Thai Street Food by David Thompson
This was actually the third cooking the books gathering. I still haven’t blogged the second gathering, but you can see Thanh’s round up instead.
We weren’t able to get into The Cooking Space, so Cherrie was lovely enough to open up her home (especially her kitchen), to host the Thai food feast.Shock horror! I book I don’t own was chosen. I had nearly bought this book on several occasions, and own David Thompson’s other book. I could have bought it for $45 but now it retails for $100! So I’ll be waiting for it to come down in price before I think about purchasing it again. Luckily, Agnes kindly photographed a recipe to work from, saving me $100 (thanks Agnes!).
I had seen the recipe list and originally chosen the pandan layer cake and a prawn curry; but after flicking through the book at a shop, I changed my mind to the crab wonton and barbecue pork soup. I have never made anything with such a long ingredients list!
We also got to meet Kat’s (fairly new) bundle of joy; we will now have a mini foodie in the group; and she will be eating solids soon!
So here is a photo journal of what we ate. Everything was delicious (as usual) and we all left with food comas (also as usual). Thanks to everyone that came, can’t wait for the next one.
The cheesy cupcakes were fantastic! I hope Cherrie posts the recipe!
Kat (Spatula Spoon Saturday) also made mixed vegetable and pork belly soup which we forgot to eat! As well as sticky rice.
Crab Wonton & Barbeque Pork Soup
gio nahm muu daeng
David Thompson
1 cup choy sum trimmed and cut into 3cm (1 1/4 in) lengths
20 sliced barbeque pork – about 125g (4 oz)
30g (1 oz) cooked crabmeat – optional
3 tablespoons garlic deep-fried in oil or with pork scratchings, if desired
1 tablespoon preserved Chinese vegetable (dtang chai), rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons chopped spring onions – keep the offcuts for the stock
ground white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
fish sauce, roasted chilli powder, white sugar and chillies steeped in vinegar
to serve
pork soup stock
200g (6 oz) pork bones
1 small daikon (mooli), peeled and sliced
2-3 coriander roots, cleaned
5 garlic cloves, bruised and unpeeled
5 slices ginger
offcuts from the spring (green) onions -see above
1 teaspoon crushed white pepper
1 point star anise
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons crushed yellow rock sugar, to taste
crab wontons
75g (2 1/2 oz) fatty minced pork
30g (1 oz) cooked crabmeat
pinch of salt
pinch of white sugar
1 generous teaspoon oyster sauce
pinch of ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon very finely chopped ginger
good pinch of chopped coriander
good pinch of chopped spring (green) onions
16-20 wonton skins
cooking fresh crab
To cook a live crab, despatch it humanely by placing in the freezer for about an hour, then boil or steam the beast for 6-10 minutes per kg (3-5 minutes per lb), depending on the variety. The yield of crabmeat will be in the region of 40-50 per cent of the weight of the crab in its shell.
storing stock
I really do believe that stock is best used on the day it is made, but that is not always possible. If keeping stock, allow it to cool then over and refrigerate. It will keep for 2 or 3 days chilled, longer frozen. When reheating add a slice or two of ginger to rejuvenate it.
1. First make the stock. Wash the bones and place in a stockpot or large pan. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Drain, then rinse the bones well. Return the bones to the pan, along with the vegetables and spices. Cover with about 3 litres (3 quarts) of cold water and bring to the boil, skimming as needed. Add the salt, soy sauce and sugar, then simmer gently for a few hours. This should make about 2 litres (2 quarts) of stock.
2. Next make the wontons. Mix together all the ingredients except the wonton skins and leave the filling to marinate for 30 minutes. Have a bowl of water and a chopstick or teaspoon at the ready. Place a wonton skin in the palm of one hand, holding it with one of the corners pointing toward your fingertips. Using the chopstick or wooden spoon, place about 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the centre. Dampen the top and bottom corners of the wonton skin, then fold the bottom half over the filling to make a loose triangle and press to seal. Bring the left-hand corner across the centre, then bring the right corner across. Now dampen the top of the wonton and fold down the top corner, pinching and crimping to form the wonton. Repeat with the remaining wonton skins and stuffing. Keep the finished wontons covered with a slightly damp cloth to prevent them from drying out.
3. Bring the pork stock to the boil – it must be a rolling boil when it is ladled over the wontons.
4. Bring another large pan of salted water to the boil. Blanch the wontons in this, then scoop them out and refresh under cold water to rinse off any excess starch. Return the wontons to the pan of boiling water, along with the choy sum, and simmer for a moment. Take out and drain.
5. Place four wontons and some choy sum in each bowl and ladle over about a cup of the boiling pork stock. Top with the sliced barbecue pork, extra crabmeat (if using), deep-fried garlic, preserved Chinese vegetable, spring onions and coriander. Sprinkle with pepper.
6. Serve accompanied by fish sauce, roasted chilli powder, white sugar and chillies steeped in vinegar.
Serves 4.
April @myfoodtrail
What stunning photos!! I can’t believe you posted this so quickly! I guess today’s food coma must have given you blogging power!! 🙂
Do you tweak your photos much?
Allan
i suspect just a bit =P. some lightroom processing, tone curve adjustment? must admit i’m guilty of that too HAHA, makes photos so much nicer with a small tweak.
Iron Chef Shellie
Definitely some lightroom goes into them all. Brightness/contrast and a few other things in those categories. Haven’t played with tone curve yet!
kristy @ ksayerphotography
Shellie you always manage to make everything look AMAZING! This looks like a perfect thai feast!
Iron Chef Shellie
thanks lovely 🙂 x
Julie
That cooking the book idea is awesome. I really want that book but it is so heavy! I saw it discounted for $50! Think I might change my mind and buy it now. Can’t believed the list of ingredients is so long.. but nonetheless it looks so delicious and worth it :)!
Iron Chef Shellie
yes it is heavy! but had some gorgeous photography. Not sure how often I’d cook from it since I haven’t made a thing from his other book!
Heidi - Apples Under My Bed
Omg, this all looks so amazing!! I have this book (bought it for Ben for Christmas) and am yet to use it! Can’t wait to get stick into it. Kat’s little girl is so incredibly cute! What a fun day 🙂
Heidi xo
Iron Chef Shellie
Kat’s girl is such a cute! I get all mooshy when I see photos cos she is just adorable! Enjoy cooking!
Thanh
Excellent photos Michele. Nice use of ICS style as usual. I have to say that I’m not too fond of the text on the photo, draws away from the actual photo. That’s just my opinion though.
Iron Chef Shellie
LOL thanks Thanh. Just doing something different with the text, thanks for the feedback 🙂
Mez
OH
MY
GAWD
THAT LOOKS AMAZING!!!!!
I am SO using some of these recipes.
Love the Filipino dessert. My dad’s going back next week, WAH! I want to go there and see the fam fam… guess I miss out this time 🙁 🙁 🙁
Iron Chef Shellie
Thanks Mez! Oh no 🙁 I hate when my parents visit the family and don’t take me with them either.
Michelle
The spread looks so good!
Iron Chef Shellie
certainly was!!
penny aka jeroxie
What a feast and bummer that I missed out! Everyone made a great effort. I do love this cookbook. Very very inspiring.
Iron Chef Shellie
hopefully you will join us at the next one 🙂
Cherrie
I guess being in a food coma gets you in the mood for blogging LOL. It was great fun. Glad I was able to host this month’s. Looking forward to the next one.
Iron Chef Shellie
yeah, who knows, have blogging mojo back for a while! Def looking forward to the next one!
Kat @CooksJournal
Everything tasted as good as it looked! Gorgeous photos. Great recipes .. am going to try more. Another wonderful feast.
Iron Chef Shellie
Thanks Kat 🙂 Can’t wait to finish off your pat thai that is waiting in the fridge for me 😛
Hannah
Oh, that Agnes and her photographing-recipes-skills 😉 What a wonderful, wonderful collection of delicious food cooked by (assuredly) lovely people. I dream of one day being able to join in 🙂
Iron Chef Shellie
She is a star! We’d love to have you join 🙂
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
How fun does that look! 🙂
Iron Chef Shellie
and delicious!
Kayla @ Fitter Than Choc
The list of ingredients certainly looks long. But looking at all the beautiful dishes, I’m pretty sure it was worth the effort:) Having food coma is always fun!!
Iron Chef Shellie
That’s cos there are no shortcuts with his recipes!! But yes, the stock tasted better than anything I could have bought.
Jennifer (Delicieux)
What an amazing feast!! Looks like you had so much fun.
Iron Chef Shellie
Sure was! And we certainly did 🙂
foodie and the chef
Oh everything looks scrum-diddly-umptious ! What a great idea for test-running cook books.
Susan
I love this book! I so haven’t cooked anything from it yet, but these photos are sure motivating me to do so. All the food looks so so good!
Kat (Spatula, Spoon and Saturday)
How do you make everything look so good! I’m so jealous 🙂
Iron Chef Shellie
lol, maybe I just try too hard 😛
Cookie McBookie
WOW – I need to get myself that book and make that pork belly recipe. Thanks for sharing!