Het Paa Naam Tok Isaan Style Forest Mushroom Salad Food

HET PAA NAAM TOK (ISAAN-STYLE FOREST MUSHROOM SALAD)

Steps:

• Prepare a grill, preferably charcoal, to cook with medium heat. Or preheat a grill pan or heavy skillet over medium heat.
• Toss the mushrooms in a bowl along with just enough oil to lightly coat them. Season generously with salt and pepper and toss again. Grill the mushrooms, turning them over occasionally, until they're cooked through and deep golden brown in spots, 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the mushrooms, transferring them as they're cooked to a cutting board. Cut any large mushrooms into bite-size slices, about 1/2 inch thick. Leave any small mushrooms whole. You should have about 1 cup of chopped, cooked mushrooms. Let them cool slightly as you make the dressing.
• Combine the lime juice, soy sauce, mushroom stock, sugar, chile powder, and lemongrass in a wok or medium pan, set it over medium heat, and heat the mixture just until it's warm to the touch, 15 seconds or so. Turn off the heat.
• Add the mushrooms to the pan along with the shallots, mint, cilantro, and rice powder, toss well, and transfer to a plate in a low heap so that most of the herbs end up near the top. Sprinkle on another pinch or two of rice powder, and serve.

ISAAN STEAK SALAD (NEUA NAAM TOK)

Steps:

• Season steak: Trim lemongrass ends, then remove the fibrous outer layers (about 2-3 layers). Thinly slice the tender inner core; you should have about ¼ cup. Place a cloth towel under the mortar to keep it stable; add 1 tablespoon sliced lemongrass and the peppercorns to the mortar. Loosely pound to break up while also scraping the sides, 10 seconds. Set aside. Place steak on a plate and pour soy sauce over to coat both sides. Rub the lemongrass-peppercorn paste on both sides of the steak, pressing to adhere. Let rest at room temperature, 10 minutes.
• Grill steak: Preheat charcoal grill according to grill directions to medium heat, about 30 minutes. Lightly brush preheated grill with oil, then brush the steak with oil. Grill the steak for 8-10 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until lightly charred on both sides. Meanwhile, prep the salad: Trim, peel, and thinly slice a shallot with the grain. Set aside, along with mint leaves, cilantro, and remaining sliced lemongrass.
• Dressing: In a pan, add beef stock, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and chile powder. Heat sauce over medium heat just until heated and bubbly at the edges, 2 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
• Assembly: Remove steak from grill and let rest, 10 minutes. To serve, cut the steak against the grain in thin slices; add to the pan with the warm dressing, along with any juices from the steak. Place the additional salad ingredients into the pan, along with dried rice powder. Stir to combine and coat ingredients with the dressing. Spoon onto a plate, sprinkle with additional toasted rice powder, and serve.

PHRIK PHON KHUA (TOASTED-CHILE POWDER)

Steps:

• The goal here is to cook the chiles slowly so they get nice and dark but don't burn. Consider opening a window and turning on your stove's exhaust fan.
• Put the chiles in a wok or pan, turn the heat to high to get the pan hot, then turn the heat down to medium-low to low.
• Stir the chiles almost constantly moving them around the wok and flipping them occasionally to make sure both sides of the chiles make contact with the hot pan. Keep at it until the chiles are very brittle and very dark brown (nearly black) all over, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the chiles from the pan as they're finished. Discard any seeds that escape the chiles, because they'll be burnt and bitter.
• Let the chiles cool. Pound them in a granite mortar to a coarse powder that's only slightly finer than store-bought red pepper flakes, or grind them in a spice grinder (or better yet, pass them twice through a meat grinder, first through a 1/4-inch die and then through an 1/8-inch die). Either way, take care to keep the powder coarse. Immediately put the chile powder in an airtight container or plastic bag.
• The chile powder will keep for up to a few months in a sealed container kept in a cool, dry place (not in the fridge), though the flavor will begin to deteriorate after several weeks.

KHAO KHUA (TOASTED-STICKY RICE POWDER)

Steps:

• Put the rice in a bowl, add enough water to cover by an inch or so, and let the rice soak at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight. (If you're in a rush, you can soak the rice in hot tap water for as little as 2 hours.) Drain the rice very well, then lay the rice out on kitchen towels until it's dry to the touch.
• Your goal is to toast the rice slowly so the grains toast all the way through before getting too dark on the outside, stirring constantly so the grains cook evenly. Put the rice in a large dry frying pan or wok and set the pan over medium-low to low heat.
• Cook, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is evenly golden brown. After 15 minutes or so, you should see the grains begin to change color. After 30 minutes or so, the grains will have turned light golden brown. After 45 minutes to 1 hour, they will be golden brown, close to the color of peanut butter, and have a very toasty aroma. Ideally, every grain will be the same color, but you'll inevitably have some grains that are slightly darker or lighter.
• Let the toasted rice cool slightly, then grind it in a spice grinder (or even better, in a burr grinder), in batches if necessary, until you have a powder with the texture of coarse sand or kosher salt.
• The powder keeps for several months in an airtight container in a cool, dry place (not the fridge), though the flavor will begin to deteriorate after several weeks.