A visually intriguing dessert where a rich coconut-milk custard is steamed inside a small pumpkin or acorn squashes.

Ingregients
5 eggs (2 of them duck eggs if possible)
1 cup (250 ml) coconut cream
1 cup (150 g) chopped palm sugar or dark brown sugar
1 small pumpkin, about 8 in (20 cm) diameter, or 2 acorn squashes

Preparation

1 Beat the eggs with coconut cream and sugar until the mixture is frothy.
2 Cut the top off the pumpkin or acorn squashes and carefull scoop out the seeds and any fibers. Pour in the coconut cream mixture, cover with the top of the pumpkin or squashes and place in a steamer. Cover the steamer and place over boiling water.
3 Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the mixture has set. Leave to cool (preferable refrigerate) and cut in thick slices to serve

Tips -- Duck eggs add richness and a firmer texture to the custard. Tf using palm sugar, strain the custard through a sieve before pouring into the pumpkin to remove any impurities

Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam Thai)

Originally an lsan dish from the northeast, this healthy mixture of raw vegetables is now prepared by roadside vendors all over the county. Som Tam captures the essentail flavors of Thailand: chili hot, redolent with garlic and fish sauce, and sour with lime juice. The basic ingredient, unripe papaya, contrasts in texture with crunchy raw beans and peanuts. If unripe papaya is not available, very thinly sliced cabbage may be substututed.

Ingregients
2-5 bird's-eye chilies

2 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts or cashew nuts

1 tablespoon dried shrimp or prawns, soaked in warm water for

5 minutes and drained

5 cloves garlic

10 oz (300 g) unripe green papaya, peeled and shredded using a sharp knife or vegetable grater

1/2 cup (50 g) long beans or gree beans, cut in 1/2-in (1 cm) pieces

6 ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered, or 1 large tomato, in wedges

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon chopped palm sugar or dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 cups raw vegetables (cabbage, water spinach, broccoli, as paragus)

3 spings Thai basil (horapa)

Preparation
1 Take the chilies, peanuts, dried shrimp and garlic and pound roughly in a mortar and pestle or process very briefly in a blender. The mixture should be coarse, not smooth.

2 Cmobine mixture in a bowl with the shredded papaya, bean and tomato. Mix well and add the lime juice, palm sugar and fish sauce.

3 Serve accompanied by other row vegetables (cabbage, water spinach, broccoli or asparagus) and and sprigs of Thai basil. For a complete meal, add glutinous rice and Barbecued Chicken
Tips -- Prepare the salad immediately before serving, otherwise the papaya will lose it firm texture.

Spicy Prawn Soup with Lemongrass (Tom Yum Goong)

One of the best known Thai dishes abroad, this flavorful but spicy soup is hot, sour and fragrant, an ideal accompaniment to other Thai dishes and rice. The kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemon grass are what give this soup its tangy flavor, but are not meant to be eaten, so tell your guests to avoid them while eating the broth, prawns and mushrooms.

Ingregients

4 cups (1 litters) Thai Chicken Stock

3 kaffir lime leaves

2 in (5 cm) fresh galangal root, sliced

3-4 coriander roots,washed (optional)3

stems lemongrass, thick bottom part only, dry outer sheath discarded, smashed with back of a cleaver

6-8 medium prawns or shrimp, shells intact

1 cup(5 oz/150 g) fresh or canned straw mushrooms or small button mushrooms, sliced in half 5-10 bird's-eye chilies,smashed

3 tablespoons lime juice, or to taste

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce, ro to taste

3 sprigs fresh coriander leave (cilantro)
Preparation
1. Bring the stock to a boil and add kraffir lime leaves, galangal, coriander roots and lemongrass. Simmen for 15 minutes.

2. Add the prawns or shrimp, mushrooms and chilies, and chilies, and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the lime juice and fish sauce(which is very salty) to taste. The soup should be spicy-sour and a little salty. Serve garnished with fresh coriander leaves(cilantro)

Tips -- Do not over cook the prawns or they will become tough. Use homemade chicken stock in this dish for the best flavor. Any variety of seafood myay ve substituted for or added to the prawns ----- including sliced fish, crab

Preparation time: 10

minsCooking time: 30 mins

Rice Stick Noodles with Seafood and Basil (Kwaytiaow Pad Kheemao Thalay)

Kwaytiaow Pad Kheemao Thalay
Kwaytiaow or flat rice stick noodles, Chinese in origin, are now enthusiastically enjoiyed in most part of Thailand. They are served either in soups or stir-fried with meat or seafood, vegetables and spiceds. This version is understandably popular in coastal areas where a wide variety of seafood is available.

Ingregients

1 lb (500 g) mixed raw or cooked seafood such as squid, prawns, fish clams and mussels, cleaned and shelled

3 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons oil

1 lb (5oo g) fresh rice-flour noodles (kwaytiaow) or 10 oz (300g) dried rice sticks soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes and thoroughly drained

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/4 cup thai basil leave (horapa)

2 red chilies, thinly slicedGround white peper to taste

Preparation
1 Cut seafood into bite-sized pieces. Fry the garlic in 2 tablespoons oil in a large wok over high heat until golden brown. Add the seafood and stir-fry for a few minutes. Remove seafood from the wok and set aside.

2 Stir-fry the noodles with soy sauce in the remaining oil for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the cooked seafood back to the wok. Mix well and add fish sauce, basil leaves and chilies. Stir, sprinkle with white pepper to taste and cook for a minute more.

Clear Soup with Glass Noodles(Gaeng Jued Woon Sen)

Gaeng Jued (literally "plain soup") is clear and mid, serving as a comtrast to accompanying dishes that are either oil or spicy.

Ingregients
5 oz (150 g) ground pork or chicken

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground white peper

4 cups (1 liter) Thai Chicken Stock

3 white pepercorns, curshed

5 cloves garlic, crushed

2 oz (50 g) dried glass noodles (bean thread or cellopane noodles),soaked inwarm water to soften

1 teaspoon fish sauce

6 died Chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water to soften, stems discarded, tops sliced

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 onion, cut into

1/2 in (1 cm) pieces

2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Preparation
1 Mix the meat, soy sauce and ground white pepper together well, and form into small, roughly shaped meatballs.2 Heat the chicken stock in a pot, add the crushed peppercorns and garlic, and bring to a boil. Place the meat balls in the boiling stock and then add the noodles, fish sauce, mushrooms and sugar. Simmer until the meatballs are cooked. Add the spring onions and coriander leaves and remove from the heat immediately. Serve accompanied by rice

Tips
Glass noodles are soaked in warm water for 5 minutes to soften and swell.

Chicken Salad with Vegetables (Lab Gai)

The dish makes a wonderfully healthy dish because it is made without oil and eaten with raw vegetables and herbs (and rice). It may by served with a chili sauce like Nam Jim

Ingregients
10 oz (300 g) ground chicken
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh lime or lemon juice
11/2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons uncooked long grain or jusmine rice
2-3 bird's-eye chilies, minced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 sprigs coriander leaves (cilantro), finely chopped
1 cup (20 g) fresh mint leaves
An assortment of letuce leaves, cabbage, fresh Thai basil (horapa), cucumber and long beans or green beans

Preparation
1 Dry roast the rice grains in a wok or pan over medium heat until lightly browned. Remove from the pan and grind the roasted rice lightly in a mortar and pestle or blender. Set aside
2 Cook the meat and garlic without oil in a non-stick wok or frying pan over medium heat until the meat turns white. Remove from the heat to cool.
3 Add the lime juice, fish sauce and salt, stirring to mix well. Stir in the rice powder, minced chilies, onion, scallion, cilantro and mint leaves.
4 Arrange the chicken mixture on a serving platter and surround the chicken with raw vegetables and herbs, as desired.

Khao Pad Goong

Ingregients

3 tablespoons oil

4 cloves garlic, mined

1 slice bacon, thinly sliced

8 oz (250 g) fresh prawns or shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 eggs, beaten

4 cups cooked white rice, cooled

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 cupsliced onion

1 spring onion, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
Accompaniment
Sliced cucumbers

Sliced tomatoes

Chopped spring onions

Sliced chiliesFish sauce
Preparation
1 Heat a large wok or skillet until smoking and add the oil. Add the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the bacon and shrimps and stir-fry for 1 minute or until shrimps turn pink.

2 Add the eggs and scramble until cooked. Add the rice, fish and soy sauces, sugar and white peper. Continue to stir-fry until the rice is hot, redecing the temperature if necessary. Add onion and spring onions.

3 Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Accompaniments.

Fried Rice Sticks with Shrimp (Pad Thai Goong Sod)

Pad Thai - Can any other Thai food be more loved worldwide? This Pad Thai recipe is how you actually find it in Bangkok and comes from testing hundreds of different versions from food cart around the city. In Bangkok, where Pad Thai originated, it is street food that you buy from a food cart; the cook has been making and perfecting it for years, cooking the same dish, day after day. Compared to the red, oil coated version you normally find in western restaurants, this one is drier and more tastes fresher and more complex. I've never seen oily, red pad thai in Thailand.
The ingredients listed below can be somewhat intimidating but many are optional. If you would like to make authentic Pad Thai, just like in Thailand, use all the ingredients.

Pad Thai is another perfect vegetarian dish, just omit shrimp and substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. Add more

Ingregients
5 tablespoons oil
1 cake pressed bean curd, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
5 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon dried shrimps or prawns, soaked for 5 minutes in warm water and drained,lightly pounded or processed
1 tablespoon chopped pickled Chinese radish
10 oz (300 g) dried rice-stick noodles, soaked in warm water to soften, drained well
1 tablespoon dried chili flakes or ground red pepper
3 eggs
2 cups bean sprouts, cleaned
1/4 cup garlic chives or spring oinons, sliced into 1-in (2 cm) lengths
2 tablespoons crushed peanuts
5 oz (150 g) fresh prawns or shrimps, peeled and deveined, and grilled

Sauce
3 tablespoons shaved palm sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons tamarind pulp soaked in 1/2 cup water, then strained to remove seed and fibers


Preparation
1 Place all the Sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

2 Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large pan and stir-fry bean curd till

lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3 Stir-fry garlic and shallots over high for 2 minutes. Add dried shrimps and pickled radish and fry for another 3 minutes. Add noodles and bean curd and stir-fry to mix, then add Sauce and dried chili flakes. Continue to stir-fry over medium heat.

4 Push moodles to one side. Add 2 tablespoons oil, break the eggs into the pan and scramble till cooked, then mix eggs and noodles together.

5 Add half the bean sprouts and garlic chives or spring onions. Mix together thoroughly and remove from heat.

6 Serve garnished with the remaining bean sprouts and chives, crushed peanuts and grilled shrimp, if using.

Pad Thai is normally garnished with a heaping portion of uncooked beansprouts on the side as well as a sprig of cilantro on top.


Tips -- Fried noodles require a lot of oil; however, it is possible to use a minimum amount by adding small amounts from time to time to keep the noodles from drying out instead of adding all the oil at once.