Shopping Asian Market

 Hi all,

Finally, I got a time to update my blog. Anyway, the other day I was working in my tiny kitchen as usual, the big group just walked pass and suddenly said "Damn! Thai again!" oh-o? kiddo, what did you just say?? Okay, I admitted that there are toooooo many Thai in Portland, but please don't be rude and f--in' happy that when you are hungry this you called "damn thing" will fill your stomach savory. Or at least I never say "Sandwich again or Hamburger again?"  and I have become a person who is proud of my roots, and the traditional ways of our culture, especially foods. 

Well anyway, let's talk about our topic today "shopping Asian Market". Cooking spicy Northern Thai food is very easy on the whole, as long as you have some basic ingredients to make the paste used in most dishs; chili, salt, garlic, red shallot onions, and shrimp paste. For example, when you create a Thai soup, if you are using beef then you’d better add more galangal to it, and if it’s a fish soup you better use a lot of lemon grass. For chicken, color the soup with turmeric. And if you would like to get an "broth like" taste, then add some crushed red onions. The rest depends on the chef, but you should be able to make your own delicious dishes following these simple rules, without resorting to MSG !!! (believe me some Thai place still use this thing, so make sure to ask them first)

After you have known what you want to cook, now it's time to hit an Asian Market closed to your house. Here's some tips that would help you getting what you need from the Market.

The basic things for choosing fresh herbs like basil, there are two kind of  basil that Thai Restaurant used, Hot basil and Sweet basil. First you should look for purplish, pointed leaves for hot basil, or rounded, bright green leaves for sweet basil. Another fresh herb is garlic, you should look for bulbs that are still tight, and make sure the cloves aren’t too large. The smaller the cloves, the stronger the taste. The "too large cloves" will easily be overshadowed by the other spices in any Thai paste or sauce.

Next, galangal. Galangal looks almost the same as ginger, except its skin is white (often with a yellowish or reddish hue to it). If you do not see it in this section of the store, look for galangal in the freezer (galangal is usually sold frozen in clear packets). The same goes for fresh turmeric.Lastly, Lemongrass is easy enough to recognize by its long, thin stalks and lemony scent. It will definitely be found in the fresh produce section alongside the vegetables or fresh herbs.

Bye and see you next time (in this picture is called "Rod Dang)

Chef nOk^