Sunday, October 24, 2010

Thai one on...


Growing up in New York City with adventurous culinary parents, afforded me the great opportunity to eat German pancakes stuffed with apples for breakfast, Indian samosas with mint sauce at lunch, and sushi for dinner. A post dinner walk through Chinatown always ended with green tea ice cream. I've been a 'foodie' for a very long time.

No secret here. I love food. I love cooking. I love the rush of trying new foods. I love Thai food! So I was delighted rifling through cookbooks deciding what to prepare or folks coming to dinner, when I rediscovered one of my favorite cookbooks 'Thai, The Essence of Asian Cooking' by Judy Bastyra.

Thai prawn salad with garlic dressing and frizzled shallots


Red Chicken curry with bamboo shoots


Stewed pumpkin in coconut cream


Coconut pancakes


Coconut custard


Salmon marinated with Thai spices

I urge you to get your paws on a copy. The recipes arent' at all intimidating. Most ingredients are available at all markets these days. And feel free to substitute too. I you don't like noodles, use rice instead. Best part, the recipes are so abundant they can easily be doubled or tripled for large holiday gatherings and tailgate parties. Hint: modify pepper quantities to your taste-buds. Your digestive system will thank you for it.

Here's something I've found myself doing with the coconut pancakes... layer a thin glaze of Nutella on them for a decadent sandwich.

So that's where my last five pounds came from.

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