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Asian Markets – Oakland’s International District

Michael Babcock, Thursday, August 18th, 2011

When shopping for Thai or Asian ingredients in Oakland, California, one of the best areas is the International District, which covers International Boulevard (formerly East 14th Street) and East 12th Street. There are many Southeast Asian and Chinese markets on these two streets from the Lake Merritt end to 17th Avenue. In this blog I’ll talk about the markets where Kasma shops for ingredients, both for her personal use and for her Thai Cooking Classes.

This is a companion piece to last-week’s blog: Asian Markets – Oakland’s Chinatown

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Shopping at Asian Markets (for Thai Ingredients), more often than not Kasma goes to a number of markets on her shopping trips; different markets carry different ingredients and she always tries to get absolutely the freshest ingredients and the best brands of packaged products.

International Boulevard, the old East 14th Street in Oakland, and East 12th Street are intersected by the numbered avenues, beginning with First Avenue. Up until about 17th Avenue, the stores are primarily Asian; after that, the flavor turns more Hispanic. It is one of the two main districts for Asian supermarkets in Oakland, the other being Oakland’s Chinatown situated from 7th to 9th Streets bordered by Broadway to the west. One of the advantages of shopping at International Boulevard is that many of the stores have parking lots.

(Click images to see larger version.)

International Boulevard Asian Markets

Sontepheap Market

1400 International Blvd. (at 14th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 436-3826

I list this market first because it is the market Kasma frequents the most out on International Boulevard. The market is run by Cambodians and is a great source for hard-to-find Southeast Asian ingredients, such as holy basil, kaffir lime leaves, cha-om, bai chaploo and more. Read Kasma’s blog Sontepheap Market in Oakland to find out more. There’s a small parking lot right by the store.

International Lao Market

1619 International Blvd. (at 16th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 536-5888

The International Lao Market, owned by Laotians, gets second position because Kasma often goes there for hard-to-find produce items when they are not available at Sontepheap. The market also carries many frozen, bottled and packaged goods from Thailand, including one of Kasma’s favorite fish sauce brands – Tra Chang – as well as her favorite brand of shrimp paste (kapi) – Klong Kohn. This is one place Kasma’s students can find clay, stone and wooden mortars and pestles. Nearby street parking is usually available.

Mekong Market

1613 International Blvd. (at 16th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 261-7630

Although it’s a small store, I’m including Mekong Market here because it is right next to the International Lao Market. The proprietress is Cambodian and Kasma uses this as a back-up for ingredients such as Thai eggplants, holy basil and kaffir lime leaves. Of the Southeast Asian cuisines, Cambodian and Lao foods share the most similarities with Thai and markets run by people from these two countries are more likely to carry the hard-to-find fresh ingredients also used in Thai cooking.

Sun Hop Fat

501 East 12th St. (at 5th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 763-8888

This is perhaps the largest and most complete market in the area. It has an extensive produce section, lots of frozen foods (such as shrimp and various kinds of fish, herbs and snacks from Asia), fresh seafood and a butcher in addition to all the canned foods and bottled sauces. It has most of Kasma’s favorite brands; on occasion (not always), I’ve seen Golden Boy fish sauce here as well as Dragonfly brand premium oyster sauce (not the super premium, though.) But it is mainly a Vietnamese-Chinese-run store and does not carry some of the herbs specifically used in Cambodian, Lao and Thai cooking. However, it is one of two stores in Oakland where Kasma can find bai chaploo, the other being Sontepheap. It is also one of a few stores which often has fresh duck eggs (not balut). A plus is the large parking lot.

Thien Loi Hoa

1199 E. 12th St. (at 12th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 663-0138

Also on East 12th Street, Thien Loi Hoa is a fairly large and complete market but a bit more cramped than Sun Hop Fat. They have fresh and frozen seafood in addition to produce and a butcher. In the freezers are also various Southeast Asian herbs and vegetables, like cha-om and sadao (neem). This is the only market in Oakland where Kasma can find pickled garlic from Thailand without preservatives in vacuum-sealed bags in the refrigerated section. In the same section, there’s usually the sometimes hard-to-find salted mackerel from Thailand. Fresh duck eggs are frequently available here, too. The store has a small parking lot; I’m usually able to find a spot.

Lucky Fish Market

Lucky Seafood Market

1201 E 12th St. (at 12th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94620
(510) 436-6068

Lucky Fish Market is right across the street from Thien Loi Hoa and is a good place to look for fresh fish, including live ones in the tanks, and other seafood such as crabs and lobsters. They have another market on 8th street in Oakland’s Chinatown. Sun Hop Fat, Thien Loi Hoa and Sun Sang (see next entry) also have fresh fish, if you can’t find what you’re looking for here.

Sun Sang Market

751 International Blvd. (at 8th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 891-0298

A fairly large Asian grocery store with produce and a meat counter. Kasma used to go there specifically to buy Lion and Globe Peanut oil in 5 liter bottles but lately they have only the smaller sizes. The store has a large selection of frozen seafood products and also a fairly good fresh fish counter.

New Saigon Market

950 International Boulevard (at 10th Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 832-8208

This Vietnamese-owned grocery store moved from Oakland Chinatown to this location many years ago and has a good assortment of fresh Asian produce and fruits. Kasma sometimes looks for frozen shrimp, squid and cuttlefish here, as well as pork belly. She’s found fresh bamboo shoots in the store from time to time when they’re not available at the Lao market, but mainly she stops here to buy Asian snacks, such as cassava cakes, to serve to her students.

Written by Michael Babcock, August 2011

Tags: chinatown, Markets, Oakland, shopping, sontepheap
Posted in Food, Markets | No Comments »

In Search of the Best Sour Fish (Pla Som)

Kasma Loha-unchit, Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Pla som, or sour fish, is one of my very favorite foods from the northeastern Isan region, which is also known for its sour sausages. It’s made in a similar way as the Isan sour sausages, using fermented rice as the souring agent. I’m partial to fish and a perfectly fermented and crispy-fried sour fish is so delicious it’s hard to stop eating it! The problem is: perfection is hard to find, even in its home territory.

Ready-to-eat sour fcod

My first encounter with pla som was some fifteen years ago in the then small riverside town of Nakhon Phanom in the northeastern corner of Isan. It was at a small rice shop near the hotel I spent the night. Hungry and looking for a good place for breakfast, I walked down one of the streets and noticed a busy rice shop crowded with customers – a good sign! Among the assortment of ready-made dishes in front of the shop was a yummy-looking fried fish topped with crispy fried garlic, fried dried chillies, sliced shallots and cut Thai chillies. I soon discovered it wasn’t any ordinary fried fish. It had a very unusual and delicious sour flavor definitely not from lime juice, tamarind, vinegar or any other sour condiment. That introduction to pla som was truly memorable and I fell deeply in love with this Isan food.

(Click images to see larger version.)

In those days, Isan food hadn’t yet become popular in the main heartland of the country’s central region. It was impossible to find it in any eatery or restaurant in the capital, even in the few so-called Isan restaurants just opening in the city. But memories of that first encounter remained vivid in my mind and on my tongue. I could only dream of another trip to Isan to savor the delicacy.

Sour fish at Si Saket

Fast forward half a dozen years. Michael and I took a trip to Isan with our friend and adopted brother Sun, who drives for my Thailand tours. I was showing Michael around to the places I’d been and we were exploring new places as possibilities for organizing a future tour. I hadn’t offered an Isan trip for years as traveling in the vast Isan region, Thailand’s largest, during the last two decades of the last century could be tedious and standard tourist accommodations lacking in many of the fascinating areas worth visiting. With Isan now a popular destination among domestic Thai tourists and Isan food becoming an “in” cuisine nationwide, it was a perfect opportunity to check out the new infrastructure, as well as the lively markets and local eateries I’d been reading about in Thai travel magazines.

Sour fish dish in Surin

We had just arrived in Nong Khai on the Mekong River. It was late in the day and after checking into a family-run guest house near the river, we went for a walk along the alley by the waterfront, hoping to find a good restaurant with views of the river for dinner. My eye caught a signboard with the words pla som and immediately I insisted that we have dinner there.

I ordered the pla som while Michael and Sun chose a couple of other dishes. Soon, both of them understood why I was so excited about eating there. The fish was very quickly gone before the other dishes received our attention. The next evening, after a full day of exploration, Sun was the one to adamantly insist that we return to the same place for dinner and, this time, forget about other dishes and just order three plates of pla som, one for the each of us!

Sour fish in Ubon market

For the rest of that trip, as we journeyed along the Mekong east- and southward to the border province of Ubon and then cut westward to Surin and Buriram before heading back to Bangkok, we kept an eye out for pla som but, unfortunately, did not find any place with as good a pla som as we had in Nong Khai. Some were actually rather disappointing. Most of the pla som we saw were uncooked, sold in open tubs in the fresh marketplaces and made with whole fish, as it’s traditionally done, particularly small silver barbs (pla tapian) that do have a lot of small bones. The pla som we had in Nong Khai was made with chunks of a large fish with plenty of moist meat and very little bones.

Sour fish in bulk at Don Wai

Michael and I love to visit open-air fresh markets in Thailand and Sun often drives us to marketplaces far and near. We soon begin to notice raw pla som being sold in some of the larger gourmet fresh markets in or near Bangkok, like Aw Taw Kaw (Or Tor Kor) and Don Wai, either already packaged in plastic bags or sold bulk in big piles. The pla som made by Kamnan Jun sold in Don Wai market is particularly good. It’s made with a fish called pla nuanchan in large mostly filleted chunks with skin still on. The skin is important as it adds a good texture to the fish when it is crispy-fried.

The first time I saw pla som at Don Wai, I bought two large bags and fried all the pieces up the next morning for breakfast. Sun, whose home is in Nakhon Si Thammarat in the south, planned to breakfast with us before making his long drive home. He was so delighted to have so many pieces of pla som to feast on. The fish was crispier and even more delicious than he remembered having in Nong Khai. He was convinced that I must have a secret way of frying the fish that enhanced the crispiness and flavor. He devoured with great pleasure as much as he could but there were so many pieces we couldn’t possibly finish the two big plates. So he decided he would wait till afternoon to begin his long drive, so that he could have lunch and finish off the rest!

Don Wai sour fish vendor

Sour fish at Don Wai

Vientiane Kitchen's fried sour fish

Pla som has become much better known among Thais all over the country as Isan food continues to soar in popularity the past decade. As migrant workers from Isan find their way around the country, I’m seeing raw, ready-for-cooking pla som in markets far and wide, even in the southern region. A number of Isan restaurants in Bangkok now have it on their menus but so far nothing near as good as the best pla som I’ve had in Isan or that I’ve fried myself from fish bought at Don Wai and Aw Taw Kaw. Vientiane Kitchen on Sukhumvit 36 serves an acceptable one after the restaurant remodeled recently and put in a new menu (and perhaps new cooks, too), but it lacks the crispiness that has become a trademark of delicious fried pla som.

I can even find ready-to-cook pla som in my local Cambodian market in Oakland (see my blog on Sontepheap Market), in packages in the freezer imported from Thailand and labeled in Thai as pla som Mae Jinda. The ingredients are shown in English though, listing fish, garlic, rice and salt. To preserve the fish better for its long journey here, it is made saltier than what’s available in Bangkok’s markets and needs to be eaten with plenty of rice. Delicious though it is!

"Mae Jinda" sour fish at Sontepheap

Sour fish out of package

Very fresh tilapia for making sour fish

I’ve also taken to making my own pla som and teach it in one of my advanced classes. (See Menus for Advanced Set F.) Definitely a fish with skin still on makes the best pla som. I’ve tried making it with red snapper, catfish, basa (swai) and tilapia. The best result so far is with very fresh tilapia that I buy live from the tanks in Asian fish markets, that I then fillet to remove only the center skeleton, head and tail, but leaving the skin on. In the Bay Area it takes about a week to sour the fish. Rubbed with a coating of tapioca flour before frying, it delivers a most satisfying combination of crispiness and natural sour flavor to rival the best I’ve had in Isan’s restaurants.

Preparing the tilapia

Week-old soured tilapia

Sour fish at Bao Pradit, Mukdahan

My most recent trip to Isan was in December 2009 with a group of twelve on a special northeastern Thailand tour. (On Picasa, see Kasma’s Northeastern Trip Photos, Part 2.) Whenever and wherever I saw pla som on a menu, I would order it. Several in my group loved it, but like me, they soon discovered that quality and taste could vary substantially. By far the best we had was at a truly native Isan restaurant in Mukdahan, called Bao Pradit. It’s south of town along the river, serving really hardcore Isan food made with local ingredients not found in other regions. With all the wonderful choices and fiery hot range of flavor combinations, Sun asked that I order for him his own plate of pla som and that’s the only thing he ate that night with a heavenly grin on his face. I would have to say it really was the best of the best pla som I’d ever had.

This fall, I’m offering another special 21-day trip to Isan and I’m already dreaming about a fabulous dinner in Mukdahan!”

Western Carbs in Thailand

Michael Babcock, Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Skytrain food stall

One of the changes that I’ve seen over my travels to Thailand, which commenced in 1992, is the increasing availability of Western-style baked goods. Donuts, croissants, cakes, white bread, cookies and similar food items can now be found at every mall, at most (even local) markets and, as in these pictures, at nearly every Skytrain stop. It’s not just baked goods: there is also a proliferation of Western fast food places, such as Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger king; I should include Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme, as well.

(Click images to see larger version.)

Western baked goods

This February (2011) when I was in Thailand I had an errand to run at Siam Paragon, a popular (and trendy) shopping center in Bangkok. When Kasma and I arrived, we saw a line of perhaps 30 or 40 people going out the door of the entrance. We were curious about what the people were lining up for; it turned out to be a Krispy Kreme donut shop. When we left the mall a couple hours later, the line was even longer. We saw several people with huge boxes of donuts walking away from the store.

Traditional Thai snacks are basically very healthy foods. Although they can be quite sweet, many of them are less sweet or are savory and they nearly universally include an ingredient that is quite healthy. For instance, Kanom Krok (Grilled Coconut Hotcakes) include coconut milk (a “functional” food that includes immune-system boosting Lauric Acid); Sangkaya (Coconut Egg Custard) includes both coconut milk & duck eggs; and Kao Niow Dtam (Black Sticky Rice Pudding) includes healthy, whole-grain black rice. Certainly Thai snacks with all empty calories exist but most of them include healthy ingredients such as coconut milk, pumpkin (or squash) or cassava root. (See my blogi on Thai (Sweet) Snacks – Kanom Wan

Close-up of baked goods

So the proliferation of Western baked goods is unfortunate because it replaces snacks that at least have some health benefit with goods made almost exclusively of white flour and sugar, which are basically empty calories that take more nutrition to process than they actually provide. See my recent blogs on A “Healthy” Diet and Thai Diet Changes for some of the references and information that indicate excessive carbohydrates are a major health issue.

These pictures show a few examples of the type of stalls that are becoming prevalent all over Thailand. It is almost certainly no coincidence that the mortality rate from heart disease is rising in Thailand at the same time.

See also Michael’s blogs or articles on:

Written by Michael Babcock, July 2011

Tags: carbs, health, kanom, On Nut, pastry, skytrain, snacks
Posted in Food | 1 Comment »

The Universal Vegetable Recipe

Michael Babcock, Monday, June 13th, 2011

One of Kasma’s recipes is what I think of as “The Universal Vegetable Recipe.” It can be used for nearly any vegetable of your choice and come out delicious. Let’s call it “Oyster Sauce Vegetables” because the most important ingredient is the oyster sauce. The important thing to remember is that you need a really good oyster sauce and a really good fish sauce; and the fresher the vegetables, the better!

Premium & Super Premium Oyster Sauce

There’s only one brand of oyster sauce that Kasma recommends and it is the Dragonfly brand. We have no affiliation at all with this brand. We just like it. Dragonfly makes three different kinds: 1) Dragonfly Oyster Sauce; 2) Dragonfly Premium Flavored Oyster Sauce; and 3) Dragonfly Super Premium Flavored Oyster Sauce. We like the product for two reasons: 1) It has no additives or preservatives; 2) It is the best tasting brand we’ve found.

Click on photos to see a larger image.

Oyster Sauce Snap Peas

A few years ago nearly all the Thai food manufacturers began adding preservatives and other additives to their products, which tasted and lasted just fine without them. Suddenly our Roasted Chili paste (nam prik pao) had food coloring and msg for no good reason – it was fine before. Our preferred oyster sauce suddenly had sodium benzoate. It was at that point that we decided to try the Dragonfly brand when we saw it in one of the local markets and it had no additives. The ingredients were (and are) oyster extract, sugar, soy sauce, salt and corn starch.

Initially we used the plain Dragonfly Oyster Sauce. Then we decided that we should try the Super Premium Flavored Oyster Sauce, though we had no intention of using it because it was more expensive. After we used it once we were sold – it’s the oyster sauce we recommend.

If you can’t use the Dragonfly brand, use the other Thai brand that’s readily available – Mae Krua. It, at least, doesn’t have msg. I don’t like the Chinese brands as well; they taste sweeter and less flavorful to me and most of them contain MSG.

For fish sauce, Kasma’s preferred brands are Golden Boy Fish sauce and Tra Chang. You can check out pictures of these fish sauces and information on Kasma’s other favorite brands on her favorite brands page.

Oyster Sauce Broccoli

This recipe comes from Kasma, of course. She teaches a version of it in the second class of her beginning Thai cooking series as Stir-fried Broccoli with Thai Oyster Sauce (Broccoli Pad Nam Man Hoi). Nam man hoi is Thai for oyster sauce.

By the way, this blog is my interpretation of Kasma’s recipe. All credit goes to her. Any shortcomings in this blog are mine alone.

First I’ll give the basic, 5-ingredient recipe (a 6th is optional) followed by a brief slide-show of the dish being cooked. Continue scrolling down to see the recipe with variations (adding ground pork/chicken, shrimp or mushrooms) with its own slideshow.

Universal Vegetable Recipe – The Short Version

Ingredients

Oil or fat of your choice; we recommend duck fat or lard
Garlic, chopped, as much as you like
Vegetable of your choice, as much as you like, cut in bite-sized pieces
Oyster sauce, to taste (Dragonfly Brand Super Premium Flavored brand is best)
Fish sauce, to taste (we recommend Golden Boy or Tra Chang brands)
Ground white pepper is optional

The Recipe

Heat wok until smoking hot, add oil/fat (let melt, if fat), add chopped garlic, stir briefly, add vegetable, cook for awhile, stirring occasionally, then add oyster sauce & fish sauce to taste; if necessary (to prevent burning) add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water; cook to desire degree of doneness. If desired, sprinkle in some ground white pepper at the end.

Notes

Oyster Sauce Cauliflower

If you feel you must, you can use Kasma’s recipe Stir-fried Asparagus, Oyster Mushrooms and Shrimp in Oyster Sauce Recipe – Naw-mai Farang Pad Nam Man Hoi to get an idea of how much of each ingredient to use; or look at Stir-fried Chive Flower Buds with Shrimp and Oyster Mushrooms (Pad Dawk Goochai Gkoong Hed Hoi Nahnglom).

I recommend duck fat for stir-frying. It adds a very delicious flavor. Chicken fat or goose fat would work. Also lard. If you can’t get those, I’d recommend peanut oil. One reason I like duck fat is because if I use too much, I really don’t mind because it tastes so good without tasting greasy. The polyunsaturated oils such as soy, canola, corn and sunflower will tend to make it taste very oily if you use too much.

Cooking time can vary greatly depending on the vegetable. For instance, an Asian green such as bok choy or tat choi will cook very quickly – within a couple of minutes. Cauliflower might take up to 10 minutes to cook, depending on the size of the pieces. With the longer cooking vegetables, plan on splashing in a little bit of water if the mixture starts to burn or stick to the wok; you can also cover the wok to help it cook faster. Depending on how much water you put in, you can also add a bit more oyster sauce and fish sauce, to taste (of course).

Oil/Fat: I think most people tend to use a a bit too little fat or oil; be aware of that tendency. If the vegetable starts to stick to the pan or burn in the cooking process, you can splash in a bit of water. Don’t be afraid of the animal fats. They are the best for stir-frying. Remember that all fats and oils are a combination of saturated, monounsaturated fat (the predominant fat in olive oil) and polyunsaturated fats. Lard, for instance, contains a bit more monounsaturated fat than saturated fat and a small amount of polyunsaturated fats. For frying, saturated fats are actually preferred: monounsaturated fats and (especially) polyunsaturated fats tend to oxidize under high heat, causing free radicals that are implicated in aging. (See the article Fatty Acid Peroxidation & Free Radicals by Greg Watson.) For more information on fats and oils, see my previous blog on A “Healthy Diet”.

Made with Asian greens and mushrooms

Garlic: With garlic, try using a bit more than looks comfortable to you. Add an extra clove or two. I love lots of garlic. Give it a try.

Vegetable: What do you like? Broccoli, cauliflower, bok choi, snap peas, sugar peas, tat choi (an Asian vegetable), bok choi, Chinese broccoli (kanah in Thai), asparagus, green beans, chard, kale, collards, mustard greens . . .. Just about anything you like. Be aware that different vegetables have different cooking times. So maybe the first time, you overcook it a little. No problem, just remember what you’ve done: cook it less next time. With some longer-cooking vegetables you may need to add a little bit of water if the vegetables start to stick to the wok or burn – if that happens, just splash in some water. You can always add a bit more oyster sauce and make more of a sauce for the dish.

Oyster Sauce: How much you add will depend on a few things. Which brand are you using and how strong is it; whether you intend to eat “Thai-style” with a lot of rice, in which case you can make the dish more heavily flavored, and; personal taste preference. Taste as you go. Start out by adding a tablespoon or two; stir; taste. Add more if you’d like.

Fish Sauce: Has the same considerations as with oyster sauce, above. How salty do you like it?

Basic Recipe Slide Show

Click on “Play” below to begin a slideshow.
Clicking on a slide will take you to the next image.

Play Prev|NextShow thumbnails

These are the basic 5 ingredients for Oyster Sauce Vegetables

Asian greens, ready for stir-frying

Cooking the garlic briefly in heated oil

The vegetables have been added to the garlic & oil

The oyster sauce has been added to the dish

Stirring the oyster sauce into the vegetables

Oyster sauce and fish sauce are thoroughly mixed in

Oyster sauce Asian vegetables, ready to eat!

Universal Vegetable Recipe – Variations

Snap peas, with shrimp and mushrooms

In addition to the basic 5 ingredients you can also add:

Ground pork or chicken: Add right after the garlic and cook it pretty much all the way through before adding the vegetables.
Shrimp: Add right after the garlic, stir-fry 15-20 seconds, or until the shrimp starts to turn pink, then add the vegetables.
Mushrooms: When to add depends on type of mushroom and how well you like them cooked. If you want the mushroom to absorb more oil and garlic flavor, add right after the garlic or after the meat. Otherwise, add them after the vegetables are partially cooked or even at the same time as the vegetables. For longer cooking vegetables, add a bit later.

Recipe with Variations Slide Show

Click on “Play” below to begin a slideshow.
Clicking on a slide will take you to the next image.

Note: This recipe uses an Asian green called “tat choi” with oyster mushrooms and ground pork.

Play Prev|NextShow thumbnails

This smoking-hot wok is ready to receive the lard

Adding the garlic to the hot lard

Next the ground pork is added

Next the pork is broken up for cooking

Continuing to cook the ground pork

Next the (oyster) mushrooms are added

Stir-frying the garlic, pork & mushrooms

Here the pork is getting nicely browned, ready for the next step

Here the tat choi (an Asian Green) has just been added

Here Kasma is stirring everything together

Continuing to cook the dish

Here Kasma adds the oyster sauce direct from the bottle

Stirring the oyster sauce so it's evenly distrbuted

Continuing to stir-fry the mixture

Kasma adds the (Golden Boy) fish sauce - to taste.

This dish is pretty much ready to serve

The Oyster Sauce Tat Choi, plated, ready to serve

Here's another view of the dish, ready to serve

One final close-up

Play with the recipe!

I’ve already written a couple times on cooking and Thai recipes.

Asparagus, mushrooms & shrimp

Following Thai Recipes encourages you to taste and cook to flavor
Kasma’s article Cooking to Taste does the same
Learning to Cook Thai encourages you to approach recipes in the spirit of adventure and learning

In this case, I’d encourage you play around with quantities and cooking times. The first time you cook the recipe, you might want to use Kasma’s more complicated variation of the recipe on our website as a guide for quantities- Stir-fried Asparagus, Oyster Mushrooms and Shrimp in Oyster Sauce Recipe – Naw-mai Farang Pad Nam Man Hoi. On the other hand, you don’t need it and I encourage you to try what you think might work. Make the recipe your own.

Written by Michael Babcock, June 2011

Tags: oyster sauce, recipe, vegetable
Posted in Cooking, Food | 2 Comments »

Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipal Market

Michael Babcock, Monday, May 23rd, 2011

We always enjoy visiting the Southern Thailand city of Nakhon Si Thammarat and, when we visit, we always visit the Municipal Market, the talaat sod (fresh market). It’s a morning market and we make a point of getting there early for a bit of breakfast before we browse the market.

Nakhon Si Thammarat Market Sign

(Note: scroll down for a beautiful slide show of images from the market.)

This market has been in this location at least since 1992, when we began coming to Nakhon Si Thammarat. In December of last year (2010), right around the time of the King’s Birthday, the market completed a renovation and re-opened in this location after being relocated for 8 months. In addition to getting spruced up, the market became appreciably larger. Like many Thai markets, it’s an enclosed market with built-in stands for the vendors. It’s now probably as large or larger than the morning market in Krabi. (See our blog Krabi Morning Market.)

Vegetable aisle

This market is primarily a morning market and to see everything, you’ll want to get there early: certainly by 8:00 a.m. in the morning, and earlier if you can. It’s different from a separate Sunday market, which we’ll feature in a future blog. This is definitely a local market. You won’t see a lot of fahrang (the Thai word for Caucasian) here, especially inside the market where most of the wares are targeted for cooks.

Nakhon Si Thammarat has one very long street running from east to west – Ratchadamnoen Road. The municipal market is found on Thanon Pak Nakhon (I’ve also seen it spelled as “Pagnagon Road” – thanon means road) – which intersects Ratchadamnoen Road – leading away from the Train Station. If you have turned off the main road the market is on your left, about a half block past the Nakhon Garden Inn.

Thai snacks

Unlike the market at Krabi, all of the sit-down stalls with hot food are on the outside of the market and it does not have as many eating stands as at Krabi.

Once you enter the market, it’s organized by section. On the side closest to Thanon Pak Nakhan there are sweet snacks (khanom wan) and flowers. Other aisles (or parts of aisles) feature fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, prepared pastes, and so on.

The vendors here are very friendly and mostly enjoy having their pictures taken. It’s always more fun to walk through a market when you’re greeted by lots of smiles.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Click on “Play” below to begin a slideshow. You can also click on any picture individually and either scroll through the images using “Next” and “Prev” or start the slideshow at any image. Captions accompany the images. Clicking on a slide will also take you to the next image.

Nahkon Si Thammarat Municipal Market – Slide Show

Play Prev|NextShow thumbnails

Sign for the Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipal Market, seen from Pak Nakhon Road

Approaching the market from Ratchadamnoen Road, it’s on the left.

Prepared food is found on the outermost aisle of the market.

Just inside the door, the flower & snack Aisle

Some of the beautiful flowers for sale.

A snack vendor, also found on the aisle closest to the street.

Some traditional Thai kanom (snacks).

Fruit vendor with a combination tropical fruit plus (imported, usually from Washington state, U.S.A.) apples.

At one end of the market there are a number of vendors selling kanom jeen - fermented rice noodles.

One of the highlights of the market for me are all the vendors selling pre-made chilli and curry pastes.

Here's a close-up of some delicious looking curry paste.

There's also many vendors selling luscious mounds of kapi - shrimp paste.

Another view of this vendor, who sells curry pastes, chilli pastes and kapi (shrimp paste)

Here's a view of the vegetable aisles.

Almost a one-stop vegetable vendor.

This vendor has several kinds of eggplants, winged beans (in the middle), cucumbers and more.

Here's some very fresh and young galanga (kah) with bright orange turmeric in the back.

These winged beans (tua poo, in Thai) are a bit more frilly than I've seen before.

This woman is a pork vendor - meat vendors tend to specialize in one kind of meat (pork, beef, chicken, duck)

Here's another view of our pork vendor: not quite the way pork is sold in the United States!

Every part of the pig is sold: here we see small and large intestines.

Did I mention that they sell every part of the pig?

Traditionally, the Thai people are not afraid of a little fat, such as we see in this delicious-looking pork belly.

These two Muslim women are selling ducks and chickens. In Thailand it's quite common to see them with both feet and head still attached.

You get quite used to walking through the aisles at the market.

We usually come across some cute Thai children on our market walks. Hard to resist.

These three seafood vendors were quite keen to have their pictures taken.

Need a large amount of an item delivered in the market? Use a motorcycle!

This fish vendor is scaling, cleaning and fileting a large fish.

Very fresh seafood of all kinds, such as the crab, are found here.

So many varieties of fresh fish, such as these snappers. Whole fish are preferred.

This man was very proud of the large fish he had for sale.

Written by Michael Babcock, May 2011

Tags: market, nakhon si thammarat, seafood, vegetables
Posted in Food, Markets | 1 Comment »

Cha-Om – A Delicious and Nutritious Tropical Acacia

Kasma Loha-unchit, Friday, May 13th, 2011

Cha-om, a tropical member of the acacia family (Acacia pennata) native to mainland Southeast Asia, is a well-loved herby vegetable among Thais, Cambodians and Laotians. The parts that are eaten are the ferny young leaf shoots and tender tips before the stems turn tough and thorny. It has a particular fragrance that may seem unpleasant at first to the unaccustomed, but when it’s cooked up, it’s so tasty that most people can’t stop eating it and the aroma is just part of the package and soon becomes quite likable. This happens a lot whenever cha-om is cooked up in my cooking classes.

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Fresh cha-om from Sontepheap

Prickly thorns on lower stepms

De-stemmed, ready to cook

Cha-om is a small shrub with prickly thorns on its branches and stems, though I hear breeders have come up with a thornless variety I have yet to personally come across. In tropical Southeast Asia, it is a fast-growing shrub that puts out new shoots year-round and most robustly during the rainy season. People in some regions, particularly the North, prefer to eat cha-om in the dry season since cha-om grown during the monsoon season tends to develop a tartness and has a much stronger smell. Growers prune the shrubs regularly to harvest the young shoots, wearing long gloves to protect themselves from the nasty thorns. A mature plant can put forth enough shoots for cutting every three days or so. In the more temperate climate of northern California, growth is less profuse and the plants need protection from the cold. They stop producing new shoots when temperatures dip in late fall and stay semi-dormant through the winter.

Cha-om egg squares

The most common way cha-om is cooked is with beaten eggs, like in an omelette, which is then cut into squares or rectangles to serve with pungent nahm prik (hot chilli sauces, usually with fermented shrimp paste – nahm prik kapi in Thai) and fried fish (usually Asian mackerel, or pla too).(See Kasma’s recipe, Pan-Fried Mackerel and Assorted Vegetables with Hot-and-Pungent Fermented Shrimp Dipping Sauce – Nam Prik Pla Too.)

Nam prik pla too

Nam prik with cha-om egg pieces

Cha-om egg rounds

Cha-om omelette

Cha-om egg squares are also frequently cooked in a spicy sour tamarind curry with shrimp (kaeng som). One of my favorite restaurants, Mallika, located in the outskirts of Bangkok, makes a fabulous crispy fried cha-om in a ferny nest, topped with a hot-and-sour sauce containing squid, shrimp and chopped pork (yam cha-om gkrawb). It’s one of the first dishes people in my Thailand travel groups get to savor as I usually take them to Mallika for lunch right after picking them up from the airport. Most fall for cha-om and look forward to eating more of it in other dishes through the trip.

Cha-om egg squares in curry

Crisp-fried cha-om

Stir-fried cha-om with egg

Because of its fairly assertive flavor and higher price, cha-om is usually not stir-fried by itself like other leafy green vegetables, but is instead used much like an herb to flavor other things cooked with it. For these reasons, it is sold in small bundles in markets across Thailand. Eggs go especially well with cha-om and in my classes, we make a delicious stir-fried cha-om with eggs and bean thread noodles.

Cha-om at Hua Hin market

Cha-om at Krabi market

Cha-om at Sontepheap

Starting last spring, we’ve been lucky to be able to get cha-om fresh in the Bay Area during the warmer months beginning in April until the weather turns cold in the fall. Being a tropical acacia, cha-om needs warmth to enable it to put forth new shoots. However, there’s only one store I know of that carries the fresh shoots and that’s Sontepheap, a Cambodian market on International Boulevard in Oakland. Last summer the store even had cha-om starter plants for sale. But the supply is very limited and disappears quickly in spite of its price (retails for around $15 a pound).

Cha-om plants at Sontepheap

Sam, who owns Sontepheap, tries to carry as many of the tropical herbs and vegetables that his Southeast Asian clientele craves and misses after immigrating to this country. He’s made an arrangement with farmers he knows in Modesto to grow many of these exotic produce. Among them is cha-om. During the growing season, Sam drives down to the farm two to three times monthly, usually late in the week (often Thursdays) and the produce would be available over the weekend. Cha-om is usually gone within a few days. Since both Michael and I are very fond of cha-om, as are many of my students who’ve been introduced to it, Sam would call or email me whenever he’s been to the farm and brought back cha-om. As soon as I receive the message, I would dash down to the store to pick up some before it disappears and then shoot off a message to my students. Sam is the main fresh cha-om supplier in the Bay Area and many of his big Southeast Asian customers, including some restaurant owners, often place special orders with him and are among the people he would contact whenever he brings cha-om back from the farm.

Frozen cha-om at Sontepheap

Short of being able to get cha-om fresh, it is available for a lower price in 4-oz. packages imported from Thailand in the freezers of several East Bay stores (haven’t checked the Cambodian markets in San Francisco which most likely would have it). Sontepheap sometimes has frozen packages of de-stemmed leaves which make it easier to use and you get more for the same weight. But most frequently, the frozen packages contain cha-om still on the stems. The Laos International Market two blocks further down the same street also regularly carries frozen cha-om and a third store in the same vicinity to check is Thien Loi Hoa on East 12th Street at 12th Avenue.

Frozen Cha-om at Lao Market

Frozen Cha-om at Thien Loi Hoa

Not only is it delcious, cha-om is a nutritious vegetable, high in vitamin C and beta-carotenes. It is good for the heart and is known to be an anti-cancer agent. There’s nothing like a natural food that tastes great and, at the same time, is good for you!

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