This vegetarian dish, using morning glory, is called "pad pak bung fai daeng" in Thai. The last part "fai daeng" refers to the red flame that leaps up when you throw in the vegetables. You can also do a version using minced pork. The ingredients for the vegetarian version are shown below. They are morning glory, garlic cloves and bird's eye chilies.

You can cook this dish in several different ways. If you want it to be spicier, you should pound the garlic and hot chilies together with your mortar and pestle. This is what they do in shops. But today, we added the crushed garlic first to the oil in the wok and fried until golden brown. Next came the morning glory. We then seasoned with oyster sauce and soy sauce. Chilies came last. Some shops also add fermented soy beans. This is a brown sauce which I find a bit salty.

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One of my favourite Thai dishes is this one which is basically rice noodles fried in black soy sauce. In Thai, this is called "pad si ew". The main ingredients are pictured below. Starting from the top and going clockwise, you can see "sen mee" noodles, sliced chicken, garlic cloves, kale and two eggs. You can also use beef or pork. And instead of kale, which is also known as Chinese broccoli, you could use Chinese cabbage. There are also two different versions of noodles for this dish. You can have either "sen mee" as seen here, or my favourite "sen yai" which is a wider noodle.

Today we used the dried version of "sen mee" which you need to soak in cold water first for about four minutes. In roadside food shops, they usually use fresh versions which are obviously much better. In the picture at the top, you can see that my noodles have broken up a bit. We also prepared the baby kale by blanching it in hot water for a short time. To start cooking, add the chopped garlic to hot oil. As soon as it is golden brown, add the bit-sized pieces of chicken. To be honest, I prefer pork for this dish. Give it a good stir for a couple of minutes. Remove from the pan and add more oil. Next comes the noodles. Toss it well so it heats through. Push it to one side and add two lightly beaten eggs. Let it fry for a short while before breaking it up and then mixing with the noodles. Now add the kale and chicken. Season with black soy sauce (you could use the sweet version if you like) and some sugar. If it is too sweet, then add a dash of fish sauce. It is now ready to serve. The condiments that are commonly served with this dish are dried crushed chilies, sugar and “nam som” which is white vinegar with sliced spur chili.

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Our Thai dish today is another vegetarian meal. It is a stir-fried with baby sweetcorn and mushrooms. We only have one kind of mushroom here but you could also add another kind. In the ingredients below you can see: red pepper and mushrooms on the left and Chinese celery, baby sweetcorn, garlic cloves and carrots on the right.

Cooking this dish is very simple. Start with the garlic and fry until golden brown. Add the mushrooms, babysweetcorn and carrots. When you are doing stirfry, it is usually a good idea to have some stock handy. Failing that, add a little water. Give it a good stir and then add the red pepper. You can add spur chili instead if you like. Season with light soy sauce and sugar. Sprinkle on the Chinese celery at the end.

After surviving the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand this year, I found myself starting to use tofu more in my cooking. This dish uses fried tofu with minced pork. In the ingredients below, you can see Chinese celery, spring onion, tofu in a package, fried tofu, garlic cloves and minced pork in the middle.

This is a simple dish to cook. Start with the tofu. Fry it first in oil until it turns golden brown. Then set it aside and let it drain. Next fry your crushed garlic in the pan until it turns fragrant. Add the minced pork. Next comes the Chinese celery and spring onion. You can also add mushroom if you like. Season with oyster sauce and pepper. Give it a good stir. Put the fried tofu on your serving dish and pour the minced pork mixture on top. Next week at www.thai-blogs.com I will share with you another Thai dish. Feel free to suggest food that you would like us to cook in the comments.

Another of my favourites to cook is this sweet and sour dish called "moo pad priaw waan" in Thai. However, you do need to practice it a bit in order to correctly balance the flavours. You can see the main ingredients we used in the picture below. Starting at the top, we have onion, spring onion, straw mushrooms, chopped garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers and chicken in the center. Make sure that everything is pre-cut to bite size as Thai people don't normally use a knife during their meals. This also means that cooking time is reduced. So, make sure that you have all your ingredients ready prepared. In this dish we also added spur chili, but you could use bell pepper instead.

Add the chopped garlic to the oil in your pan and cook until golden brown. Next comes the chicken. You can use pork if you like. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, tomatoes and onion. Finally add the chillies and spring onion. Next comes the seasoning. You need to do this step by step with a tasting of the sauce at each interval. Season with tomato sauce, white vinegar (the sour taste), sugar (obviously the sweet taste), and light soy sauce (the salty taste). Some recipes call for fish sauce but I prefer light soy sauce. This is a bit sweet so don't put in so much sugar. If you find it too salty then add more sugar. Next add chicken stock. Give it all a good stir. Finish by adding some tapioca flour in order to thicken the sauce. I haven't given any meaurements as this is all trial and error. It is really up to your personal taste as to how sweet or sour you like it.

We will have another dish for you next week at www.thai-blogs.com. Feel free to send us your suggestions for what you would like to see us cook. If you are missing our Friday Lunch Menu where we bought street food every week, the archives are now up-to-date at www.thaistreetfood.com. We have also added Thai for each menu item. Don't forget our Thai Food Forums where you can ask questions about buying and cooking Thai food.

This is one of my favourite Thai dishes. It is often served with pork though I only had chicken available today. The pork version in Thai is called "thua pad prik gaeng moo". It is a spicy dish that goes well with rice. The ingredients shown in the picture below are: yard-long beans, finely shredded kaffir lime leaves, palm sugar, sliced red spur chili, chicken and red chili paste in the middle. We also used fish sauce which isn't shown. I will write about the different sauces another day.

The process to cook this dish is quite simple. As usual, I am not giving you weights and measurements. Thai cooks don't work that way. You adjust the amount just by smell and taste. Fry the curry paste in a pan until fragrant and then add the chicken. Season with the fish sauce and sugar. We used palm sugar. Some people blanch the beans in hot boiling water first before adding them to the stir fry. Or you can just add them raw if you like them a bit crunchy. Which is the way I like it. Give it a good stir until the beans are just about done. Then serve. Very simple.

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This is one of the popular dishes cooked during the Vegetarian Festival. It is easy to cook and has a good taste. But, try not to eat too many fried dishes or you will put on weight! There are two kinds of noodles you can use. They are often yellow and are either thin or thick. The one today is a white thin version which is called mi-sua. In the ingredients picture below, you can see Chinese Flowering cabbage (choy sum) and mi-sua noodles. Below is sugar, mushrooms and chopped carrots. We only have one kind of mushroom here but you can use several different kinds. Or three for good luck!

You need to cook the noodles first. The instructions on our packet said boil for four minutes and then rinse with cold water. If you are not taking part in the vegetarian festival, you can first fry some garlic in oil until it turns fragrant. Then add the mushrooms, choy sum and light soy sauce. You can use cabbage instead if you like. Finally add the noodles and give a good stir. Sugar is optional. This is one of those dishes that you can experiment with different ingredients.