Thai food – Eat, Play, Love

Spring has arrived! Well, at least the dandelions have.

I know they are weeds and not necessarily desirable in the front lawns of suburbia, but how can you not smile looking at a sea of beautiful yellow and green? We came upon this vacant lot near the theater where Mr. N performed his five shows this past weekend and it just made me smile. Speaking of smiles, today is our last recipe inspired by the “Land of Smiles,” Thailand. This recipe came from a good friend of mine and isn’t an authentic Thai dish, but definitely Thai-inspired. The kids and I were up north visiting my good friend and her kids (leaving Mike to his NCAA tournies) and she prepared this dish for our arrival. We hadn’t yet officially started our cooking adventures in Thailand, but I knew this would have to make it to the blog. So today we bring you Slow Cooker Spicy Peanut Thai Chicken. The ease of this dish certainly makes me smile!

The recipe is simple, mix together peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, freshly minced ginger, sweet chili sauce and sambal oelek (ground chili paste).

Then simply add the chicken to the slow cooker (we used boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1-inch pieces) and pour the sauce over the chicken. Next add a bit of fresh cilantro and two ingredients which weren’t part of the original recipe, but that I wanted to toss in – bamboo shoots and green onions. Once everything is mixed together, cover and set your temperature. We cooked ours on low for eight hours, but you could cook this on high for four hours as well. Then go about your day…

While not really an authentic Thai dish, this inspired version has helped feed us and keep us sane during these busy weeks. And Miss A and I have enjoyed whipping up a very easy (again non-traditional) naan to go with the chicken. While you could also use rice, naan is a fabulous complement to the meal. We typically mix the dough in the morning, let it rest in the fridge for the day. Then we roll it out and cook it up in 15 minutes before dinner. Can you see why the Land of Smiles has us smiling?!

But the smiles don’t end there. This meal gets high marks from all of us! When the naan was complete and the chicken cooked through, we garnished the dish with fresh cilantro and toasted peanuts.

Miss A is not a fan of the spicy chicken, but I think she’ll come around. She’s just beginning to explore spicy dishes. The naan, however, that gets 5 spoons from her (I think she may be getting closer to understanding our rating system, but I will miss her votes of 1,092.)

Mike, Mr. N and I all really like this dish. It’s one we’ll make again and again. Partly for its simplicity and partly for its flavors. It’s a great weeknight flavor punch – spicy, sweet and those little crunchy bites of peanuts – yum! This easily earns 3 spoons from each of us. Thank you for the recipe Missy!

Now before we sign-off for today and end our Thailand cooking adventures, Mr. N wanted to share one last fact about the Land of Smiles with you all. Did you know that Bangkok’s Thai name is the longest place name in the world? The Thai’s call Bangkok, Krung Thep, but its official name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. Whew!!! There is a bit of controversy surrounding the validity of the statement as North Wales and New Zealand also lay claim to the title, but you can read more on that here. While I can’t claim to know the true title holder, I do know this is a LONG name! And I know there is one thing I wish could last longer…childhood.

Mr. N was in his first “real” play this past weekend. This wasn’t a camp play or school play, but one at a community theater for which he auditioned and rehearsed for months. In fact, he even got to miss two days of school to perform for other schools’ field trips. To say he was proud and excited is an understatement.

He was an ensemble character in “Charlotte’s Web” in a cast of about 25 other kids aged 1st grade through high school. He made friends, had a few crushes (shhh!) and even had his first kiss. Well, sort of – he was kissed by a younger girl and quite mortified by it! In fact, he told Mike that when he becomes a famous actor someday he’s going to have to get married really fast because he can just imagine how many girls chase famous actors trying to kiss them. So his solution – he’ll need to get married quickly. Oh boy…I think I’m getting some gray hair now.

Truthfully as a parent, watching him become part of a group – part of something outside of home, outside of school and larger than himself was a proud moment for Mike and I. Sometimes we have a hard time believing he’s only almost 9 when we see him reassuring other cast mates that there’s nothing to be nervous about – that this is exciting, and congratulating and hugging his other cast mates at the end of the production. Then other times we think, my goodness how is he almost 9?! Watching him perform his lines, projecting his voice, getting laughter and applause, I couldn’t help but think, “That’s the little 3 pound baby I held in my arms not that long ago.” Sigh.

I think it might be time for a life saver (a tasty dessert from Geni who knows all too well how fast children grow up!). Thank goodness for cameras, so we can preserve these little, and oh so brief, moments of childhood.

Ehem. Now if you’ll excuse me…no, I’m not crying. It’s the heat from this spicy chicken. Okay, so I’m not fooling anyone, but I swear I’m smiling at the same time and the chicken really is quite good. Feel free to decrease the heat if you like. Print this recipe: Spicy Slow Cooker Thai Chicken

That’s exactly what we need to do – in a week or so – slow down. Right now we are in the midst of an all out crazy few weeks. Last week was a major event at work – that came off with much success, then we rolled into a great weekend – a girls’ trip for me (more on that another time) and a busy, tiring weekend of chasing the kids for Mike. I have mentioned how much I love this man, right?! And this week, well it’s tech week for Mr. N. In theater-speak that’s when they begin practicing on stage, with lights, sound effects, costumes, etc. They are perfecting all the technical aspects of the show before the big performance this weekend (five performances that is).

So what’s in order when things get crazy? Easy cooking – low and slow. And we just so happened to find a fabulous Thai recipe that fit the bill. Not only that, it happens to be #1 on CNN’s “World’s 50 most delicious foods.”

There are many recipes for massaman curry, the most common including beef, potatoes and onions. It also features coconut milk, massaman curry paste, tamarind concentrate, and for our version we opted to add a little bitter orange.

Another common ingredient – peanuts and Mr. N was in charge of toasting those for us. In fact, this was Mr. N’s first lesson in how to use the oven. He’s very interested in learning to be self-sufficient in the kitchen.

Mike managed the cilantro.

And as for our other sous chef. Well, she despite our schedule (actually likely due to our schedule) still managed to find a way to slow down. Chipper doesn’t often get to see Miss A when she’s motionless – because she’s never motionless – so he decided to see what she’s all about.

In the meantime we prepared the remaining ingredients for the massman – cinnamon, bay leaves, palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, massaman curry paste and our bitter orange juice.

As I mentioned there are many, many recipes for Massaman Curry so we blended together a few to make this dish. First we toasted the peanuts. Then we heated a bit of the coconut cream (The creamy stuff that rises to the top of the can of coconut milk – so don’t shake the can!) and tossed in the massaman paste. Next we browned the meat and added the remaining coconut milk and water. Then, everything else went into the pot.

Once the pot reached a simmer, and this is not common to all massaman recipes, we covered it and transferred it to the oven where it baked at 375F for 2 hours. (Enough time to get some things done around the house!) And lastly, once finished, the massaman was garnished with toasted peanuts and served over rice.

Now I will say this – our house smelled amazingly good! How Miss A slept through that I don’t know. Mike and I were pacing through the kitchen salivating. Even Mr. N was hooked by the smell.

So how did it rank among the troops? Well, many of you know, I’m not a big meat and potatoes gal. So take my vote for what you will. I came in at 2-1/2 spoons. While it wasn’t something I’d choose to eat often, it’s not a bad way to eat meat and potatoes. The flavors are incredibly complex – sweet, savory, spicy – and the textures are widely varied too. This dish really has it all.

In fact, Mike was over the moon about our massaman. He gave it the full 4 spoons – and you know he doesn’t hand those out lightly. He said he could eat this all day long, every day. It was right up his alley.

The kids, well, they were a little less enthusiastic. Mr. N felt about how I did – he liked it, but wouldn’t put it on his list of must-haves. And Miss A…simply put, she was not a fan. So 2-1/2 and 1 spoons respectively. This one was really a mixed big for our house, but one we’re glad we made. The process was easy and fun, and it really did smell amazing!

Print this recipe: Massaman Beef Curry

Have a great week everyone! We’ll have our final Thai recipe for you next, and I can tell you this one was a fan favorite. In the meantime, here’s hoping you all have the opportunity to slow down a little – however you can.