Curry Peanut Dipping Sauce

Here is my personal recipe for the curry peanut dipping sauce. I made it up using common Thai and Lao ingredients. Please note that the paprika is a common ingredient in the Khao Bune fish curry broth to give the broth a radiant red colour.

Vegetarian Recipe: Curry Peanut Dipping Sauce
1 tablespoon oil
½ tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped shallots or onions
1 cup fresh coconut milk
1 kaffir lime leaf
2 sprigs lemongrass
1 tablespoon Thai Lao Curry Paste
¼ cup chopped tomatoes
½ cup ground peanuts
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon chopped chilies (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons squeezed lime juice

In a wok over medium heat, add oil, chopped garlic and shallots. Stir until shallots are soft. Add remaining ingredients and stir fry for about 10 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Remove from heat. Discard the lemongrass and lime leaf. Serve sauce with fresh spring rolls or shrimp chips.

Shrimp Chips or Prawn Crackers

When I was younger, I would lay the shrimp chips on my tongue and feel the chips melt. I like the shrimp chips plain but most Thai restaurants serve these chips with a peanut dipping sauce. Purchase these chips at Asian supermarkets.

Appetizer Recipe: Shrimp Chips or Prawn Crackers
oil
prawn crackers or shrimp flavoured chips

Over medium heat add about 1 inch of oil. Test with one cracker and if the cracker floats within 5 seconds then the oil is at the right temperature. Pick the cracker out of the oil before it burns. If the outside edges of the cracker turn brown, it is over cooked. Add 5 crackers at a time into the oil. Pick crackers immediately as it rises and drain excess oil. Serve crackers with the curry peanut dipping sauce.

Thai Lao Sweet Corn Wrap Dessert

Happy Valentines Day! I want to honour my parents today because "love is in the air". I am very blessed to have parents who build their love on honour and respect. I don't have a memory of my parents fighting nor raising their voices. My parents are like 2 halves who make up one whole. When they are together, they are complete and at home. As I am a product of their love, my work on Thai & Lao Food is a product of their love for me. Happy Valentines Day!

This corn wrap dessert is also known as "khao dome sa-lee". I've mentioned banana leaves and how you can make khao dome (coconut sticky rice in banana leaves). This dessert is very similar but wrapped in corn leaves. You can use banana leaves if you run out of corn leaves.

Dessert Recipe: Thai Lao Sweet Corn Wrap Dessert
3 cups corn kernels
1 cup sticky rice that has been soaked in water for minimum 4 hours and water drained
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh coconut milk
1 cup tapioca pearls
corn leaves

Discard about 3 layers of the outer corn leaves but save the tender corn leaves. Wash the tender leaves, pat dry, and cut the rough core. Remove corn husk and discard. Wash corn, cut kernels, and place into a large bowl. Add sticky rice, sugar, and fresh coconut milk. Puree until smooth. Add tapioca pearls and mix with spoon. Heat mixture over medium heat to thicken or wait about 2 hours until tapioca pearls thicken mixture. Place 2 tablespoons of mixture in corn leaf. Fold leaf and place into bamboo steamer with folded side down. Steam 20 minutes.

Water Lily Stir Fry

Some call it “water lily” or “on choy” but in Thailand and Laos, this green vegetable is called “puk bonge”. Purchase the water lily vegetable at most Asian supermarkets.

Most Thai and Lao people will eat water lilies raw with spicy dishes like the green green papaya salad, lap Lao beef and lap chicken because it cools the tongue. I prefer it raw myself but here is a stir fry recipe given to me from my aunt “Ba Von”.

Stir Fry Recipe: Water Lily
1 tablespoon oil
¼ cup chopped onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 inch of ginger and sliced thinly
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce or hoisin sauce

Cut 2 inches off the bottom stem and discard. Wash water lily in cold water thoroughly and remove any damaged leaves. Drain excess water. In a small bowl, mix shrimp paste, fish sauce, and oyster/hoisin sauce. Cut the washed water lily 4 inches in length and separate the large stems from the smaller stems. In a wok over high heat, add oil, garlic, onions and ginger. Stir fry until onions are tender. Add the thick stems and stir fry for about 2 minutes, cover with a lid and reduce the heat to medium. After 2 minutes, remove lid and add the tender stems and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Turn heat off and add sauce. Mix sauce with water lily stir fry and serve immediately.

Serve water lily stir fry with sticky rice or jasmine rice.