I have been giving you recipes with particular attention paid to the old cooking techniques for quite a few months. I began to wonder if you are beginning to get tired of only the boiling, grilling, salad and dips techniques? I myself also wonder when I will come to the present to give my writing some variety although it would not be technically and historically correct to jump the gun as it were. But today, the present is here and we are going to do some stir-frying.

 I want to write about the abundance of seafood in Thailand and give you a recipe of how to make a very simple and spicy seafood stir-fry which is delicious and you can recreate this dish yourselves at home. It is called Pad Poh Tag Talay. (Spicy Stir-fry seafood). Pad means to Stir-fry. Poh is a contraption which fishermen use to catch seafood in the olden days. Tag means broken and finally Talay means the sea. Once the Poh is broken all the seafood that is trapped in the Poh spills out to make this dish have a large variety of seafood.

Directions:
1. Wash and clean all seafood and keep fresh in the refrigerator.
2. Heat up the vegetable oil in the wok on the stove. At this point you will not need to use really high heat. Add the Tom Yum paste to the oil and fry like frying tomato paste. Add a little sliced fresh lemongrass to the pan as well.
3. Once the paste is cooked and very fragrant, turn up the heat and add all the seafood into the pan and toss. All the seafood should be cooked at the same time. Adjust the seasoning with fish sauce and salt for saltiness. Taste the liquid in the bottom of the pan to get the preferred flavors and finish the dish by sprinkling in green onions, coriander leaves, torn kaffir lime leaves and tri-colored peppers slices.
4. Serve in a bowl or plate and eat with steamed rice.

Tips:
a. Tom Yum Paste can be bought at Chinese grocery stores it comes in a plastic pack or should you want larger amount, you can buy it in bottle forms.
b. You can also make your own Tom Yum paste by pounding together fresh galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves, chili peppers with a little salt in a pestle and mortar. This paste will keep for a few days in the fridge.
c. This dish can be poured over rice soup ( Kao Tom ). It makes a very spicy and delicious Kao Tom Poh Tag.
d. Fresh Kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemongrass are some times found in Thai or Chinese grocery stores abroad in the refrigerated produce section or in the freezer.

        Well I hope that you will give my recipe a try in your own kitchen and should you have any problems or questions you should E mail at mcdangoffice@mcdang.com or go to my website at www.mcdang.com I will be giving tips on Thai cooking and interesting recipes and background information in my next column.