Instructions: This was still ticking in my mind waiting to prompt an idea for a posting of a recipe, when two of my wifes sisters "dropped in" with their husbands and children, so completely unexpectedly we had 6 adults and 5 children ranging from 3 to 12 years old to feed. Unlike Chef Caprial we dont have a multi-ring cooking hob and a double oven, but nonetheless we forgot the simple meal wed intended to have that evening and put plan B into effect. The menu would be

steamed rice - muois salad talay (a seafood salad) - tom yum koong suki

(that is to say a tom yum shrimp soup cooked in a suki pot) - chicken stew

(well it has a Thai name and is quite traditional, but this makes more sense.)

yum moo ( a spicy pork dish) - pad nuea nam man hoy: spicy stir fried beef

Now Ive posted a yum nuea (beef) version of the yum dish - but this variation was made in a hurry, and is different. Also Ive dealt with a tom yum before, but this version is essentially done as a tabletop quickie. A suki pot is the Thai version of the device Ive seen referred to in America as a Mongolian Hot

Pot or fire pot: a copper vessel with a central chimney that can be heated on the table top. Traditional Thai pots use charcoal, but modern ones use solid fuel or gas (ours is a butane model).

The last three dishes can all be made with beef, but together they should each be made around a different meat for contrast. The stew is relatively bland, by Thai standards, the yum is hot, the stir fried beef in oyster sauce is spicy, rather than hot.

The salad is only a traditional Thai dish in the sense that it is my wifes invention, and shes Thai :-)

This meal took 30 minutes from start to finish to prepare: however the veggies were all ready cleaned and ready to use. We took the meat out of the freezer when the guests arrived and used a microwave to make sure they were defrosted.

Rice

OK: Im not really going to tell you how to steam rice: 10 cups of washed Thai Jasmine rice was placed in an automatic rice steamer with the appropriate amount of water and placed on the dining table. Fifteen minutes later somebody stirred the rice to fluff it and after thirty minutes it was ready for us to eat.

Muois salad talay

(talay means seafood, and salad is the Thai word for, well, salad, actually

You need two cups of mixed salad veggies, to which you add a cup of fresh bean sprouts, and a cup of chopped onion (we use scallions/green onions, but whatever takes your fancy).

Steam enough clams, mussels and other shellfish to yield 2 cups of cooked fish.

2 cups of parboiled potato. (Using Thai sweet potatoes, I split two large potatoes in half lengthwise, and place them in the microwave for 5 minutes on high, then peel them. The surface of the potato exposed to the air turns white, and is cut off and discarded. The potato is then cut into bite sized chunks). The potato is then deep fried in an electric fryer for a couple of minutes (Thai potato floats when it is cooked, and you scoop it out and place it on paper towels to drain the oil).

Toss the veggies, potato and the shellfish together in a salad bowl and salt and pepper to taste.

The dressing consists of one cup of mayonnaise, half a cup of tomato ketchup, two table spoons of oyster sauce, one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and two tablespoons of hot Thai Chile Sauce. If you cant get the Thai chile sauce you could use Tobasco, but it isnt as hot, and is somewhat more salty, so be careful). You then add enough of the dressing to the salad to coat it thoroughly when tossed. The remaining dressing is placed on the table as a dipping sauce, together with a few plates of raw sliced veggies (cucumbers, carrots, etc...)

Tom Yum Koong

Place about a litter (or a quart) of fish stock in the hot pot (if you havent got one, you could use a small "deep fryer" or a fondue pot as a replacement).

Bring it to a boil and add:-

2 stalks of lemon grass, bruised (this isnt eaten, but is an essential flavorant)

2-3 "kaffir" lime leaves (use lime zest if you cant get it) 2 coriander

[cilantro] plants, chopped. 1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger ground chili powder (prok phom) to taste 4 tablespoons red chilies in vinegar (prik dong) 4 tablespoons green chilies in fish sauce (prik nam pla) the juice of 3 or 4 limes 2 or 3 tablespoons of sliced bamboo shoots or coconut shoots 2-3 tablespoons "chilies in oil" (prik nam pao)

continued in part 2

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