Creamy Nonya Noodles

A spur of the moment purchase of fresh, thick noodles from the local Asian market left me with the task of how best to devour them. Lo mein? Eh...Aha! A nice heavy broth/sauce would be great in this cool weather. Though the noodles are not of the ramen type, I'm sure there's something out there suitable for this.

After scouring about, I found this Creamy Nonya Noodles recipe from Martin Yan. I modified it to suit my tastes and the availability of ingredients in the kitchen. For the most part, I didn't bother with the "accessories" he used such as chicken, cucumber, omelette strips and fried tofu. Instead, I used hard-boiled eggs, fish balls and soft tofu (not fried) which is somewhat ramen-like. The recipe also calls for using water, but that just seemed awfully boring so I used a Knorr vegetable boullion for the stock, but that might have been a mistake. Perhaps those pseudo-meaty broths would have been more suitable here? Considering what goes into those rich ramen broths that yield complex, deep flavours for ramen, a vegetable boullion cube utterly pales in comparison.

Regardless, the soup base turned out to be not creamy at all. I'm not sure what the creamy bit in the name refers to. However, I enjoyed the coconut and lemongrass flavours that permeated the soup. Other than that, the soup was just too heavy on me taste buds in a salty-oily manner. Ah, perhaps I shouldn't have used dark soy sauce and surely the boullion cube added a wee bit too much in the salt department? Another potential mistake in the preparation may have been the absence of the chilies. None were on hand and I forgot to add dried hot pepper as a substitue. I think their addition would have helped. Ah well.

Being a soup-based noodle dish, it's best to consume it all. Victims are useful in that sense. I had no willing victims (they are too smart for me) so I had refrigerate the leftover soup while I left the noodles in a separate bowl. After all, I wouldn't want the noodles to soak up all the soup to become a huge mushy mass. Yuck. The next day when I opened the fridge, I was greeted by a transformed soup. It had separated! Somehow, I found it rather amusing which is about all I can muster up for a decidely unpleasant dish. =P

Scrumptious Stew

There's usually a can of coconut milk sitting in the pantry somewhere but I don't usually have taro sitting around in the fridge. I'd been rather curious to try out Ken Hom's Taro Coconut Stew recipe, and so when I finally remembered to grab meself some taro, I whipped me up some stew!

Surprisingly, it was delicious! It was very much so a stick-to-your-ribs type of stew because of the starch of the taro and the fat from the coconut milk. It was absolutely wonderfully unctious in the mouth while the curry spices tickled my taste buds and olfactory nerves with great delight and a bit of heat. The taro and carrots became nicely soft which just added to the whole heavenly feel in the mouth. I'll be making this one again for sure!!

Best Thai in the US!

These were the words proclaimed by a Thai friend about SriPraPhai at 64-13 39th Avenue in Woodside, NY. I'm no expert, but it certainly was tasty! You could also tell that it was at least relatively authentic from the slew of choices on the menu. To say the least, I was overwhelmed. Thankfully, my pseudo-choice (my choice was an "unknown" item and weird sounding...which was my goal to order something different than usual but I overachieved...) was accidentally side stepped as we pondered whether or not to get a vegetable side dish. Incidentally, we ordered enough food so all turned out well. What did we eat? I'm not really sure. In trying to figure out what dish to try, I didn't hear what else was ordered. =\

One of the specials of the day: Steamed mussels (they're huge and meaty!) with some spicy/sour sauce that is always served with seafood. Simply made and not bad. It was a nice break from the spicier dishes at the table. ;)


Red curry with seafood. It had pineapples, hot peppers, sweet peppers, Thai eggplant, basil, shrimp and squid. It was nice and flavorful especially with the coconut milk. I love all Thai curries so I was happy to eat this one. =9 It wasn't too spicy unless I swallowed and breathed wrong. ;)


Sauteed gailan (Chinese broccoli) with crispy pork. This is the standard vegetable dish that Thai people always order, so of course we had to order it. ;) The pork is like the skin and then some. I don't know what it's called but I've seen it before. it's that thick slab stuff. I didn't eat it, but everyone else said it was tasty.


Deep-fried soft-shell crab. It was served with a green mango salad that you eat with the crab. The crabs were very crunchy...maybe a bit too crunchy (overfried) for me, but I didn't mind too much. Slather a bit of slightly sour but fresh tasting salad on the crab for a nice combo of flavor. The salad made the crab less oily and unhealthy tasting.


Southern-style curry with shrimp and stinky beans (sa-tor bean). The beans taste weird...almost chemically. I'm told it's an aquired taste and often eaten by Thai and Indonesian people. I was warned I'd smell terrible afterwards, almost garlicky. On top of that, I would be afflicted with potent flatulence. Hmm...I know someone with whom I need to lock in a small room as revenge!! Anyhow, I'm currently at the stinky breath phase...I really liked the curry on this one because it was very hearty, almost meaty. It reminded me very much of the ground shrimp hot sauces like in sa cha sauce or Indonesian hot pastes. Our Thai friend says this type of curry is very similar to Indonesian curries. Aha!! While the beans look similar to fava beans, the texture is more like...boiled Chinese almonds. This was the spiciest of the dishes and the most interesting for me.


Dessert was chosen from the refrigerated case and warmed up for us. It was black beans and tapioca in a salty-sweet coconut milk based soup. It was a weird mix of flavors as the saltiness hits you immediately but as you eat, it tastes more sweet. The flavor reminded me of some Asian coconut candies I've had. Unfortunately, I was too full to eat pass one bite and explore further.

I had an immensely satisfying meal this evening. My friends tell me that a bonus of eating here is that the leftovers taste even better the next day! Mmmm...definitely going back to this place!! I loved the flavors of the herbs and spices. It's definitely not your typical Americanized Thai outpost. Mmmm! Another plus is that it is not expensive at all! I want to try everything on the menu now...Of all the dishes tonight, my favorite was the stinky bean. Next in line has to be the red curry because I love curries. =P Next time, should I feel more adventurous, I will buy some of their pre-packaged sauces in the refrigerated case to take home to make my own authentic tasting Thai meal. Yum!

Go employee of the month!! Woo hoo! ;)