Thai cooking with Pranee Halvorson

My husband and I recently took our second Thai cooking class at PCC Natural Markets with Pranee Halvorson. (A description of the first class, including a recipe for coconut-ginger vegetable soup, appears here.) We love Pranee's classes because not only are her cooking creations delicious, they are easy to make and clearly explained, so we can go home and create fabulous tasting Thai food in our own kitchen. Pranee isn't a vegetarian, but is well versed in vegetarian cooking. She's originally from Phuket, Thailand, which celebrates the annual vegetarian week in Thailand in a big way; she has no problem translating Thai flavors into vegan recipes. Pranee says she experiments over and over again with her vegan recipes to make sure that even though they are plant-based, the results are the same as the non-veg versions. And she frequently passes along preparation and cooking tips that aren't always apparent when reading a recipe on your own.



The first thing she made was Tom Yum Hed, sweet and sour soup with mushrooms, lemongrass and cilantro. This soup had a prep time of 15 minutes and a cooking time of five minutes, and the taste was amazing. Pranee showed us the proper way to prepare lemongrass for soup, and although I've posted this video before, I think it's worth posting again because it makes such a difference in the final product when you extract all the flavor from the lemongrass.





Next she made Gaeng Keow Wan Ja, green curry with bamboo shoots, eggplant and basil. You can make your own green curry paste, or use a brand like Thai Kitchen or Thai and True. (Make sure to read the labels of any jarred curry sauce to be sure it doesn't contain fish products.) This was spicy hot and delicious.



The next dish on the menu was Tow Hue Med Mamueng, stir-fried tofu, cashews, sweet peppers, young corn and onions with spicy-sweet sauce with basil. In this dish, Pranee substituted Judy Fu's black bean sauce for the oyster sauce. (You could also try miso.) Although the sauce is pricy, it's amazing, and a little goes a long way. Judy Fu is a local Seattle chef, and I don't know if her sauce is available everywhere, but black bean sauce is always available in Asian markets.



Dessert was interesting. Pranee made Namtao Buod Chee, kabocha squash in warm, sweet coconut milk. Because kabocha wasn't yet in season here at the time of the class, Pranee subbed a buttercup squash. This was something I would never think to make for dessert, but it was the perfect ending to the dinner — a warm, sweet comforting finale to a great meal. I could hear a chorus of "mmmmmmmms" as each person tasted the dish. The whole meal, for 25 people, was prepared and consumed in about 1-1/2 hours!



OK, so now you may be wondering, did we successfully make any of these dishes at home? Well, as a matter of fact, my husband has made the soup several times with amazing results. His soup may not look as elegant as Pranee's version, but it tasted fabulous, and the one you see here, stuffed with mushrooms and broccoli, made a perfect light supper, and several lunches.



He also tried his hand at a stir-fry, also with stellar results. We're finding the soups and sauces to be very versatile and easy to vary by using different vegetables. Pranee's blog isn't vegetarian by any means, but she includes a number of vegan/adaptable recipes that I'm providing links to. I think you'll be pleased with the results if you try them.

Stir-fried mung bean sprouts and tofu with garlic chives

Phuket red curry paste

Thai mixed vegetable stir-fry (use black bean sauce instead of oyster sauce)

Stir-fried cabbage with garlic and ginger (use tofu instead of turkey. use black bean sauce or veg oyster sauce instead of oyster sauce)

Pranee has a youtube channel with lots of cooking demos and other interesting information.

Raw portobello mushroom larb salad / veganmofo 2009

We took a raw cooking class recently, and I promised to post a recipe for one of the dishes. I prefer to post recipes after I've made them myself to see how they turn out in my kitchen; that's why you had to wait for this recipe. We ended up getting home last night much later than we planned, and no one felt like making dinner. I had marinated mushrooms for the salad earlier in the day, and although it was supposed to be a starter for our dinner, it ended up being the whole meal, except for some peanut butter on crackers. The recipe is supposed to serve two as an entree or four as a starter, and I'd say that's accurate.

Larb is actually a spicy Lao meat salad. In this recipe, it's been transformed by Chefs Heather and Lois of Chaco Canyon Cafe, into a raw, vegan dish.

I started with two large (about 4" in diameter) portobello mushrooms. Chef Heather said she removes the stems when she prepares the salad at the restaurant, and uses them in other dishes. She doesn't use the stems in the salad so as to preserve the optimal visual appearance necessary at restaurants. At home, she said, she removes the stems, slices and uses them in the dish. I followed her advice, and after trimming the ends, sliced up those stems. The taste and texture of the stems was so close to the caps that I could see no reason not to do this again. The more mushroom the better.

© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking

The most exotic ingredient in the marinade was kaffir lime leaves, which I have eaten before but have never personally purchased. You can find these at Asian markets or, maybe, natural foods stores. In Seattle, all the PCC Coop stores carry them in little plastic packs in the fresh herbs case. Kaffir lime leaves grow as double leaves, and you just separate the two leaves to use them. These leaves are pretty tough so cutting them small is important. You just roll 'em up and slice thinly, then continue to a small mince. (The lime perfume as you cut them is incredible.) How small you cut them depends on how powerful your blender is. If you have only VitaMix-envy and a regular blender, you might want to mince pretty small. I used a Kitchenaid blender and it blended everything perfectly even though I got tired of mincing before I should have. Only you can judge what's best for the kitchen equipment you have.

© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking

The other ingredient that required mincing effort was the dulse. If you can find dulse flakes, you just have to measure, but if you use actual dulse, as I did, mince away. Half a cup of lime juice sounds like a lot but it only took two limes to get that much.

If you want the dish to be truly raw, you should use Nama Shoyu, which is organic, raw, unpasteurized soy sauce. If you want the dish to be gluten-free, you'll need to use Tamari, which is not raw but is wheat-free. I used Tamari because that's what I usually have in the house. I reduced the tamari to 1/3 cup and replaced the rest with water because I wanted the mushrooms to be a little less salty than I remembered from class. This worked well for me. Although not on the ingredient list, you can add dried ground chili if you want a spicy result.

I didn't think my mushrooms were soft enough after only an hour of marinating, and I think they ended up marinating about about four hours on the counter. You can marinate them in a shallow dish, or, as I did, in a plastic zip-close bag. I put the bag in a large dish (just in case anything should leak) and flipped it every so often. After the mushrooms were removed from the marinade, I jarred the rest of the liquid in the refrigerator to use as a marinade for something else, like tempeh. Or, you could start another batch of mushrooms.

As I was writing out the recipe I saw I made a mistake when making the marinade. The shallot was added to the blender instead of to the mushrooms. Oops. It tasted great to us but next time I'll try to do it right!

Portobello mushroom larb salad

• 2 portobello mushrooms, washed and sliced 1/4 inch think
• 1 small shallot, peeled and shaved paper thin
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dulse flakes
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons raw agave nectar
• 1/2 cup Nama Shoyu (I used 1/3 cup tamari plus water to equal 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, washed and minced
• 6 leaves fresh basil
• 1 quart mixed salad greens, washed
• peeled grated carrots

1. Clean and prepare mushrooms and shallots. Place in a sealable container
2. Place kaffir lime leaves, dulse flakes, lime juice, agave nectar, Nama shoyu and water in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over mushroom and shallot mix.
3. Cover and allow to marinate on the counter for one hour or in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Prepare the green onions, cilantro and basil. Place in a large salad bowl with the salad greens and toss. Use some of the marinade (to taste) as a dressing and toss to mix.
5. Place salad on plates or bowls and top with mushrooms and shallots. Garnish with a mound of shredded carrot.

........................................................................................

Don't forget to enter the cookbook giveaway!
© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking