My Week in Thailand – Bangkok
Teradise found … It’s exactly one month since I’ve come back from Thailand and I can say with absolute certainty that this was the greatest trip of my life so far. Thailand is country number one hundred and two that I’ve visited and why have I waited so long to visit my motherland ? Let me dive deep for a minute and give you a bit of my background… For those of you who don’t know I’m half Thai from my mother’s side and my father is English and Dutch. My parents met in Thailand during the Vietnam war when my father was stationed there. My mother left Thailand pregnant with me in 1976 only to return once more when her father died in 1985. She happily left Thailand for a new life in America and never took us back to visit or spoke Thai with my sister and I after we started primary school. In fact all I really remember in Thai are colors , numbers ,basic phrases pertaining to food , salutations, and I can recite The three little pigs. So random … As I got older I’ve always wanted to take my mom back to Thailand so I saved this trip thinking we would return together . As the years passed and I kept asking my mother to go with me I started to realize then accept that she just didn’t want to go. She had her reasons and after having many of my own life experiences I understood why she didn’t have the same desires I did to see her homeland. My Dad, best friend Charmane and countless other friends kept telling me I needed to go to Thailand . I should see and experience this incredible country for myself. So finally in August of 2023 with my husband we spent one incredible month in Thailand. Week one Bangkok Beginning in Bangkok we arrived into Suvarnabhumi which serves as the main airport for international arrivals. My first tip is get a Thai SIM card here http://www.ais.th I can’t believe I had to go to Thailand to have BETTER wifi and cell phone service but here we were! Two Youtube channels we binged on were Retired working for you https://youtu.be/NFw-WizIt50?si=poCQYbuH0Sgr4oq2 . Chris is so funny and in this video he explains how to make your arrival into Thailand much easier . Paddy Doyle has fantastic guides that we bought from his channel https://youtube.com/@PaddyDoyle.?si=IX6PAHHzrtCkWvQd .Although he’s lived in Thailand for many years he’s made countless videos of himself traveling the world and I like is carefree enthusiastic personality as he documents his journey. I booked our tickets six months in advance to Thailand from Italy and we had an idea of the regions we wanted to visit so we made an itinerary based on where we were going to be from one week to the next. In the four weeks we would be there we started in Bangkok . We stayed at The Carlton Hotel on Sukhumvit RD .The Carlton hotel is incredible and within walking distance to great shopping malls , food markets, breakfast spots , Thai massage and anything else you could possibly need. Some spots near our hotel we shopped and ate at were http://terminal21.co.th where you can get anything from clothes to electronics . http://emquartier.co.th had the most beautiful food market I’ve ever seen in my life! This luxury mall has all the high -end shops and on our last night here we ate delicious Mexican food at La Monita . There was this twenty -four-hour mango sticky rice spot across from our hotel that we hit up after a long day of sightseeing temples and it was SO GOOD. The mangos in Thailand are on another level .. ask anyone who’s had one seriously ! We also had Pang Cha which is Thai Iced Tea with shaved ice, soft white bread topped with tapioca pearls. It’s hard to describe unless you try it but its a sweet crunchy chewy combination of pure deliciousness ! We took ours to go and strolled Bangkok at night absorbing all of the beautiful chaos that is this fantastic city! Our first night we were exhausted so we had our first dinner Of Pad Thai, Tom Yumm Goong , and red curry at Pak Bakery and passed out early. Day Two Our second Day we headed to Lumpini park because I wanted to see the Thai Monitor lizards. You all know how obsessed I become with animals and this was my goal for the trip. We took a tuk-tuk to the park and after walking around for a good twenty minutes I finally spotted one! He (I’m assuming a male but I’m not sure ) just slinked past me and I got so excited and took my first selfie of the trip with him . They are super chill I mean we found them mostly sleeping on the grassy banks or swimming slowly in the water . I read a sign at Lumpini that said the Thai Park Authority had to remove many lizards because they would frighten the tourists but I was happy nevertheless to see about twenty of them just living in the park .. It was close to lunch time so I remembered my girlfriend Christy Bomb a few years prior had mentioned a Street food chef by the name of Jay Fai . She’s also profiled in the Netflix show Street Food Asia but it was Christy who sent me a YouTube link of Jay Fai cooking her famous crab omelette years before that sparked my curiosity . She was located a bit far from Lumpini so we got back in a Tuk Tuk and headed over not knowing what to expect but we had some luck on our side that day for sure… I’ll say this about OUR Jay Fai experience , we loved it. Yes you have to wait.. a long time. We put our names down (party of two)
Pad Woon Sen – Thai Rice noodles with shrimp!
Pad Woon Sen Pad Thai is probably the most famous of all Thai food dishes. Almost every Thai restaurant will have Pad Thai on their menu and it’s a go to favorite of mine to prepare for an easy lunch or dinner. When friends want to me to prepare a typical Thai dish but want a dish that’s not too spicy I make Pad Thai . A traditional Pad Thai recipe calls for some ingredients that I don’t always have on hand so enter my second favorite Thai noodle dish Pad Woon Sen. What you need for Pad Woon Sen This is an easy Thai noodle stir fry dish you can make pretty fast with easy kitchen staples. Glass noodles or bean thread noodles as they’re often labeled are simply just thin noodles made from either mung bean starch, tapioca , potatoes or sweet potatoes. On their own they have zero flavor so they work really well in stir fry dishes, soups, rice paper and spring rolls soaking up sauces and broths really well . These are great for low carb or gluten free diets since they’re not made from any wheat flour but it’s always a good idea to double check the package. I’m going to give you my own personal recipe for how I make this dish and how my mother taught me . A few tips I can add before would be it’s not necessary to boil glass noodles. They can be tricky to work with at times this is the number one complaint . Boiling them makes them a huge gloppy mess so I just fill a shallow bowl or pyrex type dish with warm water and lay them inside just covered. leave them for about ten minutes just until they soften then drain them . I usually snip them in half once they’re drained to make them more manageable . It also makes them easier to eat. Keep them in a glass container in your fridge if you want to use them for summer or rice paper rolls , or a salad. You can make Pad Woon Sen with any kind of protein. I’m using shrimp that I marinated in sesame oil, salt , white pepper , lime zest and red chili flakes . My Pad woon sen sauce is made up of; Soy Sauce – I use Thai sweet soy sauce or gluten free soy sauce depending . Oyster Sauce- A main ingredient in many stir fry’s which is rich and savory. Sriracha – adds a spicy component. Tamarind concentrate – for the tart balance. Coconut sugar – this won’t make your sauce sweet it’s more to balance out the salt and spicy . Tamarind is an ingredient in pad Thai but I like using it in my Pad Thai Woon Sen. Again it’s my own version. I omitted the fish sauce which is a key ingredient in most Thai stir fry’s . I don’t like it so I always avoid it and it’s more about personal preference here . I’m using one large yellow pepper that’s all I had on hand but tomatoes , cabbage , carrots , spinach all work great here. Use any combo of veggies you like.This is usually my “what I have left over in my veggie crisper ” kinda meal. You will also need two eggs . Now let’s cook! How to make Pad Woon Sen Prepare the noodles in warm water for ten minutes. I used veggie broth . Drain them and cut them in half then set aside. Mix all your sauce ingredients together . Stir fry your veggies , this is also the time to add in garlic and onion to them and cook them all together . Sometimes I add garlic if I feel like it my mother uses both . This is when I add my shrimp it cooks fast and I like to get the shrimpyness (random Tera word ) all over my veggies. If you choose chicken or tofu as your protein I advise cooking that first , transferring it to a plate then adding it back in at the end . Move your veggies to one side of your wok or pan and crack in both eggs. Cook them until they are scrambled . Now you can add back in your protein , noodles and your sauce using tongs. It’s easier to combine everything together . Make sure all of your noodles , veggies , and protein are covered in the sauce. That’s it! If you make it send me a picture and tag me on IG or Twitter ! Leave me a comment if you make it !! Enjoy XO Tera
Thai Curry in a hurry
Good evening it’s dinnertime around here who’s ready for some Thai curry ! There are five different types of Thai curry I grew up with that my mother and father always cooked. My mother is Thai and my father is English /Dutch. My father was in Thailand during his two tours in Vietnam and he cooked a lot. It was when he was courting my mom that he learned Thai cooking from her family.Both my parents are incredible cooks and growing up as a child all of my friends were white. Thai food wasn’t as hip as it is today and I can remember not wanting to carry Massaman curry for lunch and trying to trade that for a bologna sandwich in first grade. So not happening lol My best friend and only friend who dared eat with me at lunch was a Lebanese girl, Anita who’s food might have been smellier than mine just a tad… Fish sauce and crab paste are hard to beat though!! Anyway back to curries! I made Massman but my personal favorite is Red curry. Green curry has become bitter tasting to me but I still love it and the yellow is fragrant and mild. It’s comforting to me. In order of spiciness we have: 1.Green Curry I usually cook this with veggies only. I make proteins but keep them on the side because veggies seem to just really soak up how spicy these green chilis can be! I use mostly Eggplant with this curry it really soaks up the flavor! Eggplant, Zucchini, baby corn that’s it so good! 2.Red curry which is my favorite curry! It’s spicy but rich and sweet. It’s the perfect mix! Red curry paste is Thai Red Chilies, crushed with garlic, lemongrass, shallots, ginger, and fish sauce. For protein I use chicken, tofu or shrimp with usually zucchini, spinach, or kale.I only use two combinations so I would do shrimp and kale or chicken and spinach or tofu and zucchini. To me adding too many things doesn’t allow you to taste all the different flavors and spices! 3.Yellow curry is mild and rich. This is my “baby Curry ” Many people I know who don’t care for too much spice or just want something exotic but can’t climb to even a medium level (BELIEVE ME there are peeps) I cook this one. The base of this paste is turmeric, cumin, mustard seed, nutmeg, kaffir lime leaves and lime juice. This I cook with pretty much the same two ingredients chicken and Potato. Similar to this curry is Massaman, it’s Indian influenced with cinnamon, cloves and peanut flavors. It’s not spicy at all it’s more sweet and also very comforting. So how do you cook these curries! Well there is a pretty easy formula and it’s like this. Use The curry Pastes. Don’t try to make it from scratch. I mean if you WANT to by all means but the Curry pastes already have all you need, you can even get two, three maybe even four uses out of the canned curry pastes! If you do want to make your own curry paste from scratch my favorite Thai Chef Pai from http://youtube.com/@PailinsKitchen has an incredible Thai cooking channel that I often find myself going to since I don’t have my Mom around . I photographed the two brands I use. The one in the can Maseri does NOT have any Fish, crab or shrimp paste in it. It’s suitable for vegans and like I said it’s just the chilies and spices grounded into the paste. boom done. The one in the pouch is also a great brand BUT some of them like the Tom Ka and a few of the soup pastes have MSG or fish / shrimp pastes in them.. Yea Not NO I can’t do either… This is where I’m considered “Fake Thai ” lol MSG a flavor enhancer is common in asian foods and it makes me itch so bad so I really rake over the labels to make sure it’s MSG free!! I also found this brand called “Roland ” and it’s from Malaysia. I was shopping at the mercado in Costa Rica and I found many of my curry pastes and just asian sauces in general!! It’s funny I have to shop for my Thai groceries every time I travel to another country NOT home in Italy. Crazy right? This Roland brand I bought the Yellow Curry Paste and the Sweet Thai Chili Sauce which is SO tasty for dipping egg rolls, spring rolls, dumplings, gyoza, chicken satay, I mean just pour it all over your plate. Now I’m getting hungry …I will have some more amazing recipes for you guys XO Enjoy! Heat your pan or pot with a little sesame oil and add a one teaspoon of curry paste. Sauté this together for a minute , you want to release the herbs , spices and aromatics into the oil. Now add some veggie broth. I use a veggie bouillon cube and about one cup water let that simmer. Then add your coconut milk.If you use fresh lemon grass you will want to peel off the outer stalks until you get to the inside fresh fragrant ones. Cut lengthwise into small pieces and boil them in the beginning when you add your water- veggie broth. You can also cut up extra pieces of ginger and boil it at this time. Lemon grass takes time to cook so if using fresh add it at the beginning. Curry cooks fast about 10 minutes let it boil but not a hard boil for a maximum of 15 minutes from the time you start your sauté .You don’t want to overcook your veggies and the coconut milk will have a “burnt” taste. If you want to add lime juice do it at the end after you’ve turned off the heat . You want to taste the freshness of the lime juice . I always cook my proteins separately.
