I've been cooking for almost 30 years now, I learned from both of my parents. Growing up in Thailand in the 1970's was challenging when we wanted to eat western food. There was not a lot of places to get American ingredients so we made everything from scratch. My memories of making homemade sauces, baked goods, peanut butter, yogurt, etc is still very vivid today. When my family moved to American in the 80's we opened up a Thai restaurant and I was cooking by myself in the kitchen as a young teenager. Cooking has always come naturally to me and I love to experiment with food.
Over the last 20 years I've been throwing small and large dinner parties for my friends. I enjoy watching people eat my food and I spend a lot of love and care making it for them. I hope to share some of my ideas and recipes to all of you.
Recently I’ve been watching my carb intake so I have been on the lookout for low carb recipes. I discovered almond flour which gives the pancake texture without carbs or gluten.
I’ve been making them for breakfast and for a snack before the gym. So yummy!
Recently I have had a few of my vegan/vegetarian friends ask me for some modified recipes so they can enjoy some of my recipes too. This is a simple noodle salad packed full of flavor and you can make it ahead of time and enjoy on a hot day.
1 package of rice vermicelli noodles – see picture below for type (cooked and washed in cold water to cool). You can also use thick spaghetti if you are in a pinch or experiment with other noodles. You need a thicker noodle to hold up the peanut sauce so it doesn’t get too mushy.
2 seedless cucumbers sliced into chunks (I like Persian)
3 carrots julienned
1/2 cup green onions (chopped)
Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, mix the curry paste with a teaspoon of peanut oil and stir until hot, add coconut milk and bring to a boil.
Add peanut butter, sugar, salt and lemon. Bring to a boil for 5 minute stirring the entire time so it doesn’t burn.
Add hot water to make the consistency looser and not to thick
Taste and make sure there is enough salt and sour taste.
Add more sugar if its too spicy.
Toss the peanut sauce 1/2 cup at a time to make sure you don’t over dress the noodles
This recipe was inspired by the fried rice in Din Tai Fung. I love being able to use my fresh eggs from my hens for this dish! You can serve this dish with any meat, vegetables or curry dishes.
Recently I have one of my daughters friends over for a sleep over. Her friend is allergic to dairy products and requested I make pancakes for breakfast. I was able to get the recipe from the mom who graciously brought over the soy milk and Earth’s Best butter to use to substitute for the milk and butter. I was pleasantly surprise on how good this tasted and honestly I couldn’t tell the difference!
I’ve been cooking Thai food for almost 30 years and one of my go to dishes is green curry. I don’t have time make the paste from scratch so I opt to make it with canned paste. If you sauté in heated peanut oil it helps bring out the flavor and wake up the spices.
Typically this is made with two types of Thai Eggplant, one that is shown in this recipe and the other that looks like peas. I had some fresh yellow squash I picked up from the farmers market that made the curry more colorful and tasted great!
I adapted this recipe from my chicken curry and omitted the chicken, fish sauce and chicken stock. Replacing them with vegetable stock and salt makes this dish vegan.
This is my favorite Thai dish of all time. I love eating it with rice, cool cucumbers and some fish sauce and chilies for extra heat. I relearned this recipe when visiting Thailand last month. I like to use dark ground turkey for extra flavor. Try to coarsely ground your chicken or turkey yourself instead of store-bought if possible.
I love making dinner for my friends and family but most of the time I get stuck in the kitchen cooking and not enjoying their company. I like this recipe because I can make it ahead of time and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes before I want to serve it.
Recently I discovered a new vendor at our local farmers market that sells French pastries. I was inspired by their brioche bread and decided to make breakfast for dinner. I like to add orange zest and nutmeg to my egg mixture, it makes the a great flavor for the french bread. The corn starch creates a crunchy texture to the french toast.