Shame on Me

Shame on Me! It has been a month since my last post. I cannot believe it has taken me a full month to get my life back together. We have been moving, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Now that it is all over life can go on. I have failed to post two recipes from our dinner club that we have once a month. In March the theme was brunch and I made baked grits. That recipe will be posted later. I am still looking for it. April's theme was Asian food. It was sooo good. Thank you April for having us over. Everything was great. My sister in law is from Thailand and she has taught me a couple of the dishes she makes for her family. I made Pad Gra Pao. Thanks Seth for the helpful information. So whatcha gotta do.....

-Gra Pao leaves (cinniman basil, thai basil, queen siane basil-the ones with purple stems)
-8 cloves of garlic
-10-20 fresh thai chili's (10-mild, 15-medium, 20-spicy)
-1 can straw mushrooms
-1 lb. ground pork or seafood
-fish sauce, oyster sauce, & thin thai soy sauce
-bunch of bean thread or rice
You will need to find a great Asian store. My mom and I hunted and found one on 38th South and Redwood. Tay-Do!! They just moved to a bigger and better place. They had everything we needed, even the thai basil-which is very hard to find.

The first step is to grind your spices. The fresh thai chili's and the garlic. In Thailand they use a mortar and pestel ( it has a different name). You could definately use a food processor.

Grind them until they are very small. In a frying pan with 1 Tbs. canola oil sautee the chili's and garlic for a couple minutes. Add the pork and cook until done. Add the can of straw mushrooms. The sauces will be added next, but it is all according to taste. Add the soy sauce enough to coat the food. Next, add enough oyster sauce to coat the food. Then add only a little fish sauce to taste. The fish sauce is very salty, and the oyster sauce is sweet. You will have to play around with it a little until you like it. After I added the fish sauce it tasted too salty, but once I added the basil it was fine. The basil is the last to go in. Add as much or as little as you want. Cook for 1 minute. In Thailand they also sprinkle some of the basil on top when serving. This dish would also be really good with shrimp. You can serve it with rice or if you want to try something new, bean thread. Soak the bean thread in warm water while you are preparing your dish. When you are almost done, put the bean thread in boiling water and cook until soft. It was pretty good.
The finished product. Very tasty.