Pad Thai and Mango Smoothie

We've been having a streak of good weather in Vancouver lately. Blue sky, light breeze, 20-ish temperature; all the complains of gloomy cold wet weather in early summer were gone. On days like these, it is very hard to keep working in the office. All you think about is to get through the week as quickly as possible so as to enjoy the weekends outdoor. This is also not the good time to sit in front of the computer retouching pictures and composing blog posts.  Yes, I admit that I'm a little slow in updating my post.  But, in times when I'm not blogging, in between working and golfing, I'm still actively seeking inspiration for photography, trying out new recipes and thinking about what to eat and what to post.

Just when I was being a bit too laid back, the folks at  food52 did a nice writeup on this blog.  That is a big encouragement to me. I hope I can keep up my work and continue to put up posts with food that I love and pictures that are interesting to look at, not just once. (That is my goal!) 

Back to food. Does hot summer and spicy hot food go together?  Yes, it does.  Especially when it is accompanied with a refreshing cold fruity drinks. Pad thai is probably the most popular Thai dish other than Thai curry. I love the sweetness, sourness and spiciness, all come together to form a complex yet balanced flavor. Don't be scare by the long list of ingredients.  It does take a while (around 40mins including time spent on roasting peanuts) to prep all the ingredients. But once you have all the prep work done, the actual cooking time takes about 10mins only. As for the drink, mango is sweet and aromatic, with a hint of banana and milk, this drink needs no sugar if all the fruit are ripe. And,  it takes just a few seconds to whip up.

Recipe: Pad Thai

Adapted from  Cook's Illustrated Magazine, August 2002

Ingredients:

2       Tbsp tamarind paste*

3/4    cup boiling water

3       Tbsp fish sauce

1       Tbsp rice vinegar

3       Tbsp sugar

4       Tbsp canola oil

8       oz. dried rice sticks, about 1/8" wide*

2        large eggs

1/4     tsp salt

12      oz. medium (31/35) shrimps, peeled and deveined

3        garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press

1        medium shallots, minced (about 3 Tbsp)

1        red Thai chili pepper*, minced

2        Tbsp dried shrimp, chopped fine (optional)

6        Tbsp chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
3        cups bean sprout

3        medium scallions, green parts only, sliced thin on sharp bias

1/4     cup loosely packed cilantro leaves (optional)

Directions:  

• Making sauce:
1. Rehydrate tamarind paste by soaking it in 3/4 cup boiling water for about 10 mins.  Strain it through a strainer, pushing the pulp fibers to squeeze out the juice.  
2. Mix fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and 2 Tbsp oil with the tamarind extract. Set it aside.   

• Preparing rice noodle and eggs:  
1. Soak the rice sticks in hot tap water (not boiling) for 20mins, until they are softened and limp but not fully tendered. Drain and set aside
2. Beat eggs with 1/8 tsp salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

•  Stir-fry:
1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a 12" skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking, about 2 mins. Add shrimps and sprinkle 1/8 tsp salt on the shrimps.  Cook, toss occasionally, until shrimps turned pink and opaque with brown edges, about 2 to 3 mins. Remove the shrimps and set aside.
2. Add 1 Tbsp oil to skillet. Add garlic, shallot and chili pepper. Cook over medium heat, stir continuously, until fragrant, about 1 min, add eggs to skillet and stir vigorously with wooden spoon until scrambled and barely moist, about 20 sec. Add noodles, dried shrimps, toss with tong or 2 wooden spoons to combine. Pour fish sauce mixture over noodles, increase heat to high, and continue to toss all the ingredients with the sauce. 
3. Add 1/4 cup peanuts, bean sprouts, all but 1/4 cup scallions, and cooked shrimps over noodles. Continue to cook and toss, until noodles are tender. , about 2 mins.
4. Dish out the noodles. Sprinkle remaining peanuts, scallions and cilantro on top.  Serve immediately. 

*Kitchen notes: 

• The tamarind paste I bought came in a plastic package and was marked "Product of Thailand". You can buy it in most Asian stores.  If you cannot find tamarind paste, you can substitute it with 1/3 cup lime juice according to Cook's Illustrated although I never tried this before.  The tamarind gives the dish a distinct sour flavor that I think is hard to replace with any substitution.
• The rice stick I used was also came from Thailand. They came in S, M, and L size. I use M most of the time, but this time I used L which is about 1/4" wide. 
• In the original recipe, 3/4 tsp of cayenne pepper is used in place of the thai chili pepper. You can add the cayenne to the fish sauce mixture if using.  

Recipe:  Mango Smoothie

Ingredients:
 2      ripe mango
1/2    ripe banana
Some milk (2%)

Directions:
Coarsely chopped mango and banana.  Add milk. Process with a regular or hand held blender until smooth. Adjust consistency with amount of milk.  You can start with 1 cup milk first and add more if you want the drink to be less thick. 

Novice

singapore vermicelli

It's a new beginning, a new endeavor.  No matters how much ideas I have in my mind all the time, I usually do not put them into actions.  That applies to a lot of aspects in my life.  But I really can't help myself this time.  I got to try out taking food pictures.  Quickly I went to the "blackhole" where I store all my junks in the house and found some recycling gift wrap tissue paper, cardboard, unused placemats;  pulled out some dinning ware that I don't use that often; found a spot in the house with a bit of natural light; and took a million of pictures of last night's leftover.  Here are the two that do not show any obvious mistakes, except some dust on the placemats which I was too lazy to remove with photoshop.

       

Kitchen notes:

This recipe of Singapore Stir Fried Vermicelli is adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine and can also be found on Rasa Malaysia, one of my favorite Asian cooking blog.  I had some failures cooking this dish before. It was either too soggy or the taste was not right. One of the key is the type of noodle used.  It has to be made with rice and water only and it is the fine and round rice noodle, not the big flat ones. After some research, I also found out that some Chinese chefs put in a litter bit of ketchup to round out the flavor. The dish turned out to be great this time! 

Singapore Stir Fried Vermicelli (星州炒米)

adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine 

Ingredients

For the noodle:

8 oz rice vermicelli* 

2 Tbsp vegetable oil   
10 pcs medium size shrimp, peeled and devined

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 lb. char siu (Chinese barbecued pork)l, cut into matchsticks

2 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 Tbsp ginger, minced

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 chili pepper (I used the potent red Thai chili pepper), thinly sliced cross-wise

2/3 cup bean sprouts, rinsed and drained

4 green onions, root end trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces

5 fresh shiitake mushrooms 
1 Tbsp ketchup

For the sauce:

2 Tbsp Madras (hot) curry powder1 1/2 cloves of garlic, minced

2/3 Tbsp ginger, minced

2/3 cup chicken broth

3 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp sambal (or your choice of chili paste)

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1.  Soak the noodle - Soak vermicelli in hot tap water for 8 to 10 minutes (or according to package instruction) until soften. Drain noodle and set aside. 
2. Make the sauce - Put 1 Tbsp oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the curry powder, minced garlic and sauté for 20 sec.or until fragrant. Add the broth, soy sauce, sugar, sambal, and salt. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. 
3. Stir fry shrimp and bbq pork - Heat a large wok or saute pan over high heat, add 1 Tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp, sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt on the shrimp, and stir-fry until just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the barbecued pork; toss well. Put the shrimp and bbq pork aside. 
4. Stir fry vegetable - Add the remaining Tbsp of the oil the the wok. When hot, add the garlic and the ginger. Stir-fry until the garlic is golden, 10 to 20 seconds. Add the onion, chili pepper, bean sprouts, scallions, and mushrooms. Stir-fry until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. 
5. Add in bbq pork and shrimp, toss to combine. Add in noodles, sauces and ketchup. Mix and toss everything together thoroughly and to coat noodles with the sauce. Serve immediately