May 12, 2004: Headlines: COS - Thailand: Writing - Thailand: Food: Sacramento Bee: One night we dared to experiment on our dinner guests and made a whole meal from recipes in RPCV Nancie McDermott's "Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes"

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Thailand: Peace Corps Thailand: The Peace Corps in Thailand: May 12, 2004: Headlines: COS - Thailand: Writing - Thailand: Food: Sacramento Bee: One night we dared to experiment on our dinner guests and made a whole meal from recipes in RPCV Nancie McDermott's "Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes"

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One night we dared to experiment on our dinner guests and made a whole meal from recipes in RPCV Nancie McDermott's "Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes"

One night we dared to experiment on our dinner guests and made a whole meal from recipes in RPCV Nancie McDermott's Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes

One night we dared to experiment on our dinner guests and made a whole meal from recipes in RPCV Nancie McDermott's "Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes"

Off the shelf: Zip through a Thai dinner
By Judy Green -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, May 12, 2004
One night we dared to experiment on our dinner guests and made a whole meal from recipes in Nancie McDermott's "Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes" (Chronicle, $18.95 softcover).

We knew the guests were game - and forgiving. Both were experienced travelers and former residents of Thailand. They know their pad thai from chow mein.



All four dishes we tried turned out great. What made the authentic taste of the pad thai even better - in the cook's eyes - was McDermott's super-easy method of preparing the rice noodles. (Simply put them in a pot of rapidly boiling water, remove it from the heat and let the noodles steep for 5 minutes, then drain and rinse well with cold water.)

For that dinner, we also made the snapper in choo-chee curry sauce (see recipe on page F8). The rich curry sauce made with canned coconut milk and red curry paste tasted nearly as good as any Thai curry made by a purist from scratch, after pounding out a fresh coconut and roasting spices for a fresh curry paste. This recipe has its roots in the Bangkok restaurant Than Ying, which McDermott mentions in her recipe head note.

McDermott's timesaving methods and willingness to make reasonable substitutions will encourage more home cooks to prepare dishes from this delicious cuisine. So far, we have made about a dozen of her recipes, including a panang beef curry, a stir-fry chicken with fresh basil, pork with spicy green beans, salmon cakes, roasted eggplant salad with cilantro and lime and Thai ice tea.

McDermott draws many of her recipes from what she learned during the two years she worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She also tells little stories from that time to introduce some recipes; other recipes come from various American restaurants run by Thais.

McDermott organizes her recipes in traditional chapters and includes suggested menus, a list of useful utensils and a glossary of Thai ingredients.

In addition to writing cookbooks, McDermott teaches Thai cooking in Chapel Hill, N.C. Before her two daughters were born, she cooked Thai food from scratch - 23 ingredients and 19 steps. Being a mother pushed her to find easier ways to get the same tantalizing flavors - and she shares them in this superb Thai cookbook with some high-quality color photographs. This cookbook has earned a permanent slot on my everyday shelf.

Some recipes may send you to an Asian food store for pantry items, such as fish sauce, red curry paste in a can and palm sugar. But once you are stocked, you're ready to cook with great expectations.

Snapper in choo-chee curry sauce
Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 18 minutes Serves: 4 to 6

This recipe is from Nancie McDermott's cookbook "Quick & Easy Thai" (Chronicle, 2004).

* Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds firm fish fillets, such as snapper, grouper, catfish, tilapia, mackerel or salmon; or shrimp, peeled and deveined
About 1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons red curry paste, such as gaeng kua, choo-chee, panaeng or gaeng peht
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar
4 wild lime leaves, cut crosswise into very fine threads or torn into quarters, or 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

* Instructions:

Cut the fish fillets crosswise into 2-inch pieces and pour the flour into a deep plate. Dip each piece of fish in the flour and shake off the excess.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a pinch of flour sizzles at once. Gently add fish fillets and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned and crisp. (They need not be completely cooked, as they will simmer in the sauce before serving.) Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Pour off remaining oil.

Warm 1/2 cup of the coconut milk in the skillet over medium heat until fragrant and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring to dissolve it, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup coconut milk, water, fish sauce, palm sugar and half the lime leaves and bring to a gentle boil. Add the fish and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more, spooning the curry over the fish as it cooks. Place fillets on a deep serving platter, cover with curry sauce, sprinkle with remaining lime leaves and the cilantro, and serve hot or warm.

Per serving based on 4 servings using regular canned coconut milk: 505 cal.; 32 g pro.; 17 g carb.; 33 g fat (16 sat., 9 monounsat., 8 polyunsat.); 94 mg chol.; 795 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 61 percent calories from fat.

About the Writer
---------------------------

The Bee's Judy Green can be reached at (916) 321-1138 or jgreen@sacbee.com.




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Story Source: Sacramento Bee

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Thailand; Writing - Thailand; Food

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