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So here is my interpretation of one of our favorite dishes. We all love Thai cuisine and almost every trip to a Thai restaurant includes panang curry. I love the perfect balance of sweet, sour, savory and spicy. It is delicious. We drive 45 minutes every couple of months to our favorite Thai restaurant- Pad Thai in Highland Park. It is a bit far but the food is totally worth it. A few years ago, my daughter would wonder why we travel all the way there but now she gets it.

The food there has been consistently good for over 15 years. I know I just dated myself by making that statement, but that is okay.

Anyway, I usually don’t end up making too many Thai dishes at home but somehow I got inspired and decided to make this dish. The flavor is very similar to what we eat but it is not the same.

This dish does require a lot of ingredients but once you buy them, you have them for a while. So, definitely make this dish.. totally worth the effort…
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I love the way this dish turned out- especially because of the way it looks. I love the vibrant green color of the snow peas against the golden yellow tofu.

One of the predominant flavors in this dish comes from lemon grass. I absolutely love the lemony flavor it provides to Thai and Vietnamese dishes. For a while now, I have been buying fresh lemon grass from Whole Foods but not until recently is when I realized how to get maximum flavor out of the herb.

The trick is to cut the green part out and peel the outside layers of the white part. The internal tender white part is the one to use. It can be smashed with the back of a knife and chopped. I used the white aromatic part to make this delicious stir fry.

I used cornstarch and salt to coat the firm tofu and sauteed it lightly in a non-stick pan. I then cooked it with the snow peas and added the flavorful sauce consisting of tamari, fish sauce, palm sugar, etc.

I loved the subtle flavors of the fish sauce, lemon and orange juice coming through loud and clear. I served it with some delicious brown rice and it was a yummy, healthy meal.
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I am all for making things from scratch but I do like to use all the conveniences I can find at the store. For this recipe I bought packaged, shredded cabbage, carrots and broccoli slaw. It saved me a ton of time and made everything a lot easier.

To complete a well-balanced menu, I was going to make a coleslaw dish with the Thai style burgers and potato salad. The recent Bon Appetit issue had a whole article on tamarind and it’s virtues. I am quite familiar with tamarind as I use it for all different things including using it in drinks, dressings and as a condiment.

They talked about pairing yogurt with tamarind concentrate to make a delicious, tangy dressing. I added my own twist by adding roasted cumin to the creamy dressing which gave the dish a nice nutty flavor. Overall, the dish went well with the burger and the potato salad.

What else do you need? Yes, I know what you are thinking- where is the dessert??? Stay tuned for tomorrow and you will have a great recipe for a dessert as well…
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I originally thought I should cook a steak marinated in Thai style ingredients but I just couldn’t think of making anything else but a burger- I just had to. So, I did a bit of research and came up with this recipe. These burgers are absolutely delicious. I had to make quite a few patties so ended up buying about three pounds of meat. You can cut the recipe in half and make bigger patties- I like to make small, thin ones and so for me a little meat goes a long way. You can also make extra and freeze the patties for another day.

I started with ground turkey, although ground chicken will be delicious as well. I added sweet, savory, spicy and tangy components to the meat including some ground peanuts. Almost like a chicken satay…

I bought brioche rolls for the burgers as they have a bit of sweetness to them which went perfectly well with the spicy, savory patties. For condiments we had sliced tomatoes, onions and some wild arugula.

For the best part of the burger- the mango pineapple chutney- it is a great addition to this dish. The chutney is cooked with shallots, canned pineapple, fresh mangoes, ginger, garlic, and lots of other delicious ingredients. This fresh condiment really took the burgers to a whole new level. I would encourage you to make this chutney with any kind of burgers you end up serving for this holiday.

Overall, the Thai style burgers were a huge success- make these for the fourth of July weekend…
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It is time to talk about fourth of July recipes. I can’t believe it is that time already. It feels like yesterday when we were complaining about the cold and wet weather and couldn’t wait for summer to begin. Well here it is and it is time to plan a delicious yet easy meal for your family and loved ones.

I came upon a Thai theme for this holiday. I find it a lot easier  to come up with recipes if I have a central theme established. For this theme, mangoes came to mind. Usually for an appetizer, I like to do a salsa and chips. It is easy and delicious and not too filling. It also goes well with beer, wine and any other mixed drinks you may be serving.

I decided to make a Thai style salsa- what does that mean? Well,  you essentially add Thai ingredients including fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, cilantro, lemon juice and you have a Thai style mango salsa! I served it with rice chips I purchased from Trader Joes.

Try it for the upcoming fourth of July holiday….
Click here for the recipe… »