Cooking with Julia
My Tom Kha Gai soup was a success. I made it much more mild than you’ll ever find in any self respecting Thai restaurant, but even that was enough to open up my sinuses. Yummy! It’s been a long time since I had any and I can’t wait to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
The recipe, fyi, can be found here, I’d recommend just tearing the kaffir leaves, but leaving them attached to the central stem–they really aren’t edible, and I made the mistake of shredding them into tiny bits. And since you really aren’t eating the lemongrass AND the galangal, it makes a lot that you are removing in your mouth. I also used lemongrass powder as well, I think it made the flavor stronger.
The Pork Larb Moo on the other hand was an utter failure. I’ve never tasted anything so foul in my entire life and my house still reeks of the combination of fish sauce and lime juice. Ugh. I think I bought the wrong fish sauce as well. Fish sauce isn’t the most tasty stuff in the world, but this is down right nasty.
Tomorrow I’m trying out the Indian food. I’m really looking forward to the Chicken Saab, as it’s one of my favorite Indian dishes.
I’m so proud of you for trying these new recipes. Pretty brave and ambitious, if you ask me. And a 50% success rate for a first try on each is not bad at all. You’re making me hungry, and I’m not even the hugest fan of Thai or Indian food. (I, too, am a wuss when it comes to spiciness.)
Aw, thanks! It’s fun cooking sometimes. Although I gotta say, the Larb failure was so spectacular that it makes me scared to try anything else new. The soup I’ve made a few other times (it’s cheap and fast and one of Chris’s favorites), so I had more confidence in its success.
You should come over for dinner. I’ll make things nice and mild. 🙂
Julia, have you finished the book?
Yep. Finished it on the Saturday after. Just haven’t sorted out my thoughts yet.