Stir-Fried Curry Seafoods with Rice

I can't recall myself ordering a different dish when I'm at the Black Canyon Coffee. There are some add ons but I always have this "stir-fried curry seafoods with rice" as my main. I like it not because it's the only thing I know but because the first time I tasted it - it's been marked under my "favourites" category. 

The waiter handed us the menu. I was looking thoroughly on each of the dish so as to try a new one this time, thinking the "new" will be my favourite too. But since there was no new item on the list, I immediately turned the pages and went straight to my favourite.

"Anee na Krub", I said to the waiter in Thai. It is sort of like saying "This one". He immediately wrote it down. A few minutes later, my favourite was served in hot. And the rest is history.

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My first "Beef Steak" Tagalog

It took me a few minutes to decide what to cook for dinner two nights ago. I was contemplating whether to have beef mechado or bistek tagalog (beef steak). I haven't tried both dishes yet so choosing between the two was pretty tough. After a thorough deliberation, I opted trying beef steak.

The thing is, I went outside and forgot what I was cooking and had it over-cooked. The thinly sliced pieces of beef sirloin looked like they were grilled - over-exposed to fire. I was aghast and immediately turn off the stove and removed the meat. I did try to segregate those that haven't burned yet and those that haven't burned much. Perhaps I could do some magic and still be able to eat them without putting them all to waste. So, I cooked them again without leaving even for a pee.

The smell of the burnt meat permeated the dish so the taste wasn't that good either. However, we still ate those amid the faces that changed every single bite. I promised I'll try to do better next time.

And so yesterday, I bought a kilo of beef sirloin at the market and started making the steak again. 

Here's how I did it.

I carefully did it with ease this time - marinating them with ground black pepper, soy sauce and lemon for almost two hours. Then I fried the sliced beef making each side equally cooked, removing the marinate of course. After that, I sauteed the onion rings and set them aside. I then sauteed the garlic on the same pan and added the fried beef a bit later. Next was the soup - using of course the marinate and left simmering for 10-15 minutes, adding water if need be. Finally, I added the stir-fried onion with little pouring of salt for great taste.

And you know what? People at home liked it - so do I.

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Tasty Sukishi

I was not much into Japanese food until last week when we dined at Sukishi restaurant in Central Plaza here in Phitsanulok. I've been to other Japanese restaurants, yes, but never had I tasted a food with excellent taste like Sukishi's. Theirs is superb and is on my highly recommended list. 

As you can see from the photos its presentation was normal. In fact it doesn't posses other fancy add-ons lining on all the corners nor having these intricate designs that makes the food a real mouthful. The first time I saw it I thought it was just like the others, similar taste with not much of a difference. But hey, I was amazed because the word delicious fits perfectly. 

We were the ones who cooked every single thing they put on a very large plate. It was for us a complete amazement because everything including the sauces were scrumptious. And because of that, we plan to go back sometime soon. Sukishi, please do wait for us.

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Thinly Sliced Squid in Sauce

Squid is one of my favourite food especially if it's grilled. But any type of food with squid on it is just as the same. I had the taste of a sourly yet sweet squid in sauce as part of our food menu for the wedding. It was my first as I'm only aware of grilled, fried, and marinated or seasoned squid (adobong pusit).

It was served with a very little sprinkled black pepper with thinly sliced fennels as toppings. It looked proportionally sliced from its tentacles to its tail, making it a "squid with stripes" from a far. 

I'm sorry but I don't have the link to give you on how to prepare this tasty dish, nor even know how people really call it. But if you like to have a taste of it - visit Dos Palmas Island Resort in Palawan, Philippines. It's a mouthful, you won't be disappointed. 

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Fresh Lumpia

Lumpia is not new to me as it's one of my favorite food especially during breakfast or dinner. I don't know why not much during lunch, though. Anyway, this featured lumpia is a popular dish in the Philippines. Locals call it "lumpiang sariwa" or fresh lumpia in English. Wrappers are soft and are made with eggs. The inside are mixtures of ground pork, veggies, and other stir-fried ingredients. 

Fresh lumpia is served with peanuts, turnips, and sauce. You can also add some fresh veggies like the ones you see above to make a good food presentation.

If you are interested in trying it out sometime in the future, here's the link i found that gives a very good description in preparing and cooking it. Click HERE.

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Yummy Baked Clams

An ocular visit at Dos Palmas Island Resort was made a week before our wedding. The wedding planner, Ken, gave us a list of menus prior to our visit. Honestly, I have no idea what baked clams are nor even read one anywhere until the list was handed to me.

Good thing my wifey chose them upon reading the resort's long list of menus. The taste was nice and they perfectly match the venue - wedding at the beach! Everyone was ecstatic and can't wait to have them tasted.

Apart from the taste, the presentation was superb too, at least in my opinion. So here are the tasty BAKED CLAMS. Enjoy them while hot!

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Tot Man Pla (Deep Fried Fish Cake)

Deep fried fish or locally known as tot man pla is one of the many famous fried dishes in Thailand. I had my share of this on Addie's birthday on August 11. There were lots of great foods and in fact, I already featured some of them here. Fried mixed vegetables and sweet and sour friend fish were the ultimate favorite of the people present. I never saw a single one with much skin left. If fish bones are soft, they might be devoured as well.

And just because the two dishes mentioned above were such a great hit, that doesn't mean that tot man pla never left its legacy. It stole the limelight as kids enjoyed its rough, yet soft and juicy texture. I enjoyed it myself too. It's easy to order and can really be a great treat to anyone, adults and kids alike. You can also put a sweet and spicy chilli sauce for an added taste.

So what are you waiting for? Have a break. Have a Tot Man Pla!

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Kao Cook Kapi

Kao Cook kapi is a traditional Thai fried rice. Unlike most other Thai fried rice, this dish has a brown color because the rice is fried with shrimp paste, sugar, and fish sauce. 

Apart from the aforementioned ingredients above, small pieces of pork, green and red chillies, fresh shallots, chopped french beans, thin slices of omelet, grated green mango, lime wedges, and cucumber are also part of it. Put this all and... Boom! Perfect dish!!

This is a dish that locals like. Since this has a very strong fishy smell, it doesn't appeal to westerners and you seldom see this in touristy places or regions. However, if you follow these steps which i found online, westerners can really enjoy it just like locals do. Here's the link CLICK CLICK!!

Enjoy!

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A bit of this - A bit of that!

I've had a wonderful supper last night. Thanks to the faculty where i work especially to Dean Sakol who gave a sumptuous treat for teachers who are about to leave at the end of this term, and to the teachers who started barely a year ago.

With all the mouthwatering dishes served, oh boy, it was so difficult to choose. Instead of going for the usual rice with meat, i opted for a meal that covers a wide variety of dishes. You know, mixing them all.

What i had on my plate were yum-woon-sen with seafood, two burger meat balls, four sliced fried pork, a bit of veggies (carrots and corn), and a Thai dish which i don't know. See that, very descriptive! How is this for a meal, then?

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Yum Woon Sen

Let's go back to Thai salad, shall we? Fact of the matter is, Thailand never runs out of salad because they have several varieties of it. One of their salads i tasted barely a week ago was the sweet, sour, and a bit spciy yum woon sen.

A friend recommended this to us but we were a bit skeptical about the taste. What if we didn't like it? Should we throw the plate to her? LOL. Seriously, all of us liked it when it was served on our table. It really smelled good too. 

Yum Woon Sen is a salad combined with minced pork, Chinese celery, chopped carrot, bean thread noodles, sliced tomato and onion, and salt. The color can be very red if the pepper is crushed real good. They said the redder the color the better. If you like it that way, hot sauce can be an alternative.

Try it! It's nice, promise!

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Fried Mixed Vegetables

Fried mixed vegetables or Pad Pak Ruam is a dish that can be found in any restaurant in Thailand. It's easy to cook and won't keep you waiting if you are in a hurry or about to pass out because of extreme hungriness lol. It chooses no religion because it can be served without meat (vegetarian friendly).  But for those who like an add on - pork, chicken, beef, squid or prawns can be included.

Pad Pak Ruam can be a main or a side dish depending on your preference. It can be spicy if you like it to be with some chilli pouring of course. Once tried, I am sure it will be enjoyed by everyone including kids. 

Like it? Sorry but i can't cook Thai food. I can give you a site which i think is easy to follow, though. Just a minute read and you are on your way of cooking this tasty dish. Have fun cooking


Click HERE

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Pamuek Phat Pong Kari

To spare you from other well-known Thai salad even for today, i thought of sharing this delectable dish instead. Crab is the most popular choice for this method of cooking but other seafood can be at par and works perfectly as well. This is what they call Pamuek Phat Phong Kari or squid with egg and curry. 

It is known that Thai people love to eat spicy food  and the phrase "mai phet mai aroi" (not spicy not delicious) just perfectly goes with it - a very popular phrase especially to foreigners. Why? Because you will be hearing a lot of that specifically if you are eating together somewhere and their choice is spicy - while yours is not. Fortunately, if you are not an avid supporter of hot food then this one can be as good a choice because it's no too hot and it suit all tastes. Unless you want it spicy then chillies can be added.

For real, this is mouthwatering and all people i know really like Pamuek Phat Pong Kari. Unfortunately, squid price is skyrocketing but the squid taste mixed with the tasty flavor of curry make it more than worth the cost.

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Sweet and Sour Fried Pla Thapthim

My cutie godson Addie celebrated his first birthday at Fhatai Farm Restaurant four days ago. It was raining hard and the restaurant was kinda far but it didn't stop us to celebrate good times with him. One of the food served during the party was a deep fried fish covered in a sweet sticky sauce with cilantro leaves. 

I was overwhelmed with its good aroma that I failed to ask the waiters as to how they call this in Thai. The next day, i showed the photos to my Thai friend and was told that it was Pla Thapthim. This red-hybrid Oreochromis niloticus that means "pomegranate fish", according to her, is a type of tilapia that can be cooked in a variety of ways. 

Some prefer this fish to be salted and grilled while others like this to be boiled with a "man-now" (lemon). These are just but suggestions. You can always modify it and try something new. Who knows it might surpass the original :) Well, it was one of the foodies i personally enjoyed that night and i must admit that i will have it ordered if i eat out sometime soon!

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Somtam

Somtam is a popular dish in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It is made up of sliced papaya, beans, chilli and lime. Salty fish sauce, shrimp and other exotic thingie can also be added to have its own variation. Many Thai considered somtam as one of Thailand's best national dishes. Because it is spicy, this Thai salad can literally heat you up with smoke coming out of your ears lol. 

Just before we head out home we saw a lady working with her mortar and pestle. Instantly, we knew it was a somtam. We stopped and bought one for only 20 baht. Very cheap, yeah? After about 3 to 5 minutes it was finished.

Somtam can be bought anywhere - from expensive restaurants to street stalls stationed even in the darkest part of the city. With that statement it is no wonder why it's popular here. In fact, questions like "Have you tasted somtam yet?" and "Do you know somtam"  are always on top of the list if you meet a Thai national for the first time anywhere, anytime. These were asked to me in figures i can no longer count. Take that!

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Calamari in chillies with rice and egg

Geez! This was eaten and taken last year in a local restaurant near Naresuan University. I thought i won't be able to see this again. Anyways, my friend who happens to speak a near native Thai without any trace of accent ordered this for us (a calamari in chillies with rice and egg). Although she can speak Thai her reading is terrible. I bet she can't read even a single sentence hehe. 

We were given a menu all written in Thai. What do you expect then? That is one of the drawbacks of living in a foreign country that speak a totally different language (tonal) and uses different characters or letters. My friend used all her prowess to explain what we want and the waiter understood without a slight confusion. Kudos to her!! She said her friend ordered this for her the last time she visited the place prior to our coming and liked the food instantly. She thought we might liked it too. What a good thinking because we did like it really. But not so good still because you she can't remember the name hehe. Kidding aside, the food was delectable.  

PS: I'll refer back to this post if i can find someone who can tell me its name. 

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Morgen Burger

Two nights ago i had tasted the what they call infamous burger in Phitsanulok. I was told by other people their own horror stories about the burger saying that it's too salty, too spicy, too whatever! I decided to give it a try and ordered one for myself. I was a bit skeptical though for the fact that they might be right. But of course i need to have a taste of it really, just to make sure. 

It looked ordinary a burger to me when the waiter handed over the plate. I was under the impression that the presentation would be a bit different, but to my dismay, the burger resembled street burgers at the price of 25 baht. I am not by the way ranting and that i don't eat those type of burgers on the street. It just so happened that i was at a nice restaurant down the city, expecting a great food.

 

Honestly, the happy moment left me - thinking i made a wrong decision of ordering one. But good thing i did because the burger tasted just fine. A little pouring of some seasoning made it a great snack that night. Yeah, it was just a snack not the main course if you are wondering. If i come across that burger again anywhere, i still have it ordered. I think i kinda like it now!

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How do you call yourself?

You probably wonder as to why did i come up with this title. Well, on July 29, 2011 our friends' daughter celebrated her 7th birthday at Coffee N' More Restaurant (belated happy birthday Cje). It was a fun filled night with lots of dancing and all - but before that of course, the waiter served some of their delicacies. You can see from these photos that it looked like a fish roll. I checked google but found nothing of this sort online. Here, have a closer look on the next photo and tell me if you happen to know what is this called.

The fish was rolled with some veggies inside (can you say fish meat, anyway?). On top if it are basil leaves,sliced and ground chilies, and lettuces. I can vouch that this Thai food is delectable and juicy. However, for those who are not fond of spicy food, you have been warned! But then again, i think it's worth a try.

 BON APPETIT!

Edited: I was told by a friend that this is another Pla Thaptim cooked differently. They call it spicy steamed thaptim.

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Thai Lechon?

Lechon is a popular food in Spain and in almost all of its colonial possessions around the world. The word "Lechon was derived from the Spanish word leche which means milk, thus its literal translation in English would be roasted suckling pig.

It is prepared throughout the year more specifically during weddings, birthdays, holidays, and other occasions. The pig is cooked and is placed over burning charcoals whilst being roasted on all sides for several hours - until the skin becomes crispy.

On June 11, 2011 in Thailand, the Filipino community celebrated the Philippine's 113th independence. Each region presented its popular dish to the community. The region 4 with the help of Mr. Primo managed to obtain a lechon. Kudos to him! I was not able to taste the lechon, though.  Anyway, here is the Thai Lechon in three different shots.

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