The first Thai restaurant in London was opened during the 1960’s by HRH Princess Jurairat Nasiriman (1910-2000) (พระเจ้าวรวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าจุไรรัตนศิริมาน), the granddaughter of HRH King Mongkut (Rama IV). Princess Jurairat chose to offer this salad on the menu and named it “Salad of Thai Milkweed Flower“. (Other names: Cowslip creeper, Telosma Cordata)
This fresh and tasty salad is so vibrant and easy for us to enjoy, it takes in the very basic flavors, sweet, salty, hot, and sour, and wraps them in a creamy coat of reduced coconut cream. The milkweed flower buds retain their crunchiness and their pleasant fragrance with only a gentle and very quick blanching in sweet boiling water.
This classy food is cooked in less than 10 minutes and the princess presents it with an extra crunch of deep-fried sweet shallots and garlic and pleasantly decorates it with fresh red long chili juliennes and reduced coconut cream.
Everything you need to lift your spirits.
Besides being tasty and very easy to make, its cooking philosophy teaches us to be humble with our actions so not to obstruct the final goal, and to preserve the fundamental characters of the ingredients we use.
1piecefresh red long chili (phrik chee fa) (พริกชี้ฟ้าแดง)cut into juliennes
Salad Dressing
1pieceChinese garlic (กระเทียมจีน)medium size
5-6piecesfresh bird’s eye chili (kee noo suan) (พริกขี้หนูสวนสด)
1 1/2tablespoonslime juice (น้ำมะนาว)
1 1/2tablespoonsfish sauce (น้ำปลา)
1/2tablespoongranulated sugar (น้ำตาลทราย)
1/3cupcoconut milk (หางกะทิ)reduced to about 4 tablespoons
Instructions
Method
In boiling water, cook the shrimp until just done, for about 1-2 minutes.
Peel the shrimp and slice them halfway. Remove the black vein. Set aside.
In the same water, cook the pork until done, for about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
Add granulated sugar to clean water and bring to the boil.
Place the flower buds on a strainer and dip the flowers in the sweetened boiling water three times, 1-2 second each time.
Transfer the flowers immediately to an ice bath, Strain and set aside
Method Salad Dressing
In a small saucepan over low heat bring the coconut cream to a boil, mix it constantly and keep stirring until the coconut cream thickens and small oil drops appear on its surface. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
In a mortar and pestle pound the garlic to a smooth paste, add chilies and roughly bruise them
Add lime juice
Add fish sauce
Add granulated sugar
Method Combine Salad
In a serving bowl, mix the cooked shrimps, the cooked pork and salad dressing
Add the blanched milkweed flower buds, mix well
Add half of the reduced coconut cream (about 2 tablespoons)
Add crispy deep fried garlic and shallots, toss everything gently to mix
Decorate with the rest of the reduced coconut cream and fresh red long chili juliennes
Serve immediately
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Tom Yam is a type of soup with distinct sharp hot and sour flavors, scented with pleasant citrusy aroma.
Tom Yam is known to seduce many westerners to fall in love with Thailand, its people and food. Many trips memories to Thailand were written in diaries, others are etched on film but all are stained by the Tom Yam charm.
I still remember with vivid colors my first bowl of Tom Yam, in the night market of the old neighborhood on a hot night in a ragged, unfashionable part of Bangkok. Where the smell of cooking and the glare of florescent lights decorated the alley where JeMoi used to own a restaurant, a very simple and very good one, decorated with cheap bamboo chairs and peeling orange walls. I would enjoy watching the streets of the early night turning into mornings, eating, drinking and sweating. It was hard to say if I was sweating from the hot and humid weather, the cheap whiskey or JeMoi’s spicy food. I still smile when I think of her, standing by my table with a winning smile, as if she knew how much I enjoy the food.
The sweet leading sour coconut cream based sauce, enriched and thickened with fragrant freshly roasted peanuts and golden beans are a wonderful coat to dress the sweet shrimp meat. The aromatics are being extracted in every possible way, by roasting, and frying, boiling and reducing, pounding and grounding. All the culinary methods are being fully employed to guarantee an absolute real first class dish.
If you want to start some real Thai cooking going at your home, have the time and access to all the ingredients, than I really want you to try this dish. The building blocks of flavors work so well here and it will open you a great window to see the beginning of what is possible in Thai cuisine.
This is an aromatic stew that leans into the sweet spectrum of the palate. An all-time Thai favorite, moo palo was introduced locally by the Chinese-Cantonese and Tae Chiew immigrants who flocked to the Kingdom in the early nineteenth century.
The name of this dish originates from two Chinese words: pah ziah and lou.
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Practical and kitchen-tested recipes with a mix of theory, history, psychology, and Siamese culture tidbits.
Access to Thaifoodmaster’s constantly growing library of prime professional classes, articles, recipes and videos on Siamese culinary topics, available nowhere else in English.
Gain access to NEW MONTHLY masterclasses as they become available.
1-1 support from Hanuman to help you achieve your professional Thai culinary goals
The opportunity to join a monthly live two-hour videoconference where I can answer your questions.
one year access for the price of 3 days in-person training.
You will get everything you need to:
When you design or build a new menu for an event or restaurant or even prepare for dinner with friends.
Finally !
Master your Thai cooking skills and expand your repertoire.