Tod Man Goong (Thai Shrimp-Cakes)

This recipe also came from Wandee Young, from her Cookbook "Simply Thai Cooking"; there are many good or interesting recipes within. To complement this dish, we served it with Thai Cucumber Salad, you can drizzle some over the shrimp-cake before you take a bite. These are quite good, and different from crab cakes, in that they have chunky vegetables within, in this case the Chinese long green bean. These are perfect as an appetizer or as a side-dish to a meal. This is similar to Tod Man Pla, made with minced fish.

Tod Man Goong
adapted from Simply Thai Cooking, 2nd Ed.
40 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp red curry paste
1 egg yolk
6 Chinese long green beans, trimmed and finely chopped
3 lime leaves, cut very fine
1 cup vegetable oil

Place the shrimp in a food processor and process until a fine pulp. Add the red curry paste; blend well. Stir-in the egg yolk. Stir in the Chinese long green beans and the lime leaves and mix everything together well.

Heat oil in a wok or heavy-bottomed frying pan on high heat till almost smoking. Turn down to medium heat, then add a tablespoon of shrimp-cake mixture that has been flattened. Add more, but do not crowd the wok or pan. Fry for 2 minutes on one side, then flip over and fry for 2 minutes on the other side. Flip over again and fry for 30-40 seconds, until both sides are golden brown. Remove from oil and place on plate covered with paper towels (to soak up the oil). Repeat with the remaining shrimp-cake mixture as needed.

Guiltless Gourmet Spicy Black Bean Dip

I remember first eating this during my University days in the '80s; I liked it then, I like it now. This is the Spicy version, there is a little kick to it, but not too much. I like black beans, which is what this is mostly, with vinegar, apple cider vinegar, jalapeno peppers (likely what gives it its kick) and spices. This is an interesting alternative to conventional dips or hummous, and well worth it if you like black beans.

Taro Fritters

This is different than the previous recipe for Taro Fritters that I posted, the previous version had no coconut milk in it. I think that this recipe is the superior one, in how they cook, and in how they taste. Very delicious. Another way I'm getting to enjoy taro root, which I knew of a few years ago, but had never eaten, and now can eat every other day.

Taro Fritters
450 g taro, shredded using coarse grater
50 g all-purpose flour
50 g rice flour
1 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp cane sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 Tbsp baking powder

Mix all the ingredients together to get a batter, not too thick and not thin; add some water if too thick, some more flour if too thin.

Add shredded taro to batter and mix to coat. Add some more water if mixture becomes too thick.

Heat oil to 350F (small piece of fritter should bubble slightly, not too vigorously) in pot (about medium heat - though watch that it doesn't bubble too much, indicating it is too hot), or in deep-fryer. Cook until golden brown, turning once. Drain fritters on paper towel.

Serve with Nam Jim dipping sauce.

Twice Fried Plantains

I first encountered fried plantain in Venezuela, it's often served as a side dish along with the main course, though there the plantain is sliced lengthwise, and then fried in oil, until the outside is caramelized and dark. Oddly enough, I don't care for plantain chips, or even banana chips, but these are great. This recipe could be as a side dish, or even as an appetizer. Use fairly ripe plantains, you can tell by the amount of blackness on the peel; they should be yellow but approaching black. These are quite delicious served warm, the sweetness of the plantain, similar in flavour and texture to bananas, comes out beautifully.

Twice Fried Plantains
2 plaintains, ripe (black spots on peel)
oil, for frying

Peel plaintains. Cut in slices 1/2 to 1" thick.

Fry plaintain slices in hot oil in a frying pan placed on medium heat, for 2-3 minutes, until they are golden brown. Flip each piece to fry other side, until they are golden brown.

Place on paper towel to absorb oil and allow to cool.

Place fried plantain slices between two sheets of parchment paper or clingwrap. Carefully squish each piece with something heavy to make a thin piece about 1/4 of the original thickness.

Fry each piece again in hot oil in a frying pan placed on medium heat, for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown. Flip each piece to fry other side.

Place on paper towel to absorb oil.

President's Choice Fig & Goat Cheese Blooms

This new appetizer from President's Choice intrigued me, mostly because it contains figs, a fruit I like, and don't get enough of. The season for figs is very short, three weeks or so, and they are normally expensive, so my opportunity to have some, other than Fig Newtons or such baked goods, does not come so often. Within the puff pastry shell, the fig topping, which seems overly sweet reading the ingredients, covers the filling made from cream cheese and goat cheese. Overall, these are quite tasty, a good appetizer, though I think that I would want to make them myself, or something similar, rather than buy these again. They are small, too, a mere mouthful.

Fresh Tomato and Herb Bruschetta

This is a very quick recipe to assemble and finish. We did it quick, too, having no french bread on hand, we instead used some multigrain slices of bread. We also used coriander instead of the Italian parsley, both because we had it on hand, and also because we like the flavour of it. Italian parsley works great as well. Quick and tasty as an appetizer.

Fresh Tomato and Herb Bruschetta
1 French loaf, or several slices of bread
4 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp dried basil (or a handful of torn fresh basil leaves)
200 g shredded Mozarella
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley or coriander, finely chopped

Slice French loaf in half lengthwise. Place on a large baking sheet, cut surface up. Sprinkle tomatoes evenly on bread. Sprinkle with dried herbs and cheese. Combine garlic and olive oil; drizzle evenly over top. Bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes on top rack, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Cut into medium slices. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Taro Fritters

My beautiful Bride likes taro, and wanted to make this excellent fried delicacy, for herself and for me. These turned out great, and tasted wonderful. You should increase the heat of the burner, to avoid the oil decreasing in heat as you add the cooler battered taro, which causes the batter to absorb more oil, and end up being greasy. She had to adapt a recipe that didn't have ingredient quantities, together we puzzled out how much to use of each. They turned out quite fine, I must say. Serve with plum sauce, the kind that you can find in Chinese Supermarkets is fine, add to this ground peanuts and a few chili flakes, with coriander leaves for garnish.

Taro Fritters
1 medium taro root
100-125 g all-purpose flour
1/2 baking powder
pinch salt
water
oil for frying

Heat oil. Remove the skin from the taro, then slice the taro root coarsely. Make batter out of flour, baking powder, salt, adding enough water to make a thick batter. Cover the coarse taro root slices with the batter. Drop rounded tablespoons of battered taro into heated oil, increasing heat when you add it. Fry till golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Tod Man Pla

I first tried these Thai Fish Cakes (Tod is fried; Man is the richest or tastiest "fat" of the meat - in shrimp or Goong it's in the head; Pla is fish) at the Thai Angels restaurant, my beautiful Thai Bride is the friend of the owner/cook's, they were quite tasty, so we thought we'd try our hand at them. These too turned out quite tasty, we added a little more red curry paste to the mix. Finish them off with a Thai sweet and sour sauce (this and the fish paste can be found in most Chinese supermarkets), with chopped fresh cucumber and cilantro. Delicious!

Tod Man Pla
2 lbs. fish paste
2 Tbsp red curry paste, or to taste
5 fresh Kaffir lime leaves, sliced very thin
1 egg
1/2 cup long beans, diced very small
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp sugar
vegetable oil for frying

Beat fish paste with a mixer for 3 minutes.

Add egg, red curry paste, salt and sugar, and beat until all ingredients are mixed well.

Add long beans and lime leaves, mixing by hand until combined.

Shape the paste into balls, flattening them.

Fry in medium hot oil, until medium brown on the outside.

Dukka

Dukka, or Du'a, or Dukkha, may or may not have its origins in Egypt. Whether it does or not, what it is, is a good appetizer, spicy and crunchy at the same time. I've seen versions of this that use different nuts, such as almonds or macadamias, and sunflower seeds, with cayenne pepper to give it a little more kick. Feel free to experiment, and tailor to your guests. To serve, cut up a french loaf in small pieces, then place a bowl of good olive or sunflower oil next to the container of dukka. Dip a piece of bread in the oil, then into the dukka, and enjoy.

Dukka
recipe from Sophie Grigson's Weekends
4 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
1-1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds
1-1/2 Tbsp Black peppercorns
1/2 Tbsp coarse sea salt
30 g toasted hazelnuts (or roasted chickpeas)
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat a small, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat and add the sesame seeds. Shake gently until they turn a shade darker and give out a nutty smell. Tip them into a bowl.

Repeat this process with the coriander and cumin seeds. Allow them cool and crisp up for a few minutes.

Place the sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, peppercorns and salt in a clean coffee grinder and grind finely.

Finely chop the hazelnuts in the grinder, taking care not to over-blend them into a paste.

Mix the finely chopped hazelnuts with the sesame seed mixture and the cinnamon. Store in an airtight container until needed.