For this week dinner, I attempted to do a Thai-style dinner. This ventured dangerously close to Vietnamese cuisine, which I'm still hesitant to try since the expectations would be too imposing. Like most Asian cuisine, it takes a bit longer to prep, so Yen served as a sous-chef and helped out in some of the soup and chicken cooking. I had Donny over for the first time in these Sunday dinners. He was pretty impressed, and actually finished 3 servings!
Here was the menu:
Vegetarian Tom Yum Soup
Lime Beef Salad (Yum Neua)
Lemongrass Chili Chicken
Rice (obviously)
Rambutan and Pineapple Dessert
Almost all the ingredients tonight were from the Asian Grand Mart supermarket. The soup base was from a mix, which turned out a bit too sour. The soup veggies were nice. I'll probably try another brand for the soup mix next time.
I wasn't aggressive in the spiciness of the dishes, since I am the only one in the group who has a high tolerance for spicy levels. I liked the how the salad turned out. Then again, I like anything where lime is a major ingredient. Beef itself was not over-cooked this time, but I didn't want to wash another pan so I didn't use my "searing" pan. Chicken came out very nicely, it wasn't dry or over-seasoned. Since we're not in California or Canada, the Rambutan was from a can, though that did save a lot in labor cost.
Some could argue that these dishes all have a Vietnamese equivalent, and I can't really claim this was an authentic Thai dinner. However, it was a nice dinner in the Thai style for Vietnamese diners. Plus, I avoided using coconut milk, so it was a bit healthier than your average Thai restaurant meal.
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PJ