Wednesday 3 July 2013

Spicy Prawn soup with Lemongrass Tom Yam Goong






One of the best known Thai dishes abroad, this flavourful but spicy soup is hot, sour and fragrant, an ideal accompaniment to other Thai dishes and rice. The Kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemon grass are what gives this soup its tangy flavour, but are not meant to be eaten, so tell your guests to avoid them while eating the broth, prawns and mushrooms.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients
4 cups (1litre) Thai Chicken Stock
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 in (5cm) fresh galangal root, sliced 3-4 coriander roots, washed (optional) 3 stems lemongrass, thick bottom part only, dry outer sheath discarded, smashed with back of a cleaver
6-9 medium prawns or shrimp, shells intact
1 cup (5 ox/150g) fresh o canned straw mushrooms or small button mushrooms, sliced in half 5-10 bird’s-eye chillies, smashed 3 tablespoons lime juice, or to taste 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce, or to taste 3 spring fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)



Bring the stock to a boil and add kaffir lime leaves, galangal, coriander roots and lemongrass. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the prawns or shrimp, mushrooms and chillies, and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the lime juice and fish sauce (which is very salty) to taste. The soup should be spicy-sour and a little salty. Serve garnished with fresh coriander leaves (cilantro).


Note: Do not overcook the prawns or they will become tough. Use home-made chicken stock in this dish for the best flavour. Any variety of seafood may be substituted for or added to the prawns – including sliced fish, crab or squid.

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Som Tam Salad



Ingredients for 2 servings:
  • 1 or 2 papaya
  • 2 tsp of toasted peanuts
  • 2 cloves of peeled garlic
  • 1-2 fresh Thai birds eye chilli (or more to if you want more spicy)
  • 2 tsp of sugar
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • juice of ½ lime
  • 1½ tablespoons of fish sauce
  • 1-2 tablespoons of Thai snake beans (or green beans) cut into 1 inch sticks
Directions:

  1. Roughly crush a small handful of unsalted peanuts with mortar and pestle. Set aside. Wipe the mortar and pestle clean.
  2. Peel the papaya ), shred it with a shredder to thin strips and soak them in cold water while you prepare the rest of the salad. This makes the papaya crunchier and gets rid of any excess starch from the swede.
  3. Cut the end of the green beans and then cut into strips
  4. Take the chillies and peeled garlic and add them in the mortar. Gentle start crushing the ingredients in the mortar to release the flavours, which will be the base of the dish.
  5. Add the crushed peanuts and mix well with a spoon
  6. Add the shredded papaya and continue crushing the ingredients with the pestle to combine the ingredients. Also using a spoon to make sure all the ingredients are covered evenly.
  7. Finally add sugar, tomatoes, beans, lime juice and fish sauce and mix again.
  8. Now it is ready to serve on a plate with crushed peanuts as garnish

Friday 21 June 2013

Our Prize Draw!!


We have an exciting prize to give away: The Big Bang Theory Season One DVD because as we found out
the gang at Big Bang Theory always eat Thai food once a week! See this YouTube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYOkaAfOrWY

To enter:
Like us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SurinRestaurant?ref=hl and share this post

Prize draw will close on Monday 24th June at midnight (UK time) and the winner will be picked and notified message on Tuesday 25th June on how to claim their prize

Don't forget we still have spaces for Friday and Saturday evening, call: 01843 592001 to book a table.

Today’s places to visit in Isaan region:

The Elephant Villages of Surin: located 60 minutes drive from Surin Town and various displays of the elephants.

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Thai Red Curry With Chicken

Thai Red Curry With Chicken


Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
12 oz chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch strips
4 oz green beans, cut to 1 inch lengths
2 small eggplants, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 cups water
3 cups canned coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt & pepper, to taste

How to:

  • Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat
  • Add curry paste, stir about one minute
  • Add chicken, stir 2 minutes
  • Add green bean and eggplant pieces, stir 1 minute
  • Add broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce - bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat, simmer until vegetables are tender
  • Season with salt and pepper, stir in basil and serve

Friday 14 June 2013


Thai Pork and egg stew(Khai phalo muu saam chan het haawm)


                                            Prep time: 20-30 mins 
                                            Cooking time: 90 mins

A Chinese inspired Thai stew, which we don't have on our menus but serve at home as a light lunch.

Serves 5 people

The Ingredients:
400g pork belly (sliced bacon) , cut into 3cm (1.5″) cubes
4 eggs
One packet of Tofu (Cubed)
Vegetable Oil for frying
125g palm sugar or sugar
3 star anise1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder (Phalo Powder)
¼ cup fish sauce
2 litres of water
2 tablespoon dark sweet sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
5 large cloves garlic

Pepper to season

How to cook:

Preparation: Boil egg in a pan for one minute then put in cold water to cool. Once cool, dry the egg and peel the shell.


Cut the tofu block into 2cm (1″) cubes and also fry in a pan until golden brown.
Cut your pork into cube and fry in a pan with a bit of oil.  When the pork start to brown on all sizes.

Next In a pot on a low heat, melt the palm sugar (or sugar), and slowly bring it to caramelize to deep amber color.  Add water to control how the sugar is caremelised.


Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise and Chinese five-spice powder and combine the ingredients. 

Fill the pot with all the water.

Add the pork and eggs and the tofu into the pot


Finally add the  sweet black soy sauce, fish sauce, light soy sauce and oyster sauce.


Cover and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour or until the pork is soft and the eggs gets a nice brown colour.  

                                                Enjoy with noodles or steamed rice!!

Thursday 13 June 2013

A very Asian Breakfast


This morning, I settled for a Japanese style morning breakfast of Miso soup and rice.  You may think it is slightly out of context for a Thai restaurant blog but my point is that not only Thai people think rice is an important component of the day.

Breakfast is essentially like any other meal of the day and rice can be eaten in it's many forms.  The main difference is some Thai people may have Rice leftover from the day before.

                                                            What do they do with this rice?
http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/rice-soup/
They make Rice Porridge (of course!), the old rice is boiled with water in a pan until a sort of soup like consistency and can be eaten with fried meat, boiled egg and fresh vegetables.

I know a friend of mine, who work in an English cafe in the mornings.  Often eat this for breakfast with pieces of fried English sausages!

Question:  What do you normally have for breakfast?

Tuesday 11 June 2013

The difficult first post

Hello new blog readers, I think people will agree that the first post on a blog is probably the hardest to write so here we go. A small introduction to us, we are a Thai Restaurant in Ramsgate, Kent, England.

A picture of the Ramsgate harbour
We have been running for 10 years and along the way we have been reviewed by national newspapers and been included in national food guides, will explain in more detail in other posts as trying to keep this post short for now!  

We also have a charity as well, called the Surin Village School Charity, which also has a blog.  Will have a link on the blog on our page soon.

In the meantime, please like us on Facebook: