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My GI Joe came to visit us over the weekend and she made a Thai Spicy Beef or Nom Tok for us on Sunday.
Ingredients: sliced Onion, chopped Kaffir Lime leaves, chopped Galang, chopped Lemon Grass, Lime juice, Mint leaves, sliced Chili peppers, ground Chili peppers, sliced Scallion, chopped Parsley, grilled (broiled) Beef and broth, Shrimp paste, and Fish sauce.
It was rainy outside, and she couldn’t grill her steak, so she broiled it for about 15 minutes, then sliced into thin slices.
At Lee’s birthday party last Saturday, I wanted to make the Purple Sticky Rice with Coconut and Mango but couldn’t find a ripe mango anywhere, apparently it’s not in season. Then my second sister told me that she remembered eating it with ice cream topping in Kamphaeng Phet Thailand when she was younger, and this seems like a good idea. I had several ice cream flavors for people to choose, my favorite was the coconut pineapple. This was my first time fixing it this way and liked it a lot, something different to try.
I was lucky that PaNoy sent one of his papayas from his garden my way, thank you, it’s extreme fresh in comparison to store bought one. I finally had a chance to fix Tum Mak Houng or spicy papaya salad. I like mine a bit bold and spicy, and my ingredients vary from time to time, I eat so much Tum Mak Houng that I could probably fix this in my sleep.
My ingredients, from left to right, a cove of garlic, cherry tomatoes, fish sauce, shrimp paste, brown sugar, tamarind paste, chili peppers, shredded papaya, and in back, string beans, and Thai eggplants. As for the shrimp paste, I only use the Pantainorasingh Brand because it has the best flavor in comparison to the many brands out there. I also like to use brown sugar because it brings out the flavor. I don’t put lime or lemon juice in mine since I discovered tamarind, so now I use tamarind paste instead, I think it gives it a better flavor. Then I mixed the ingredients in a bowl.
I forgot to take picture of when I fixed Tum Mak Houng, it’s very similar to this video and I like to eat this with fried pork skin.
Yesterday we had Thot Kathin or Kathin Ceremony at our local temple, Wat Greensboro of North Carolina.
Dork Champee, I’ve not seen one in a long time. The aroma is incredible and it’s one of the offering flowers.
In most Southeast Asia countries, where Buddhist monks live in one place for 3 months known as Punsa or Rain Retreat, and after the three months of Retreat observance, people have a very grand festival of offering food to the monks in various Wat (Temples), each Wat could only Thot Kathin once a year. At this same time, they prepare special yellow robes that are offered to the Sangha .
This special yellow robe offering is called the Kathin Offering Ceremony. It can be done only during the period from the end of the Rain Retreat to the first day of the Waning Moon of the 12th Lunar Month, which means only within 29 days after Ork Punsa. There must be at least 5 monks for a Wat to Thot Kathin, and in the United States, it’s hard to have that many living in one Wat, but we have 6 monks at our Wat for the Kathin Ceremony. This year we have a Kathin Samakee, which means that it’s being hosted by many and not just one person, we had the Khmer, the Lao, and the Thais and raised over $10,000.
For those that want to try Som Tum (Spicy Papaya Salad), or Lao people call it Tum Mak Houng, here is a simple recipe that you can try.
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