Like so many of you, we are stuck indoors lately because of quarantine guidelines. As a social enterprise offering face to face cooking classes in Bangkok, we’ve mostly been shut down as tourism has been crippled since late February. However, we’re still doing what we can to support our community, and today we’d like to make your day brighter with some of our favorite, easy to do Thai recipes.
Consider giving a donation if you enjoy these recipes, we’re in need of your support now more than ever!
Green Curry Fried Rice
When we think about quick and versatile recipes, fried rice is pretty high in the ranks. You can adapt any ingredients you want, add pretty much any protein, and it’s unctuous and familiar enough to please the entire family. Even seasoning is easy. This recipe keeps it simple, using only soy sauce which is often already in your kitchen cabinet.
Let’s have at it, but to kick things up a notch we’d like to suggest the extra option of using a Thai curry paste in your recipe. The paste will lend color, spice, and excitement to the regular old fried rice you’ve made one too many times in the first few weeks of quarantine.
Note: If you’re looking for a tasty, nutritious version of regular green curry you can find our recipe here.
Ingredients (serves 1-2)
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp of green curry paste
- 150g of the protein of your choice (chicken or tofu work great)
- 1 cup of cooked rice
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 4 small shallots (or 2-3 tbsp of other diced onion)
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of vegetables (Your choice. Thai eggplants are great if you have them but even frozen or canned vegetable mixes also work)
- Optional: A handful of sweet basil (about half a cup, Italian basil can be substituted)
How to Make Green Curry Fried Rice
- Start by washing and slicing everything. For your tougher herbs and veggies, get a rolling bowl going in a pot so they can be blanched. Blanch, cool, and set aside.
- Tap some oil into your pan and toast your curry paste until fragrant.
- Add your protein of choice, stirring over medium heat until brown. For tender proteins like shrimp, cook and set aside. Also remember you can add a little water or stock if your curry gets too dry.
- As your proteins mostly cooked, add aromatic herbs and vegetables. This is the best time, for example, to add garlic, shallots, diced carrots, mushrooms, or other veg of your choice. Let your meat finish cooking, and vegetables become tender and covered in curry paste before proceeding.
- Add your rice and mix. When making more than one portion, be careful not to add so much rice that you overfill your wok.
- Add your soy sauce. Stir, taste, and adjust if needed.
- Maneuver your fried rice to one side of the pan, leaving space to crack your egg. Tilt the pan so the side with the egg is directly over the heat and scramble.
- Once the egg is cooked, mix with the rest of your rice. Add a handful of sweet basil and turn off the heat.
- Stir until the basil wilts, and serve.
Thai Pork Ball Soup (Thom Jeud)
Often this warming soup is one of the first defenses when you’re not feeling well. The soup varies from one Thai household to the next, so there are endless varieties. Use that knowledge as license to take some liberties with the recipe, making use of what you have on hand. We make and fill the soup with pork balls, but you can use chicken or create a vegetarian version. Finally, the soup reheats well and can be either a side dish in a fantastic meal or the main dish itself.
Soup Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 liter of chicken or pork stock (about 4 cups)
- 1 cup of chopped cabbage
- 1 large carrot, sliced bite sized
- 1 packet of egg tofu, sliced
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
Meatball Ingredients
- 400g minced pork
- ⅓ cup of carrot diced small
- 1 cup of chopped glass noodles
- 2 stalks of chopped spring onions (remember to set a tbsp or so aside to use as a garnish when serving)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp palm sugar
How to Make Thai Pork Ball Soup (Thom Jeud)
- Prep your vegetables. You can blanch carrots or other tough vegetables in advance to save time. (To make the soup extra filling parboiled potatoes are a hearty addition).
- Slice your glass noodles small.
- Mix glass noodles, spring onion and your chopped carrots with the pork in a bowl.
- Season with oyster sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar, and soy sauce then make small meatballs
- Boil your stock.
- Add your meatballs, and when mostly cooked, add your carrot, cabbage, any other veg.
- As they soften, lower the heat and add 2 tbsp of soy sauce. If this doesn’t seem like much seasoning remember your meatballs will be contributing lots of flavor to the soup as well.
- Taste and add more soy sauce as needed.
- Finally, add your egg tofu, turn off the heat, and stir gently.
- Garnish with remaining spring onion before serving.
Kid’s Pad Thai with Instant Noodles
Finally we can’t forget about the kids. They’re home and seemingly always hungry. Take them on a journey in the kitchen using basic ingredients. This is a departure from a more typical pad thai, but we make it often for our Courageous Kitchen kids and everyone loves it!
Stir frying is a quarantine cook’s best friend. When you can throw everything you’re cooking up in one wok, all your dish washers will be pleased as well. So grab your biggest non-stick pan and get ready to make one of Thailand’s most loved noodle stir fries!
If needed, see the sauce recipe and a more detailed explanation in our full kids pad thai recipe or our traditional pad thai recipe.
Ingredients (serves 1-2)
- 1 pack of instant noodles
- 100g chicken
- 50g tofu, chopped into small squares
- 1 egg
- 1 handful of blanched Chinese kale, broccoli, or the veg of your choice
- A small handful of bean sprouts (can omit or substitute with micro-greens)
- 2 tbsp of pad thai sauce
- 1 tbsp of oil for stir frying
How to Make Pad Thai for Kids
- Blanch any vegetables you want to add by dipping into boiling water for a few minutes (for Chinese kale this usually takes about one minute in boiling water).
- Remove from the boiling water and add to ice water to stop the vegetables from cooking, and preserve the fresh color.
- Use the same boiling water now to quickly boil your noodles. Most instant noodles will only take 1-2 minutes to become soft. Set aside.
- Add oil to your wok or non stick pan. Follow with your chicken and cook until the color changes.
- Add your vegetables to your cooked chicken, along with tofu. Stir quickly to heat the vegetables up.
- Now add your cooked instant noodles and mix well.
- Add bean sprouts and your pad thai sauce.
- Mix everything and push to the side of the pan, away from the heat. In the hot portion of the pan crack and scramble your egg, stirring vigorously until cooked.
- Once the egg is cooked, mix with all of the other ingredients and turn off the heat.
Stay safe and eat well during this extended quarantine period. While we hope everything gets back to normal soon, we’ll continuously be thinking about new ways to share our love of people and compassion for communities with you online in days to come.
