Miang Kam - Thai Tasty Tidbits

Miang kam is a tasty snack often sold as street food. It involves wrapping little tidbits of several items in a leaf, along with a sweet-and-salty sauce. Chewing all the myriad ingredients together gives taste receptacles on the tongue and mouth a thrilling experience – from the rich, roasted flavors of coconut and peanut, to the tanginess of lime with zest and the pungent bursts of diced ginger and chillies. It makes a great party food.

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 bunches of bai cha plu (wild pepper leaves), or substitute large leaves from 1-2 bunches of spinach; or 1 head of leafy lettuce, tear leaves into 3- to 4-inch round or square pieces

Filling Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
• 1/4 cup small dried shrimp
• 1/2 cup roasted unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup diced ginger (about the size of a pea)
• 1/3 cup diced shallots or onion the same size as the ginger
• 1 lime, cut into small peanut-size wedges, each with both peel and juice sacs
• 4 heads pickled garlic, stem removed and bulb cut into peanut-size pieces
• 6 serrano peppers, cut into thin half circles; or use Thai chillies ( prik kee noo), cut into thin rounds
• 1/3 cup cilantro leaves

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup finely ground dried shrimp
• 1/2 cup roasted shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
• 1/4 cup palm or coconut sugar
• 2 Tbs. fish sauce (nahm bplah), or to taste
• 1/2 cup water

To roast coconut, place unsweetened fresh or dried shredded coconut in a dry cast iron pan over medium heat. Stir frequently until the coconut shreds are evenly a golden brown and very fragrant. Pickled garlic is available in jars from Southeast Asian markets.

Arrange the spinach or lettuce leaves and filling ingredients on a large serving platter, piling each separately and aesthetically for a pleasing presentation.

To make the sauce, grind the dried shrimp, roasted coconut and peanuts separately and as finely as possible in a clean coffee grinder. (For the dried shrimp, measure out 1/4 cup after the shrimp is ground.) Place in a small saucepan together with the palm sugar, fish sauce and water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, stirring frequently to make sure all the ingredients are well blended and the sauce as smooth as possible. Cook about 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of light batter. Transfer to a sauce bowl and allow to cool to room temperature before using. The sauce will thicken more as it cools.

To eat, take a spinach or lettuce leaf, fill it with a little bit of everything, top with a dab of sauce, roll or wrap up, stuff the entire leaf packet into your mouth and chew everything all at once. Enjoy the explosion of flavors!

Olive Cheese Balls

This is an old family recipe from somewhere - so tasty, it works great with the salty sourness of green olives (it does not work with Kalamata or black olives). Great appetizer for winter get-togethers.

Betty Crockers' take adds too much dough

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (about 8 oz)
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 48 small pimiento-stuffed olives, drained and patted dry

Steps:

1. Grate cheese - we like using a food processor because cheese grating can be really tiring, especially if you make a double batch to freeze.
2. Stir together cheese and flour in large bowl.
3. Stir in melted butter and mix thoroughly. If dough seems dry, work with hands to warm.
4. Mold 1 teaspoon dough around each olive; shape into ball that just covers the olives. Roll it around in your palm, if it makes "points" then prune those off.
5. Place each ball on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
7. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown on edges.

Irish Colcannon

We make colcannon every year for St Paddy's Day - this year I saw a recipe from Kerry Gold butter that added cheese (Wallace would be proud). It was really good and since we needed the cabbage for our Ab-Fab coleslaw later that week, I chose purple cabbage.

It may have been the wrong color for St Paddy's but it tasted better - does purple cabbage taste that much different? We think so.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds red potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tbsp salted butter
• 1 cup onion, sliced
• 6 cups finely sliced green (or purple!) cabbage
• 1 cup (about 4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Steps

1. Cook potatoes in salted, boiling water about 20 minutes or until very tender; drain well.
2. Mash with skins on in a mixer, adding butter as a big ole' stick.
3. While potatoes are cooking, saute onion; cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very soft.
4. Add cabbage; cook coveredr for 5 minutes more or until very soft (I usually stir it twice during this time).
5. Stir cabbage mixture and cheese into hot potatoes and season with pepper.

Makes 8 servings.

Smoked Salmon Rollups

One of my favorite appetizers - it involves salmon lox, what's not to love?! Good water crackers are the best thing to put these on. Or just pop them in your mouth :D

The real trick is to slice it well - we freeze it for 30 minutes before slicing. Sometimes you can do this before the "chill" time. And then use a sharp knife (we use a serrated tomato knife) and then rinse it in water between every other slice. Much easier then.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon spanish paprika, dried
• 1/4 teaspoon lemongrass and chili spice mix (Hot, more if you wish)
• 1 tablespoon dill, finely chopped
• 8 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon

Steps

1. In a stand mixer, add cream cheese, lemon pepper, garlic, and dill.
2. Process until combined and smooth.
3. Lay out slices of salmon on a piece of plastic wrap, slightly overlapping edges.
4. Spoon cream cheese mixture onto salmon evenly.
5. Roll the salmon into a long and wrap tightly.
6. Chill for at least 2 hours. I like to put it in the freezer for the last 30 minutes (makes it easier to slice).
7. Cut roll into 1/4 inch slices, serve on crackers or pieces of bagel.

Makes 24 slices.