Khao Mun Gai (ข้าวมันไก่) or Gai Tod (ไก่ทอด) Chicken over Garlic Ginger Rice- Quick , Paleo, and Vegan friendly Version

Khao Mun Gai is one of the favorite dishes growing up. I have attempted to recreate this dish from my memories as a young girl watching my father make this remarkably traditional dish. My attempts to recreate Khao Mun Gai was further refined tasting’s Birdie’s mom Khao mun Gai Tod using Brown’s Fried Chicken, it so reminiscent of my dad’s recipe. Here is my super quick easy version that would take about 20-30 mins to make: The Chicken 1  whole                      Chicken( takes longer to make), or 1  whole                      Roasted chicken ( I love rotisseries chicken from Costco),or 6-8 pieces                    Fried chicken ( my preference: Popeyes mild chicken) or 1 bag                           Gardein Mandarin Crispy Chick’n ( cooked as direct but don’t add the sauce) If you decide you want to make your chicken, you want to get a very large pot and add the following, several mashed garlic, green onion, some ginger slices, crushed black or white pepper, and use either salt or fish sauce to season.  Place your whole chicken in the pot and add as much water to cover the chicken. Cook at low to Medium heat, as high heat will damage the skin.  Once the chicken is cook, quick place it a bath of ice water to help stop the cooking of the chicken.  You can use the chicken broth to cook your rice or you can add winter melon and serve as a side dish.   The Sauce 3 tbsp                           minced garlic 3 tbsp                           minced ginger 2 tsp                             black soy sauce ¼ cup                           vinegar ¼ cup                           sugar 3 tbsp                           black bean sauce or soy bean paste 1 tsp                             lime juice( fresh) 1                                   birdeye chili (optional) Traditional way is to use a mortar pestle and start with crushing the chili, then add the garlic & ginger, add the bean sauce, black soy sauce, add the sugar, and lime.   Last stir in the vinegar. Quick way is to place all the ingredients in a blender and blend away. The Rice 4 cups                           rice, uncooked 6 cups                           chicken stock, or water 1 tsp                             salt 3 tbsp                           garlic 2 tbsp                           coconut oil or olive oil 2-3 slices                     ginger On medium heat add the oil and garlic in a sauce pan or wok, once the garlic turns a light gold add the ginger, salt, and uncooked rice. Once some of the rice is a little toasty and opaque, place the mixture in your rice cooker and add the broth or water and turn on the rice cooker as normal.  Accompanies Cucumbers, slices Topped with Cilantro, chopped Chicken broth soup    Paleo tip: If you are getting bored of replace rice with cauliflower rice, try dicing up cucumber instead as cucumber goes really well with this dish. Vegan tip:  A lot of my non-vegetarian loved the Gardein chick’n sub and didn’t even realize it wasn’t chicken.  This sauce goes great with cucumbers but also try jicama, I really like the crunch.  Enjoy, Tia

Thai Curry Chicken & Rice Khao Mok Gai ( ข้าวหมกไก่) – for Quick Dinner, Vegan, and Paleo too.

This is my “go-to” dinner whenever I need to get work done and let my rice cooker do most of the cooking.  When I was a child, my dad used to make the seasoning from scratch so we didn’t have this dish often, but I remember how amazing it was and I wished I could have learned it before he passed away.  I am still working on crafting my version of the seasoning, using the Lobos seasoning to save time and make a great quick dinner. Depending on regions of, or amongst even households in Thailand, everyone will make it differently and uses unique recipes adding various spices and techniques. It’s also known as Thai Biryani too. 1-2 pounds            Chicken Leg and Chicken Thigh 1 packet                Lobos Spicy Chicken-in-rice seasoning mix Available at most Thai grocery store and online. 3 cups                   Jasmine Rice 1                           Bay Leave 1 Tsp.                   Salt 5 cups                  Water 2 tbsp.                  Cilantro, chopped 1 tbsp.                  Coconut oil or butter 2/3 cup                 Yogurt, plain Optional 5 cloves                Shallots, thin Slices ¼ cup                   Canola oil (to fry the shallots) 1 pinch                 Sugar Serve with                              Cucumber salad ( see other blog post for recipe)                              Namjim Khao mok gai ( if you like it Hot!)  In a large ziplock bag, mix the yogurt and seasoning before adding the chicken. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.    In a frying pan on medium heat, add either coconut oil or butter and brown the chicken, you want the skin to have a nice golden brown color on both sides, it should be about 10-15 minutes, you do not have to fully cook the chicken, it will cook in the rice cooker. Place the chicken in the rice cooker.  Pour your rice in the ziplock bag so that it can pick up all the yogurt seasoning and place the rice in the same saucepan with the leftover bits from the browning the chicken and toast the rice for about 5 minutes.  Place the rice in the rice cooker and stir the rice and chicken.   Add the water and turn your rice cooker on just like when you are cooking rice and it is done.  Serve the chicken and rice with a cucumber salad and topped with chopped cilantro and fried shallots.  ·         To make the fried shallots use the same technique that I explained with making the garlic oil and replace the garlic with shallots and the salt with sugar. If you don’t have time, they do sell fried shallots at many Asian grocery stores. Namjim Khao Mok Gai ( Hot sauce for the chicken & rice) In a blender add 2-3 pepper, 1 green onion stalk, 2 stalks cilantro, 1 tbsp fresh ginger, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp water, and blend. Short on time- I usually prepare the chicken the night or in the morning before I work and let it sit for several hours. If I don’t have yogurt, I have used milk, or buttermilk, and just plain water too. All of these liquids work great but the yogurt does give a richness to the dish but it is not the end of the world. I have even forgotten to marinate the chicken beforehand and only let it sit for 15 minutes and it was still ok. One thing I couldn’t get away with was not pan-frying the chicken before adding it into the rice cooker. The rice ended up being too mushy. Vegans- I have made this vegan style too.  I used Firm Tofu and I love Gardein chicken strip. Instead of yogurt, I have used water or coconut milk (the head only, use the coconut water for cooking the rice instead) with a little squeeze of lemon. Because of the texture, you don’t have to marinate for more than 15 minutes and I still recommend pan-frying so you can get some browning. Also try adding a vegetable or “chicken” bouillon to the rice water. Paleo- Use cauliflower rice but don’t cook it, mix the rice in the ziplock bag after taking the chicken out and get it coated with the seasoning. In the rice cooker add 3 tablespoon of water, first. Place the chicken at the bottom of the rice cooker, then pour the cauliflower rice over, don’t stir and set the rice cooker to cook. Enjoy Tia K.

Crispy Noodle Pad See Ew ผัดซีอิ๊ว ก๋วยเตี๋ยวกรอบ

Crispy Noodle Pad See Ew ผัดซีอิ๊ว ก๋วยเตี๋ยวกรอบ

I love a crispy pad see Ew but not many restaurants take the time to do it properly, and they deep fry the noodles, making the dish too greasy. I promised my girlfriends that this is  an essential recipe to post and they will be surprised how easy it actually is to make Pad See Ew. 

Here is what you will need:

Serving for 2-4

1 package      Rice Noodle (or have tried udon noodles, egg noodles, thin rice noodle)

½ brunch       Blanched Chinese broccoli (or broccoli)

1 pound         Any kind of protein (chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, tofu, etc)

1-2                  eggs

4-6 tbsp         Oil (Canola, vegetable, olive, but my favorite is coconut,)

6 cloves         Minced Fresh Garlic

1 ½ tbsp        Sweet soy sauce

3 tbsp            Sugar

1 tbsp            Oyster sauce

2 tbsp            Fish sauce or preferred thin soy sauce

1 tsp              Vinegar

Optional

White pepper or black pepper

First thing to do, take 1-2 tbsp of oil into a pan on low heat and nicely place your noodles in the pan and don’t touch it for 12-15 mins(depending on the type of noodles you are using. You can check but do your best to leave it alone.  As your noodles are slowly getting crispy start prepping your garlic, broccoli, and protein.  

Blanching your broccoli is optional: In a pot of boiling water, add tsp of salt and a tsp of oil before added the broccoli for 1 minute, remove and place in ice water and drain.  If you don’t blanch the broccoli, add the stems right after the protein is almost cook and before the sauce. Add the leaves before adding the noodles.

Ok by now 12-15 should go by your noodles and flip it to the over side. You may need to add a tbsp of oil so it can get crispy, not adding oil would make it not as crispy and brown or get black faster. At this point you might want to lower the heat more so you have time to make the rest of the dish. Probably about 5-10 mins on this side.

On Medium heat, in wok or a deep pan, add 2 tbsp oil and garlic, and sauté until the garlic light golden brown, add your protein at this time, stir fry until almost cooked. Add the egg and let it sit for 30 secs and then stir fry so you will have bigger pieces. Add sweet soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and vinegar.  Once the sauce is mixed well (you won’t have too much), add your blanched broccoli. Now turn the heat up really high and quickly add your noodles and stir until sauce has mixed in the noodles, remove heat, serve, and enjoy!  Huge tip, its ok if the sauce didn’t fully dissolve as once you plate it will, the point is to keep the noodles as crispy as possible and the longer it sits in the pan it will lost the crisp.

Chicken Udon Pad See Ew

Time Saving Tip: Make the sauce and save it a jar instead. The same steps except adding the protein, eggs, broccoli, and noodles; also just enough oil to brown the garlic. When are you ready make your dish, in a pan add 1tbsp of oil and sauté your protein, then add the egg. Add the broccoli and noodle and now pour the sauce.  This technique makes the noodle stay much crisper.

Healthy Tip:  For my son, I have added matchstick carrots, super thin red bell pepper,  and both Chinese broccoli and broccoli. Also the     protein plus barilla pasta worked really well too. 

Money Saver Tip: I had leftover Chinese broccoli and I always keep Annie Chun's Udon noodles that I pick up from Costco in the frig for emergencies.  The pic above is my son enjoying udon pad see ew our chicken:)

Enjoy! Tia K

Tea & Fruit Popsicles

Twin Pop- Tea & fruit Popsicles (Pineapple Kona Pop tea w pineapples,

Rooibos Pomegranates tea w blueberry & strawberry, White tea w pear

Rooibos Tea w cherry & peaches)

I got sadly got jealous of my son's popsicle so I got my own adult's Popsicle trays from Amazon, which was the Twin Pop and Groovy Popicles.  Now the Groovy holds 4 oz and the twin pop hold 3 oz, which makes a difference as I serve the Groovy with my friend and we both felt it was a lot to finish. She threw hers in a glass and waited for it to melt so she could  have ice tea. Hence the twin pop may be a better choice as my husband  and I got that childhood memory of pooling your money for the cheapest thing you can buy from the ice truck and break it off and share. I have been using these molds all summer now and I think it a great cost saving, easy, and especially when you have fruit around that no body wants to eat but will have in another way.

I came up with the idea to pair fruit with the teas in my pantry and these are what I came up with. 

Pineapple Kona Pop tea with pineapples

Rooibos Pomegranates tea with blueberry & strawberry

White tea with pear

Rooibos Tea with cherry & peaches

Groovy Popicles. Rooibos Pomegranates tea with blueberry & strawberry

Just steep the tea as you usually do. Add sugar or agave or honey just like how you like it.  Wait for it to cool down. While you wait, slice the fruit you would like super thin as it is easier to enjoy. Mix it in and pour into the tray. Freeze and enjoy! 

Let us know what other favors you come up with. Tia K

Thai Fried Garlic Oil Kratheiym Ceiyw (กระเทียมเจียว)

Thai Garlic Oil Kratheiym  Ceiyw (กระเทียมเจียว)

I love this on so many thai dishes and have attempted adding this to many other dishes. It is a staple
in my home. It is great a topping for soups and noodle dishes.   It is also a great starter for stir fry when you are in a hurry and save the step of chopping up garlic.

1 Bulb Garlic (smashed and hand minced)
2/3 cups Canola Oil
1-2 pinch of salt

In a saucepan, place all the ingredients, at medium heat. Make sure you are slowly stirring so that all the garlic cooks evenly.  Once you see the color starting to turn golden around 3-4 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat when the color turns golden brown, and then continue to stir just a little more to help cool it down as the oil is still cooking the garlic.

Once the garlic oil is cooled down, you can store it in a glass container. The garlic will stay crispy for at least a month.  You can separate the garlic from the oil but once it is exposed to air it will start to get stale faster.

Tips: The fresher the garlic the longer it will take to turn brown as it container more moisture.

Enjoy! Tia K.

Recipe: Bamee Haeng บะหมี่แห้ง Thai style Dry Egg Noodles

Bamee Haeng บะหมี่แห้ง or Dry  egg noodles was a huge hit with our kids while we vacation together at a beach house this summer.  

Ingredients:

1 pack of Fresh egg noodles (preferred Hong Kong styles pan fried, see subs below)

1 pack of fish balls

½ pound of ground pork

½ clove of minced garlic

A pinch of salt

3 tbsp. of oil canola or vegetable

3 tbsp. thin soy sauce or to taste

2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

2 tbsp. chopped green onion

1 tbsp. sugar

1 brunch of Chinese broccoli, sliced, and blanched

Optional:

½ pound of sliced Chinese-style Bbq pork

½ pack of various fish cakes

Subs:

If you can’t find fresh egg noodles, you can use instant noodle, cook to al dente and pat dry

If you don’t have soy sauce, no worries you can use oyster sauce or fish sauce.

I have used blanched spinach instead of Chinese Broccoli

Take a small pan and make the garlic oil by placing the minced garlic, salt, and  3 tbsp. of oil.  At low to medium heat as the garlic turns a golden color, take it off the heat and let it sit as the hot oil will still be cooking the garlic until it is brown and crispy. I will post a video in another post.

Get a big bowl of ice water ready, which you will you use to immerse and cool the noodles. Boil water in a large pot. Once it is boiling hot, take the egg noodle and blanch for 1-2 minutes depending on the type of noodles you purchase.  Strain and immediately place noodles in ice bath for 1 min to stop the cooking process.  Strain and pat dry the noodles as much as possible.  I usually let it sit on top of a bunch of paper towels as I making the season ground pork and the fish cakes.

In a pan with a little oil, stir fry the ground pork with 1 tbsp. of thin soy sauce.

In a small bowl mix remaining thin soy sauce and sugar, to let the sugar dissolve.

Cook your fish cake and balls in boiling water.

Now that you have all prepare all your ingredients let’s put it all together.

In a large bowl, place you dry noodles, mix in the garlic oil and soy mixture with noodles. Add more soy sauce or sugar to taste. Add the cilantro and green onion and mix.  Add the blanched Chinese broccoli. Now take the noodle mixture and place in a serving dish and finally, top your noodles with the seasoned ground pork, fish cakes & balls, and sprinkle any leftover green onion and cilantro.

Make it your own; to get in more veggie for my son, I have added cooked shredded carrots, blanched spinach (finely chopped), and/or finely shredded raw cabbage. Also ground turkey or chicken is pretty good to instead of ground pork. Enjoy Tia K.