Wednesday, August 23, 2006

RCE: Garlic and Sapphires: Sort of Thai Noodles!


Sort of Thai noodles
Originally uploaded by virtualzen.
Wow, what an interesting recipe this turned out to be. I have to say that if I had never eaten good Thai before, I'd have really liked this receipe. If I had never made good Thai before, I'd not really know any better.
Having said that, the dish was actually pretty good. The flavour was strong and tangy and following in the Thai tradition it really did have the sour, salty, sweet and hot elements; not to mention the umami from the fish sauce. But... I made it better.

Like Christine, I can hardly keep from improving a recipe when I just know it can be made better. The noodles can't be blamed, the sauce itself was fine BUT there wasn't a lot of umph to this dish. Adding some extra lime, cilantro leaves, little dried shrimps and some sliced red peppers seemed to really do the trick. Not only was the dish now edible but it was REALLY good and even more Sort of Thai.

I actually think that this recipe lets down the readers. After reading about all this fabulous food in the book and how much she loves this dish; one would be tempted to think that the simplicity of it all, the sheer brilliance would come forth. It doesn't. Add what you like to the wok and enjoy it - adherence to the recipe be damned.

2 Comments:

At 3:12 p.m., Blogger kT said...

Eric, I tried this recipe, too (and I promise reports on mine soon -- I made the cake last night, but will get opinions on it in the morning).

I liked it. Since decent Thai is at least three hours away by car, I don't get it all that often and am therefore not picky.

What I changed: I added additional lime and fresh bean sprouts on top at the end and omitted the shrimp as, living in a non-metro area in the midst of the prairie, good shrimp is hard to find.

That said, I thought that this was quick and easy and tasty.

 
At 9:39 a.m., Blogger virtuallyeric said...

Hi kt! Bean sprouts! yes! The one thing that I was totally missing! I was just thinking that sugar snap peas would be good in this as well - and so would (very less traditional, I guess) asparagus tips...

The important thing is that you tried it - and not being in a major metropolitan area has its own set of challenges that those of us who live near excellent fishmongers and butchers and purveyors take for granted.

Can't wait to hear about your tale of the cake!

 

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