Home > Thai food recipes by their origin > Traditional Recipes > Thai Salad of Chicken and Seven Vegetables Blanched in Coconut Milk and Served With Sour-Salty and Sweet Coconut Curry Dressing, Crispy Fried Shallots and Roasted Sesame Seeds(yam thawaai ; ยำทวาย)
Thai Salad of Chicken and Seven Vegetables Blanched in Coconut Milk and Served With Sour-Salty and Sweet Coconut Curry Dressing, Crispy Fried Shallots and Roasted Sesame Seeds (yam thawaai ; ยำทวาย)
This recipe would probably change your perception about the term “salad”, maybe because its dressing has a multi-layered, curry-like personality, rather than the common sour vinaigrette-like dressing, or maybe because it takes some good few hours to prepare, somewhat longer than simply opening a bag of hydroponic greens.
This salad is the fruit of the dedication of court ladies from aristocratic households, that for centuries perfected and elaborated on the art of cooking through the detailed and calculated processes, to create sophisticated dishes that are not only delicious but also very healthy and visually pleasing.
These ladies made a very large commitment to small things, and they attended all their time and efforts to make minor things better and getting the small things just right.
Thanks to the work of people like Maawm Luaang Neuuang Ninrat (หม่อมหลวงเนื่อง นิลรัตน์), who during her entire life she, first handed, prepared, taught and wrote numerous books about Thai Royal cuisine; today we can experiment, recreate and preserve the flavors of the art of Thai Royal cooking.
Maawm Luaang Neuuang Ninrat (1913-2010)
In times when traditional and elaborate recipes are gradually being displaced by fast food and trendier fusion plates, it is important from time to time to pause, step back and adopt the calm pace of times-passed-by through family gatherings, slow cooking and slow eating; and this dish offers exactly that opportunity.
yam thawaai has a profound and sophisticated taste. The sauce, almost unreal, thick, creamy and deep, has a rounded sour-salty and sweet taste with after notes of smokiness from the dried fish. The vegetables, each obtains a unique consistency, a shiny glaze and retains their inner texture thanks to the way the vegetables are cut and the order in which they are blanched in the coconut milk.
The salad is finished with thickened coconut cream, crispy deep-fried shallots, and fragrant roasted sesame seeds, a marvelous crunch that adds nicely to the intricate flavors of this hard-to-find and difficult-to-make dish.
(Recipe adapted from a talk by Mr. Polsri Kachacheewa given in his cooking radio program. February 2003)
Salad of Chicken and Seven Vegetables Blanched in Coconut Milk and Served With Sour-Salty and Sweet Coconut Curry Dressing, Crispy Fried Shallots and Roasted Sesame Seeds (yam thawaai ; ยำทวาย)
Hanuman from Thaifoodmaster
Salad of Chicken and Seven Vegetables Blanched in Coconut Milk and Served With Sour-Salty and Sweet Coconut Curry Dressing, Crispy Fried Shallots and Roasted Sesame Seeds
Place the smoked grey featherback fish over the charcoal grill, if flames burst than your grill is probably too hot. Place some ash over the charcoals or wait for a while before continuing. นำปลาฉลาดมาย่างบนเตาถ่านโดยใช้ไฟอ่อน ย่างจนเนื้อปลากรอบ
With your fingers break the fish meat into small chunks. แกะเอาแต่เนื้อปลา
In a pestle and mortar pound the fish meat fine and set aside นำเนื้อปลาที่ได้มาโขลกให้ละเอียด เสร็จแล้วพักเอาไว้
Soak the chilies in water until soft. เริ่มทำน้ำพริกเครื่องน้ำยำแดงโดยนำพริกแห้งแกะเม็ดออกแล้วแช่น้ำให้นิ่ม
In a mortar and pestle, start pounding the chilies with salt as an abrasive. โขลกพริกแห้งเม็ดใหญ่ที่แช่น้ำจนนุ่มแล้ว กับ เกลือป่นให้ละเอียค
Add lemon grass and galangal ใส่ตะไคร้ และ ข่า ที่ซอยละเอียด ลงไปโขลก
pound to a fine paste โขลกให้ละเอียด
Add shallots and garlic and pound everything to a fine paste ใส่กระเทียม และ หอมแดง ลงไปโขลกต่อให้ละเอียด
Add gabpi and mix well. ใส่กะปิลงไปโขลกให้เข้ากันดี
Add the ground smoked featherback fish meat ใส่เนื้อปลาฉลาดลงไป
Mix well together โขลกให้เข้ากันดี
Bring coconut cream to a boil over medium heat ตั้งหม้อไฟกลาง ใส่กะทิ 2 ถ้วยลงไป
Add the curry paste พอกะทิเดือดแล้ว ใส่น้ำพริกที่โขลกไว้ลงไป
Wash the pestle and mortar with coconut cream to collect all the leftovers curry paste…. and add to the pot. ล้างน้ำพริกที่ติดโขลกด้วยกะทิ เก็บให้หมด ;-)
Stir well คนให้เข้ากัน
Season with tamarind paste ปรุงรสด้วยน้ำมะขามเปียกข้น ๆ
Season with fish sauce ปรุงรสด้วยน้ำปลา
Season with palm sugar ปรุงรสด้วยน้ำตาลปี๊บ
Stir well and cook for 5-10 minutes until fragrant. set aside. คนให้เข้ากัน ผัดให้หอม แล้วพักเอาไว้
Roast sesame seeds until fragrant and goldenม and set aside นำงาขาวมาคั่วให้มีกลิ่นหอมและสีเหลือง เสร็จแล้วพักเอาไว้
Deep fry chopped shallots until crispy and set aside เจียวหอมแดงซอยให้หอมกรอบ เสร็จแล้วพักเอาไว้
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. นำหัวกะทิลงไปเคี่ยวจนข้น เสร็จแล้วพักเอาไว้
Bring the coconut milk into a boil, (if using canned coconut cream, dilute couple tablespoon of canned coconut cream with water to substitute). ตั้งไฟกลางต้มหางกะทิจนเดือด
Add chicken and briefly cook for couple of minutes, or until only just bit more than half done. Immediately remove the chicken and set aside. (The meat will cook further from the residual heat and the chicken will remain moist and tender). นำเนื้อไก่ลงไปลวกในหางกะทิที่เดือดจนเกือบสุก เสร็จแล้วใส่จานพักเอาไว้
With your fingers, tear the chicken into thin threads. Set aside เอาเนื้อไก่มาฉีก ๆ ตามยาวให้เป็นเส้น ๆ พักเอาไว้
Place the water morning glory on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำผักบุ้งอ่อน ๆ หั่นเฉียง ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
place the chopped cabbage on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำกะหล่ำปลี ซอยละเอียด ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
place finely chopped yard long beans on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำถั่วฝักยาวหั่นเฉียง ๆ ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
place the bamboo shoots on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำหน่อไม้ต้มหั่นเป็นเส้นยาว ๆ ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
place the eggplant on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำมะเขือยาวหั่นเป็นชิ้นยาว ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
place the bean sprouts on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำถั่วงอก ที่เด็ดหัวทิ้งแล้ว ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
place the chopped banana blossom on a strainer and dip in the boiling coconut milk for about three times, 1-2 second each time. นำหัวปลี ใส่กระชอนลงลวกน้ำไว ๆ ประมาณ 2-3 ครั้ง
Set aside พักเอาไว้
Serve the curried salad dressing and top with roasted sesame seeds and thick coconut cream ใส่น้ำยำแดงลงในถ้วยเสริฟ โรยหน้าด้วย หัวกะทิข้น และ งาคั่ว
Arrange the blanced vegetables on a serving plate, top with threaded chicken meat, thick coconut cream, roasted sesame seeds and deep fried shallots. จัดผักลวกและไก่ต้มลงในจาน ราดด้วยหัวกะทิ งาคั่ว และ หอมเจียวกรอบ
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It will not be an overstatement to say that banana trees accompany Thai people from their birth to the afterlife. Starting with the decorative objects made out of banana leaves newborns receive to invite protective spirits, and continues their entire life with the endless uses for banana leaves, trunks and fruits; finally ending with the female spirit ghost, maae praai taanee (แม่พรายตานี), who resides in banana trees and Thai beliefs.
It is believed that this dish was introduced to the Siamese royal cuisine in the middle of the seventeenth century by Portuguese traders. Later, along with other egg yolk-based golden sweets like the golden drops (thong yot ทองหยอด), golden flowers (thong yip ทองหยิบ) and golden threads (foi thong ฝอยทอง), these royal desserts were passed to commoners outside the court.
For the marzipan filling I am using, beside the mung beans, both the flesh and the water of fragrant young coconuts. It gives a rich, sweet and almost nutty flavor which works perfectly with the silky texture of the mung beans and the creamy golden egg yolks coating.
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.
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 wrap 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.
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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.