Thai Night with the BeFOODies

Last Monday, we hosted the second monthly meeting of the Church of Gastronology. All beFOODies were in attendance. The collage above shows all the food that we cooked and ate. I had been looking forward to this all weekend! PB and J brought over a delicious sesame salad, chicken satays and peanut sauce, and two large Nalgenes full of Thai tea, which was a perfect foil to all the super-hot curries we consumed. It's made with black tea and spices, chilled and then served topped up with lots of condensed milk. Squeaky and Calimocho brought over a wonderful shrimp curry, mango and chicken curry, and Singha (Thai beer). S and served a hot and sour shrimp soup and a cucumber and peanut salad. Here are the recipes for those last two dishes.

Tom Yam Kung (hot and sour shrimp soup)
adapted from The Essential Wok Cookbook

1 kg shrimp, frozen, peeled, with tails
oil
Over 2 litres of water
2 Tbsp tom yam paste
1 stem lemon grass, white part only, sectioned into three pieces and bruised
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 long red chili, halved along the long side and deseeded
100 ml fish sauce
100 ml lime juice
2 tsp sugar
2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Thaw the shrimp in a colander under running water. Take off the tails and reserve. Put thawed shrimp in the fridge.
Heat oil in the bottom of a stock pot and fry the shrimp tails on medium heat for about 5 minutes. They will turn orange. Add the tom yum paste and 1/4 cup of water. Fry for a bit, and then add the 2.2 litres of water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the broth into a bowl and throw away the solids. Return broth to the stock pot.
Add the lemon grass, lime leaves and chili halves and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, spring onion and shrimp. Cook until the shrimp are pink (just a few minutes). Take out the red chili, lime leaves and lemon grass segments. Serve immediately.


Cucumber Salad with Peanuts and Chili
adapted from The Essential Asian Cookbook

4 Lebanese cucumbers
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp chili sauce
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 fresh coriander leaves
1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
2 Tbsp crisp fried garlic*
1/2 tsp chopped red chili
1 Tbsp fish sauce

Peel the cucumbers and slice in half lengthways. Scoop out seeds with a teaspoon and slice the halves.
Add the sugar to the vinegar and stir until dissolved. In a large bowl, toss the cucumber, chili sauce, onion, and vinegar mixture. Marinate for 45 minutes.
Just before serving add the peanuts, crisp fried garlic, chili and fish sauce. Toss the salad and serve garnished with coriander.

*To make the crisp fried garlic, slice whole garlic cloves very thinly. Spread out to dry on a piece of paper towel for about an hour. Heat oil in a pan and deep-fry the garlic until it just turns light brown and is crisp. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt before you use them.