Easy Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe: How to Make My Mom's Thai Satay Sauce

My mother, in whose memory this site was created, was a cookbook addict. Her philosophy in life was based upon a statement attributed to Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536): When I get a little money I buy books, and if any is left I buy food and clothes. Replace "books" with "cookbooks" and you'll get my mother.

Over the years, she had passed on several of her cookbooks to me for fear that years of living in the United States would result in me abandoning the cuisine of my original country or, worse, becoming so culinarily syncretic that I can't tell how a dish is supposed to taste. Well, Mom is no longer with us, so I can't engage her in the discussion on her view on culinary syncretism and how I think it's not built on terra firma.

How I miss arguing/debating with Mom.

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Fresh Yeast Brioche

Fleishmann's fresh yeast in the refrigerator section of my grocery store has always intrigued me. I find their 1950s comic packaging quite appealing (Fresh Yeast! Active! Bam! Pow! Wow!), but that's not the reason. Neither is it because I find refrigerated microorganisms intriguing (though I admit I kind of do, but please don't tell anyone ...). It's more because of its humble and unassuming yet enduring presence in the age wherein most people, I assume, bake with the more user-friendly and less expensive active dry yeast. Apparently, there are people who bake with fresh yeast. But who are these people and where do they live? Is there a secret society of fresh yeast users?

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How to Render Duck Fat

If, after having read the title of the post, you're still reading this, chances are you're one of those who don't lose consciousness at the thought or sight of animal fats or seek to burn some of us at the stake for heretically extol the virtue of such things.

That's great. We can be friends.

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Thai Coconut Sticky Rice and Mango ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง

At a risk of causing some raised eyebrows, I am going to say this: if you can produce excellent sweet coconut sticky rice and pair it with a perfectly ripe mango of exceptional quality, the kingdom of heaven is at hand; but if you're going to fail -- even just a little -- on one component, may it be the sticky rice.

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What Kind of Rice Is Thai Sticky Rice?

Now that I have cleared up a few things on how to choose mangoes, how to peel and slice mangoes, and quality canned coconut milk, I'm moving on to the last item before getting to the recipe for Thai Sweet Coconut Sticky Rice and Mango. While most Southeast Asians take the terms for granted, those who did not grow up eating this long grain glutinous rice often find themselves confused about just what kind of rice it is. What does it mean -- sticky? An attempt to call it "glutinous rice" doesn't help all that much. You don't solve a problem by giving it another name.

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My Favorite Brand of Coconut Milk: Chaokoh กะทิชาวเกาะ

Disclosure: I have no connection to the company who manufactures Chaokoh brand of coconut milk. Nor have I been paid to write this. I just believe a well-made product deserves to be mentioned. Besides, on a more personal level, I feel kind of indebted to them for occasionally relieving me of the tiresome burden of grating coconuts on a bunny, placed upon me by my grandmother when I was younger. With commercial coconut milk of this quality, there's little need for grating and extracting coconut milk the old-fashioned way.

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How to Choose the Right Mango for Thai Mango and Coconut Sticky Rice

Southeast and South Asian people are usually gentle and polite -- sometimes to the point of being shy and withdrawn -- in social situations. But if you put them all together in one place and one happens to make a bad move of claiming the types of mango (banana, coconut, etc.) found in his/her country are superior to those found in the rest of the region, things could get awkward at best and ugly at worst. So even if I do think Thai mangoes are the best, I rarely say that out loud.

Okay, I'm going to remain ducking under the table until you Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian, Filipino readers put away your broomsticks.

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How to Peel and Slice a Mango

When an American sees me peel something with a knife -- be it a piece of fruit or a potato -- he or she invariably makes a comment about the way I hold the knife. Apparently, Americans generally hold their knife with the blade facing the body and, with the thumb guiding the knife, also work their way toward the body as they go. (The only exception to this is when they use a vegetable peeler, as opposed to a knife, in which case the peeling is done in quick strokes away from the body.) This is my observation. If you're an American and you don't peel this way, I'd say you're definitely in the minority.

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How to Make Lollipops

Update (2-10-10): A post on how to use this recipe to make big, bright red cherry lollipops is here.








I vowed never to succumb to the pressure of making something green for St. Patrick's Day. But then I remembered I had been wanting to try making lollipops for a long time, and while I think green-colored foods (except those that are naturally green) are weird, the idea of making bright green lime-flavored lollipops seemed kind of fun.So I made bright green lime-flavored lollipops.


Making lollipops is easier than I thought it would be. Besides, it doesn't leave behind a lot of mess in the kitchen as I had previous feared. With good tools, you can whip up a dozen of these in less than 30 minutes including the time it takes for the lollipops to harden. The most important tool is an instant-read thermometer or a candy thermometer. A veteran candy maker probably doesn't need one as I'm sure there's a way to tell when the syrup reaches the so-called hard-ball stage. But since this was my first time making lollipops (or any hard candy, for that matter), I chose to err on the side of over-preparation. The other tool is a lollipop mold. This is optional; use it only if you really want uniformly-shaped end results.

Homemade Lollipops*
(Makes 4 pieces of lollipop using Wilton standard star molds)

1 cup sugar
1/3 light corn syrup
1/3 water
Food coloring (I use green.)
Flavored oil for candy (I use lime-flavored oil.)
4 lollipop sticks

• Spray the insides of the lollipop molds** with nonstick vegetable oil spray (don't use the olive oil flavor; use something that is flavorless such as canola).
• In a small saucepan, mix together sugar, corn syrup, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat without stirring.
• When the temperature is within the 250-260 degrees F range, add the food coloring until you get the desired color. Gently swirl the pan to mix in the color.
• Continue to cook the syrup until the mixture reaches 300 degrees F.
• Take the pot off the heat and stir in a couple of drops of the flavored oil.
• Pour the hot syrup into the prepared molds. The syrup will start hardening almost right away.
• Working quickly, press the lollipop sticks into the hardening syrup. Make sure the sticks stay right in the middle. You may have to adjust their positions a little while the syrup is hardening.
• Your lollipops should be ready to unmold in about 8-10 minutes.
• Rinse off the grease on the surface of the lollipops by running it under tap water. Do not attempt to wipe off the grease with any kind of cloth or paper as it will just leave ugly lint on the surface.
• Wrap the candy in waxed paper.

*Long time ago, I jotted down this recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine. I don't have the original magazine, so I can't cite the month and year. The recipe is for twice the amount stated here. I decided to halve the recipe, because it was my first time making lollipop and figured if things went bad, I wouldn't waste that much sugar. I'm cheap.

**If you don't have a candy mold, any clean surface will do. A kitchen marble slab is ideal. Just be sure to grease it first.

Recommended Posts:
Gleeb Lamduan: Flower-Shaped Thai Shortbread Cookies
My Mom's Easy Thai Peanut Sauce
How to Make Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
How to Make Brioche Hamburger Buns
On American Fried Rice and the Dead Sea Scrolls

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Thai Recipe: Khao Na Gai ข้าวหน้าไก่

The updated version of this post can be found here.

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Breakfast Steamed Buns: Chinese Baos with Ham and Cheese

I wasn't planning on doing a spin-off on the bun post. But this is for a reader by the name of Mike C. Why? Because he asked. (Thanks to you, Mike, not only do I have something to blog about, but I am also equipped with two dozens grab-n-go breakfast baos in the refrigerator.) Also, another commenter, gagz135, mentioned an idea which I had done for quite sometime, i.e. to fill the plain buns with ham and cheese. That's essentially what these breakfast buns are about.

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Plain Chinese Steamed Buns Revisited

I think a grayscale image is appropriate here since we're in an analytic mode.

Perhaps due to my childhood reminiscence and a lengthy rambling on ancient Chinese swordmen, the essence of my post on plain Chinese steamed buns seems to have gotten buried. In the past few days, I got quite a few email messages from readers asking for clarifications and troubleshooting tips. So here they are.

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Homemade English Muffins Complete with Nooks and Crannies

For so long I had searched for a good English muffin recipe. Well, this may baffle you as everyone knows tons of English muffin recipes are just a Google search away. But here's the thing: I am very picky about my English muffins.

As one clichéd saying goes: if you don't stand for something, you fall for everything. To apply this to a recipe search, unless you know exactly what you look for (taste, appearance, texture, etc.), any recipe that does not produce catastrophic results seems good to you. And that's fine. In the end, an ideal recipe is one that gives you what you want.

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