The Flavors of Asia Cooking Class

Mai Pham with her cooking assistant, shown
behind her cookbook and signature sauces

I joined the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op this year, after admiring from afar for a long time and even taking a few outstanding classes there in the past. (Like this one on Pie Making, and another on Raised Bed Gardening.)

This week I got to attend a cooking class on the Flavors of Asia taught by Mai Pham, an expert in Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. Mai teaches at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, owns many restaurants all over the country, has published a cookbook, makes her own line of sauces, and is a bit of a local celebrity. She has been on Martha Stewart and kicked off her class by showing us a segment she did on the Food Network to give us a feel for the cuisine of Southeast Asia.

Mai was very professional and pleasant, and even brought her 86-year-old, very spry-looking father to the class with her. Her grandmother, she confided, lived to be 105 years old and credited her longevity to a vegetarian diet and lots of coconut milk, which the Vietnamese associate with high immunity levels.

Mai also stressed the importance of moderation in all things, confessing that she has to work hard to keep balanced. For example, if she wants to eat ice cream for dessert, her family will eat a simple, light dinner such as stir-fried vegetables and brown rice before indulging.

Mai demonstrated and let us sample several dishes during the course of the class, as well as teaching some basic techniques like assembling and rolling salad rolls, and cutting herbs and vegetables gently to avoid bruising. She showed us how to make:

* Salad Rolls with Shrimp and Pork, with a Peanut Hoisin Sauce

* Yellow Curry with Tofu and Eggplant

* Singapore Noodles Topped with Stir-Fried Asian Greens

* Caramel Pork with Egg and Daikon

My favorite dishes were the Yellow Curry and Singapore Noodles, but I enjoyed them all. Before heading home, I hopped around the corner to the Co-Op to pick up a jar of Lemongrass Kitchen brand Yellow Curry Sauce, a concentrated base which makes 3-4 batches of curry. I can't wait to try my hand at this at home!

Here is Mai Pham's recipe for the Yellow Curry with Tofu and Eggplant. It's crazy good; I've never liked a vegetarian curry so much! It also taught me one thing I've done wrong in the past - adding raw vegetables to my curry has added too much water and diluted the flavor, so that I never felt that my curries at home matched up with the restaurant versions. Blanching the vegetables ahead of time solves this problem. Also, she explained that frying the tofu ahead of time so that it gets a "skin" allows it to absorb sauces better. This recipe would be perfect for summertime, when eggplant, tomatoes, green beans and zucchini are all in season.

1/4 c. Lemongrass Kitchen Thai Yellow Curry Sauce
1.5 c. coconut milk
1/2 lb. firm tofu, pan-seared or lightly fried, cut into 2/3x2"x1/12" pieces
2 c. eggplant, Japanese preferably, halved lengthwise then cut into 1/2 " half moon pieces
3 Roma tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 c. green beans, 1" lengths, blanched
1/2 c. zucchini, bite sized pieces, blanched
2 tsp. Thai chilies, cut on the diagonal into thin slices (optional)
1/2 c. frozen peas
10 Thai basil leaves (optional)

1. In a saucepan, combine LGK Thai Curry Sauce Concentrate with coconut milk and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a low boil.
2. Add tofu, eggplant and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until all vegetables start to soften, another 2-3 minutes.

Basic Shrimp Pad Thai

Courtesy of Cooking Light

Cooking Light magazine did a feature this month where they lightened up classic take out dishes. Chicken fried rice, supreme pizza, and my beloved pad thai were all featured. I've not been impressed with packaged versions of pad thai, so I thought I would give the recipe a go. As it turned out, although quite simple, this recipe impressed me with its spicy goodness (yes, if you go with the chili garlic sauce option, it's got some heat). The resulting dish wasn't quite identical to take out, but pretty close, and its much less oily- a good difference! We will be making it again!

Shrimp Pad Thai

8 ounces uncooked flat rice noodles (pad Thai noodles)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar or tamarind paste
2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon Sriracha or chili garlic sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup (2-inch) green onion pieces
8 ounces peeled and deveined large shrimp
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

1. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain.

2. While water comes to a boil, combine sugar and next 4 ingredients (through Sriracha) in a small bowl.

3. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion pieces, shrimp, and garlic; stir-fry 2 minutes or until shrimp is almost done. Add cooked noodles; toss to combine. Stir in sauce; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly to combine. Arrange about 1 cup noodle mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1/4 cup bean sprouts, 1 tablespoon peanuts, and 2 teaspoons basil.

Spicy Thai Chicken with Basil (Gai Kra Prow)

As much as I love Thai food, and as much as I love to cook, it sometimes strikes me as odd that my experiences eating this delicious cuisine have been largely limited to the restaurant setting. But it seems that every time I have tried to recreate my favorite Thai dishes at home, it always tastes like something is missing. Besides that, I once inadvertently added so much green curry paste to a dish that I had to choke down small bites of it while tears streamed down my face. I think I emptied about half a box of Kleenex, and needless to say, that experience cooled me off from Thai cooking for a while!

But sometimes I can't help but wish that I could make these things at home. My favorite Thai dish to order at my most frequent haunt is Gai Kra Prow (or Gai Kra Pow, the English spelling varies): A chicken stir-fry with Thai basil and vegetables. The specific version I adore involves slices of chicken breast, bell peppers, onions, and straw mushrooms (which I knew I would have to leave out if I ever had the guts to make it at home because of Paul's allergy).

None of the recipes I found online for this dish exactly resembled the version I'm obsessed with. Many called for ground meat or left out the whole vegetable thing. So I put my thinking cap on and pieced together several different recipes, coming up with the first Thai dish I have made that came out close to perfect. Of course I have to share. I took a shortcut by using Vietnamese Chili Garlic sauce in lieu of fresh Thai chilis, which I didn't find in the stores at this time. I also used some sweet soy sauce I picked up in an Asian grocery store.

What do all of these ingredients together equate? A fantastic balance of sweet, savory, salty, and spicy flavors.

1 lb. chicken breast, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 T. chili garlic sauce
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 both red and green bell pepper, cut into cubes
1/2 a yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 T. sweet soy sauce
1 T. oyster sauce
1 T. fish sauce
1 tsp. sugar
2 T. water

2 handfuls Thai basil

Whisk together sauce ingredients. Heat 2 T. vegetable oil in a skillet over high heat. Add in garlic, chili garlic sauce, and chicken. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add in the bell pepper and onion; cook another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Add sauce and stir fry another minute. Throw in the basil leaves and stir fry until they are wilted. Serve over jasmine rice.

Thai Dinner Party with Tropical Pie Recipe

This weekend, I finally did something I've wanted to do for some time now: I hosted a dinner party for friends. I broke the cardinal rule of hostessing in doing so, according to all of the articles I obsessively read in preparation. What was my crime? I served a series of recipes that I had never tried before. This is apparently a big no-no, but it was a risk I was willing to take. (After all, am I really going to make a multi-course meal and buy unusual ingredients to serve just my husband and I? Probably not.)

Speaking of my husband, he assisted me as an excellent sous-chef and there was something wonderful about putting together something so cool together. The menu was Thai-themed and some recipes came out better than others, but overall it was a great time with fun people and lots of laughs. I can't wait to host my next one! Here are some pictures of a few of the dishes, and a recipe for the pie, which was probably my favorite of all the new dishes I tried. To my guests, I had a blast, and hope you didn't mind being my guinea pigs!

The table setting

Close up on a table setting, with name cards!

Chicken Satay, grilled in a peanut sauce

Tangy Cucumber Salad

Fresh Pineapple, Coconut and Macadamia Nut Pie

1 refrigerated pie crust (half of 15-oz package), room temperature

3 c. ½ inch pieces of fresh pineapple, well-drained

2/3 c. sugar

¼ c. all purpose flour

1/8 tsp. salt

3 eggs, beaten to blend

¼ c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

½ c. sweetened flaked coconut

1/3 c. chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 325F. Flatten crust on lightly floured surface; press seams together if necessary. Fit into 9-inch diameter glass pie dish; crimp edges.

Arrange pineapple in crust. Combine sugar, flour, and salt in medium bowl. Add eggs and butter and blend well. Pour batter evenly over pineapple. Sprinkle coconut and macadamia nuts over and press lightly into batter. Bake until light brown and center is firm to touch, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. (8 servings)