- 2 days ago
Ready Jet Cook - Season 3 Episode 2 - Thai Specialties
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馃帴
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00:00Hey friends, Jet Tila here with another episode of Ready Jet Cook,
00:04where we break down the core techniques of Asian cooking
00:07from shop to plate, one dish at a time.
00:10Today, we're making tom yum soup and Thai cashew chicken,
00:13specialties that have defined Thai American cuisine for decades.
00:17And they're two of the first dishes I learned how to cook
00:21in my family's restaurants.
00:27We're making a Thai version of a Chinese American classic cashew chicken.
00:32I bet you can't guess what my first ingredient is.
00:36Cashews, pretty nuts, right?
00:38If you didn't know, cashews proliferate all over southern Thailand.
00:41It's a nut that we grow and we consume quite often in Thailand.
00:45You want to make sure that you're buying roasted cashews versus raw.
00:49Cashews, if you didn't know, have a nice kind of a buttery texture.
00:52They're not really like a firm, crunchy nut.
00:55If you can't find toasted cashews, I like to throw them in an air fryer
00:59for about six to eight minutes and then they're perfect.
01:02And that bag of old cashews in your pantry, get rid of it.
01:05If you want to make them last longer, just store them in the fridge
01:08in an airtight container.
01:09If you can't find cashews or you don't like cashews, no big deal.
01:12I like peanuts a lot as an alternative for this dish.
01:15All right, I got a couple more things to grab.
01:18I can't leave without grabbing another essential Thai ingredient,
01:23ngam pik pao.
01:24Well, let me explain it a little better.
01:26Ngam pik pao literally translates to roasted chili paste,
01:30also known as chili paste in soybean oil.
01:32It's totally unique in the chili paste world.
01:35The flavors come from roasted garlic and shallots
01:38and dried shrimp and fish sauce.
01:40It is the unsung hero of the Thai pantry.
01:43So this is really the secret that takes Thai cashew chicken over the top.
01:46I'll show you when we get into the kitchen.
01:52I'm sure you've tried cashew chicken in a Chinese restaurant
01:55and it's because this dish originated in Chinese American restaurants.
02:00But the dish was so popular that Thai restaurants felt they were missing out
02:04and had to get into the game.
02:06So they created their own original version and this is it.
02:10Let's start by breaking this dish down.
02:12The first thing I do with the chicken breast is find the graining
02:15and the graining is kind of going the way my fingers are.
02:18So let's cut into three to four inch pieces with the grain.
02:22Once you cut with the grain,
02:24you take each block and now cut against the grain,
02:27but I'm not going to cut perpendicular, straight up and down.
02:31I'm going to angle that knife slightly.
02:33So when I make my slice, I pull a tile off that piece of chicken.
02:38Now just keep repeating that tile.
02:40So you're not only cutting against the grain to keep the chicken moist,
02:44you're also creating a nice flat surface,
02:47which is going to cook up really quickly and evenly.
02:52This shape of protein in the pan will also pick up a lot of those delicious seasonings
02:59we're going to use.
03:00So there you go.
03:01Chicken is sliced into perfect tiles.
03:04So as usual, I'm using a gel board or a plastic board to contain my raw proteins
03:09so I don't cross contaminate.
03:11Now that I'm done with the chicken, I can put this away,
03:14wash my hands and we'll move on and stay clean.
03:17So in terms of veg prep, why don't we turn this into a mini knife skills class?
03:21The way I like to hold a knife is above the handle,
03:25I'm going to put my thumb and index finger on the blade
03:28and then I'm going to wrap my three fingers around the handle.
03:32And this is what we call in the kitchen a pinch grip.
03:34And now the knife is an extension of my arm.
03:36Get tons of leverage on it.
03:38Okay.
03:40Onions, bell peppers, pretty simple.
03:42This is how I like to cut a bell pepper.
03:44Remember the Tila tile sliced dice.
03:47Let's make everything a tile first.
03:49So tile from the back of the pepper,
03:51the tile from the front of the pepper,
03:54get rid of the stem.
03:56And now we're going to tile out the rest of the pepper
03:58by just inserting our knife into a tile,
04:01turning flat and rolling the seed pod cut away from the pepper.
04:08See, look at that.
04:09Perfect seed pod and no seeds in the actual red pepper.
04:14It's good practice to repeat your motions.
04:17So instead of like cutting this bell pepper all the way through,
04:21since I have a green pepper, I'm going to do tiles first.
04:24It's the way we do it in a pro kitchen.
04:27Let's get rid of that stem button because we've tiled it perfectly.
04:31And I'm going to do the same here.
04:33Insert the knife, flatten it out.
04:37And that way I can see the seed pod rib lines.
04:40And we've got perfect tiles.
04:43I'm only going to need half of each pepper.
04:45So this way I can be neat and tidy about it
04:49and save this for my next dish.
04:52I like these little French fry cuts called battenets.
04:56But if you love dices, that's fine.
04:59The only thing I ask is you keep the sizes relatively the same.
05:03So they cook up nice and evenly.
05:05But these are battenets.
05:07They are French fry cuts.
05:08They're about a quarter inch wide and about two to three inches long.
05:13So the difference between red and green bell pepper is really just the flavor.
05:19Reds are fruity and sweet.
05:21Greens have that kind of like chlorophyll grassy note.
05:25So for the onions, I'm going to stay away from battenet.
05:28I'm actually going to do a large dice just so I can have some variance in the dish.
05:32I take the tip and the root side completely off.
05:37I like to split in half.
05:38I'm only going to need half the onion.
05:40And I like to peel the onion while it's sliced in half
05:43because I think it's easier and more efficient.
05:46And I'm going to do dices here.
05:48So a large dice is three quarter inch.
05:50So I'm going to go thirds first and then thirds this way.
05:58Okay.
05:58Last few things.
05:59Garlic and chilies.
06:01I'm going to do the grandma garlic smash.
06:05So keep the garlic closer to your body.
06:08Allow the handle to be off the board so you can get a flat smash.
06:13That doesn't work because your knuckles get in the way.
06:15And then, not a pressure, smash.
06:18Don't hit your camera person.
06:20All right, at home.
06:22Position, smash.
06:24And then I'm going to do a few passing cuts.
06:27Perfect.
06:28I think chili and garlic and Thai cooking have to be together.
06:31We have these things called mortar and pestles.
06:34And most grandmas will just smash the chili and garlic together in the mortar.
06:39And they just leave a pile of that chili garlic and they start all their stir fries that way.
06:44Two is reasonable.
06:46Three, four is pretty spicy.
06:48I'm going to leave that up to you.
06:50I want to feel the heat.
06:51I don't want to get hurt by the heat.
06:53So I'm going to leave it there.
06:54I'm also using dried chilies for this recipe.
06:57It really is an homage to the Chinese side of this dish.
07:01And speaking of that connection between Thai and Chinese cuisine,
07:05believe it or not, most of us Thai people do have Chinese roots.
07:09For instance, our family's last name, Tila, was actually Say, T-S-E.
07:13So we're not only Chinese by blood, most Thai restaurant families are actually Chinese.
07:19So there's a very deep, long connection between Chinese cuisine and Thai cuisine.
07:24Coming up, I'm going to show you how to get all these ingredients into the pan.
07:28All right, so my veggies are prepped.
07:30My chicken is sliced.
07:31Let's get into this Thai stir fry.
07:33So for this dish, I'm using a skillet, a big skillet.
07:36The larger, the better.
07:38You want as much surface area as possible so all the ingredients can cook evenly and quickly.
07:43I'm always starting with a neutral oil.
07:46I think there's a lot of debate in the world.
07:48Canola, peanut, vegetable, whatever you like to cook with as long as it gets a really high smoke point.
07:54It's really important to preheat your pan on a common stove if you're not cooking in a commercial kitchen because
08:00you want this thing to get searing really quickly.
08:03So we're going right with chicken breast and use that surface area of the pan because you want coast to
08:12coast searing.
08:14I'm looking at the veggies and the onions look a little denser and square so they're going to take a
08:20little longer.
08:21So we're going to take a little bit of water, garlic, chili, and get that moving.
08:24It is critical to make sure all of your prep or your mise en place is ready because once that
08:30pan is at like 400 degrees, you can't stop and start or you're going to lose the sear.
08:36Time for dried chilies and, of course, cashews.
08:43All right, bell peppers are going in late here because they are cut a little thinner.
08:47That batonette is going to cook faster.
08:49The whole idea is by the time the stir fry is done, every ingredient from the thickest to the smallest
08:55is timed out and cooks evenly.
08:59All right, we've got to sear.
09:02Let's get some sauces in there to start building that gravy.
09:06The chicken is really nice and brown.
09:09It looks more firm and that's exactly what I want.
09:13Thai oyster sauce.
09:15If you've cooked with me before, we've used Chinese oyster sauce and it's bigger in salt.
09:20Thai oyster sauce is actually more mellow and sweet.
09:23And then since we're doing Thai food, I'm also using fish sauce.
09:28Chili paste in soybean oil.
09:33Finally, I love adding a little pinch of MSG.
09:38MSG is the secret that's going to make your home dishes taste like the restaurant.
09:42So visually what I'm looking for is that sauce that's sticking down to a glaze.
09:46Chicken is good.
09:47Veggies are good.
09:48I'm ready to plate.
09:56Since it's Thai food, I'm always going to pair this with the king of grains, jasmine rice.
10:02The crunchiness, the spiciness, the deep flavor of this dish is going to complement really well.
10:08And always match your utensils to your cuisine.
10:11Chinese food, I might use chopsticks.
10:12But in Thai culture, if I'm eating jasmine rice, I'm always using a spoon.
10:17Before I take a bite, I'm going to top this with just a little bit of that white pepper.
10:21You're going to find that white pepper is a very common topping condiment for a lot of Thai dishes.
10:26And it adds that little floral note right at the end.
10:29I'm trying to compose the perfect bite.
10:31Peppers, onions, cashews, chicken on that jasmine rice.
10:35Mmm.
10:41Yo, that was not a TV bite.
10:43This is so good.
10:44Let me take another bite.
10:47That flavor profile of hot, sour, salty, sweet, the bell peppers, and the umami flavors really bring me back to
10:54being a young cook in our Thai restaurants.
10:57This is the dish that I would watch the cooks make and want to get a little bite of.
11:02So before the orders went out, I got a little courtesy bite of a lot of these plates.
11:07And this takes me right back to that fun memory.
11:09So we've covered the essential Thai sauces in cashew chicken.
11:13But next, I'm going to show you some essential Thai aromatics that make up tom yum soup.
11:18Stick around.
11:19Let's get into another dish that embodies Thai flavor, tom yum soup.
11:23This is one of the most frequently ordered Thai dishes in American restaurants.
11:27Let's get into it.
11:33Tom yum really embodies the magic of why people love Thai food so much.
11:37There's a specific trinity of herbs that goes into everything.
11:41And this is really the cheat code to Thai food.
11:44This is lemongrass.
11:45It's a stalk that grows out of the ground.
11:47I'm going to show you how to cut it up in the kitchen.
11:48But this gives you an amazing citrusy experience.
11:52And the essential oil is called citronel.
11:55Next, galanga.
11:57Now, commonly mistaken for ginger.
12:00This is not ginger at all.
12:02And you can tell because it has a waxy surface.
12:04This is what we call a rhizome.
12:07So it grows underground horizontally.
12:10And then the big shoots come up that kind of look like lemongrass.
12:13But it's got an amazing peppery, piney smell.
12:17It's going to be a lot more dense than ginger.
12:19So you don't really eat this directly.
12:22We're going to slice it up really thin.
12:23And it's going to lend its flavor into our broths.
12:26What you're looking for for fresh galanga,
12:28if the skin looks super dry and cracked, not fresh.
12:31This is actually perfect.
12:34Next, all right, I'm going to break the rules a little
12:38and show you what Thai lime leaves look like.
12:42So the Thai lime leaf, it looks like two leaves stuck together.
12:46Very tough.
12:47It's a pretty coarse leaf.
12:49So again, we're not going to eat it directly
12:50unless we slice it really thin,
12:52which I'll show you in the kitchen.
12:53But we really prize it for its amazing citrus aroma.
12:58It is packed full of fragrance.
13:00And that fragrance is going to be part of that magic of tom yum soup.
13:04I'm going to show you how these all come together in the kitchen.
13:11So yum is a Thai word that translates to that perfect balance point
13:16between hot, sour, salty, sweet, savory.
13:18Think about the dishes you know.
13:20Tom yum, yes.
13:21Yum nil, which is beef salad.
13:23Yum salads.
13:24It's actually a Thai word.
13:25It's not just like a cheesy dad joke that my kids can't stand.
13:28So tom yum really embodies these five flavors.
13:31It really is a ubiquitous soup in Thailand.
13:34And I've been making this since I was a kid.
13:36So I'm going to start with lemongrass.
13:39Now lemongrass can be a little daunting in the market.
13:41I'm going to teach you exactly what to do with it.
13:44So this is the root end, which is in the ground.
13:46And this is the leaf end.
13:48Find the midpoint of the root ball and cut that right there.
13:53If you're growing lemongrass at home in the garden, cut it there, and this will continue
13:58to grow and proliferate.
14:00You're going to have a lemongrass forest really quickly.
14:02So now that we've cut the base of the lemongrass off, I want you to cut the lemongrass about
14:0850% down from the top.
14:10So we get rid of the top and the bottom.
14:12This is the usable portion.
14:13I want you to remove any of the looser leaves because those looser leaves don't have as
14:18much flavor as that hardy core.
14:20We finally have made it to the part you're going to cook with.
14:24For this soup, you have a few choices.
14:26You can slice thin, exposing a lot of surface area, or you can cut it into wider pieces,
14:35smash it to expose the essential oils, and then remove it later.
14:38There you go.
14:39And with these pieces, I will cut the thin slices.
14:44Lemongrass, done.
14:45Meet your new aromatic friend, Galanga.
14:48Because this is a soup base, I'm not worried about peeling it.
14:52I just want to cut it into very thin slices so it can impart its aroma into the soup stock.
14:59There you go.
15:00And the third ingredient in our Thai Trinity that we spoke about at the store is Thai lime
15:06leaf.
15:06For soup stock, I'm just going to tear them apart so they can give us their citrus flavor.
15:12And I'm going to reserve some for garnish.
15:14I'm going to use most of the leaves to flavor our stock, and I'm going to show you how to
15:18cut chiffonade Thai lime leaves.
15:20Place the leaves on top of each other, roll them into a tight parcel, bring your knife,
15:25and very, very, very thin slices.
15:28In Thai, we call this soy, S-O-I.
15:31And that means very, very thin strips, similar to cow soy.
15:36All right, heat.
15:36The level of spice is always personal.
15:40My go-to is two Thai chilies because I think that's medium hot.
15:44But if you're sensitive, go down to one Thai chili or switch over to Serrano chilies.
15:48That's fine.
15:49But I'll do two to three on this one.
15:51So these are my Tom Yum aromatics.
15:53If you find yourself making a ton of Tom Yum, make a ton of this aromatics and then
15:57separate out into bags.
15:58So all you have to do is take that parcel and throw it into the water.
16:01To continue this stock, I'm going to add that to my hot water.
16:06And to get that umami chicken flavor, I'm going to add chicken powder.
16:10But in my house, we call this chicken power because it's such a powerful seasoning and
16:14I use it in everything.
16:16This is also going to make this Tom Yum into a quick version of Tom Yum.
16:22So in our family's restaurants, we used to use a ton of chicken bones.
16:25But over the last 50 years of Thai restaurants, the truth is most restaurants now are doing
16:30this recipe with chicken powder.
16:33So I'm actually giving you some secret restaurant tips.
16:37My family opened our first restaurant in 1978, our grocery store in 1972.
16:42And back then we were the first grocery store and one of only three Thai restaurants.
16:47So I was lucky enough to watch kind of Thai food proliferate in America.
16:52And like all good Asian restaurant families, my restaurants and markets were my daycare.
16:56They were my summer job.
16:58They were my winter job.
17:00I literally grow up working in every position in the restaurants and the markets.
17:05All these aromatics need to infuse.
17:07So I'm going to give it 20 to 30 minutes.
17:12When I get back, I'm going to build out this quick soup.
17:15You don't want to miss it.
17:17All right, team.
17:18I can smell all those Tom Yum aromatics coming together.
17:21Let's finish up the soup.
17:23And the first thing we want is straw mushrooms.
17:26Now, these are those kind of really cool shaped mushrooms you see at the Thai restaurant.
17:31They're called straw mushrooms because they actually grow in straw beds.
17:33But when they actually pop, they look like little round spheres.
17:38In order to get that mushroom shape, you actually have to peel them.
17:42When you're at the market, make sure to find whole peeled straw mushrooms.
17:46If you don't want to use canned mushrooms, any fresh mushrooms would be delicious in this soup.
17:51So all I have to do is strain them now.
17:54So as you can see, these whole peeled mushrooms give you that really classic mushroom cap shape.
18:00Throw them right into the soup.
18:02Next is going to be the shrimp.
18:03I like tail off medium size.
18:06But if you're doing like a fancy meal and you want to go like extra jumbo or colossal shrimp,
18:11I think that would be super cool.
18:13These are going to cook fast.
18:14So I'm going to finish seasoning.
18:15Most prolific seasoning ingredient in Thai cooking is fish sauce.
18:20Fermented anchovies.
18:21This will give you a nice saltiness and a lot of umami.
18:24This chili paste is so unique in flavor.
18:27It's almost like an onion jam with a little bit of shrimp flavor.
18:34Next, it wouldn't be Thai food without acid.
18:37In Thai cooking, the only citrus we use is limes.
18:41We don't use lemons.
18:42We don't use oranges.
18:43These are known as Persian limes.
18:45They're the larger, juicier limes versus those key limes, which is the smaller ones.
18:57Before you serve this, you always want to make sure you taste and adjust.
19:00You know, the recipe is going to be great, but the fine tuning is up to you.
19:04If you need a little more salt, that's fish sauce.
19:07If you need a little more sweet and umami, that's going to be the chili paste.
19:10And if you need some sour, that's going to be the lime juice.
19:15That's pretty spot on.
19:17I'm ready to plate this.
19:18I like to garnish the oatmeal with three simple garnishes.
19:20That's cilantro, scallions, and a little bit of that Thai lime leaf.
19:24It's pretty authentic to leave the Trinity pieces in.
19:28Like you can see these amazing pieces of galanga, lemongrass, and Thai lime leaf.
19:32I prefer that look, but if you're serving this soup to people who've never had it, either warn them or
19:39strain it out.
19:40I prefer you don't because I think it makes the soup look gorgeous.
19:44All right, simple garnish.
19:46Some scallions, some cilantro or coriander, and then a little bit of those Thai lime leaves.
19:54Simple, humble, yet complex in flavor.
19:58One of my favorite soups.
19:59One last note about proteins.
20:01This is shrimp, and if you have guests who don't like shrimp or allergic, change up your proteins.
20:05You could do fish.
20:07You could do any combination of proteins that works because the soup really is the soul.
20:12I want to make sure to grab a piece of mushroom and a piece of shrimp.
20:18There's that perfect bite.
20:23It's warming.
20:24It's comforting.
20:25It's got so much umami.
20:27The bright citrus notes of the lime touch against all the citrus flavors of the lemongrass.
20:33I really love this soup.
20:35It's great as an appetizer.
20:37You can serve a larger bowl as an entree.
20:40And we also throw noodles in this to make Tom Yum noodle soup in Thailand.
20:45Amazing.
20:45Now that you've mastered the yum, you know, hot, sour, salty, sweet, savory, you're ready to take on Thai cooking.
20:51So there's your crash course on some key Thai flavors with these two iconic specialties.
20:57I'll see you very soon for more of my favorite Asian dishes on Ready Jet Cook.
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