Tom Yum Kung

Tom Yum Kung by Pong.......

It would be difficult to find any Bangkokians who have never heard of Tom Yum Kung. Not only is Tom Yum Kung well-noted among Bangkok residents, but it is also popularly known among international visitors to Thailand as the symbol of national Thai food. It is a special spicy soup and has a lot of herbs. By the way, my family often likes to cook and eat Tom Yum Kung every week. Because most members of my household love to eat spicy foods, so it is not strange that Tom Yum Kung would be one of such spicy foods. My family recipe has a special formula to cook light (without milk) Tom Yum Kung that it can’t be found anywhere. Now , are you ready ? Let’s make Tom Yum Kung in my style.
First step: These ingredients needed to prepare Tom Yum Kung are easy to find in Thailand. Its main ingredients consist of shrimps , pork stock , sliced straw mushrooms , minced lemongrasses , minced lime leaves , green peppercorn , smashed red onion , smashed ginger, smashed galingale , minced hot green Thai chili peppers , roasted chili paste , salt , fish sauce , lime juice , chopped cilantro leaves and water. In portion, I can’t specify certainly; it depends on number of consumers and some desired taste.
Second step: This step is cooking Tom Yum Kung. Firstly, you have to simmer water and pork stock in a pot over medium heat about 10 minutes. Next, adding the lemongrasses , lime leaves , green peppercorn , red onion , ginger ,and galingale boil about 5 minutes. Then, put in the shrimps , mushrooms ,and roasted chili paste simmer to continue over medium heat until shrimps are pink through. After that, you should take the pot off the stove and put the salt , fish sauce , lime juice , and hot green Thai chili peppers so that the heat will reduce their wonderful taste. Lastly, you could taste it and add more of such ingredients if you want.
After finishing that second step ,you should eat it immediately while it is hot by pouring the soup into the bowl and garnishing with cilantro leaves. As a result, you get the perfect taste from it and you will remember it forever when you feel hungry. I would suggest that you all shouldn't miss to eat it because it has a lot of benefits for you health. Enjoy eating ….. Tom Yum Kung !!

By Paul....Thai

Pad Thai

How to make a family recipe?

“PAD-THAI”

In my country, Thailand, there are many kinds of the traditional food that are popular. One of these foods that I would introduce to you is Pad-Thai. Its name means “Frying noodle in Thai style”. If you love noodle dishes, you should try it once in your life. It is suitable for every age because it is easy to eat. In fact, not only do Thais love eating Pad-Thai, but foreigners prefer and feel fascinated by its taste. I don’t know what true main reason makes them attracted. However, I can infer that it has a lot of ingredients such as noodle, bean sprouts, ground roasted bean, bean curd, eggs, shrimp, dried shrimps, and so on so they feel the food is delicious while they are eating. Another reason is that some ingredients can help the digestive system of the body such as tamarind juice, lime, banana blossom, chopped chives. In Thailand, you can find Pad-Thai along both sidewalks and restaurants. By the way, if you want to enjoy cooking your own, I can tell how to cook it and make it delicious. There are three main parts you should know: preparing the ingredient, stirring-fry, and decorating the plate.

Preparing the ingredients:
- Rice noodle ½ package
(You should soak the noodle in the cold water at least 1 hour so that it is soft)
- Chopped chives 2 tablespoons
- Ground roasted bean 3 tablespoons
- 1 egg
- Lemon or lime 1 slice
- Sugar 2 tablespoons
- Fish sauce 2 teaspoons
- Tamarind juice
- bean sprouts
- bean curd 2 teaspoons
- Shrimp
- Dried shrimps 2 teaspoons
- Banana blossom
- Paprika
- Soup stock 3 teaspoons
- Carrot
- Coriander
- Oil

Stirring-fry:
First, heat a pan, pour the oil and wait until it ishot. Next; put bean curd, dried shrimps, and shrimps together. You stir-fry them until their color is changed or look well done. However, you should check the heat all the time while you are stirring. If it is over hot, it may be burnt and black. Then, you should get the shrimps out of the pan; otherwise they may be sticky. The next step, add the noodles and try to stir them quickly. Add tamarind juice, soup stock, fish sauce, sugar, ground roasted bean. I suggest that you have to taste your food when you are cooking and add ingredients gradually. Then, you mix and stir them about 1 minute. In order to make it healthful, you should put some vegetable such as chopped chives, bean sprouts, and carrots and mix them together. After that spread out the mixture on one side. Break the egg shell; put it in the other side of the pan. Cook total mixture and wait until the egg sets. Finally, you have to continue cook with medium heat for 2 minutes.

Decorating the plate:
When you finished working, you put Pad-Thai in the dish. Put the shrimp on the top. Sprinkle the ground roasted bean, chopped chives, bean sprouts, and coriander. Add the slice lemon, banana blossom, and paprika at the side of dish.
And…It’s time to enjoy eating ~Pad Thai~

Tip

To make more delicious, I have two secret matters to tell you about Pad-Thai. The first, you should use charcoal to heat because it will have smell better than heat from gas or electricity. The latter is that you should eat while it is still hot. The cause is that the noodle is soft, ground roasted bean have good smelling.

By Janthima Srisombat

Katsuo no Tataki (Shinya O .)

How to Make My Favorite Food (400A Writing) Shinya O.

I was born Kochi, Japan. Kochi is located in an island in the south of Japan. So, it’s a very popular fishery there. Bonito is one of the favorite fish which is caught there. Bonito is a traditional food and, it’s called “Katsuo no Tataki”. “Katsuo” means bonito. First off, you need to get very fresh huge tuna chunk. Next, you have to put many straws in a drum, and ignite it. Then you put the chunk on like a chicken wire, and roast the only outside. This is the most important point is you don’t have to roast inside. After that, you put the chunk in cold water with ice. Last, you put it out of the water, slice it, put vinegar, soy sauce, like Japanese lime, slice onion, leek, and Japanese labiate on it. And one more important thing, you should put a lot of the vinegar and the soy sauce. Because it’s a real “Katsuo no Tataki”style. I just remind, when you have it, don’t forget to drink “Sake” with them.

Bulgogi by Sang hwa

A recipe for “Bulgogi”

Bulgogi is a Korean traditional food and Korea’s representative meat dish is also a Bulgogi. Bulgogi is usually a favorite Korean dish for foreigners because Bulgogi is sweet, not spicy. And you can feel a natural beef’s flavor when you enjoy it. When I had no appetite in Korea, my mom used to cook it for me. But now I live in the USA alone, so I studied and tried how to make a delicious Bulgogi. Finally, I looked for a good way, so I’d like to introduce it now.

Bulgogi is a dish of finely sliced beef mixed with various spices. So you have to prepare 3lb of sliced beef, one of onion, 1lb of agaric, some vegetables you want, one asian pear, 10 spoons soy sauce, 5 spoons of cooking wine, 2 spoons of sugar, 2 spoons of liquid taffy(or 2 spoons of sugar), 2 spoons of sesame oil, 1 spoons of crushed garlic, and a few of ground black pepper.

If you prepare them, making a Bulgogi is very simple. First, you should mix cooking alcohol, grated pear, sugar, crushed garlic, and prepared sliced beef. And you should wait about 1 hour because it makes Bulgogi more delicious. At that same time that you are waiting, you can chop an onion, agaric, and some vegetable. Immediately after 1 hour, You should mix soy sauce, liquid taffy and sesame oil with them. And then, roast all of them! When cooking them, be sure to use a strong fire because vegetables make a water.

If you follow my steps, you can make a delicious Bulgogi. And you can feel Korea’s excellent taste. Try it!!!

Etli Ekmek by Goktug

You want to eat Turkish traditional food, but you don’t know a Turkish restaurant. If you would like to make a Turkish food, you can use this recipe.
I will give a recipe of Etli Ekmek because it is my favorite food. My mother always makes it for me when I go to my city. First, you need some ground meat, flour, onion, parsley and spices. After you have these ingredients, you can start to make the Etli Ekmek. After you cut the onion, you should 1 pound mix ground meat, 1 onion, a little parsley and spices. After that, this stuffing will wait about 15 minutes. When it wait , you can prepare some dough. You need 1 oz water and 1 pound flour for the dough. After that you should divide the dough to 5 equal bit. Then, you roll out the each dough, and you put the stuffing inside the dough. Finally, you can bake it about 5 minutes. You should eat the hot Etli Ekmek.

Ja Jang Myun by Chris

We have a special Chinese food which doesn’t exist in China. It’s a Korean noodle dish of Chinese origin. Its name is Ja Jang Myun. It’s hard to find a Chinese restaurant in Korea which doesn’t have this food. Everyone has a special food which you can eat on only a special day. When I was a child, it was that. Actually that’s not expensive. But it’s hard to cook at home. And my aunts have a Korean-style Chinese restaurant in Duluth. They have a Ja Jang Myun. Why don’t you come and try? You can have same thing you ate in Korea.
Most people don't know where it came from & when it started. The dish, as known by Koreans, is said to have originated in Incheon, a port city where Chinese laborers congregated in the Chinese quarter, or what is now the city's Chinatown. Restaurants started out serving Ja Jang Myun to the Chinese community 100 years ago, but the taste soon caught on and spread to other parts of the city and country. Today, Incheon is deeply proud of its heritage as the birthplace of the nation's much-loved noodle, and every year a Ja Jang Myun eating festival takes place here.
Put Ja Jang sauce on the plain flour noodle. And mix it. This is a how to eat Ja Jang Myun.
Before telling you a recipe, I apologize that I can't tell you an exact portion of the materials.
Pork and vegetable are inside black bean sauce. You can buy that black bean sauce which is called Ja Jang at market. The vegetables are cabbages, cucumbers, onions, garlics, gingers. And you need some sugar and oil. Ok! That's it. Now, let's make a special black bean sauce.
1. Stir Ja Jang and 4 Tbs of oil over medium high heat for about 3 minutes on a skillet. (don't burn it!)
2. Chop pork meat, and cut cabbage and onion into 1/2 inch cubes.
3. Boil noodle for about 4-5 minutes and drain water.
4. On a skillet, stir fry garlic and ginger with oil. Stir in chopped pork meat and keep cooking.
5. When pork is cooked, stir in onion and cabbage.
6. When everything is cooked, stir in cooked jajang, 1/2 cup of water, and sugar.
7. Pour in starch water and feel the mixture becoming thick and heavy.
8. In a big bowl, place noodle, and pour jajang mixture over and serve with cucumber on top.
9. Enjoy~!!

P.S : Here is my suggestion ; why don't you come my aunt's chinese restaurant in H-mart in Duluth and try an original fabulous Ja Jang Myun? Thanx.

Claudia's Funghi Spagetti

The food made in home is much better than the food in any restaurant, and if that can be made in little time, should be a great idea. Have you ever eaten spaghettis with funghi sauce in 30 minutes? This is possible if you follow these directions. First, you have to choose the things which you will use and put it on the table. The things which you need are the followings: 1. 125 grams of mushrooms. 2. A cup of milk. 3. A quarter of butter. 4. Half pound of spaghettis. 5. 125 grams of parmesan cheese. 6. Two spoon of flour. 7. Sugar (to taste). 8. Salt and pepper (to taste). Second, you should make the fungi sauce. In a small saucepan preheat, put some butter with the mushrooms and salt to taste and cover the pot. After five minutes, the mushrooms must be cooked with some water. Then, put some butter in a small pot. When the butter is melted, you add some flour and stir until make paste. Then, you add the cup of milk and stir quickly. After that, you add the mushrooms and add sugar, salt and peeper to taste. Third, you prepare the spaghettis. In a large pot with water preheat and salt and some Olive oil, you add the spaghettis. After fifteen minutes, to prepare for serving SPAGHETTI, that sauce and heat in medium saucepan.

Yak-sik, Korean Rice Cake

by sunny
Rice cake is a Korean traditional food. There are about thirty kinds of rice cake in Korea. Of these, I especially like Yak-sik rice cake very much. This is because Yak-sik reminds me that my mother cooked it for me in my childhood. The odor of sesame oil used for Yak-sik made my mouth water. Now I would like to introduce how to cook Yak-sik to you. At first, you should prepare some ingredients: glutinous rice 2 cups, jujube, chestnut, raisin, and some pine-unts. Also, you need some seasonings: cinnamon powders, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and dark brown sugar. Before you boil the glutinous rice, you should soak it in water for 2 hours and wash it with clean water about four times. After that, glutinous rice should be boiled in the electronic rice pot with the correct amount of water. Be very careful, you should put a little amount of water in order for the rice not to come out too soft or watery. At the same time that you cook the glutinous rice, you should prepare other ingredients. You have to mix ten jujubes, ten chestnuts, one-third cup of pine-nut, one-half of spoon cinnamon powder, two spoons of soy sauce, two spoons of sesame oil, one-half spoon salt, and one cup of dark brown sugar. When you finished boiling the glutinous rice, mix the rice with all the above ingredients. If you finish mixing, you should put the mixed materials unifromly on the aluminum rectangular bowl. Before you put the mixed materials in the oven, it is necessary to cover them with the cooking foil. Then you bake it in an oven of 375° for 50minutes. During the baking, the rice cake smells like a roasted sweet potato with whipping cream and cinnamon powders. You put the baked Yak-sik in aluminum baking cups by using a spoon after making it a little bit cold. It is very convenient to eat because they are contained in small cups. You would have no choice but share them with your neighbors because they are pretty delicious.

Lentil Bowl, Zehra

Zehra Ibrahimhakkiogl 400A The Lentil Bowl Do you know which food affected me when I came to Atlanta? It was lentil bowl. My mother cooks it very deliciously, and I like it so much. I had not eaten lentil bowl in Atlanta by the time a Turkish woman invited me to her home and served it. When I entered her home, the food’s smell was all over the house. I didn’t know what she cooked, but the smell reminded me of my favorite food. It surprised me because lentil bowl is the best food for me, and I had missed it a lot. Before going there, I had been sad and angry with my self because I was thinking, “Why didn’t I learn how to make it?” When the woman invited me, I found an opportunity, and I got the recipe for the lentil bowl. I want to share this recipe with you. Now, maybe you are waiting for a very complex recipe. It is not complex; however, you should be very careful and pay attention to the time when you cook it. This is the important point in the process.If you wait too long after adding hot water to the mixture of lentil and bulgur, the mixture will get very soft, like dough. If you wait a short time, the mixture can’t get soft enough, and it can be hard, like a pebble. After this important warning, I’ m going to describe the recipe for you. You need one glass of lentil and one glass of bulgur. You mix it and add two glasses of boiled water. For soaking the mixture, you wait forty-five minutes. When it is been soaked, you chop up two green onions. You put one bunch of fresh parsley, two green onions that you chopped up before, half teaspoon red pepper, one tablespoon tomato paste, two table spoons olive oil, and juice of three lemons in a big bowl. You mix all of these ingredients. After forty-five minutes when the mixture of lentil and bulgur gets soft, you add it in the bowl and mix all of them together. If you want, you can add salt, how much you want. After mixing, you take a small piece of the mixture in your hand and roll it. You put lettuces on a tray and arrange lentil bowls on lettuces. This is the hard part because it takes long time. If you want, you can decorate the tray with lemon slices. Now, the lentil bowl is ready to serve. When you are reading this recipe, I’m sure that it doesn’t make any sense to you, but it is very significant for me. Whenever I eat the lentil bowl, I read the recipe, or cook it; I remember the day that the Turkish woman invited me and served the lentil bowl. I got the recipe in this day, and I learnt how I can cook it like my mother’s lentil bowl.

CHOI ..Samgyetang..

Choi04/07/05
One of the traditional Korean foods: Samgyetang
When the weather is getting hot, people usually go to the restaurant and want to order Samgyetang. Do you have any ideas about it? I’m going to give you the meaning of it. ‘Sam’ means a piece of ginseng. I think you know about this. As you know, it is good for your health. I’ll talk more about this later. Next, ‘gye’ means a chicken. It is very popular with people all over the world. The last, ‘tang’ means the soup. This soup is really good. Now, you can say the meaning of Samgyetang as a ginseng chicken soup. It’s very good for your health, especially in summer. When people are exhausted, they need good food like a ginseng chicken soup. If they eat this food, they’ll be more vigorous and healthier. Because of a piece of ginseng, they can be more energetic than before. It is a kind of useful plant in Korea. People always use it when they cook some kind of foods. When you eat it, your body temperature will be a little higher. Never take it if you have a fever. However, when you catch a cold, I recommend that you drink a cup of ginseng tea. It tastes a little bitter, but when you add honey with it, the bitterness will be down. Now, I’m going to tell you about the recipe step-by-step. I learned this recipe from a cook book. Before starting cooking, you have to know about all the ingredients. You prepare 1 pound of a fresh spring chicken, a piece of ginseng, three pieces of jujube, five cloves of garlic, three pieces of chestnut, ½ pound of glutinous rice, two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper and eight glasses of water. Now, cut a raw chicken's belly. At the same time pull out the internal organs. Make sure that you should put glutinous rice in water for two hours before putting it into a chicken. Then, peel five cloves of garlic. At the same time that you peel it, you have to clean a piece of ginseng and take seeds out from jujubes. If you finish all of these steps, you have to put glutinous rice, five pieces of garlic, a piece of ginseng, and three pieces of jujube into a chicken. As soon as you put everything into the chicken, tie the chicken's belly with strings. After that, boil the water about one hour with which is filled with glutinous rice, a piece of ginseng, three pieces of jujubes, five cloves of garlic. Be careful as the water gets hot. When the water gets hot, turn the fire low and boil for thirty more minutes.While the chicken is done, take it out and remove the strings. Then, cool the seasoned water and take the fat out. After doing this, warm the chicken and the seasoned water in one pot. Finally, if you like a slice of onion, add it. At the same time that you eat it, you can add a teaspoon of salt and pepper.This is the recipe which I learned from a cook book. Now, can you cook well when you read this? I hope you can. If you want to eat something special, try this food. Your family or friends will like it.

THE RECIPE OF ''PANANG CURRY" BY OHM

*In the U.S, there are different kinds of food. Chinese food, Indian food, Korean food, Japanese food and much much more. However, have you ever eaten Thai food? Thai food is so popular in the U.S too. If you never eat Thai food, or you’re deciding to try Thai food, I recommend you to try Panang curry. I’ll tell you about the ingredients to make a delicious “PANANG CURRY CHICKEN”
*First, you need to know the ingredients of panang curry chicken.This is the recipe of panang curry.
1 cup of water
3.5 spring Basil
3-4 spoons of fish sauce
2 spoons of sugar
1 table spoon of panang curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
2 spoons of vegetable oil
2 lb(s) of chicken
*The second step, when you know the ingredients of panang curry, you should stir the panang curry paste with vegetable oil. At the same time that the curry paste is mixed well, put some chicken in there.In the third step, you stir until the chicken is half- way cooked, pour coconut milk into a pot, and add 2 cups of water into a pot together.
*For all these steps, you should use low to medium heat and stir until coconut milk and water are reduced by half and you like the taste.
*If you eat panang curry. Maybe you will feel the same as I do. I mean, if you eat panang curry. It is like eating a cloud, and the taste is so smooth for your tongue. I guess, you have to like "PANANG CURRY".

Ma Po Tofu by Frank Y.

How to cook a good Ma Po tofu
Ma Po tofu is one of my favorite foods. I often ate Ma Po tofu at restaurants in Taiwan. Before I came to the United States, I didn’t know how to cook it. But now I know how to cook it, because my friend taught me how to cook it. I usually cook it once a week. If you want to cook a good traditional Ma Po tofu, please follow these instructions. First, boil a pot of water, and put ½ pound ground pork in the pot. After ten minutes, take out the meat when it is done. Next, fry the meat with a spoon of oil in a frying pan. Next, add a packet of Ma Po sauce, some diced soft tofu, ½ teaspoon salt and some water. Stir well and lightly cook over heat until the sauce thickens. You can buy Ma Po sauce at the Chinatown or Farmers Market. Then pour the Ma Po tofu over the rice. These are very easy cooking directions. So you can eat very traditional Ma Po tofu.