Food in Nong Khai

[wendygirl]

That dinner does look absolutely delicious!

[ZeroG]

Peeling them makes my fingers very sticky, and you can see there are lots of ants on them if you click on and expand the pic enough.    But I washed them really good and took them off the branch and into a bowl.

Uh..Terri...there are ANTS on your food!


Wow, you have really acclimated yourself.

[thartley]

That looks like an awesome dinner! It's just missing the blue clay Isara man! Now the thing you peeled, what did it taste like? Was it a fruit? I'm not quite  sure from your post.

Sorry, yes its a fruit and I just remembered what Ming called them:  long kong   I remember because after tasting them, I told her the long kong was going to be long gone. 

It tastes sweet, almost like a peeled grape.  For the most part, there are no seeds.  Once in a while, there is a seed inside one of the small sections, but the seeds are so soft, you can just eat them.  (hopefully, Ming wont come on here and tell me the seeds are bad, haha!) 

And yes, the meal was delicious.  I dont think people eat potatoes as baked potatoes, like we do in the states.  The potatoes are used in soups and curries, a component of another dish. 

ya'll should see what the greenbeans look like here! I think they are called long beans, because they are loooooong!  I was going to get some beans to steam with the carrots and onion, but thought I would look ridiculous buying only one long bean! hahaha!  They come in small bunches and I didnt need that many for our meal.

[Ming]

Terri, the dinner look delicious.  I'm sure Sneaker is very happy with that. 
Those Long gone oh...no no Long Kong some time have a small seed but Thai people eat it too.
And you right about potatoes. There are many kind of beans here but the one you saw people grow them a lot, it is good and those are cheap. When Thai cook the beans we use lots of them so yes they sale them a bunch, You should try them.

Ok, I am resolved to trying the fish before I leave in October.    I looked at them again today, but was going to wait until I heard back from you.

For today, I was able to get to the vendors on Mee Chai and I bought some of these.  I dont remember now what Ming told me they were called, but they are very good.  Peeling them makes my fingers very sticky, and you can see there are lots of ants on them if you click on and expand the pic enough.    But I washed them really good and took them off the branch and into a bowl.



I also picked up more potatoes, a carrot, a small onion, and more grilled chicken.  So dinner was a baked potato with butter, steamed carrots and onion, and grilled chicken with a sweet chili sauce!  YUM!   And we have some local fruit for dessert.

 

(the bananas were beautiful, but took a beating in my bike basket on the way back to my place.   

Glad you creating new foods. That's exciting interesting and healthy.

I should call you a Fantastic One Microwave Cooker.      Amm...Yummy!

[KitKat]

  Yummm....Terri, looks delicious!   So where did you buy the grilled chicken, from a street vendor?  You created a typical American dish, must have really tasted good.  The sweet chili sauce sounds really good, is it like a Thai bar-B-Q sauce, but spicy? 

[thartley]

Thanks everyone.  Yes, it is a typical American dinner, but with a very Thai flavor.   

The chicken did come from a local vendor, but I dont know if they are really a street vendor.  It is a door or two down from the som tom place next to the ILC.  When you go there, they have all kinds of stuff ready to go on sticks.  Fish, chicken feet, some strips of something that I dont know if they are tiny frogs or squids or what....but then they have regular stuff, like chicken wings, half a chicken, or a split whole chicken.  You pick out what you want, which is already cooked, and then they put it back on the grill and baste it with something.  They heat it up real good for you, then chop it to bits if you want them to.  I prefer mine to be left as is because they get pretty crazy with the meat cleaver sometimes    The smaller pieces make it not so easy to pull the meat off.  They  bag up your purchase and throw in a bag of sauce.  tonight, I got a spicy red sauce that I think is made from red chili paste.  This sauce wasnt sweet so much as salty/spicy hot.  The sweet chili sauce is a thick sweet dipping sauce that is spiced up with the chili peppers and seeds.  They are both VERY good sauces....so good that Laurie is dipping her ham and cheese sandwiches in it! 

[KitKat]

Is the place where you bought the chicken breast a new restaurant?  I don't remember one 2 doors down from the ILC.  There was an abandoned building there.  It's been awhile since I was there, so anything could be possible.    lol  And my memory isn't that great either. 

[thartley]

Kitkat-  I dont know of too many spaces left near the ILC that are vacant.  One of them caught my eye tonight (of course)....its been there a while, but I thought it was a doctor's office of some kind.  PK pointed it out to me a while back because it was so funny that they were a medical office but they were selling cakes in a display case in the front.  Now tonight, there is a sign on the sidewalk in front of it with a coffeecup swirling with steam, and the words say "Coffee and Cakes".

I think I might need to walk really slowly past this place to see what things look like in there.     Sounds like a good spot to me.

[ianh68]

I think thartley should have her own TV programme, "Cooking in Nong Khai". Samak had better watch out! 

The longan are sticky and a little tart to my taste. There's another fruit called lamyai which looks a bit like a smaller version, also in clusters, non sticky and taste a bit like a softer version of lychees. I think they are my favourite Thai fruit.

[thartley]

Ian68--I think I know what you are talking about, the lamyai.  I will see if I can get some of them tomorrow.  Do they have seeds in them?


I am not sure if any of the other threads from volunteers have shown you one of my favoritest things in the whole wide world or not.  But I have Sean, Ming, and Jennie to thank for this additional curse to my already ample hips.  Roti!  Roti is proof that there is a God and that he loves us very much!     Laurie and I call this wonderful woman "The Carnation Lady" because she uses the sweetened condensed carnation milk in making the roti, and there is a Carnation Milk banner on her vendor cart.

         

So far as I can tell, she has dough balls premade that she pats out to the size of a large pizza crust, and she lays them, paper thin, out on the hot cooking surface that is a very slight bowl.  She then folds the ends over, making it more of a square, then plops a pat of butter-looking stuff in the middle.  Flips them over to brown and crisp them up on both sides.  She then removes them to wrapping papers, douses them with drizzles of the sweetened condensed milk, adds a little bit of sugar to them, then folds them up, rolling them up in the papers like a taquito or small thin burrito.

Then I go home and devour what's mine.    "The Carnation Lady" has a cart on the corner of Mee Chai and Chaiyaporn each evening between 6:00pm and 10:00pm. 

[ianh68]

The lamyai have a hard stone in the middle, do not crunch or swallow! If you are ever in the Banglamphoo area of Bangkok I think you might like to visit Roti Mataba on Thanon Phra Athit (Fort Phra Sumen end). A hole in the wall establishment that doesn't make a hole in your pocket and has patrons queuing in the street at lunchtimes.

[thartley]

Any eating establishment with the word "Roti" in the name HAS to be good!   

Also, my apologies to Wes.  I see now that he did indeed post in this thread a photo of a lady making roti.  I missed it before because was running away at topspeed from the bugs he posted.      

I should go back and post how much I am paying for this food.  In the U.S., Rachel Ray (used to have?) has a show on the Food Network about going to various destinations and spending very little money while eating at great places and eating wonderful local foods.  She mostly goes to places around the U.S., but she would go nuts here with her food budget. 

You can get a small roti for 5 baht (@15 cents) or a large one for 10 baht (I'm sure you can do the math....@30 cents)

The delicious grilled chicken I get with the wonderful sauces....a half chicken runs between 40 and 50 baht (@$1.18 - $1.48)

I dont remember what I paid for the fruits and veggies up there, I went to so many different stalls, picking and choosing and they tallied things together.  But I didnt pay more than $1 or $2 for the day at the market, for sure.

[KitKat]

Wow Terri!   I wish you'd been there with me in March, 2007.   I missed all the good stuff.   Well, I guess this means I'll have to visit NongKhai again.    Maybe you can leave a laminated printed list of great places to eat on the ILC kitchen wall for future volunteers.    Be sure you give directions on where they're located.     

[M3R1IN]

For any people here who want to try some of these exotic fruits, go to your local asian supermarket or open market and they should have longan, lychee and rambutan when theyre in season... if not you can always buy them canned.

Then I go home and devour what's mine.    "The Carnation Lady" has a cart on the corner of Mee Chai and Chaiyaporn each evening between 6:00pm and 10:00pm. 

I didnt know there was a roti lady that close to the ILC, I always went to the woman by Dee Dee restaurant

[KitKat]

Wish I'd had some of this.  thartley have you tried Green Papaya Salad?  One time I saw a street vendor shredding the green papayas, but I through they were cucumbers.        This is a very good website for Issan dishes, I think? 

http://www.thaifoodtonigh...UTUBEgreenpapayasalad.htm

[ianh68]

Wow Terri!   I wish you'd been there with me in March, 2007.   I missed all the good stuff.   Well, I guess this means I'll have to visit NongKhai again.    Maybe you can leave a laminated printed list of great places to eat on the ILC kitchen wall for future volunteers.    Be sure you give directions on where they're located.     

Here is a list of Nong Khai eateries that I have been compiling. Any additions or comments welcome.

Christian's Savoy Restaurant      
OJ's   Good English food   
Carsten's Bar      Tha Sadet
Mekong Guest House      
Neua Yang Gau Li      Mekong Riverbank
Coffee & Sandwich Shop      331 Rim Kong Road
Lucca Restaurant      242/2 Haisok Road
Khrua Sukapap Kwan   vegetarian   Soi Wat Nak
Le Khong restaurant    snakehead fish v good   opposite Nong Thin park
Wee Ess       floating restaurant
Loch Inn      
MUT MEE      

[thartley]

My favorite things list (from your list of places)

OJ's - took me a while to try their coffee (not for any particular reason, I just never got around to it) but when I did, it was Excellent.  Also my daughter prefers their curry to anywhere else because they will customize it for her.  She doesnt like the little squashlike vegetables and she also likes hers EXTRA Thai HOT, so they make the curry just the way she likes it.  When I first got here, I needed to ease myself into the spicy food, so I was able to get a good cheese and tomato sandwich here so I didnt starve to death while I was adjusting.   

Mekong Guest House - hands down the best cashew chicken I've had here.  Giant cashews and great prices.  In fact, I was thinking about getting some today.  This was the first place I ate upon arriving in Nong Khai.  Its right on the river, too. 

Mut Mee - sorry, but we all know I love the food at this place.  They cater somewhat to the western palate and ease on the hot spicy.  But I think the food is very traditional, most, if not all the dishes, are chosen by the owner's wife.  Favorite thing here is the tropical fruit yoghurt, the chicken fried rice, and something else I will have to note the name of next time I go.  They make a great crepe, and the bacon is good, too.  Coffee = wonderful.

[thartley]

Sort of a funny thing happened the other day.  I went to MutMee for some fried rice and I guess I got there right at the shift change over.  Usually, there is a BUNCH of cooks in the kitchen, but this time, there was only one and she was busy busy busy.  I was getting mine TAKE AWAY, so I was standing near the check out area which is in the front of the kitchen.  After a few minutes, I hear "Terr-EEE, Terr-EEE, come sit!"  The lady cooking was inviting me into the kitchen with her to sit and chat.

There was a whole lot more sitting than chatting going on, but she is amazing.  She was making salads, some little wont-ton looking things, a chicken club sandwich (they cook the fresh chicken portions right when you order your sandwich)....finally, she got to my rice and she sliced up a carrot and asked me, "Do you like?"  Of course I liked.     Then she put extra in.  Then came extra onion, extra baby corn thingies, tomato, green leafy stuff...I lost track.  She only asked me about the carrots.  The rest she did on her own.  I have to say, it was the most delicious fried rice I've had since I've been here.  It was easily enough for two people, and it had chicken added to it, I forgot to mention.  Whopping portion!  She gave me a seperate baggie with a sliced cucumber, about 8-10 tender scallions, and sliced lime to squeeze over it.

I think she went to the extra bit there because I was waiting longer than usual, maybe.  Or she could just be nice.     Another day I was there and she made THE singularly most wonderful lemon grass tea Ive ever had!  Ok, so it was the ONLY lemon grass tea I've ever had, but she had made it right then and there, poured some in a small glass and just handed it to me while I waited on my food.  She is a wonderful cook!

[Ginafish]

I don't like coming to this thread because it makes me so hungry!! But I HAVE to read it!

And I'm glad, because it's a nice story. I'm going to go gnaw on some celery now and imagine it's fried rice.

So what does lemon grass tea taste like? Like tea with lemon??

[thartley]

Not tea with lemon.  She steeped pure lemongrass in hot filtered water and added just a smidge of sugar.  The "lemon" was so strong it had a slight numbing effect on the tongue...not bad, almost like eucalyptic but not medicine-like at all.  It was delicious.

[PK]

This afternoon I had another wonderful "Only in Thailand" moment. While eating with some friends at the som tum (papaya salad) shop near the ILC,  I noticed a customer waiting for her food near the counter. Then, a few moments later, the same customer brought some sauce over to our table. Turns out the manager asked the customer to help serve our table because the waitress was busy.

My thai friends didn't think anything of it. "Sure, why wouldn't she help? She's just waiting for her food." they said.  So I started thinking about back where I lived in the US (big cities) and how customers would have reacted if they were asked to serve a table. I think some would be cool with it. But others would reply with some kind of hand gesture.

Any way, it was one of those nice "little" surprises that makes you love humanity (and Nong Khai) even more.

[M3R1IN]

oh that is so typical of Thai people and how easy going they are... Thais are so willing to help thats one of the many things I love about them.  Thanks for sharing that PK