Instant meals, Instant noodles!

If you are too lazy to cook for your dinner, if you are not borned to be a good cook, or if you want to make Thai dish in less than ten minutes, your choice is INSTANT NOODLES. Instant noodles are very famous in far-east Asia and Southeast Asian countries. In Thailand, MAMA is the most popular brand due to there are wide ranges of tastes and flavours and the cheap price. You can have a delicous Thai dish in less than ten minutes. Other brands are Wai Wai, Yum Yum, etc. The Japanese, Korean, Malaysian and Vietnam are less spicy than Thai brands. But Thai brands also have non-spicy and vegetarian menu for you.
Normally, you tear the envelops, put noodle and seasonings all together in a bowl, add hot water, close it with cover for three minutes and then add meat, chicken, or fish balls, shrimp and/or vegetables if you like (they has to be boiled or done before if you choose this quick method). Someone and some menus will ask you to boil every thing on the pot for three minutes or less or in the microwave (use microwave-proven container). That's it. Some menu are dried one such as Pad-Thai. You have to add hot water and wait three minutes, pour out the water and then add the seasonings, add vegetables and meat that you like.

Mama product range
Tom Yum Koong (King Prawn Spicy Soup) noodles-spicy(add shrimp or fishballs)
Moo Sub(Minced Pork) flavoured soup noodles-little spicy(add minced pork or anything you like)
Moo Sub Tom Yum (Hot and Sour Soup with minced pork)-spicy (add minced pork, lime juice as you like)
Ped Pa Loh (Duck with five spcie soup) noodles-not spicy (add roasted or boiled duck)
Yen Ta Fo (White rice noodles with red sauce)-little spicy(add fishballs, cuttle fish, morning glory)
Pad- Thai (dry rice noodles with sweet chilli sauce)-little spicy (add bean sprouts)
etc.

You can buy these from Oriental, Chinese, Thai or Malay super markets in your town. Or for Thai students, they usually bring them from Thailand because they are much cheaper but space and weight- occupying for your travel.

We can adapt the recipe using these noodles as basic ingredient such as Yum Mama (hot salad with noodles), Pad Mama (fried mama) and so on. We just use the instant noodles because it is easy to find and it is less time to cook because they are semi-processed for nearly instant used.

WARNING; ONE THING TO BE NOTED: MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE OR MSG IS ADDED IN ALL FLAVOURED. SO IF YOU ARE NOT FOND OF IT, YOU HAVE TO AVOID THESE INSTANT NOODLES MENU.

There is so much controversial about MSG as food additive. Anyway, it contained sodium, so it should be avoided in hypertensive patients too. Water and salt restriction for edematous patients (heart failure, renal failure and liver disease) make instant noodles menu inappropriate too. Contact your doctors if you are allergic to any ingredients, have any underlying medical conditions before have these menu.

Thai style omelette (Khai Jiao)

Omelette is normally have as breakfast for westerner and the nice look puff of French omeltte is quite well known in every breakfast cafeteria or restaurant. Thai-Style Omelette (khai jiaw) is usually eat on the street as a quick breakfast or lunch with steamed rice or boiled rice (chinese style). It’s usually eaten as a one-dish meal over rice, It’s also served for dinner. In Thailand, we served these in restaurant too, especially for kids or one who did not like spicy food, typical thai dish.  So it is a dish for every meal, everywhere and every person. I love to make them when I don’t want to think much or take too much time for cooking. Although we should beware too much cholesterol byconsume too many eggs!

1. Crack tho-three eggs into a bowl. (for one serving) Add the fish sauce and pepper, and whisk with a fork until mixed and frothy. Sometimes we add a little water to make them soft or add a little lime juice to make it more doughy, soft and expanded
2. Add the oil to the pan on high heat. Wait until the oil is hot and start dancing around in the pan and almost smoking. Test the heat by drop a few drops of egg mixture, if it is ready, egg mixture will immediately comes to top of oil.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the oil at a slowish rate, so that it’s a stream of egg hitting the hot oil.
4. Leave until lightly browned. Flip and cook the other side until browned as well or as crispy as you like.
5. Remove and serve over rice. Serve with Sri Racha sauce but I prefer Prik Nam Pla Manao (chilli with fish sauce and lime juice with garlic)
6. This is called plain omelette, but you can fancy prawn, minced pork, nham (cured pork-thai style), mushroom (fungini) or any other that you can try to add to the eggs mixtures before pouring into the heated pan with oil.

7. Tip: Normally, wok is better than Teflon pan fry when you want to make thai looks of Khai Jiaw. It will be expanded well, not flat as you use a pan fry.

winter melon with pickled lemon and chicken soup

Winter Lemon is a big green melon that has the 'Yang' or cold property in Chinese Yin-Yang therory. It tastes not so much but give us some soft and mild sweet flavour when make with soup. Pickled lime juice is difficult to find where I live and I am too lazy for make it so I use fresh lime juice instead and it sounds not so much different. This is an easy made and easy take chinese soup served with jasmin rice. You can have other side dishes to fulfil your typical meal.
Peel off the thick green cover of Winter melon and cut it into medium sized pieces.
Boiled water and add chicken stock or chicken cube e.g. Kanor and add water melon, chicken.
Until Winter Melon are soft and turn glassy appearance, switch off the heat and then add fresh lime juice! That's it. Easy as I told you. Some people like clear soup and don't prefer sour of lime juice, you can skip it.

Tom Ka Gai (Thai Chicken Soup with Coconut milk and galangal)

Tom Ka Gai is one of well-known Thai soups served in best Thai authentic restaurant around the world. It has spicy taste of chillis and herbs and sour flavour from lime juice. Its also delicate and aromatic due to coconut milk added. It is very easy to make it at home if you can find the Chinese or Thai supermarket that almost always have Tom Ka Gai ready paste.  What you will need more is only coconut milk, mushroom, chicken (or you can use king prawns, beef  or leave them for vegatarian) and coriander leave for decoration. Lime juice and fish sauce are use for improve taste for your preference. It is normally served with rice, but Westerners tend to order it as a la carte soup for the appetizer or someone have it as a main course.

If you want to make everything from scratch, you will need grated galangal. crusted chilli. choped lemonglass stalk. kafir lime leaves, and chicken stock or chicken mixed cube. Boil these mixtures with water and coconut milk. Add chicken (or beef) and mushroom. Add fish sauce. Until it is boiled, turn the heat down. Add lime juice and taste the balance between spicy, salty and sour. Some people add sugar but I don't. Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves and enjoy your meal.

Some people add Nam Prik Pao (Thai Chilli paste) to make  it some bright red looking. :D

Five spice and chicken, mushroom and deep fried tofu

Five-spice powder is a mixture of five spices. It is popular in Chinese cuisine, but also used in other Asian cookery. There are many variants. The most common is bajiao (star anise), cloves, cinnamon, huajiao (Sichuan pepper) and ground fennel seeds. Instead of true cinnamon, "Chinese cinnamon" (also known as rougui, the ground bark of the cassia tree, a close relative of true cinnamon which is often sold as cinnamon), may be used.

Today menu is meat and chicken with five spices powder. It taks quite a long time to prepare this meal (about 45 minutes or more) but I guarantee it is worth to trial. You can have this dish with steamed jasmine rice and if you are typically Thai people, we can have it with rice and seasoned with chilly and vinegar.

First, boiled eggs.

Chop garlics roughly and stir fry with vegetable oils.

Add chicken or other meat that you want such as pork or turkey. (Chinese and Thai usually use belly pork or hogs for this meal but I think it is too oily and not good for health)

Season and color with thick soy sauce.

Add water to submerge all the chicken.

Add thin soysauce with mushroom.

Add sugar

Add five spice powder. (not much it will taste too strong)

Add deep fry tofu.

Add eggs and boile with low heat for at least 45 minutes.

Pickled cabbage soup boiled with pork ribs

Today I would like to recommend an easy Chinese soup menu.
Pickled cabbage soup boiled with pork ribs. This is not well known by Farang but it is common dish in Chinese family and Chinese restaurant. Variation due to the pickled cabbage has been done. In Thailand we add some chillies to spicy them or have the soup with chillies in vinegar.

You can buy pickled cabbage in a can from any oriental supermarket. Thai famous brand are "UFC", "Pigeon" Look carefully if you don't like chillies.

Boil water and add salted water from the pickled cabbage can which will make soup tasty!
Add chicken stock or ready made chicken cube 'Kanor'.
Chop cabbage into small pieces and add to boiled water.
Add ribs or chicken slice or pork as you like.
Clear the foamy thing that rising up to the boiled water.
Turn the heat low. Leave about 30 min until cabbage texture turn soft.

Secret for better taste: Make today, keep in the fridge and eat tomorrow (reheat again).

Thai name: Tom See Krong Moo Pak Kard Dong