I have told you before how to cook Pad Thai. This is otherwise known as Thai fried noodles and is a favourite of many foreign visitors. I buy it from the street hawker around the corner every two weeks or so. I think I mentioned before that I don't buy street food that often as I usually cook for myself. Today I cooked red chicken curry, stir fried vegetables in oyster sauce and omlette. I like curries. I buy packets of green and red curry paste and cartons of coconut milk. I then experiment with different ingredients sometimes blending Thai tastes with Western ideas. However, I always like it hot and spicy. The curry paste is never enough and I always add more chilis. Most foriegn Thai cookbooks say take out the seeds. But, I always throw the lot in.

Anyway, whenever you see someone cooking "pad thai", you should know straight away that the same street vendor also makes "hoi tod" (sometimes spelled "hoy thod"). This is basically made up from a batter mixed together with either mussles or oysters. This is then fried in a flat-bottomed pan for a while before an egg is added and scrambled. When it is cooked, a handful of beansprouts are sprinkled on top. It is served with a chili sauce made up with rice vinegar, sliced chillis and sugar.

A few months back, I told you all about the Khanom Krok that Wirat sells just around the corner from my house. I don't know where she has gone as I haven't seen her for a month now. I really miss her coconut puddings. And of course our little chats which usually end up with her asking me if I wanted to be her friend/wife. Maybe she won the lottery. Maybe she has gone back to her home province. I think she said she came from Lop Buri. That is where they have the famous monkey party!

Anyway, I was walking around the market the other day when I came across another khanom krok vendor. However, this one wasn't quite the same. In fact, it looked very different. It looked like it still had the khanom krok flour. However, the major difference was that she was using mussels. This dish is called "hoi tod khanom krok" in Thai. This is the first time I have seen this variation. Around here, mussels are mainly used in "hoi tod" which is a bit like an omlette. I will tell you how to cook that one later. I just need to take some pictures first!

Last weekend, I was in Chantaburi which is famous for its large variety of tropical fruit. When we were driving down the road, we saw many pick-up trucks piled high with fresh fruit. We also passed many orchards growing fruit such as rambutans (see above) durians and pineapples. We are now moving into a new fruit season so I thought I would take some pictures of fruit that I didn't manage last time.

You know, the best thing about these markets stalls along the side of the road is that they are very keen for you to try the fruit for yourself. No pressure to buy. Though I did end up with quite a few kilos of fruit! My favourite amongst the above is still rambutan. It is about golf ball size and has a white/opaque colour. The taste is similiar to lychee.

I still have more photos of Thai fruit to "collect". I will write more about the individual fruits at a later time.

Related blogs: Thai Fruit 01

I must admit, I didn't travel very far for the subject of my blog today. I just poked my camera out of the front door! My neighbours used to have a laundry service and now they have switched to selling fruit from the back of a pick-up truck. They seem to be doing well as they first started with an old pick-up and then recently bought this brand new one. They told me that they have to go into Bangkok to buy the fruit in the evenings. They then sell it at three locations around Samut Prakan. Finishing at the top of our Soi.

My favourite fruit is actually the one I forgot to photograph! It is that red hairy one in the top picture. It is called rambutan. What I will do later on is to go into more detail for each of the fruit. In the meantime, if you are in Thailand, you should be aware that there are a couple of fruit festivals on at the moment:

** The Chanthaburi Fruit Festival
(1-9 May, 2005 : Chanthaburi Sports Stadium, Chantaburi Province)

** Rayong Fruit Festival
(1 May - 30 June, 2005 : The Tapong Fruit Market, and Fruit markets and orchards throughout Rayong province)

I was first introduced to these fish cakes, "tod mun plaa" in Thai, in the school canteen. The deep fried cakes looked interesting but I was a bit nervous of the "green" bits in them. It looked like they were green chilies. However, later, after I had started to pay an interest in how the street food was made, I soon realized that it wasn't chili but in fact green beans!

This is quite an easy dish to cook. The ingredients include: minced spinach mackerel, red curry paste, egg, finely sliced long bean, finely shredded kaffir leaves and seasoned with salt and sugar. After being mixed in a bowl, you use your hands to make small patties about two inches in diameter. These are then deep-friend until golden brown. Very delicious. Look out for them the next time you are in Thailand.

We had some friends from the UK visiting today. We took them out to a nearby seafood restaurant called Sompong which is on Srinakarin Road. It is less than 10 minutes away by car. The last meal I wrote about at Paknam Seafood worked out at about 200 baht per person including beer. That was about US$5 each. What do you reckon this meal cost? The six dishes we ordered were:

Normally when there are four people, you would order about five dishes. This doesn't include the rice but in this case, as it was fried rice I have counted it as a dish. We all drank beer. The total price was just under 1,200 baht, which is about US$7.50 each. Expensive for me, but for most Westerners that would be considered cheap.

Yesterday, I took you with me on the monk's morning alms round. Monks are not allowed to hoard food. Nor are they allowed to cook. So, in order to survive they have to go out in the morning to receive food from Buddhist followers. When they come back, they sort through the food. Some food they will eat straight away for breakfast. Other food they will save for their last meal of the day at 11 a.m. The food that is left over is not wasted. Some may be given to the nuns or children who help out around the temple. Other food is given to poor people who come to the temple at mid-day. Any left-over food is given to the temple dogs and cats.

Before Phra Daeng and Phra Nattawud could eat, they first had to offer some food to the Buddha image. They chanted in Pali for a while and then prostrated three times. As you can see from the picture, Phra Nattawud still hasn't learned all the words and is reading from his yellow book of chants. After they have made the offering, they then sit in front of the food that they have already sorted and chant a bit more.

Finally, they can start to eat. As predicted yesterday, Phra Nattawud tucks into the food that his parents had offered him earlier. Monks are not allowed to request particular types of food, however, his parents knew what he would like to eat.

What do Thai monks eat for breakfast?

Some monks only eat once a day. Others eat twice a day. However, all monks have to finish their last meal before mid-day. There are five categories of food that can be presented to monks only in the morning. These are: staples, desserts, preserved and dried food, fish and meat. The following five nutriments can be presented to and eaten by the monks at any time of day and night: honey, sugar and syrup, fat, ghee and butter, and cheese.

In the above picture, you can see that people have given the monks just about any curry and soup that can be bought locally. It doesn't really matter how much or how little you give. It is the intention of giving that is important. However, there are ten kinds of meat that monks and novices are not allowed to eat. They are: human flesh, elephant, yellow tiger, tiger, leopard, bear, lion, snake, dog and horse.

There are quite a few rules regarding monks and food. For example, they are not allowed to put food in their mouth that hasn't been offered to them first. If the food was offered to them yesterday, they then cannot eat it today. If someone told a monk that he will come with certain foods to offer the following day, then the monk cannot eat it. There is also quite a long list of 30 rules regarding food which monks must obey. It is worth taking note of these because Buddhism is so much an important part of Thai culture.

A monk should train himself thus:-

1) I will receive binderbaht food attentively.
2) When receiving binderbaht food, I will look only into the bowl.
3) I will receive curries in the right proportion to the rice.
4) I will receive binderbaht food only until it reaches the rim of the bowl.
5) I will eat binderbaht food attentively.
6) When eating binderbaht food, I will look only in the bowl.
7) I will not dig up the rice making it uneven.
8) I will eat curries in the right proportion to the rice.
9) I will not eat rice only working from the top down.
10) I will not cover up curries - or curry mixed with rice - because of a desire to get a lot.
11) When I am not sick, I will not ask for curries or rice for the purpose of eating them myself.
12) I will not look at another's bowl with the idea of finding fault.
13) I will not make up a very large mouthful of food.
14) I will make food up into suitably round mouthfuls.
15) I will not open my mouth until the portion of food has been brought to it.
16) When eating, I will not put my fingers into my mouth.
17) When food is still in my mouth, I will not speak.
18) I will not throw lumps of food into my mouth.
19) I will not eat by biting off mouthfuls of rice.
20) I will not eat stuffing out my cheeks.
21) I will not eat and shake my hand about at the same time.
22) I will not eat scattering grains of rice about so that they fall back into the bowl or elsewhere.
23) I will not eat putting my tongue out.
24) I will not eat making a champing sound.
25) I will not eat (or drink) making a sucking sound.
26) I will not eat licking my hands.
27) I will not eat scraping the bowl.
28) I will not eat licking my lips.
29) I will not take hold of a vessel of water with my hand soiled with food.
30) I will not throw out bowl washing water which has grains of rice in it in a place where there are houses.

Source: "Instructions for newly-ordained Bhikkhus and Samaneras"

I will be interviewing Phra Nattawud soon about life in a Thai temple. If you have any questions that you would like answered, then please e-mail them to me. You can also contact me with feedback on what kinds of blogs you like to read the most. And maybe what kind of blogs you would like to read in the future.