Leela Punyaratabandhu - Flavors of the Southeast Asian Grill : Classic Recipes for Seafood and Meats Cooked over Charcoal

LEELA PUNYARATABANDHU
is the author of Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand, winner of the 2018 The Art of Eating Prize for the best of food book of the year, and Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen. Since 2008, she haswritten about Thai cuisine on her cooking blog, SheSimmers.com, which was named the best Regional Cuisine blog in 2012 by Saveur magazine. Leelas writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Serious Eats, CNNGo, Food52, TASTE, and Dill Magazine. She has been namedone of the 100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time by Epicurious. Leelas work focuses on Thai food and Thai restaurants both in the United States and Thailand, and she divides her time between Chicago and Bangkok.

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

For more in-depth information on the equipment, techniques, and science behind grilling and smoking, as well as general cooking, I recommend the following books.

Franklin, A., and J. Mackay. Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto. San Francisco: Ten Speed Press, 2015.

Goldwyn, Meathead. Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling. Boston: A Rux Martin Book, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.

Lampe, Ray. Ray Lampes Big Green Egg Cookbook: Grill, Smoke, Bake & Roast. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2016.

Lpez-Alt, J. Kenji. The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004.

Mixon, Myron. BBQ&A with Myron Mixon: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Barbecue. New York: Abrams, 2019.

Stone, Tuffy. Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue. New York: St. Martins Griffin, 2018.

Wiviott, Gary. Low and Slow: Master the Art of Barbecue in 5 Easy Lessons. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2009.

FISH & SHELLFISH

CEDAR-PLANK SALMON SALAD BITES

Called miang in Thailand, this fun appetizer lends itself to communal cooking and eating. On a weekend, family members come together to help cut various flavorful ingredients into little pieces so that later they can all sit down together and compose and consume bite-size salad wraps made up of the finely cut foods. Miang is also by definition flexible. Other than a few iterations that have become essentially canonized, it can contain anything you want. You are in charge of the destiny of your miang. Think of it as a salad that is composed on the palm of a hand, one bite at a time.

The grilling of the salmon on a cedar plank is the American influence. This way I can juxtapose the smoky result with the vibrant flavors of lime, chiles, and gingerall against the backdrop of fragrant fresh herbs. And though there are other ways to introduce smokiness to the fish, the plank makes for a great presentation as well as eliminates any possibility of the fish sticking to the grate. Youll need a cedar plank, about 12 inches long.

SERVES 4 AS AN APPETIZER

DRESSING

4 to 6 fresh red birds eye chiles, or 2 or 3 larger red hot chiles

4 large garlic cloves

cup fish sauce

cup packed grated palm sugar or granulated coconut sugar, or cup packed light brown sugar

cup fresh lime juice

FISH

1 (1-pound) salmon fillet

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

SALAD

1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts

4 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and cut into -inch dice

4 ounces shallots, cut into -inch dice

2 green Thai long chiles or jalapeos, thinly sliced (optional)

cup firmly packed fresh cilantro leaves

cup firmly packed fresh Thai or common basil leaves

cup firmly packed fresh mint leaves

24 to 32 Bibb lettuce leaves

2 small, thin-skinned limes, unpeeled, cut into -inch dice

Soak the cedar planks in warm water to cover for 1 hour.

To make the dressing: In a small food processor or a mortar, blend the chiles and garlic until the bits are the size of a match head. Transfer to a small saucepan, add the fish sauce and sugar, and heat gently over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, stir in the lime juice, and transfer to a small heatproof serving bowl.

To cook the fish: Pat the salmon dry. Rub the salt and oil on it and leave it at room temperature for the surface to dry out a bit. Meanwhile, prepare a medium fire (350 to 375F) in a charcoal grill, using the direct-heat grilling method (see ). When the grill reaches the desired temperature, remove the cedar plank from the water, wipe it thoroughly dry, place the plank on the grate, and char it on one side for 5 to 7 minutes (youll hear some cracking and popping). Turn the plank over so the charred side is up, place the salmon on the plank, and put the plank on the grate. Cover and cook until the internal temperature registers 145F in the thickest part, about 20 minutes. Remove the plank from the grill and let cool to slightly warmer than room temperature.

To arrange the salad: With the salmon on the plank, arrange all of the salad ingredients around the fish in separate mounds or small bowls. To compose a bite, place a lettuce leaf on your cupped palm, put a little bit of the fish and a few pieces of each of the other salad ingredients into it, and then top it with a teaspoon or so of the dressing. Now gather the edges of the lettuce into a purse and enjoy the whole bite at once.

HERB-FILLED GRILLED FISH

with Spicy Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Grilled whole fish can be found throughout Southeast Asia, but this version from Myanmar (Burma), known as nga kin, is one of the simplest. It is also the best thing my friends and I ate during our first visit there when we crossed the border from Thailands northern province of Mae Hong Son into Myanmar in the late 1990s, a time when tourism in that area wasnt booming as it is now. Whole freshwater fish, which had been stuffed with assorted fresh herbs and grilled over charcoal until charred and smoky, and rice formed the simple meal that our host put on the table for us. Maybe that modest yet glorious meal tasted so good because we arrived tired and hungry. What I do know is that this simple grilled fish is a reminder that when the freshest ingredients are on hand, theres not much else you need to do except get out of the way and let those ingredients shine.