Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
If I had to describe it in two words, I might say “peppery” and “fishy” – which is strange, because I hate most fishy things. For some reason, it really works with this soup, although not everywhere makes it fishy. This soup is a bit rare and old school, but I’ve found it’s an excellent indicator that you should try other less common dishes on the menu if it’s good. Places that don’t have fresh ingredients all the time won’t bother to make this.
Pork fried rice – in its purest form, but I can’t remember how this one actually tasted. I never order fried rice outside, but Mina loves it. I prefer making it at home, unless it’s really good. I think this one was at my friend’s café out on the Maha Sarakham ring road; the food is pretty good there.
Behold, dragonfruit ribs on my ghetto oil can smoker!
There were no leftovers that day.
I tried making a barbecue sauce out of red dragonfruit at the end of last year. It was colorful and pretty tasty, but nothing is coming close to the mango BBQ sauce I like making every year during mango season.
This is our typical order at Sampeenong, our favorite Isan food joint in the area.
Gai Yang (grilled chicken)
Somtam Lao (Lao-style Papaya Salad)
Tap Wan (literally, “sweet liver”)
Kor Moo Yang (Grilled Pork Neck)
And here’s my homie, Aot, working on a new coffee drink in a Chemex at his coffee stand in front of the restaurant:
At my friend’s place out on the MSK bypass.
I’ve been working weekends for the past couple weeks and I’m tiiiiiired.
AKA Spicy Papaya Salad, (unofficially) the official dish of northeast Thailand. When served on a pink plastic plate, you know it’s the real deal.
These are fried on one side and hot oil is ladled over them to achieve the crispeh… This is the de facto national lunch dish, so please stop using recipes with tofu bits and chili jam mixed in them, and I’ll try and stop Asian corpos from topping pizzas with artificial crab sticks and bacon-wrapped cheese wieners stuffed in the crusts…
I am a huge fan of stewed beef, and I love the texture of stewed meats in general. Nam’s friend from middle school opened a noodle shop near her university and we visited a while back.
It was so good. I’m also loving the camera on this used Pixel 6. I was shocked to find out that a local phone accessory shop could cut me a hydrogel screen film with their cutting machine. It had the specs for my phone in its memory, along with thousands of other models I could see.
Maps Link: Racha Stewed Beef
Pat Prik Gang Moo Krob Khai Dao – Red Curry Stir Fry with Crispy Pork Topped w/Fried Egg (AKA Star Egg) at a short order joint between my office at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University and the National Sports University down the street. They serve the highest form of Pad Thai in the known universe, topped with crispy pork, only available at a couple restaurants I’ve ever seen.