Japanese Trains
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Nozomi Shinkansen leaving for Tokyo
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Nozomi Shinkansen arriving in Kyoto
Japan and Thailand
| Japan | Thailand |
|---|---|
| High attention to detail | Very low attention to detail |
| Highly organized | Haphazard, organic |
| Formal | Informal |
| Expensive breeds of dogs with clothing and fancy leashes | Mangy mutt stray dog gangs on the street |
| Aloof | Nosy |
| Excellent fashion sense | Terrible fashion sense |
| High attention to aesthetics | Medium (to low) attention to aesthetics |
| Personal pride in work | If the boss isn’t looking, it doesn’t matter |
| Subtle flavored food, focus on the ingredient, preferably seasonal | Spicy, strong flavored food, focus on the herbs, spice combination and method of preparation |
| Highly superstitious and scared of ghosts and spirits | Highly superstitious and scared of ghosts and spirits |
| Wary of foreigners and foreign influence | Interested in foreigners |
| Scared of speaking English | Excited at any opportunity to speak English |
| Extreme amount of social rules and constricts | Medium to low amount of social rules and constricts |
| Expensive | Inexpensive |
| High use of grey in city color schemes | High use of all sorts of colors |
| Cluttered (but organized) small houses | Uncluttered (but disorganized) large houses |
| A variety of slippers worn in different rooms of the house | Bare feet in every room |
| Trains on time every time | Trains on time some times |
| Generally unhealthy street/cheap food | Generally healthy street/cheap food |
| Little regard to wealth of history or traditional culture | Little regard to wealth of history or traditional culture |
| No sugar in iced tea | Tons of sugar in iced tea |
| Frown | Smile |
| Polite because of social rules | Politeness comes from the heart |
| Cold and distant | Warm and friendly |
Bánh Xèo, Thai Style
Posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
It's one of my Recipes
And it's tagged with: crepe, pancake, thai, vietnamese
I usually cringe when people talk about fusion food, but recently I had a Thai (mis?)interpretation of Bánh Xèo (usually called Vietnamese Pancake or Vietnamese Crêpe in English) at a temple fair in Bangkok. It was served by two ladies who simply called it “khanom buang yuan” (vietnamese pancake). What’s funny is that it was absolutely nothing like it’s Vietnamese cousin, but was really tasty all the same. I liked it so much I went home and made it the next day.
The only thing I changed from their version was to serve the pancake folded once (like in Vietnam) and I added turmeric powder to the dough (Jett’s idea). It’s filled with cooked bean sprouts, fried tofu, pickled radish and chopped peanuts. And topped with ajaat — slightly pickled cucumber salad. It’s like Southern Thailand meets Southern Vietnam!
Bánh Xèo, misinterpreted
Makes two crêpes
- 1/3 cup rice flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 cup tofu, cut into strips and fried
- 2 cups bean sprouts, boiled until soft(ish - don’t kill them)
- 1 tablespoon diced chinese pickled radish
- some vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped roasted peanuts
- 1 cup ajaat
- Mix the rice flour, water, egg, salt and turmeric in a bowl until smooth. Be careful with the turmeric, it stains really really well.
- Fry the tofu strips until crispy, about 2-3 minutes on high. Set aside.
- Boil the bean sprouts until soft, but not dead. About 30 seconds.
- Chop the Chinese pickled radish (chai bo) into little pieces. If you don’t have chopped peanuts, go ahead and do that too (if you have a mortar and pestle, it’s way easier to use that.
- Use a large bottomed pan (crepe pan is good) and bring it up to medium high to high heat. Coat the bottom of the pan with a bit of oil. When hot, add 1/2 of the batter and lift the pan — tilt it to coat the bottom. Set it back down and let it cook for about 1 minute, or until the bottom is lightly browned. Flip and add 1/2 of the filling ingredients. Fold in 1/2 and toss on a plate.
- Repeat once more with the rest of the ingredients.
- Top with the cucumber salad and chopped peanuts.
If you leave out the pickled radish, make sure to add some salt, as the radish is where most of the salt comes from in this dish. I’m not kidding about the turmeric, if you like your counter tops or don’t want yellow hands for a week - be careful. You can substitute the fried tofu with whatever you want — don’t be afraid to get creative, these market ladies sure weren’t!
Update: I went to another temple fair two nights ago and saw 3(!) vendors with this dish. It’s taking over Bangkok by storm! - April 4, 2008
Hummus
Here’s the recipe I use for hummus — I’ve made it a few times now and it’s pretty good. And really easy. I can’t find the original site where I got the recipe from, otherwise I’d credit it.
Hummus
Makes 4 cups
- 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, divided
- 2 teaspoons garlic cloves, peeled
- 3/4 cup tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, and more to taste (I used lime because I’m in the land of lime)
- paprika (garnish)
- olive oil (garnish)
- some leftover boiled chickpeas (garnish - optional)
- Soak the chickpeas overnight in water. Make sure you cover them with a lot of water because they’ll triple in size.
- Rinse the soaked chickpeas well and drain. Put them in a saucepan and cover with plenty of fresh water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Skim off the scum that forms at the beginning, then cover and cook over medium heat for about 1 1/2-2 hours until the chickpeas are very soft. You’ll probably need to keep adding water and skimming the scum off the surface. Allow to cool.
- When the chickpeas are done, puree the garlic and the rest of the salt in a food processor. Add the tahini and lemon juice and puree until blended. Add 1/2 cup of the chickpea water and process until completely smooth.
- Fish out the chickpeas and add them to the food processor, but keep the chickpea water. You may want to keep a few aside as garnish for after. Process until well-blended. Thin to desired consistency with the chickpea water. Adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice. The hummus can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge, and it’ll last a few days up to a week.
- Serve sprinkled with paprika and extra virgin olive oil.
Goes great with homemade pita.
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