Trailing Off....: 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.