Crunchy Sweet Papaya Pickles

Sweet, sour, and salty pickles adorn tables across Thailand, sometimes eaten with the standard dishes of Thailand. I have taken the liberty of enriching the basic dressing with some red curry paste—a wallop of flavor in one spoonful. I have made these pickles with many fruits and vegetables, I recommend sticking with one or two varieties per batch. Try pickling carrots, cabbage, radish, firm honeydew, or cantaloupe, unripe mangos, or even pineapple. I find myself just snacking on these or you may want to serve them with these recipes: Coriander Beef (page 69); Bangkok “Night Market” Ramen (page 100); Roast Duck with Snow Peas and Mango (page 68); Garlic Crab with Green Beans (page 76); Garlic Soy Noodles with Pork (page 97); Cinnamon-scented Beef Noodle Soup (page 101), or Five Spice Slow-cooked Pork (page 66).

Serves 4–6
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

½ cup (125 ml) rice vinegar

½ cup (100 g) sugar

1 tablespoon sea salt or kosher salt

2 tablespoons red curry paste

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 cups (250 g) unripe green papaya, cut into thin slices (see photo box below)

1 Whisk together the vinegar, sugar, salt, curry paste and fish sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and shut off immediately. Remove from the heat, cool to room temperature.

2 Pour over the papaya, pressing under the brine—it’s okay if a few stick out of the top, the papaya will release some water and the next day they will be under the brine.

3 The next day, after giving them a stir—you can eat them right away or slowly tap into this storehouse of flavor over the next few weeks.

Coconut Crusted Peanuts

Thais love to snack. When I am there the one snack that I am always on the look out for are oven-roasted fried peanuts, dried chilies, and kaffir lime leaves tossed in a tamarind glaze. The result is a sweet-sour-spicy flavor that never gets old. This recipe is inspired by this wonderful snack. Quality peanuts are essential, I prefer to buy raw peanuts and slowly roast them in a pan over low heat, tossing often—this takes about 15 minutes and the resulting semi-charred peanuts are fabulously flavored, or deep-fry them for a few minutes for a deep-roasted flavor. However, you may opt to buy dry roasted peanuts instead or even substitute cashews.

Serves 4–6
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

1¾ cups (250 g) roasted peanuts

2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1 stalk lemongrass, tender inner part of bottom third only, finely minced

1 tablespoon minced kaffir lime leaves (substitute 2 teaspoon lime zest)

½ teaspoon dried red chili flakes or ground dried red finger-length chilies

½ cup (40 g) dried unsweetened shredded or grated coconut

1 Toss the peanuts in a bowl with the chili sauce, sugar, salt, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and chilies until coated evenly. Then add the coconut and toss again until it is evenly coated.

2 Spread them out on a non-stick baking mat or oiled baking sheet.

3 Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C) for 10–15 minutes or until the coconut is a golden brown.

4 Remove from the oven and let them cool before removing from the pan.

5 Keep the pan tightly covered until you’re ready to serve—the peanuts tend to absorb humidity in the air. They last for a few weeks, the few days after they are made they are at their peak of flavor, the flavors have blended well yet they are still very crunchy.

Thai Spring Rolls

Making your own spring rolls is not as difficult as you think and it enables you to fill them with what you want. The Thai style spring roll differs from the Chinese version in that is has more ground meat and resilient bean thread noodles for a different textural experience. Thin flaky layers of spring roll skin succumb to each bite as you chomp down on rich mushrooms, and ground meat with sweet shavings of carrots.

Makes 10–12 rolls
Preparation time: 10 mins + assembling time
Cooking time: 5 mins

2 oz (60 g) dried bean thread noodles (cellophane noodles)

2 tablespoons oil (divided use) 1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 Thai chilies, minced

½ lb (250 g) ground chicken

1 cup (40 g) sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (stems removed)

1 cup (75 g) shaved green cabbage

½ cup (70 g) shredded carrots

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

¹⁄8 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

10–12 defrosted spring roll wrappers

1 large egg, beaten until smooth Oil, for deep-frying

1 Pour some boiling water over the noodles, let soak for 5 minutes, drain and rinse with cool water. Cut the noodles so they are easier to roll (just snip a few times with a pair of scissors). Reserve at room temperature.

2 Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat. Swirl 1 tablespoon of the oil in the skillet to coat the entire surface, and keep heating the skillet until very hot and the oil begins to smoke. Add the garlic and chilies and stir-fry until aromatic but not brown, about 10 seconds. Add the chicken and continue to stir-fry breaking up the chicken until it is cooked, transfer to a bowl and reserve.

3 In the same skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and heat over high heat. Add the mushrooms and stir fry until they wilt, add the cabbage, carrots, soy sauce, fish sauce, salt and white pepper, and cook until the cabbage wilts, about 3–5 minutes. Transfer the vegetable into a large mixing bowl, stir in the bean thread noodles, reserved chicken and coriander leaves. Let this mixture cool to room temperature. Squeeze out any excess moisture, a very important step!

4 Roll the spring rolls by peeling the layers of wrapper apart, re-stack them and keep them covered so they don’t dry out. Place a wrapper on a clean work surface with the bottom corner facing you, place ¼ cup of the filling on the bottom third of the wrapper. Use your hand to form the filling into a cylinder shape, with 2 inch (5 cm) margin away from the left and right corners. Fold over the bottom corner and pull back to make taut. Roll over once, then fold in the side corners to form a tight seal, brush the top ¹⁄3 of the wrapper with beaten egg, roll up to a tight cylinder. Fry immediately or refrigerate up to 8 hours or freeze for up to 3 months.

5 Deep-fry the spring rolls in preheated 350ºF (175ºC) oil for 3–5 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with dipping sauces such as Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (page 35) or a mixture of soy sauce spiced up with chilies and tempered with sugar.