ISBN 978-616-7016-50-4

Cover_Thai Vegetarian_Mac-Pro.indd 2 3/12/11 4:19:03 PM Thai Vegetarian all-time favorite meatless Thai dishes

SD BOOKS A Trademark of Sangdad Publishing

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ISBN 978-616-7016-50-4 First Published March 2011 by Sangdad Publishing Co., Ltd. Price 150 Baht

Text & Photographs Copyright © 2011 by Sangdad Publishing Co., Ltd.

Managing Director Nidda Hongwiwat General Manager Nan Hongvivatana

Food Editor Obchoel Imsabai Editorial Staff Oranuch Wangsuekul, Buppha Kittikul, Sirilak Rodyan, Yaowapa Kwandussadee, Kachanuj Karunrattanakul, Pattaporn Krayom Assistant Art Director Sirabhop Kaewkorrawitch Layout Narumon Raksaken Photography Sangdad Studio Retouch Woranad Phansue Proof Reader Oeung-arin Saichan Slides Bank Thongpoon Malasri, Aroonluk Puenpinij Marketing Boonjarean Muansri, Chatchai Kangman Finance Chonticha Uamduang, Wannee Tongsom, Maliwan Jenjobe Production Napakan Khumchaiyapoom, Yuttachai Pimsalee, Kanokwan Sonsukon Color Separation Scan Art Co., Ltd. Tel. (66) 2292-0279-81 Printer Pimdee Co., Ltd. Tel. (66) 2401-9401

Publisher and Distributor Sangdad Publishing Co., Ltd. 320 Lad Phrao 94 (Town in Town), Plubpla, Wangthonglang, Bangkok 10310, Thailand Tel. (66) 2934-4414 ext. 102-110 Fax. (66) 2538-1499, (66) 2934-4415 E-mail: [email protected] www.sangdad.com

1-13 ok.indd 2 3/2/11 11:06:57 PM Preface

Vegetarian food is globally popular as it is proved to be good for health. The ingredients used in each dish require many kinds of vegetables, fruits and herbs. It therefore provides abundant nutrients and vitamins. The fiber and antioxidant content also keep illness away effectively.

Despite being non-meat dish, Thai vegetarian food gives a pleasant taste. The cooking methods range from stir-frying, deep-frying, boiling and steaming to cooking as curry or dipping sauce. Apart from vegetables, the main ingredients are soybean products such as tofu, tofu skin, fermented soybean and fermented tofu. The mushroom is one of many famous ingredients added to enhance the flavor and texture.

Thai Vegetarian provides many marvelous recipes of Thai vegetarian food. In the Introduction, you can find all information about tofu and other soybean products including the easy-to-understand instructions on how to make chili pastes and vegetable stock. Sangdad Publishing House

1-13 ok.indd 3 3/2/11 11:07:00 PM Contents

Introduction 7 Veggie Green Curry 14 Pumpkin Curry 16 Jungle Curry 18 Hot and Sour Soup with Assorted Vegetables 20 Thai Vegetable Soup 22 Coconut Galangal Soup 24 Mushroom and Young Coconut Flesh in Lemongrass Soup 26 Stir-fried Long Green Eggplant 28 Stir-fried Kale with Vegetarian Oyster Sauce 30 Stir-fried Okra 32 Stir-fried Eryngii Mushroom with Holy Basil 34 Stir-fried Assorted Vegetables in Sweet and Sour Sauce 36 Fried Rice with Savory Mushroom in Gravy 38 Thai-Style Fried Rice Noodles 40 Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Vegetables and Sweet Dark Soy Sauce 42 Fried Rice Noodles with Vegetables and Gravy 44 Grilled Eggplant with Spicy Lime Dressing 46 Spicy Mushroom Salad 48 Savory Lemongrass Mixture in Wild Pepper Leaf 50 Sweet Corn Patties 52 Steamed Chinese Cabbage Packages in Savory Soy Sauce 54 Spicy Mushroom Dip with Crispy Herbs 56 Vegetarian Mackerel Spicy Dip 58 Shiitake Mushroom in Coconut Dip 60 Spicy Tofu Dip 62

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Introduction

Traditionally Thai people ate a vegetable-based diet with fair amount of fresh-water fish and poultry. That is to say in the old days the majority of Thais, who are Buddhists, were naturally demi-vegan. However, as the country becomes more affluent and its cuisine developed and differentiated, meat, particularly pork and poultry, plays more and more important role in Thai cooking. Vegetarianism had been confined mainly to the Chinese Buddhist temples and devoted Thai-Chinese popu- lations. Fortunately since the advent of Santi Asoke Sect advocating vegetarianism as an essential Buddhist precept about 30 years ago, Thai vegetarian cooking has been increasingly gaining momentum. In a nut shell, Thai vegetarian cooking is simply the use of non-meat ingredients in Thai cuisine which is characterized by hot, pungent and aromatic flavors. Yet due to influence of Chinese and lately other Southeast Asian cuisines as well, a number of Thai vegetarian dishes have mild flavors. Therefore, in this book of Thai Vegetarian Cooking, there are quite a lot of recipe choices to choose from.

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1-13 ok.indd 7 3/2/11 11:07:28 PM Soy Products The art of Thai vegetarian cooking centers around the use of soy products to substitute meat. This applies also to vegetarian shrimp paste which is simply the substitution of fermented soybean for shrimps and seasoned to approximate the taste of real shrimp paste. Vegetarian fermented fish was produced in the same fashion. Yet vegetarian oyster sauce is another case where Shiitake mushroom is used in place of oyster. Important soy products for meat substitution in Thai vegetarian cooking are the following.

Tofu There are two basic types – soft and hard. Soft or silk tofu is best for soup. It could as well appropriate for steaming and stir-frying, or even mashed to a tasty dip. With firm texture, hard tofu could be boiled, steamed, roasted, fried, and even grilled. It is ideal ingredient to replace meat in most dishes. Soft and hard tofu can be cooked to make turmeric yellow-skin tofu and soy sauce black-skin tofu. The firm yellow-skin tofu is used in the famous Phad Thai noodle. Tube tofu is just soft tofu in plastic tube. Tofu string or tofu ring is simply several small firm tofu fried to golden brown and puffy.

Soft tofu Hard tofu

Tube tofu Tofu string 8 Thai Vegetarian

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Dried bean curd skin Fresh bean curd skin

Bean Curd Skin This is the cream of constantly-boiled soymilk floated onto the surface, and lifted out in sheets. Bean curd skin can be found in dried and fresh form, but the dried bean curd skin is more Fried dried bean curd skin available. It is popular for soup. Fresh bean curd skin can be pressed into various forms such as hookee. With chewy texture, hookee is a perfect replacement for meat in many Thai dishes. However, it is available only in Chinatown area and some health food shops.

Hookee Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) A highly processed, chewy product made from soybean. TVP is generally used for minced meat. In Thai vegetarian cooking it is added to spicy salads, vegetarian fish curry sauce, and stir-fried with holy basil and chili.

Textured Vegetable Protein

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1-13 ok.indd 9 3/2/11 11:07:40 PM Basic Recipes Vegetarian Green Curry Paste Vegetarian Panaeng (make ¾ cup) Curry Paste 1 20 green hot chilies (make /3 cup + 1 tablespoon) 5 green spur chilies, cut into short 5 dried red spur chilies, seeded and sections soaked until tender 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon mature galangal, finely 1 teaspoon mature galangal, finely sliced sliced 1 tablespoon lemongrass, finely sliced 1 teaspoon lemongrass, sliced 1 1 /2 teaspoon kaffir lime rind, finely sliced /2 tablespoon kaffir lime rind, finely 1 teaspoon coriander root, finely sliced sliced 2 tablespoons Thai garlic, sliced 1 teaspoon coriander root, finely sliced 1 /4 cup shallot, sliced 10 cloves garlic, sliced 1 5 peppercorns /3 cup shallot, sliced 1 1 teaspoon dark fermented soybean /2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon vegetarian shrimp paste In a mortar, pound hot chilies, spur chilies and salt thoroughly. Add galangal, Finely pound dried chilies and salt lemongrass, kaffir lime rind and coriander together. Add galangal, lemongrass, kaffir root, pound to a fine paste. Add garlic, lime rind and coriander root. Pound well. shallot, peppercorns and dark fermented Add garlic, shallot, pepper and vegetarian soybean. Pound until a smooth paste is shrimp paste. Pound to a fine paste and obtained, put in a small bowl. set aside.

10 Thai Vegetarian

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Vegetarian Jungle Vegetarian Sour Curry Paste Curry Paste (make ¾ cup) (make ¼ cup) 10 dried red spur chilies, seeded and 5 dried red spur chilies, seeded and soaked until tender soaked until tender 1 1 /2 teaspoon sea salt /2 teaspoon sea salt 30 dried red hot chilies 19 cloves Thai garlic, peeled 1 2 tablespoons mature galangal, finely /2 teaspoon kaffir lime rind, finely sliced sliced 1 wild ginger root, sliced 1 4 stems lemongrass, finely sliced /4 cup shallot, sliced 2 teaspoons kaffir lime rind, finely sliced 1 teaspoon dark fermented soybean 1 tablespoon coriander root, sliced 1 teaspoon peppercorns Pound dried chilies and salt finely. Add 1 /4 cup Thai garlic, peeled garlic and kaffir lime rind, pound to a fine 1 /4 cup shallot, sliced paste. Add wild ginger, shallot and dark 1 tablespoon vegetarian shrimp paste fermented soybean. Continue pounding until the paste is smooth. Set aside. Pound dried spur chilies and salt finely. Add dried hot chilies, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime rind, coriander root, peppercorns and garlic, pound to a fine paste. Add shallot and vegetarian shrimp paste. Pound until a smooth paste is obtained, put in a small bowl.

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1-13 ok.indd 11 3/2/11 11:07:54 PM Vegetable Stock (Version 1) 8 cups water 1 salty preserved Chinese radish (50 grams), cleaned 3 coriander roots, bruised

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, cracked 1 onion (100 grams), quartered

Bring a pot of water to the boil over medium heat. Add preserved Chinese radish, coriander roots and peppercorns. When the stock starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add onion, continue cooking for an hour, remove from the heat. Strain to reserve only the stock.

Vegetable Stock (Version 2) 1 piece (500 grams) matured wax gourd, peeled 16 cups water 2 Chinese radishes (450-500 grams each), sliced 1 ear (350 grams) sweet corn, cut into sections 2 salty preserved Chinese radishes (50 grams each)

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, cracked

1/4 cup Chinese wolfberry 1 teaspoon oil reserved from fried Shiitake mushrooms

Half the wax gourd, discard seeds and membrane and wash well. Cut into big pieces, put aside. Place a pot of water over medium heat and bring to the boil. Add wax gourd, Chinese radish, sweet corn, salty preserved Chinese radishes and peppercorns. When it boils, turn the heat to low. Simmer for 30-45 minutes, add Chinese wolfberry and cook for a moment. Stir in oil and remove from the heat. Strain.

12 Thai Vegetarian

1-13 ok.indd 12 3/2/11 11:07:59 PM Savory Shiitake Mushrooms (Version 1) 6 large dried Shiitake mushrooms, soaked until tender 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 cup water 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce (Shiitake sauce) 1 tablespoon seasoning sauce 1 tablespoon sugar tapioca flour for cleaning mushrooms

Clean Shiitake mushrooms with tapioca flour and rinse well with water. Heat the wok of oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add Shiitake mushrooms and fry until fragrant. Pour in water and season with the remaining ingredients. Simmer over low heat until the mushrooms absorb all the sauce.

Savory Shiitake Mushrooms (Version 2) 8 dried Shiitake mushrooms 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup water or vegetable stock (version 2, see page 12) 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon seasoning sauce 1 tablespoon palm sugar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Wash Shiitake mushrooms well and soak in a bowl of water until tender. Squeeze to dry, fry in hot oil over moderate heat until just golden. Put aside. Drain away the oil and reserve only 1 tablespoon in the frying pan. Turn the heat to low, pour in water or vegetable stock. Season with light soy sauce, seasoning sauce, palm sugar, salt and black pepper. Stir well. When the sauce boils, add in fried Shiitake mushrooms. Toss to coat well, cover. Simmer until the mushrooms are cooked through and absorb most of the sauce.

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1-13 ok.indd 13 3/8/11 8:20:06 PM Veggie Green Curry kaeng khiaw wan

Ingredients 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 tablespoons vegetarian green curry paste (see page 10) 1 cup coconut cream 2 1/2 cups coconut milk 3 tablespoons light soy sauce 1 teaspoon palm sugar 100 grams carrot, sliced 200 grams aubergine, sliced 5 pods yard-long bean, cut into ½-inch-long pieces 3 kaffir lime leaves, torn 1/2 cup sweet basil leaves 1 /2-1 red spur chili, sliced diagonally crisp-fried kaffir lime leaves and sweet basil leaves for garnish

Preparation 1. Preheat oil in a pan over medium heat. When it is hot, sauté curry paste until fragrant. Gradually stir in coconut cream and cook until some green oil surfaces. Add coconut milk. Season well with light soy sauce and sugar. When it boils, taste and adjust as preferred. Add carrot, aubergine, yard-long bean, kaffir lime leaves, sweet basil leaves and spur chili, continue cooking until everything is done. Remove from the heat. 2. Ladle into a serving bowl and garnish with crisp-fried kaffir lime leaves and sweet basil leaves before serving. (Serves 4-6)

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