Saturday evening was bringing company to the Itty Bitty Kitchen, I know the mind reels at the thought of more than two people in this small space, and the Flemings needed something to make.
My lovely husband has visited Thailand, and while were in Napa we were served a most delicious Thai meal (thanks again Karen!), so Matthew decided with our excess time on Saturday, we would recreate a Thai feast!
Our Ambitious Thai Menu
Chips with Nam Chim
Som Thom (Green Papaya Salad)
Red Curry
Sticky Rice with coconut and mango
As has become tradition I lined up all my ingredients, and took a deep breath. No, the Orange Crush soda was not one of the ingredients.
I started in on the Nam Chim. Nam Chim is like a sweet/sour/spicy dipping sauce. I improvised a bit.
Nam Chim
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/8 t salt
1-2 Thai chilis or serrano peppers if you can't find those
2 cloves garlic, peeled
I pulsed all the ingredients in the magic bullet, because, hey, why not? Don't pulse too long, so you still have chunks of garlic and peppers.
I then transferred these to a saucepan and brought to a boil, and then simmered for awhile. The sauce was a bit thin so one website suggested adding a tablespoon of cornstarch. So I did. It was good.
The Som Thom required a trip to an Asian market, which really should have been documented, but I forgot. Som Thom is a salad with unripe papaya as the base, because unripe papaya has basically no taste.
1 Green Papaya, shredded
1 Thai chili
2 Cloves garlic, pressed
2 tbsp brown sugar
Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Tomatoes
Blanched green beans
Here is what a green papaya looks like.
After cutting it, we peeled it, and grated it through the food processor. The Thai then pound the papaya on top of the dressing to get the juice out. Karen gaves a tip to use the kitchenaid. So, we did. Put all the dressing ingredients in the bowl of the mixer, and add the papaya, mix with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes. I then threw in the green beans and tossed.
The Red Curry "the main dish", was actually the simplest.
2 cans lite coconut milk
1 tbsp (or more) Red Curry paste
4 potatoes, cubed
3 zucchini, sliced
Green beans
Throw the potatoes in with some oil, and the curry paste, have your husband open the coconut milk, and then add it in. Wait for the potatoes to cook almost all the way through, and then add in the zucchini and green beans. You can add in some ginger and lime juice if you'd like. Up the curry paste if you want more heat. Serve with white rice.
My photo documentation ends here. Things got a little crazy (and crowded) in the Itty Bitty Kitchen.
Sticky rice was our dessert, and also required a special trip to the Asian market. I was apparently pretty excited about it.
Matthew was in charge of the preparation of the rice, so I'm not sure how he did it. But it did involve the steamer basket on our rice cooker, and a coffee filter. I'm sketchy on the details. The sauce was simple.
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup sugar
Heat, mix with rice, top with mango, eat, and then explode from the amount of rice in your stomach.
Thanks Rachel, Steve, Steph, and Andrew for eating our Thai feast, and for experiencing our tiny kitchen and living to tell the tale. It was a blast!
Also if anyone is interested in having some sticky rice, we still have about 70 pounds (an exaggeration) to go through, come on over!
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