Thailand

 Welcome to Thailand!  We took a detour on our way to Monaco because we had Delightful Dad here, who loves the national dish of Thailand.  Thailand has always interested me and a place I would love to visit and take some cooking classes - I do love Thai food!  "Thai" means "free man" - Thailand has never developed a national army.  Thailand loves animals, and has an annual monkey buffet, where they set up a buffet for monkeys!  According to Google, the population of Thailand is 70.03 million people and the capital is Bangkok.  Their national dish is...

Pad Thai!

I love Pad Thai.  I have a really good recipe for it that I have been making for years, and was hesitant to make a different type.  However, we agreed that we wanted to try an authentic (or as authentic as we could find) recipe, so below is what we found.  To go with the Pad Thai, we made Thai iced tea and Thai sticky mango rice.  It didn't seem complicated to get all of these things made, but coordinating the timing of it all was a bit tricky.  Here's what we did:

PAD THAI

Sauce

5 tbsp palm sugar, chopped

3 tbsp water

4 tbsp Thai cooking tamarind

2 tbsp fish sauce

Pad Thai

4 oz dry rice noodles, medium size, soak in room temp water for 1 hour

2 tbsp dried shrimp, medium size, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 C roughly chopped shallots

Dried chili flakes, to taste

3 tbsp vegetable oil

10 medium sized shrimp

2 eggs

2 1/2 C bean sprouts

7-10 stalks garlic chives, cut into 2” pieces

1 lime

1. 1.  To make the sauce, add palm sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. 
2. 2.  Once the sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in color.
3. 3.  Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. The sugar will harden immediately and this is okay.
4. 4.  Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. 
5. 5.  The hardened sugar will not have dissolved at this point, but let it sit while you prep other ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it. 
6. 6.  In a bowl, combine garlic, shallots, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.
7. 7.  Heat a large skillet over high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. 
8. 8.  Sear shrimp until done and remove them from pan.
9. 9.  In the same skillet over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. 
10. 10.  Add more oil if the skillet looks dry.
11. 11.  Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. 
12. 12.  Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.
13. 13.  Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they're still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking.
14. 14.  Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. 
15. 15.  Add a little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. 
16. 16.  Break the yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. 
17. 17.  Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles. 
18. 18.  Toss the cooked protein back in, plus any collected juices. 
19. 19.  Then add bean sprouts and garlic chives. 
20. 20.  Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.
21. 21.  Serve immediately with a lime wedge. 
22. 22.  Enjoy!

(Source: Pad Thai)

THAI ICED TEA

2 black tea bags

1 pod star anise

2 pods cardamom

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 C boiling water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp evaporated milk

1. 1.  Steep tea, star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, and almond extract in boiling water for five minutes.
2. 2.  Strain the mixture with a fine-mesh strainer.
3. 3.  Stir in sugar and sweetened condensed milk until both are completely dissolved.
4. 4.  Fill 2 tall glasses with ice. 
5. 5.  Pour the tea over the ice, leaving an inch or so of space at the top for the evaporated milk.
6. 6.  Top up with more ice if needed, and then drizzle with evaporated milk on each glass of tea.
7. 7.  Enjoy!

(Source: Thai Iced Tea)

THAI MANGO STICKY RICE

1 C glutinous rice

1 C coconut milk

3 tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 ripe yellow mango, peeled and sliced

1. 1.  Soak the rice in room-temperature water for one hour.
2. 2.  Strain and rinse rice to remove extra starch.
3. 3.  Bring 2 C water to a boil, and add the rice.
4. 4.  Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes.
5. 5.  While the rice is cooking, put coconut milk, sugar, and salt into a small pan and warm over medium heat.
6. 6.  Once the rice is cooked through with no hard, raw bits in the middle of the grains, transfer to a mixing bowl. 
7. 7.  Slowly pour the warm coconut milk mixture over the cooked rice, stirring frequently to coat the rice in the coconut milk mixture, but watching so that you are not oversaturating the rice to the point that there are puddles of coconut milk. 
8. 8.  Continue stirring and stop adding the sweetened coconut milk once it looks like the rice is saturated. 
9. 9.  Set the rice aside for 20 minutes to finish absorbing the coconut milk.
10. 10.  Keep the remaining coconut mixture for later.
11. 11.  When the rice has absorbed the coconut mixture, spoon a helping on a small plate. 
12. 12.  Add mango slices to the side, and top with extra coconut mixture.
13. 13.  Serve room temperature, and enjoy!

(Source: Thai Mango Sticky Rice)

The verdict?  We liked my other Pad Thai recipe better.  This one was good, but not as good.  I didn't like the dried shrimp in this recipe - it was very chewy and very fishy.  Handsome Husband didn't mind it so much, but I picked mine out.  The sauce was more of a sour sauce, but with the noodles, it mellowed it out quite a bit.  I missed the lime taste that is in my recipe.  The recipe also called for peanuts, but we chose to skip them due to allergies around the table.  The sticky rice was not my favorite either.  The texture was gummy or mushy - I'm not really sure what to call it.  The coconut topping helped, but still not my favorite.  The mangos, however, were delicious!  The tea wasn't what I expected either.  I typically don't like Thai iced tea, but this one was good.  It had a lot of interesting flavors.  We all agreed that there was too much of an almond flavor, so if we make it again, we would cut down on the almond extract.  I also think I would use half and half instead of evaporated milk, so that it's not as sweet.  Overall, it was a decent meal, but not one that we will make again.  At least not with this recipe...

   

ME

Taste of Pad Thai (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Pad Thai (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

ME

Taste of Thai Mango Sticky Rice (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Thai Mango Sticky Rice (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

ME

Taste of Thai Iced Tea (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Thai Iced Tea (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

Next time, we REALLY WILL go to Monaco!  Hope you join us there!

Venezuela

 Welcome to Venezuela!  With everything going on in the news, I thought this may be an appropriate time to make their national dish.  So, we took a detour from Slovenia and went here instead!  Venezuela is home to the world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, which is Angel Falls (and it looks stunning!).  It is home to the world's largest rodent, the capybara, and has more land dedicated to conservatorship than any other country.  According to Google, the population is 28.5 million people and the capital is Caracas.  Their national dish is...

Pabellón Criollo!

It's a rice and beans meal with some meat.  To go with Pabellón Criollo, we made Chicha, which is similar to Horchata.  Let me tell you, this meal took some time to prep and had a lot of different components!  I had to read and re-read the recipes to get things figured out and then time everything out to make it.  I also made fried plantains to go with it, as I read that this is a common addition to the meal.  Here's what I did:

PABELLON CRILLO

Black Beans

1 small package of black beans

6 C water

2 bay leaves

Sofrito

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cumin

1/2 tbsp  paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded Beef 

4 lb flank steak

6 C water

1 onion, cut in quarters

1 carrot, chopped

1 bell pepper

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 bunch of cilantro

1 bunch of parsley

Salt, to taste

Sauce of The Beef 

2 tablespoons avocado oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

14 oz can of diced tomatoes and 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tbsp curry

1 tsp paprika

Meat broth (left from boiling the beef)

Chili flakes, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. In a large container, wash the beans very well under running water and discard any beans that float.
2. Put the black beans in a large pot, add the water and the bay leaves, and cook over medium heat for 1 hour and a half or until you see that the beans are soft. 
3. Meanwhile, prepare the sofrito. 
4. Put the sofrito ingredients in a blender and blend until well mixed and the consistency of salsa.
5. Place this sauce in a pot with a lid and cook for about fifteen minutes over low heat.
6. Remove from heat and set aside.
7. When the beans have softened, add the sofrito to the beans and cook over low heat for about 30 more minutes so that the broth thickens a bit, add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Place the meat in a large pot.
9. Add the pieces of onion, carrot, celery, the chopped peppers and the bunches of cilantro and parsley to the pot with the meat.
10. Cover with water, cover the pot and cook for 2 hours over medium heat, or until the meat is fall-apart tender. 
11. Remove the meat from the pot and let it rest for about 5 minutes before shredding it. 
12. With the help of two forks, shred the still hot meat into thin and long strands.
13. In a frying pan, brown the onion and garlic in avocado oil until they are translucent.
14. Add cumin, curry, paprika and stir.
15. Add a little of the meat broth.
16. Add the shredded meat, the bell peppers, and the chopped tomato, and mix all the ingredients. 
17. If you see that the meat is a bit dry, add more broth.
18. Let cook covered and over low heat for about 15 minutes so that all the flavors mingle. 
19. Season with salt, pepper, and chili flakes to taste.
20. Serve with white rice and fried plantains, and enjoy!

(Source: Pabellón Criollo)

CHICHA

1/2 C rice

3 C water

1 C milk

1/2 can condensed milk

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1. Soak the rice in 1 cup of water from 2 to 12 hours.
2. Rinse the rice and cook it in a pot with 3 cups of water. 
3. Cook it for 40 minutes with the cinnamon stick until the rice is extremely soggy and can’t absorb more water. 
4. Let it chill and remove the cinnamon stick.
5. Blend the rice, milk, condensed milk, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg. 
6. Blend on high speed for 5 minutes. You can add more milk if you feel that the chicha is too thick.
7. Top with extra sweetened condensed milk and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.
8. Enjoy!

(Source: Chicha)

The verdict?  It was OK.  This is one of very few South American dishes that we didn't just love.  The meat was quite chewy, which made it hard and unpleasant to eat.  The flavors were good, but the texture not so much.   I think it would have been better if the meat was barbequed or cooked another way.  Boiling it didn't make it great.  I used the extra meat broth to make the rice - this was a good move!  It was delicious!  I couldn't eat the beans, so Handsome Husband will have to speak to the beans.  I wasn't a fan of the chicha - I don't think that I blended it long enough.  It was quite grainy.  All in all, the meal was OK, but not one we plan to repeat.

The beans -- they were beans. Nothing special and pretty bland, which was disappointing after sampling the sofrita and really liking the vibrant flavors. But even plain beans always manage to be at least a little bit good, so they still get a decent rating.

ME

Taste of Pabellón Criollo (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Pabellón Criollo (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

ME

Taste of Chicha (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 3

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 3

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Chicha (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

Another South American country down!  Join us next time (for real) in Slovenia!

Qatar

 Welcome to Qatar!  I never think of places in the Middle East as having water or being close to water.  But it is right on the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Bahrain.  From the months of June through September, the ocean temperatures average between 89.5 degrees and 92 degrees.  Somehow, that doesn't seem very refreshing...According to Google, the population is 2.55 million people and the capital is Doha.  Their national dish is...

 

 

Machbūs!

Rice and chicken (or lamb...or beef...or camel...).  But it is a one-dish-wonder with lots of spices.  To go with the Machbus, we made Karak tea and Warak Enab (stuffed grape leaves).  This seemed like a fairly easy and straight-forward dish to make, and we were excited to try it.  Here's what I did:

MACHBUS

For Baharat (Spice Mixture)

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp cumin seeds

2/3 tsp coriander seeds

1/3 cinnamon stick (about 2 inches long)

1/3 tsp whole cloves

Seeds from 3 green cardamom pods

1 tsp paprika powder

Pinch of ground nutmeg

For Machboos
1 large onion
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp baharat
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 1/3 pounds chicken, cut into chunks
1 hot green chile, seeded and diced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
5 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

3 tomatoes, diced
3 dried limes

5 green cardamom pods
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 stick cinnamon
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 cups rice

1. For Baharat (Spice Mixture): Set the paprika and nutmeg powders aside.
2. Place all remaining ingredients (whole seeds, cinnamon stick and cloves) in a small frying pan.
3. Dry roast over medium-high flame, for 2 minutes or until very fragrant.
4. Transfer to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and let cool.
5. Add the paprika and nutmeg and grind all the ingredients to a fine powder.
6.  For Machbus: Prep your ingredients: Chop the onion. Combine ginger, garlic and green pepper in one bowl. 
7. Mix baharat and turmeric in another bowl. 
8. Combine tomatoes, dried limes, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves in another bowl.
9. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high flame and fry the chicken pieces on both sides. 
10. Transfer the chicken to a plate and leave the remaining oil in the skillet.
11. Add the butter, reduce the heat to medium and fry the onions until starting to brown, about 10-12 minutes.
12. Mix the ginger, garlic, and green chile pepper and saute for another 2 minutes.
13. Add the baharat and turmeric and cook for another minute.
14. Put the chicken pieces into the skillet along with the tomatoes, dried limes, cardamom pods, cinnamon, and cloves. 
15. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine. 
16. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour.
17. Add rice and stir to combine. 
18. Boil it again, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for another 15-20 minutes until the rice is done and has absorbed the liquid. 
19. Stir every 5 minutes.
20. Transfer the chicken and rice to a serving dish, and sprinkle it with 1-2 tablespoons of rosewater. 
21. Enjoy!

(Source: Machbus) 

KARAK TEA

2 C water
2 black tea bags
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 C milk, evaporated or condensed (I used 1 can evaporated and 1 C cream)
Sugar to taste
Cinnamon, saffron, ginger or cloves, to taste

1. Boil the water in a saucepan with the black tea and cardamom.
2. Once it boils, add the milk and sugar. 
3. If you are adding additional spices, add them in now.
4. Boil again and then simmer, and repeat two more times.
5. Pour the tea into a cup through a strainer.
6. Savor your delicious Qatari karak tea.

(Source: Karak Tea) 

WARAK ENAB

1 jar grape leaves in vinegar brine, drained (about 40-50 leaves)

For filling:
1 1/2 C uncooked rice
2 tomatoes, chopped
5 green onions, chopped
1/2 C chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped mint
1/2 C avocado oil
Salt & pepper

For cooking:
2 potatoes, sliced
2-3 large tomatoes, chopped
3/4 C avocado oil
3/4 C lemon juice
Salt & pepper

1. For the insides, mix together a fresh collection of uncooked rice, tomatoes, green onion, mint, parsley, avocado oil, salt and pepper.
2. Add potato slices to bottom of pot.
   
3. On your work surface, place a grape leaf backside up and place a small spoonful of filling by the stem end. 
4. Begin to roll the leaf from the stem end. 
5. After about one roll, fold the left and right sides in. 
6. Continue rolling. You don’t need to make them super tight because the rice needs room to expand as it absorbs the liquid.
7. Stack the rolled grape leaves tightly together in the pot on top of the potatoes, making one neat layer on top of another. 
8. Next, top with tomato slices. 
9. Pour on the avocado oil and any juices at the bottom of the bowl that held the rice. 
10. Cover with a plate to keep the grape leaves from floating and unrolling, then top off with a lid. 
11. Simmer gently for about one hour. This will allow the potatoes at the bottom of the pot to get a nice crust. 
12. Then add the lemon juice and cook an additional hour (or to taste)... you’re looking for the rice to be tender inside of the grape leaves… (cut one open to check). 
13. Enjoy!

(Source: Warak Enab) 

The verdict?  The machbus was surprisingly bland!  With all the spices, I would have thought it would be a lot more flavor.  We had to add A LOT of salt to the dish to help bring out the flavors.  The tea was good, but it was so much better as a iced tea.  We thought the flavors came out a lot more when it was cold.  I loved the stuffed gape leaves.  This was by far the best part of the dish.  I will say, though, these took quite some time to make and were very tedious.  But I thought they were worth it.  They had a very strong lemon flavor, so I would cut down the lemon juice next time (and there will be a next time!).  Overall a decent meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ME

Taste of Machbus (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Machbus (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

 

ME

Taste of Karak Tea (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Karak Tea (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

ME

Taste of Warak Enab (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Warak Enab (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

 

Another tasty meal!  Join us next time in Nicaragua!