Thai Food

The streets of Thailand, the smell of the street stalls, the rumble of the passing motorcycles weaving amongst unmoving traffic. While you wait, sweat dripping from your brow you catch a whiff of fresh herbs amongst the tangled scents of smog, sweat and garbage...the feeling is like no other...

Thai food is ever so delicious but ever so expensive in Japan. However, there is a trick that works well when it comes to buying things such as Thai Basil, Holy Basil, Galangal or Lemongrass - even these supermarket herbs can be grown by taking cuttings!
Basically, you can grow new plants from the ones you buy from the supermarket!
With the Thai and holy basil, simply
1. pick off most of the leaves (but leave the top leaves intact)
2.make a downward cut near the bottom of the stem, just under where the leaves would grow out.
3. Place the cuttings in Water or soil and cover with a plastic bag to prevent moisture loss.
4. Keep the soil damp but not wet and wait for roots to grow
5. When there are enough roots, plant in a pot and gently introduce your new plant to the outside world!

With lemongrass, just put the whole thing in about 3 centimeters of water or directly into the ground!

Lastly, for galangal, just dig a hole and drop it in!! (it grows tall, be careful!)

All in all, this is much cheaper than having to always buy from a supermarket.

Lastly, I leave you with my simple recipe for moo-bing (pork skewers)

*Soak bamboo Skewers in eater first so they don't burn when grilling!

3-400grams of pork, sliced thinly

marinade:

1/4 cup of coconut milk
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 chopped coriander root
1 chopped coriander bunch
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar (white or even better palm sugar)

- Mix marinade together in a zip lock bag.
- Add about 3-400 grams of sliced pork
- mash everything together in the zip-lock bag
- marinade for at least an hour
- put on skewers
- grill for a few minutes on each side until a little burnt (5-7 minutes)
- serve with chili sauce!