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The Nation 124
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Thai dips
Nam Prik Kapi
(Shrimp Paste dip with accompanying vegetables and Thai mackerel)
Lohn Pla Salmon
(Pork and Salmon Dip in coconut cream, served with accompanying vegetables) |
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This week I want to introduce
you all to another staple in the Thai diet, The Dips. Dips in
Thai are called Kruang Jim. There are basically two kinds of
cooking techniques used in the making of Thai dips. The first is
called Nam Prik and many kind of ingredients are used to make
the Nam Prik but there is a common piece of kitchen equipment
that all Nam Priks have to use, the pestle and mortar. Nam means
water or juice and Prik is a Thai word for chili peppers.
Basically, garlic, chili peppers and some kind of cooked meats
or roasted vegetables are pounded together into a paste. This
paste is then seasoned with some coconut sugar, fish sauce and
lime juice. The finished paste is served with lots of fresh and
cooked vegetable as well as the famous Thai omelet and eaten
with rice. People of my generation is still eating this dish for
dinner or lunch but kids these days see the Nam Prik as
something very old fashion and smelly. There used to be a saying
that a husband who has a mistress and set up another house would
refer to his first wife as the old bowl of Nam Prik. He has
found a newer and more delicious bowl of Nam Prik at his
mistresss house. You see it was the duty of all wives to make a
make a Nam Prik for their husbands for dinner everyday. Nam Prik
is very good for your health because there is no fat and you are
made to eat it with lots of vegetables, which has lots of
vitamins and fibers for your digestive system. |
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The second kind of dip is called Lohn. Lohn uses the
boiling techniques but the concept is the same. A thick
salty, sour, and aromatic thick liquid to be served with
lots of vegetables and eaten with rice. Lohn uses coconut
milk or coconut cream as the medium to cook the ingredients
and the ingredients can vary quite a bit depending on what
you have on hand. But all Lohns have two main ingredients in
common, green chili peppers and shallots. The seasoning is
also almost always the same, tamarind pulp juice or
limejuice, palm sugar and fish sauce or salt. |
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Lohn Pla Salmon
Ingredients |
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In my column today I have selected one very traditional Nam Prik
recipe served in an unusual way. The Lohn recipe is uses salmon,
which is not a Thai fish but I want to show you that you can
also recreate this dish in your own home abroad. |
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Nam Prik Kapi (
Shrimp paste dip with accompanying vegetables and fried Thai
mackerel)
Ingredients:
Good shrimp paste, wrapped in banana leaves and
roasted 2 Tbsp.
Ground Dry shrimp
2 Tbsp.
Thai garlic (small cloves) peeled
10-15 Cloves
Fresh Thai chili peppers
10 each
Ma kua Puoang, small
round Thai eggplant
1/4 cup
Ma euk, yellow bitter eggplant, thinly sliced,
optional
1 Tbsp.
Lime juice
3 Tbsp.
Fish Sauce
1-2 Tbsp.
Coconut sugar
1-2 Tbsp.
Water
as needed
Fried Thai mackerel, boned and broken into small
pieces 1 each
Boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
2 each
Selection of fresh and cooked vegetables
as needed |
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Directions:
1. In a pestle and mortar, pound the shrimp paste until its
color lightens a little. Add garlic and chili peppers and
continue pounding until a paste is achieved.
2. Add the ground shrimp and mix in the pestle and mortar,
using a grinding circular motion.
3. Add the two kind of eggplant and bruise then just a
little.
4. By this time the paste will be very sticky, season the
paste with limejuice, fish sauce and coconut sugar. Do not
use all the required amount of sugar, fish sauce or lime
juice all at once. Just add a little first and taste the
paste. Should the paste be too thick all a little water to
the pestle and mortar. The Nam Prik should have a balanced
taste to saltiness, sweetness and sourness, so correct each
seasoning with fish sauce, coconut sugar and lime juice to
get the desired flavor
5. Arrange the vegetables, quartered eggs and mackerel in a
salad bowl and pour this dip over the vegetables and served
with steamed rice and Thai Omelet.
Tips:
a. The vegetables used in the salad can be egg batter fried
eggplant, fresh and cooked cabbages, long beans or green
beans, cucumber or broccoli.
b. Kapi is Thai for shrimp paste. You can find it in the
supermarket but good Kapi can be found at seaside resorts.
It should look dark gray in color and taste not too salty.
It should also smell good and fragrant, not like lowtide.
c. You can omit the small Thai eggplant and the yellow
eggplant if you cannot find it abroad. |
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Lohn Pla Salmon ( Pork and
salmon dip in coconut cream)
Ingredients:
Fresh or
smoked salmon, cut into cubes
½
cup
Ground pork
½
cup
Coconut milk
½
cup
Shallots, peeled and sliced thin
2 Tbsp.
Coconut or
Palm sugar
½
Tsp.
Lime juice
½ to
1 Tsp.
Fish sauce
1 Tsp.
Large green
and red chili peppers, sliced
½
each
Coriander leaves to garnish
as needed |
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Directions:
1. Bring the coconut milk to boil in a saucepan.
2. Once it boils, add the smoked salmon, ground pork,
shallots and cook until almost done. This means that the
liquid comes to a slow simmer not rolling boil.
3. Season the Lohn with fish sauce, lime juice and palm
sugar. Taste the liquid. It should taste creamy with equal
amount of saltiness from the fish sauce, sourness from the
limejuice and sweetness from the palm sugar.
4. Sprinkle the sliced fresh peppers into the pan. Stir to
mix and take off the stove. Serve in a bowl with
accompanying vegetables and eaten with steamed rice,
Finished Lohn Pla Salmon in a bowl with accompanying
vegetables. >>> |
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Tips:
a. Lohn can be made with many ingredients that have a
specific aroma such as fermented soybean or salted fish.
Just remember that whatever you use to give the Lohn the
aroma my already be salty so adjust you seasoning
accordingly.
b. The vegetables use to eat with the Lohn varied but the
fresh white turmeric, cabbages and cucumbers all go well
with most Lohn recipes.
c. The recipe for this dish also varies and sometimes both
tamarind pulp juice and lime juice are used to give the dish
acidity. |
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