food and life: February 2011

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Special food in Tet of Vietnamese people

Thai Food

This section is to give you an idea of the Thail food that you are likely to come across in Pattaya. You will most likely not try some it of it but there are some dishes which shouldn't be missed. We'll start with the dishes that you may like to try then move onto some other things that you are likely to see.
This is a new section and I will be adding more with time.

Food You Might Like to Try

	Pad Thai Pad Thai is a rice noodle dish. You will find it everywhere and is a very convenient street food. You will find many carts preparing this dish. It is not spicy but you can add chilly if you wish
	Noodle Soup Eaten a lot by the TGs is noodle soup. This dish contains a variaty of different noodle types and ingrediants. It can range from being not spicy to very spicy.
	Som Dtam This is a favourite food for the people from the north-east of the country and hence the ladies. It is a green papaya salad. It is very spicy and it is very pugnant
	MK Restaurants There are a few MK restaurants in Pattaya and they are a must do while you are in Pattaya. You order the raw ingrediants and cook it yourself in hot water. Take a TG and she'll do it for you. Make sure you order the roast duck as a starter.

Some Different Types of food

	Insects In Issan they like to eat insects of all different types. These include grasshoppers, scorpions and cockroaches. I hope you have a strong stomach
	Sometimes they add frogs for some extra flavour.


	Frogs They will just cook up frogs. These photos were takien during a visit to Issan. First the preparation.

	Add a few chillies and you have the final product.

(source:patayanewbie)

China Factory Day 4 & Snake Soup

I was so proud of myself today for pushing through my fear (and gagging reflexes) to experience something new. I wouldn't consider myself a picky eater. But, I do have major issues with some textures like fat, gristle and chewy rubber.

Above are the 3 snakes (about $50 US dollar worth) that the factory boss picked from the cages below.

How nice of him! We were also fortunate enough to be sitting quite close to the cages and I had a perfect view of them cutting the heads off each snake, with scissors, before weighing them.

Snake flesh waiting to go into the pot of boiling snake bones.

If this doesn't look appetizing... UGH! Did I mention that I did run 5.5 miles this morning and I am now starving! Wishing that I had dropped a bar in my bag before leaving this morning.

This is what snake looks like all cooked up.

I ATE it! I ate like 7 pieces! There was NOTHING else to eat! It was a bit chewy with not a lot of taste.

think calamari, think calamari

And lucky us, with 3 snakes comes 3 SNAKE GALL BLADDERS! Supposedly SGB's are good for your eyes and stomach. These are fresh out of the snakes, soaking in some sort of alcohol. The factory boss proceeded to add more alcohol and squeeze the green fluid out of each SGB.

Yep, then he poured us each a mini glass. OH BOY! This is NOT a good lunch!!

The alcohol was so strong I couldn't taste anything else, thankfully. I did pass on the whole SGB when those were being passed around at the end. I had had enough adventure for one lunch!

(source:allendesign)

China Bars American Frozen Chicken Feet

The bribe-taking food and drug regulator has been executed and a vendor of pork-flavored cardboard-filled steamed buns or baozi has been shut down as food authorities in China take charge.
And, while reports continue to come in here regarding tainted Chinese food imports, the Chinese government has decided to invoke the "people in glass houses" rule and more heavily scrutinize American products sold to China.
The AP reports today:
"Frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, were found to be contaminated with salmonella, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site late Friday.
Other imports barred by China included frozen chicken feet from Sanderson Farms, Inc. tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, as well as frozen pork ribs from Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. containing a leanness-enhancing feed additive, the AQSIQ said.
A spokesman for Cargill denied the agency's claims, while officials at Tyson and Sanderson Farms were not immediately available to comment."
I cannot help but ask....Dear Martha: What do I do with a pound of frozen chicken feet, salt, pepper and a dream? Pls advise.

( source: foodmuseum)

Special Others Chinese Food

Special

Others
Chinese
Food

Yangzhou Style Fry Rice

Daliang Style Fry Fresh Milk

Dim Sum - Rice Noodle Roll

Dim Sum - Turnip Cake

Rice Gruel - Black Mushrooms And Shredded Pork

Rice In Hot Pot : Black Mushrooms Chicken

Rice In Hot Pot - Black Mushrooms And Chicken

Hot Pot : Lamb Cubes in Soup

Crispy Spring Roll

Crispy Beancurd Shim Roll

Dim Sum - BBQ Pork Pastry

Fried Noodle With Shrimps (Pork)

Pig's Hand And Ginger In Sweetly Dark Rice Vinegar

Stir Fried Rice Ribbon Noodle

Stir Fried Pig Stomach With Chive

Stir Fried Cow Tripe

Bun With Oyster Sauce BBQ

(from internet)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Dry Curry Chicken

Dry Curry Chicken – Rendang Ayam

If you can make curry chicken, then it won’t be any problem for you to cook this dish, Dry Curry Chicken. The method used to make this dish is almost same as the method used to cook Curry Chicken with Potato. However, both give different sensation.
Of course, the later brings stronger taste as it has been cooked for longer time and has absorbed all the coconut milk. Also not forget, the later used less ingredient too!
Ingredient:
600g Chicken, cut into pieces
200 ml thick coconut milk
500ml thin coconut milk
3 nos red shallot, shredded
1/2 inch ginger, shredded
50g curry powder
20g chili powder
handful of curry leaves
1 stalk lemon grass, crushed
salt to taste
Method:
1) Mix the curry powder and chili powder with 3 tbsp of water. Keep aside.
2) Pour thick coconut milk in a pot, add in shredded red shallot, ginger, crushed lemongrass and the curry leaves. Cook over for low heat and stirring constantly for 10 minutes or till boiling.
3) Add in curry powder mixture and stir well. Add in the chicken pieces and stir fry for a while till the chicken are covered by curry mixture.
4) Pour in thin coconut milk and bring to a boil. Covered. Simmer over low heat until the curry gravy is thick or almost dry.
5) Lastly, add in enough salt. Serve well with steamed rice.
(from internet)