Thai dinner: Roti Kaeng Karii Neau, Som Tam and dessert

Erik M was kind enough to contact me a few weeks ago and ask if I was interested in having some of his recent batch of Muslim-style curry powder that he’d whipped up for a recent TAC Quick visit. I firmly believed that the poor guy had forgotten that I lived in Sweden but was smart enough to simply send him my address. Well, imagine my delight (and my wife’s dismay) when an International Airmail package showed up on my doorstep a few days back. Snugly nestled inside was the following little bottle of joy:



It didn’t take me too long to find enough spare time to attempt to recreate the TAC Quick dish I’d only tasted once…

I made a trip into downtown Stockholm where it turns out there is an incredible selection of Thai goods! Swedes love Thailand and Stockholm's got several direct flights coming in and out daily. I suppose that coupled with a healthy-sized population of Thais is why we are so lucky.

I started the day’s cooking by gathering the ingredients I needed for the wet portion of the curry’s spice paste:



That’s ginger, galangal, lemongrass, a few Thai chilis and a bunch of garlic. I used about 3 tablespoons of oil, too. I thinly sliced everything to facilitate grinding.



I then made the wet paste. An eagle eye will probably notice that cheated a little by first grinding with a blender and then finishing the paste in my mortar and pestle.



I then added a few healthy tablespoons the dry spices…



… and mixed to make an incredibly fragrant, orange paste.

I used beef shanks to make the stew. It’s a tough yet very flavorful cut. Here’s a little over four pounds (including the bone) of beef shanks:



I simply removed the bones and cubed the meat:



The meat had plenty of bones, marrow and tendons which I dutifully saved to add (and, I reasoned, later remove if I felt like it) to the cooking stew.

Finally, I added the spice paste to the beef and mixed to coat.





I let the spice-covered meat rest a bit and gathered two onions (I only had one red and one yellow at home) and about 6 shallots I’d picked up at the Thai grocery store.



I finely sliced the onions…



… and added them to a heavy pot. I poured in a few tablespoons of oil and set the heat on low.



I let the onions gently soften over low heat for somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour. I wanted them melted but not browned.



When they were done, I added the spice-coated meat to the pot, covered the pot and let the meat cook on low heat for an additional 15 minutes.





After 15 minutes or so, I added about 2 cups of strong, homemade beef stock to the pot:



… as well as one can of coconut cream:



I placed the reserved bones in the pot, covered the pot and let simmer for about 4 hours (total).

Bones:



Curry, pre-simmer:



Meanwhile, as the curry simmered, I made a batch of green papaya salad. The ingredients:



One green papaya, about 7-8 Thai chilis, fish sauce, salted crab and dried shrimp, cherry tomatoes, a lime, palm sugar, a few long beans, cashews and cilantro

A close-up of the crab:



These were sold in a sweet/spicy chilli-based sauce. I rinsed off as much of the sauce as possible although the (tasty) flavour remained.

I’d seen green papaya being prepared in Thailand many years ago and figured I’d give it a shot. Keeping a close eye on my fingers, I gently hacked away at the immature fruit:



And, for my untrained eyes, it turned out pretty well. I got a decent mix of finely sliced bits and crunchy bits.



Next, I mashed about a tablespoon of palm sugar in my mortar and dissolved it in the juice from one lime and, say, a tablespoon of fish sauce.



I poured the sauce over the shredded papaya. Next, I mashed about 7-8 Thai chilis in the mortar. If you look closely you’ll see ripples in my lens as it melts… Just kidding but these babies were hot!



After mashing the chilis, I added inch-long pieces of the long beans and the cherry tomatoes. I bruised and mashed everything together.



Finally, I added the bruised vegetables to the papaya as well as the crab, shrimp, cilantro and cashews.

Finished:



All in all, it feels like a respectable first attempt. It was funky and spicy (my lips were mostly numb while eating this…) and slightly sweet and sour. The nuts and papaya had crunch and the crab give a little extra chew.

Finally, the stew was practically finished. About an hour before serving, I added sliced waxy potatoes. These are Cherie potatoes, one of my favorites:



Twenty minutes or so before serving, I steamed some sticky rice and pulled out the roti I had purchased. I was honestly set on making my own roti but found these pre-made in the freezer section at the Thai grocery. They looked identical to the ones I’d tasted at TAC Quick so I gave in and bought a package (of five).

The meat and potatoes were finally tender and the fat had finally started to separate. The curry was ready!

The served dish:



Some dipping action:



Note: the roti was greasy enough to actually resist mopping up the curry! They were delicious but one per person seems to be plenty.

The stew was stupendous! I’m sure it’s been said before but one of the enchanting things with this preparation is the combination of Thai and Indian flavors. You’ll catch a wiff of cumin and suddenly a wiff of lemongrass. You’ll see the tumeric that’s obviously in the powder but suddenly taste galangal. And the notes of coconut, of course. It’s a wonderfully complex, rich, spicy and delicious stew.

Full and sated, I still had a perfectly ripe mango, a can of coconut cream and some sticky rice left. What to do?



Even though I didn’t make it too far in eating this, it was a perfect ending to a great meal.

All in all, I was the closest anyone 4300 miles away from TAC Quick was last night!

This is practically my first foray into Thai cooking. I’ve doubtless made countless errors. Anyone more familiar with Thai cooking and/or this dish that would like to comment or correct me is very, very welcome to do so.

I am so jealous.

Wonderful picts. Thanks.

Great photos and tutorial.

Looks delicious, thanks for sharing.

Well, Mr. Bridgestone, you've done it again. You are surely the master of laying out a cooking-based post. From the looks of your usual stellar pics, you done this dish right.

As always, thanks for posting.

Glorious, simply glorious!

Thanks, Bridgestone, for yet another brilliant tutorial!

=R=

Thanks everyone! This one truly was my pleasure.

Amazing knife work on those onions etc.

I'm with Elfin: I looked at those wonderfully sliced onions and thought 'HOW did Bridgestone *DO* that?—obviously it's not mandoline work'... sigh. I could only have such knife skills in some other [better] possible world.

Wonderful job Bridgestone, as usual. But where are you going to store it for us? Can't go into the Swedish Cooking album, eh? Maybe you'll just have to start a Other Bridgestone Marvels album!

And am I jealous of your Thai supplies! I couldn't find half that stuff in Montréal...

Geo

I am speechless... I had to print this one out to .pdf... Goodnight... Thai food expert too?!?!? You continue to astound me, man...

Wow, just incredible!
I had a similar craving (for roti and curry) so I turned my left-over leg of lamb into an Indian lamb curry and made a batch of batia roti from the Alford/Duguid flatbread cookbook to go with. I've made these a few times and they are really easy. I used to pick up the frozen ones from Patel bros. but now I've gotten hooked on the homemade.
The recipe (roughly, to avoid copyright infringement) is one part water to two parts flour (1/4 cup flour per roti).
You knead the dough a few minutes and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then roll out the dough into a circle



Brush with ghee, sprinkle with spices (freshly toasted and ground cumin, black pepper, salt), chopped cilantro.


Roll up the circle, then put it on end and smash it down. Then roll it out again.




Then cook on high heat (I used a cast iron pan) about 2 min per side.
Unfortunately, I deleted the picture of the finished product from my camera. I'll post the result next time I make them.

Great stuff, thaiobsessed!

While I'm happy that I found and bought roti that were (nearly) identical to what I remember TAC Quick serving, I'm one that likes to make things myself. Therefore, I've sort of been kicking myself for not making my own batch.

Thanks for the pointers and recipe for next time!

Wow - I somehow missed this the first time around. Am I glad I developed the habit of going through each board and "cleaning house!"

Bridgestone, that's just spectacular - and thaiobsessed, that might just be one recipe of yours I could manage!

I've been working on improving my home version of Som Tam inspired by the perfectly balanced version at Aroy Thai. It's still a work in progress (I think I need to make it a little soupier and increased the sugar). But, I found this really cool terra cotta mortar with a wooden pestle at Golden Pacific (for only $8!).



It's nice and deep and the wooden pestle pounds rather than crushes (unlike my molcajete).
Totally worth having to explain why I need "three of the same kitchen tool?!@#@$?" at home.

I had a go at a riff on Thai Curry, the Bridgestone method this weekend. I had some beef chuck in the fridge and some work to do in the home office and decided to start something I could simmer all afternoon. I made the curry powder from the Thompson cookbook (though I didn't dry the ginger/turmeric at home) and a paste of garlic, galanga, ginger, scuds and lemongrass a la Bridgestone. I wasn't thrilled with how the roti turned out (Thompson has two recipes, one in each cookbook and I used the one from 'Thai Food'--proportions were way off and I ended up having to doctor the dough up a bit) but otherwise, it made a great meal.



I also made sticky rice and a side of an ajad (Thai cucumber pickle plus some other veggies):



Thanks for the inspiration, Bridgestone!

You're the one doing the inspiration these days, thaiobsessed!

Your meal looks great. With things getting cool here in Stockholm, your waking up this old post will have me hunting for some beef shank and thai ingredients soon.