flower

This is considered a snack, so usually it is packaged in small plastic containers and sold at the local market. Some people eat it as a meal with rice. It is crispy, salty, a little sweet with little bursts and layers of flavors and textures. Lovely.

The flower in the middle is made from a palm leaf

 

As I mentioned, I also learned to make the crispy tubes. The English menu calls them "Tootsie Fresh".

Pour the batter onto the surface of the round thing and close the lid for just a few seconds.

the one on the right shows the first step

 

Fold the sides. Close the lid for just a few seconds so it turns light brown. Then use a rod and roll it up.

 

It's hot so be careful!

 

Remove the rod. The tube will harden to a fortune cookie like texture.

so happy with my misshapen tube!

 

 

 

a real kitchen

 

with open windows

 

I always wondered what this was. It's palm sugar.

sunflower cookie

coconut goo in a banana leaf. I could not master folding the leaf so the goo stuff wouldn't leak out when cooking

corn and coconut griddle cake

this required my absolute fullest concentration