Yum Ant Larvae ( Yum Kai Mod Dang )

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300 g Fresh Ant Larvae
¼ cup green spring onions, sliced
¼ cup Thai red Onions, sliced
¼ cup chopped green chili peppers
¼ cup mint leaves
1 Teaspoon ground roasted sticky rice (prik khee no pon)
1 Teaspoon Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Toasted Rice Powder




Prepare:

Combine the topping ingredients together and serve

Shopping for Thai Ingredients at An Asian Market

From Darlene Schmidt,
Your Guide to Thai Food.

While you might be lucky enough to live near a Thai food store, for most of us shopping for Thai ingredients means visiting our local Asian market or grocery store. Follow this virtual tour and gain some valuable tips to help you find everything you’ll need to cook authentic Thai food.

The Fresh Produce Section
Here you can find the vegetables called for in your recipe. As the names of items will probably be written in Chinese, you will need to have a mental picture of what you’re looking for (see our Glossary). Fresh fruit can also be found in this section, including limes, mangos, pineapple, papaya - both ripe and green, and various other exotic fruits.

Note that often it is best to buy mangos here rather than in a grocery store if you wish to achieve an authentic taste; although you might pay a little more, you will find the taste well worth the price.
Shopping Tip: When purchasing mangos, look for yellow skin and mangos that are fragrant when held up to your face. Flesh should be soft, but not mushy. Remember that mangos will continue to ripen until you eat them. To slow this process, they can be safely stored in the refrigerator until needed.

The Fresh Produce section will also provide you with the fresh herbs called for in your recipe, such as coriander and basil.

Shopping Tip: When choosing basil, look for purplish, pointed leaves for Thai holy basil, and rounded, bright green leaves for sweet basil. The third type of basil, Lemon Basil, is easily identifiable from its lemony scent. Just rub one of the leaves between your fingers and you’ll be able to distinguish it.

Another fresh herb you will find here is garlic, and there may be many types to choose from. Look for bulbs that are still tight, and make sure the cloves aren’t too large. The smaller the cloves, the stronger the taste, which is why most Thai chefs avoid what is known as “Elephant Garlic” (very large cloves), as its mildness will easily be overshadowed by the other spices in any Thai paste or sauce.

You will also find fresh ginger in the produce section, but you may not be able to find its cousin, galangal. Remember, galangal looks almost the same as ginger, except its skin is white (often with a yellowish or reddish hue to it). If you do not see it in this section of the store, look for galangal in the freezer (galangal is usually sold frozen in clear packets). The same goes for fresh turmeric.

Lemongrass is easy enough to recognize by its long, thin stalks and lemony scent. It will definitely be found in the fresh produce section alongside the vegetables and/or fresh herbs.

There will be some fresh mushrooms available here, but buying dried is generally a better value and just as nutritious (some health food experts say they are even more nutritious!).

Shallots and spring onions can also be picked up in this section.

Often Asian stores will shelve their fresh noodles in this section. Check the due date before purchasing, however, as rice noodles especially do not remain fresh (soft) for long.

Dry Goods

As you walk along the aisles and aisles of dry goods, take in the array of products available. Often you will discover foods you never would have dreamed of—this can be a fun way of experiencing Asian culture firsthand.

Along these aisles you will be able to find the following Thai ingredients:


mushrooms (dried in large packets or bags)
green peppercorn (pickled in a jar)
rice—Thai jasmine, black, and sweet (sticky) rice
dried noodles of all variety
dried spices, such as white pepper, turmeric, coriander seeds, and sometimes kaffir lime leaves
all sauces, such as light and dark soy sauce, fish sauce (look for a tall, colourful bottle), chilli sauce, rice vinegar, etc…
coconut milk
flours and starches, such as rice flour, arrowroot powder, and tapioca starch/powder
In addition to ingredients, you will probably find an aisle or two devoted to cooking tools, utensil, appliances, and even dishes, teapots, and cups.

Freezer

As a veteran shopper of Thai and other Asian foodstuffs, I have made my greatest discoveries in the freezer section. Look here for the following Thai ingredients:


banana leaves (in large, clear plastic bags)
pandan leaves (packaged the same as banana leaves). You will be able to distinguish these by their bright green colour and long leaves about an inch in width. Also, you should be able to smell their sweet scent through the packaging.
fresh galangal and turmeric (as stated above)
kaffir lime leaves (in flat, clear packaging). They are very green in color and consist of several pod-shaped leaves joined together.
Shopping Tip: I recommend buying frozen kaffir lime leaves rather than dried, as they have more flavour and aroma.

The bakery
Many Asian stores have a fresh bakery attached where you can buy a quick snack or desserts/snacks to take home. Take a minute to stop by and have a look around—the smell (and taste) of these baked goods will keep you coming back for more.

Note: usually these baked goods are Chinese in nature, although occasionally you may be able to find a Thai-inspired dessert. Look for cakes or desserts with sticky rice and coconut as key ingredients, and you’ll be on the right track.

Dtap Waan (Sweet Liver)

Ingredients
1 pound beef liver, thinly sliced

¼ cup nam pla

¼ cup lime juice

½ teaspoon ground chili (prik khee noo pon)

1 tablespoon ground roasted sticky rice

4 shallots, thinly sliced

¼ cup lemon grass (ta-krai), lower

1/3 of stem, thinly sliced

¼ cup mint leavesselection of raw vegetables

Directions
Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Blanch the liver slices in the boiling water for 30 seconds or until they are almost cooked. Drain and set aside.

Place the liver slices in a large frying pan, add the fish sauce and lime juice and cook on medium-high heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the chili, rice, shallots and lemon grass. Stir to combine. Sprinkle with the mint leaves and remove the contents of frying pan to a serving plate. Arrange the vegetables around the liver slices.

Soop Naw Mai (Bamboo Shoot Yum)

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

Soop Naw Mai (Bamboo Shoot Yum)

Soop naw mai is a Northeastern traditional dish. It is less popular than som tum (green papaya salad) among people in Bangkok, but tastes great. I personally like it better than som tum.
One thing that you should know is that when you add the fish sauce, the dish may develop a strong smell. Don't worry. The smell does not reflect the taste at all.

2 tablespoons toasted rice

½ lime 1 teaspoon ground dried chili pepper

2 green onion, sliced

1 teaspoon fish sauce

½ bottle bamboo shoots

The bamboo shoots for this dish come is a bottle or jar that indicates bamboo shoots in/with bai yanang leaves. The shoots are partially shredded. But you will need to shred it all the way through to produce independent strands. Boil the shredded bamboo shoots in water or its juice. Remove from heat after boiled.
Add sliced green onion, fish sauce, ground dried chili pepper, lime juice and half of ground toasted rice. Mix well and place on a serving plate. Sprinkle the rest of the ground toasted rice.
Add more chili pepper, if you like it hot. If you find that you overseason the dish, add more ground toasted rice to tone down the seasonings.
Serve with sticky rice.

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

Folks in the northeastern areas may call it som tam thai to distinguish it from the som tam in which pla ra is an ingredient. Central Thai som tam often has dried shrimps and peanuts. som tam isaan or sometimes known as som tam laaw may not need shrimps and definitely no peanuts. Isaan som tam (northern style) tastes more sour and salty while the Thai som tam more sweet. Both should be hot.The picture to the left is Som Tam at a restaurant in Thailand. This version was incredibly hot and spicy! It is made with julienne strips of green papaya, prik ki nu (fiery Thai chiles), kratieum (garlic), raw crab, prik chi fa daeng (Thail jalapeño chiles), nam pla (fish sauce), long beans, Nam Manao (lime juice), and ma kua teet (tomato).-clay

Watch this great video about making Som Tam from Enjoy Thai Food.
About 2 cups shredded green papaya

2 tablespoon fish sauce

1 ½ tablespoon palm sugar, if not available can substitute it with regular sugar

3 tablespoon lime juice

½ cups tomato, wedged

1/3 cup dried shrimp

¼ cup peanuts10 green chilli5 cloves garlic

Use motar and prestle to crush the chilli and garlic, add shrimps, continue crushing, add sugar, continue beating with the prestle, add the papaya, beat, beat, beat, add fish sauce, beat, beat, add lime juice, still beat, beat, beat, add tomato, beat, beat, beat, add peanuts, beat, beat,,... you may need to add either sugar, fish sauce, or lime. The final taste on the balance between sweet, (pepper) hot, salty, and sour. Serve with vegetables (cabbage, sting bean, napa,..) Many northern or northeastern Thais like to eat it with sticky rice.