Food: It's Not Just For Thought

I love to cook---everything and anything. I especially love cooking southeast Asian food. Thai to be exact. I first learned about Thai food when I was in the USAF. I've been addicted ever since.

Recently I came across a web site that is the absolute best for purchasing Thai food ingredients and cooking supplies. Import Food is incredible. It's owned by Jerry Good and his wife and he sent me a lovely email after I ordered from them. You can order top quality ingredients either canned or even fresh! I ordered a ton of stuff from them and I mean a ton. I ordered canned and fresh and some cooking utensils. Everything arrived on the same day and in excellent condition. Their service is top notch.

I ordered a new wok and it is a beauty. I also ordered the finest 8 inch mortar and pestle I've ever had. It's solid granite, weighs about 10 lbs and does an amazing job of crushing herbs and spices. I don't know how I lived without it!







I also ordered a triple aluminum steamer. It looks like a work of art. You'll see a picture of it below.







Now here's what's also really cool about this site---recipes! Yes, recipes. About 175 of them. The other very cool thing is that you can click on a link for an order list for each individual recipe. There are also pictures and video of most of the recipes. It makes the site more complete than any other I've visited.

Now, here's one of the recipes from the site. Keep in mind that I like to add vegetables to recipes so I added mushrooms and carrots to this one for the color.

Lemon grass Chicken, "Gai Sai Takrai"


Ingredients

1 cup chicken, cut into bite sized pieces.
2 tablespoons of lime juice
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons of chicken stock
1-2 teaspoon of freshly ground dried red Thai chilies
1 tablespoon of thinly sliced Thai Chile peppers
1 teaspoon of sugar
4-5 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 tablespoon of sliced shallot
1 tablespoon thinly sliced garlic.
2 tablespoons sliced fresh lemon grass
2 tablespoons diced yellow onion
1 tablespoon of spring onion (scallion/green onion), thinly sliced

Method.

Mix the lime juice and fish sauce, and marinate the chicken for about an hour.

Pound the lemon grass with a mallet or meat tenderizer, and then very thinly slice it.

Heat a little oil in a wok or skillet to medium high heat, add the shallots, onions, garlic, ground dried red Thai chilies and lemon grass, and stir fry until aromatic.

Add the chicken and marinade and stir fry until it starts to change color. Add the remaining ingredients and stir fry until heated through and the chicken is fully cooked.

Serve with steamed Thai jasmine rice.

This dish can also be made with shrimp.


Now for the photos I took:

The ingredients: lemon grass stalks, you must smash them and peel off the tougher outer pieces to release the flavor, the kaffir lime leaves on the left have a wonderful aroma after you slice them. You have to use fish sauce. Don't make the mistake of using soy---yuk. I think you can figure out the rest of the ingredients.












Start the rice steamer and use jasmine rice. Costco has it in large quantity for a great price. Add a little turmeric to it for slight flavor and incredible yellow color.






Throw the ingredients in the wok as per the recipe and cook it up!






The finished product. Flavorful and colorful and good for you.






I recommend this site very highly. If you ever need Asian ingredients---they can be impossible to find---please give them a try. You will not be disappointed.