Vegan Street Food by Jackie Kearney

Author:Jackie Kearney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ryland Peters & Small
Published: 2017-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

From left to right: Salsify & Chilli Fritters; Nam Prik Pao; Kanom Jin Nahm Prik Tofu; fresh watercress, cucumber and chillies/chiles.

KANOM JIN NAHM PRIK TOFU

SMOKY TOFU & CHILLI/CHILE JAM WITH KANOM JIN NOODLES

I’m a huge fan of David Thompson, an Australian chef and writer whose depth of knowledge in Thai cuisine is unsurpassed. His beautiful and slightly complicated Thai Street Food is inspiring to read. By the time you read this, we will also have had the joy of visiting his restaurant in Bangkok, called Nahm. I use his books to help me understand the basis of many traditional recipes and techniques in Thai food. His recipe for prawns/shrimp and chilli/chile jam (kanom jin nahm prik) was the inspiration for this dish, and my smoky tofu version was runner-up in Best Main at the British Street Food Awards in 2012. I lost out to fish and chips by one point in the voting. Not bad for a vegan dish facing a British audience, I think!

The recipe has a number of component parts, and I suggest making your batch of Thai chilli/chile jam (Nam Prik Pao, page 101) at least a day beforehand. It will make the recipe feel less daunting, and, of course, you can make the chilli/chile jam simply in its own right, so it’s ready to use in lots of Thai recipes, or as a simple stir-fry sauce or dip. Another ingredient that is useful to prepare earlier is some vegan fish sauce (keep a stock bottle for your Southeast Asian fish-free cooking, page 13). If you prefer, you can substitute the chilli/chile jam by roasting 5 fresh red chillies and adding those to the paste.

The deep-fried whole bird’s eye chillies/chiles can be a little intimidating at first, but their notably fierce heat is tempered by the frying process and leaves a deep and smoky chilli/chile flavour that has to be tried at least once. These cheeky little additions are often served alongside dishes in Thailand and Laos, so people can adjust the heat of what they’re eating to suit their own taste.

100 g/3¾ oz. creamed coconut, dissolved in 100 ml/scant ½ cup hot water, or 100 ml/scant ½ cup coconut cream

1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate, dissolved in 100 ml/scant ½ cup hot water

2 tablespoons soft brown sugar

3 tablespoons vegan fish sauce (page 13), light soy sauce or tamari

6 kaffir lime leaves

600 g/1 lb. 5 oz. smoked firm tofu, crumbled

vegetable oil, for deep-frying

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 banana shallot, thinly sliced

10 whole dried or fresh red bird’s eye chillies/chiles, with stems

400 g/14 oz. kanom jin noodles

freshly squeezed juice of 4 limes

holy basil (optional), to garnish

Salsify & Chilli fritters (opposite) and fresh watercress with cucumber and chillies/chiles (optional), to serve

ROASTED PASTE

2 tablespoons mung beans, soaked in cold water for 1 hour and drained

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled

4 red shallots, or 2 small red onions, unpeeled

7.5-cm/3-in. piece of galangal or root ginger, peeled and cut into 2.5-cm/1-in. chunks

2 coriander/cilantro roots or a handful of fresh coriander/cilantro stems, chopped

a pinch of sea salt

½–1

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