grandMAI's recipes: about my recipes

grandmai's recipes: the on-line cookbook of authentic thai cuisine for a contemporary lifestyle

My recipes, or you may call "GrandMAI's recipes," are based on my strong assumption that our ways of approaching food are inevitably associated with our culture. The ways people eat reveal the ways they think and live. Food reveals the way people adapt to their environments and locales. And it is exciting, at least for me, to learn more about other cultures through learning about their food. This website, to some extent, would like to introduce Thai food, as well as Thai culture, to people who would like to know more about my country.

One of the most prominent characteristics of Thai people is that we are very good at adjusting our lives to fit changing environments. When spending some time here in the Western hemisphere, I have never had any problems at all about my eating habits. I really enjoy American foods - I have to say. (That's why I can't control my weight, anyway!) But sometimes, my appetite for the old familiar Thai foods grows. However, I apply the Darwin's law of 'adaptation' of Thai people to help appease my hunger for Thai food. I try hard to modify my grandma's original recipes to fit the Western lifestyle, and these creative dishes are so great. They are still authentic Thai food, but are easily prepared in the West. The motto of this website clearly spells out my intention - GrandMAI's Recipes: Authentic Thai Cuisine for a Contemporary Lifestyle.

I substitute some original ingredients that are hard to get here with local products. Someone may call my recipes the "Culinary Revolution." Indeed, the rule is not to take any ingredients as an absolute, but you are encouraged to rather find local and similar ingredients. As you go through all recipes in this site, you can see that some products found locally in cold climates are similar to tropical vegetables I used in my hometown. Sometimes, it's hard to get coconut milk in your areas, so why don't you try putting a cup of milk instead? I have some tricks that maintain the richness of coconut milk, while making your life much easier and your curry is still Thai - spicy, tasty, creamy, and absolutely yummy!

Thai people are very flexible and so is their cuisine. Each menu in GrandMAI's recipes is not a rigid rule. No exact measuring. You do not need to stress out when putting on your favorite apron while maneuvering around in your cozy kitchen area. Just relax and take it easy. That is the way I cook. Be creative. Improvise and dare to make your own recipes!

All the recipes I selected to put in this website are basic dishes that are normally and typically cooked in every Thai family. Each dish is a household name Thai people are familiar with since they are young. They are home-made meals that every member in a Thai family enjoys eating together. I did not include luxurious delicacies that take much time to prepare and cook. And as you go through all the recipes, you may be surprised to learn that Pad Thai, the most well-known Thai dish and seemingly the mascot of Thai cuisine, is not in my list. To make authentic Pad Thai is very demanding, requiring tons of specific ingredients and complicated tricks to prepare. In short, Pad Thai is not a household dish that is normally cooked in each family. We eat Pad Thai at a specialized street vendor at a food market. Cooking only one portion of Pad Thai by yourself may consume your time and energy. That's why I omit this popular dish from my repertoire.

And as you peruse all the recipes, you may wonder why you don't find a peanut sauce in the list. The myth that glorifies a peanut sauce as the identity of Thai cuisine kind of makes me confused. This on-line cookbook, in one way or another, tries to dissolve this myth. A peanut sauce exists in only two particular dishes. One is as a dipping sauce in an Islamic-influenced dish - skewered and charcoaled pork Satay. The other is as gravy in a very pompous traditional dish - sautéed pork with steamed morning glory (Rama's Ablution) - a courtly repast that is rarely available nowadays. And also, peanut sauce is not the traditional condiment, gravy, or dipping of Pad Thai. These two foods - Pad Thai VS Peanut Sauce - do not usually come together in the same dish in Thai households.

All recipes here are for 2 servings; please multiply if necessary to fit your household members. Click on above links to explore the fabulous Thai fares. Get the ingredients and cook and then, the most important part, taste! Enjoy!