Sure, so first I went to the Sunday farmers’ market at civic center in SF, but I had gotten there too late and most of the stalls had packed up already. I think I read an old Chowhound thread that mentioned that a vendor sold it there. Then I tried Battambang market on Eddy - they didn’t have it but said they had some earlier that day in the morning. Finally found the frozen ones at Hiep-Thanh Market on Larkin. If going there perhaps check first if they have it as it seems a little scarce.
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The wide noodles (for pad key mao and pad see euw) are hard to find in dried form — I’ve only ever seen them once (in nyc for me), and then they were all broken up.
You might have better luck at a chinese market, where they sell them fresh (ho fun).
The smaller bags of rice and smaller bottles of soy sauce are usually in a different location (a 20lb bag of rice is not hard to go through if you’re from a rice-eating culture).
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You can freeze the fresh chiles. That’s what I do when I buy the Thai chiles, and I used them straight from the freezer, cutting them with scissors.
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Yes, those rice noodles are sold fresh in Chinese supermarkets, and will usually be kept at room temperature near the aisles with the dairy and fresh noodles. I’ve seen them refrigerated at times, which defeats the purpose.
However, at least for pad see ew it is also made with different noodles. Recently I made sen mee pad see ew:
Having said that, I have to make almost all my noodles now (I can buy rice vermicelli and recently was happy to find cellophane noodles too) and ho fun is actually really easy to make. You just need rice flour and tapioca starch. Use an Asian rice flour because it tends to be finer than brands like Bob’s Red Mill.
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So do you just freeze them whole? It never occurred to me to freeze chilis but what a great idea!
I do this too. I grow serrranos, cayenne, and usually 1-2 other varieties. I rinse and freeze these and store-bought whole in bags. I prefer without seeds, and it is easy to halve and scrape out seeds before chopping.
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Same here. I grow several varieties in the garden, which I just pop into the freezer as they come in, and also freeze any chiles from the Asian market that come packed in a larger quantity than I need. They all freeze beautifully, just thrown in whole, no blanching or other prep required. I just toss them in a ziploc freezer bag.
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FISH with LIME-CHILI-GARLIC DRESSING, page 111
This is very simple and makes a quick and easy weeknight dinner. 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 T fish sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 3/4 cup chicken broth are mixed together. Fish fillets (she recommends trout, salmon, and halibut) are placed in a baking dish that will fit in a steamer, topped with the marinade, and sprinkled with 4 chopped bird’s eye chilis and 4 chopped garlic cloves. The fish is then steamed or baked. The finished dish is topped with cilantro leaves.
I made 1/4 of the recipe with a halibut fillet. I baked the fish in a foil packet for easy clean up. I served it on rice; you need something to sop up the marinade. It had a bit of a kick from the chilis. It is not terribly exciting, but I’d make it again as it was very easy and healthy.
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Yes, I freeze them whole!
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CHICKEN-GINGER STIR-FRY
[kai phat khing]
This is really a great dish for ginger-lovers. I prepared per the recipe as described by naf. I did rinse my mature ginger a bit as recommended by the author, and it was still wonderfully gingery. 99 Ranch had fresh wood ear mushrooms, so I used those. Was really good served over jasmine rice, and it made four large servings.
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Totally agreed!!
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I’ve made the noodles (in cheung fun form) but I wouldn’t call them easy to make… takes some trial and error on texture, and definitely adds a project to another project 
(Plus it’s not like they keep well, so you cant make them more than a day ahead or make a big batch to freeze.)
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I don’t mind making them because it’s just a quickly blended batter and they cook in seconds. No kneading, no rolling out, and once cooked they can be stacked and cut in one go. For cheong fun the sheets need to be thinner and more delicate (the filled kind anyway; I actually like more toothsome rolls for unfilled ones with sauce), so I can see how for that purpose it’s more troublesome. For those I like Chinese Cooking Demystified’s method of making the batter from rice rather than flour and using a towel for thinner sheets. And it’s definitely more annoying that way!
CUCUMBER RELISH - ebook
Made this last night. Method has already been described. I used the stovetop for the vinegar/sugar mixture. It seemed like a lot of syrup for a small amount of cucumber (olny 1/2 cup?), and I ended up doubling it. This was a bit on the sweet side for my taste, but Mr. MM loved it. And a heads-up… don’t slosh any of that syrup on the floor, or on your shoes (as I did). It makes a crazy sticky mess.
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AJAT | CUCUMBER RELISH
Made this too last night, as part of the meal with rice and shrimp. I found this pickle added some freshness and acidity as accompaniment. As for the sweetness, I don’t like dishes too sweet, I usually dose it by 1/2 or even 1/3. So it was okay for me. I forgot to add the cilantro leaves.
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CHICKEN IN BROWN SAUCE ON RICE p. 146
This is maybe the easiest recipe in the book, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it is boring. You marinate diced chicken (she calls for half breast/half thighs - I went all thigh meat) in thin soy sauce, dark sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, cornstarch, sesame oil, vegetable oil, white pepper, and rice wine or sherry (I used sherry) for 8-10 hours. Then heat chicken stock in wok or skillet (I think a dutch oven would be fine here) and once that starts to bubble, add the chicken. Cook through until sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve over rice with sliced chilies (I used serranos instead of the Thai long chilies called for) and cilantro (I didn’t have any). She serves this with a fried egg over it - I didn’t. It doesn’t mention to salt it anywhere in the recipe, and I know sometimes it is assumed that you’ll do so anyway, and I did. I salted too much, given the soy, so just a warning that you want to be careful with that. But this is a keeper - simple but delicious.
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KUNG PHAT PHONG KARI | SHRIMP CURRY STIR-FRY
As described in the recipe, it’s a Chinese-Thai dish. I did as advised in the recipe, toasted my curry powder in a dry pan over low heat for a minute in advance. As for the cooking, first I heated the wok with oil, added minced garlic and sliced onion for 1 minute wtih high heat, Then added the shrimp and cooked briefly, followed by the egg mixture (milk, egg, chile jam, curry powder, salt sugar and chicken stock) for another 2 minutes. Stirred in the celery.
The taste was fine, but the tiny bits milk egg curd, disturbed me a bit, I was thinking maybe I did something wrong, but I found the same in other photos of the same dish, so I guess it’s the style.
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PHAT WUN SEN | STIR-FRIED GLASS NOODLES WITH CHICKEN
Made this for lunch. I mixed up slightly with another recipe in the book Glass noodle salad, as I read both recipes last night, so I had wood ear mushroom and dried shrimp in extra for this dish. Cooked the minced garlic in high heat, then added the chicken, tomatoes, re-hydrated mushroom, soaked dried shrimps, sliced onions, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. Followed by the noodles and chicken stock and continued to cook for a minute. Added the egg, cooked 1 minute more and lastly celery. The dish was okay, nothing particularly stood out, maybe I under seasoned and a bit more sauce would be better.
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KUNG PHAT PHONG KARI | SHRIMP CURRY STIR-FRY
I followed the method as described by naf. I, too, was not a fan of the appearance of the egg curd or its texture. Still, the flavor was very good. Mr. Ramone even had seconds, and asked for the leftovers the following day… and for him, that’s saying something.
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