Guay-Dtieow Rad Nar Moo Mug - Thai Noodle Dish with Pork Gravy

Alright now it’s time for Lad Nar Moo Muk - Thai noodle dish with pork gravy.

This recipe will be a little complicated because you have to prepare the noodles, vegetables and gravy separately. Also it will take time for the fermented pork because you have to marinate it overnight. But its worth it, especially for the taste of gravy…It’s just about right, you get a little bit sweet and tender from the pork and then the crunch of the vegetables and the soft noodles complete the experience. Just the only one word to say is AWESOME!!!

Recipe for noodles (serve 2)

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 200 grams Pad large strip rice stick noodles (or if you can’t find you can use any kind of rice noodle and they should be soaked in warm water for about half an hour or so depending on your preference).
  • 2 tsp Thai Dark Thick Soy Sauce
  • 4 medium-sized Chinese kale plants (normally I use American kale that I can get from the grocery store here because Chinese Kale is hard to find)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp soybean paste
  • 1 1/2 cups water or pork broth
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp Thai seasoning sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Tapioca Flour
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • Garnishes : chili powder, pickled chili, fish sauce and
    sugar.

Recipe for Moo Mug (fermented pork)

  • 150 grams sirloin pork
  • 2 tsp Tapioca Flour
  • 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1 egg white

First cut the pork into thin and small pieces (about 2 inches length). Toss with light soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Then mix well with
egg white and tapioca flour. Put the pork in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.

Next day take the pork out and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so.

Wash the kale thoroughly, peel off old leaves and the tough skin covering the stems. Cut the kale into 2-3 inch lengths. Bring the water to the boil, add 1 tsp of salt, add the kale and blanch until just done. Transfer to soak in cold water until cool, and drain. Put aside.

Toss the noodles (after soaking in the warm water) with dark soy sauce until thoroughly coated. Place the wok over medium heat until hot. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil and spin the oil all around the inside of the wok. Put the noodles in and stir until they are soft and cooked. Sometimes you have to add a little bit of water to make the noodles soft and cooked completely thorough. Put the noodles onto a plate to wait for the gravy.

Place the wok over medium heat until it is hot. Add 2 tbsp vegetable oil and then put the marinated pork in and stir until the pork starts to cook. Add soybean paste, water (or pork broth) and season to taste with light soy sauce, seasoning sauce and sugar. When the soup starts to boil again put the tapioca flour in mixing with 3 tbsp of water into the wok. Stir until the tapioca flour is cooked and the gravy becomes thick and then turn off the heat.

Put the cooked kale on top of the noodle dish and pour the pork gravy on top of both. Before serving garnish with pepper and serve with the garnishes on the side.

Thai Noodle with Pork Gravy

Posted in Entree, Pasta, Thailand | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Thai Food Across the Blog’o’Sphere - 3rd Edition

Hi everyone and hope you’re having a great weekend! I’m pleased to bring you the Thai Food Across the Blog’o’Sphere - 3rd Edition today and I hope you find these posts, recipes and reviews to be just as tasty as I did. Congratulations are in order to all the bloggers who brought us great tasting Thai food this week. Please take a moment to go visit their sites and say hello.

From The Picky Vegan we got a Southeast Asian Veggie Buffet inspired by a recent cooking class in NYC. Not totally Thai, but very close and there’s no doubt you could easily find all these dishes (or similar) in Bangkok.

As usual there were quite a few recipes and observations on Thailand from The Inquiring Chef. My favorite from the week was the recipe for Nam Prik Pao which is a Thai chili paste that is great as a condiment when you want something kicked up a notch.

Those of you living in the CT area may want to head over to OmNomCT for their review of the Thai restaurant Little Thai Kitchen. Nice review and nice pictures of some yummy Thai fod.

Also, those in Dubai or planning to visit can see the review of Mango Tree from FooDiva. Note that this Mango Tree is an offshoot of it’s London based sibling and according to the review it lives up to its big brother (or sister) quite well.

And if you are lucky enough to actually be in bangkok currently you can check out the Hungry Guide to Food and Travel review of the restaurant Krua Chao Praya.

I also came across information on three vital Thai ingredients this week. Mango is being featured at The Clean Bento, the mighty coconut is discussed over at Blyssful Health and Eat Suki Eat has a nice post featuring cilantro (also know as coriander).

Vegans will be happy with the recipe for Thai Peanut Sauce Vegetables posted at Alyssa’s Cooking Adventures as well as the coconut ghee giveaway going on over at Real Food Whole Health.

Those of you in the U.K. may want to try the recipe for Thai Spiced Battered Chicken over at Fleur’s Food. I say from the U.K. because the recipe calls for Thai 7 spice seasoning which is a premade seasoning from the Schwartz company in the U.K. and I’m not sure you can get it elsewhere.

For something quick and easy you can go wok out with More Time at the Table and the wonderful looking Basil Chicken Fried Rice. I’m sure it’s yummy because my wife makes her fried rice with very similar ingredients (just waaaay more chili!).

The recipe for Pork Neck Cooked in Lemongrass and Chilli postd at Laws of the Kitchen comes from a Vietnamese cookbook, but the flavors are definitely Thai as well and I wouldn’t be surprised to find a similar dish anywhere in Bangkok. I would also eat every last morsel :)

Hope you enjoyed this weeks links and they’ve led you to something new and delicious!

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The History of Bagels

It’s funny what little things we just take for granted and really have little knowledge of. Take bagels for instance. You probably already know that they are boiled before baking (they are the only bread product that is boiled), but do you know where they came from originally? Me either. I simply took my bagels for granted, enjoying the dense chewiness and crisp crust whenever I could without a single thought for their background and history. All that changed yesterday when my wife and I went to our favorite bagelry for some delicious bagel breakfast sandwiches.

Me: I guess we should enjoy these now because we probably won’t be able to get good bagels in Bangkok
Wifey: I’m not sure, we might find someplace. Are bagels from French?
Me: Ummmmm…I’m not really sure. I know we always think of New York bagels around here as being the best, but did they originate there? I don’t think they did, but I don’t think they come from France either. I guess I’ll have to find out.

So, find out I did because I’m just curious like that.

You might not be surprised to learn (although I was) that bagels were invented over 500 years ago in Poland! Now it might just be because I grew up within 100 miles of New York City, but I always thought of bagels in connection with Jewish people, but it turns out that they were invented in Poland long before the Jewish adopted them and even before that there was a similar bread product being made in Russia.

Jewish people took to bagels so well because of the short cooking time of the bagel. Jews are not permitted to cook during their Sabbath so having a bread that would cook quickly at the end of the Sabbath was convenient for them. A tradition sprung up in many observant Jewish families to make bagels on Saturday evenings.

These same Jewish families then brought the bagel with them to London in the 19th century and the America and Canada in the early 20th century. The bagel business in New York City was controlled by a bagel bakers union (the Bagel Bakers Local 338) for many decades, which explains why I always think of Jewish in connection with bagels.

So, there you have it, a quick history of the bagel and here as promised are my first photos taken with the new Nikon D3100. Thanks to my beautiful wife for the camera and thanks to The New York Bagelry for the delicious breakfast. And to answer my own statement…I don’ think there are many Eastern European Jews that emigrated to Thailand so finding good bagels in Bangkok might be a bit dicey. You and I will have to wait to find out.

Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Russia | Tagged , | 18 Comments