Every now and then you need to have a vegetable stock. It is a great, flavorful base for Thai vegan food. Of course you can buy this (often powdered), but why would you if you can make it yourself? VEGETABLE STOCK .Prep Time: 10 mins - Cook Time: 30 mins - Total Time: ca. 45 mins - Makes: 2 servings INGREDIENTS You can basically use any vegetable to make your stock. So if you cannot get one of the ingredients we use, just replace it with what you have and add any vegetable or mushroom or herb as you like. 1 litre water 50 g onion, chopped 50 g carrot, thinly sliced 50 g turnip, thinly sliced 1 coriander root, chopped 1 kaffir lime leaf, bruised 2 tablespoons celery, sliced 2 tablespoons ginger, sliced 2 tablespoons galanga, sliced 1 teaspoon fresh peppercorns, coarsely crushed 2 garlic cloves 1 bay leaf No salt! (the stock must be neutral in order to be suitable for other preparations) EQUIPMENT Sharp knife Stock pot Slotted spoon Strainer Cheesecloth or coffee filters (for straining) Storage containers PREPARATION Chop the onion Slice the turnip Slice the carrot Chop the coriander rood Bruise the limeleaf Slice the celery Slice the ginger Slice the galanga Crush the peper corns INSTRUCTIONS Bring the water to the boil and then add all the ingredients. When it starts boiling again, lower the heat and simmer for half an hour. Take the pot off the stove and remove all the vegetables with a slotted spoon. Set a colander or strainer over a big bowl and line it with cheesecloth or coffee filters. Pour the stock through. RECIPE NOTES The broth, once filtered, lends itself to all preparations, especially soups and curries. It can also be served as an accompaniment, with its vegetables. In this case, before serving, add salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped spring onions Storage: Refrigerate this stock in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Freeze for up to 3 months. If you just need small amounts of your stock, you can also freeze it in an icecube tray and use the amount you need by taking out the cubes. If not using immediately, divide the stock into containers, cool completely, and then freeze. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Som Tam is the mother of all salads in Thailand. A traditional Som Tam is made with shredded unripe papaya, fermented crab and fish. There are five main tastes of the local cuisine in this delicious salad: sour, hot and spicy, salty, savory and sweet. The ingredients are mixed and pounded with a mortar and pestle. At our restaurant 'The Food Forest Kitchen" we organize regular workshops Som Tam making! Here is our (vegan) recipe to try it in your own kitchen. TIP: If you don’t have a mortar & pestle, place the ingredients in a large plastic bag (make sure there’s a cutting board or hard protective layer on top of your counter or table) and pound the contents with a rolling pin or the bottom of a small heavy pan. SOM TAM: GREEN PAPAYA SALAD Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Total time: 30 minutes Serves: 4 portions We make the Som Tam Salad with papaya of course. We just go in our Food Forest and get the fruit right from the tree!! If you do not have a papaya tree nearby, you can replace the papaya in this recipe by carrot or by cucumber. Cucumber should be seeded and dried with some paper towels to prevent a soggy Som Tam salad. INGREDIENTS 2 Thai bird’s-eye chilies 3-4 garlic cloves 2 cups unripe green papaya (or carrot, or cucumber) ½ cup long beans or regular green beans ½ cup carrots 2 tomatoes 2 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves (optional) 2 tablespoons Thai basil leaves (optional) For the Sauce: ½ tablespoon tamarind concentrate mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water ¼ cup lime juice (about 3 limes) ¼ cup soy sauce 3 tablespoons palm sugar (or sugarcane sugar if you cannot get palm sugar) EQUIPMENT Mortar and pestle Big spoon Plate for serving PREPARATION Seeded the chili if you do not want the Som Tam to be too spicy Clean the garlic cloves Peeled, seed and grade the papaya (or cucumber or carrot) in strips, about 2-3 inches long Green beans stem ends trimmed and cut in 1½-inch long segments Grade the carrot Quarter the tomatoes Chop the cilantro roughly Chop the basil leaves coarsely Mix the tamarind concentrate with 1 tablespoon warm water Squeeze the lime METHOD Pound garlic and chilies together in a mortar and pestle until they form a chunky paste. TIP: Place your hand over the mortar to prevent pieces of chili flying out in your eyes! Add the beans and pound well to bruise. Follow with the green papaya (or cucumber/carrot) and graded carrot. Stir well with a big spoon and pound to bruise the vegetables so that they absorb the heat and flavor of the chilies and garlic. Add the ingredients for the sauce and continue to pound a bit more and use the spoon for tossing while pounding. Add tomatoes, stir and lightly pound to slightly bruise them. Transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle the peanuts, cilantro and Thai basil leaves over the top and serve. #vegan #lunch #dinner #salad #thaisalad #somtam #traditionalfood #greenpapayasalad #thaifood #healthy #homemade #thefoodforestkitchen #ecologicthailand #nutrition #recipe #thetasteofpaksong #veggies

Thai Ice Tea has a slightly orange color and is made with a special brand of Thai tea (sold in red and white bags). It is served cold (hence Iced tea) and mixed with condensed milk. Or served as Cha Manau (Lemon tea) where the tea is mixed with lemon juice. CHA YEN: THAI ICED TEA Prep time: 2 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes Total time: 7 minutes Serves: 3 glasses - INGREDIENTS 2 tablespoons Thai black tea for 1 glass of icetea Boiling water (approx. 200 ml liter for 1 glass) Ice cubes (crushed) Sugarcane sugar Condensed milk (we use our own non dairy: click here for recipe) EQUIPMENT Thai tea steeper or big coffee filter 3 glasses Straws PREPARATION Crush your ice cubes Boil water METHOD Balance filter or tea steeper above a tea or coffee pot. Fill with the desired amount of tea. Pour in boiling water and steep to desired strength. Make the tea strong because it will be diluted later with the condensed milk and crushed ice cubes Sweeten the tea with sugar and finish off by adding condensed milk to taste. Stir Pour over a glass of crushed ice. NOTE: The rich orange color of the tea is from food coloring. The tea mix is made of black tea roasted with anise or licorice flavorings. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW. https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Fried Rice is a dish you find on every menu in Thailand. You can have it with egg, with vegetables, with meat, with tofu. Fried rice is a breakfast dish, is eaten for lunch and dinner. Making fried rice is not difficult, but the order of adding the ingredients will make your fried rice lovely and tasty or mushy and wet (still tasty though). Here is the recipe to make it. FRIED RICE WITH TOFU Prep Time: 10 minutes - Cook Time: 10 minutes - Total Time: 20 minutes Makes: 3 portions INGREDIENTS 2-3 cups of chilled cooked brown rice 2 Thai chilies 1 medium sized onion 4 cloves of garlic 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger 1 -2 fresh tomatoes 1 piece of firm tofu 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil Soy sauce to taste Lime for serving EQUIPMENT Measuring cups A wok for the fried rice A frying pan for the tofu PREPARATION Chop the chilies finely Chop the onion finely Chop the garlic finely Chop the fresh ginger finely Chop the tomatoes Dice the tofu Preheat the wok Cut the lime in wedges METHOD In a hot wok add 1-2 tablespoons of oil Add the rice and fry for 2 minutes. Stir constantly Add the chili, onion, garlic, ginger. Stir fry for 2 minutes. In the mean time fry the diced tofu in some oil in a separate pan. Add the tofu and the tomatoes and stir fry for 1 minute Add soy sauce to taste Serve with a lime wedge on the side. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

A wonderful flavored herbal salad with coconut and 6 different herbs. We make it on special occasions only, for our New Year buffet for example! It is quite laborious to cut all the herbs if you have to make a big amount. The yam is amazing in flavor, and worth a try. If you can find all ingredients, try it at home, this recipe is set for 8 portions. THAI HERBAL SALAD Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 35 minutes Serves: 8 portions INGREDIENTS USE THE SAME AMOUNT FOR ALL HERBS! We use a cup per herb if we make this salad for a big group. FOR THE SALAD: 1 cup shredded lemongrass. 1 cup shredded wild pepper leaf (or any green leaf that has a peppery taste to it) 1 cup shredded Winged bean 1 cup shredded Dalaa flower (or carrot) 1 cup shredded ginger 1 cup shredded lime leaf (aka kafirleaf) 1 cup shredded coconut 1/4 cup sesame seeds for decoration and serving FOR THE DRESSING: 1/2 cup lime juice 1 cup roasted peanuts (not salty) 1 1/4 cups sugarcane sugar. 1 cup soy sauce Salt to taste EQUIPMENT A cutting board A very sharp knife A mixing bowl A saucepan A wooden spoon PREPARATION Cut all the herbs very, very fine. Many of the leafed herbs are though and the lemongrass will be very chewy if you do not slice it very fine. Squeeze the lime Shred the coconut Roast the peanuts METHOD INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SALAD: Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SALAD DRESSING: Put a pan on a medium/low fire Mix sugar and soy sauce and bring sugar to a boil. Add the salt and lemon juice The concentrate is then set aside to cool. SERVE: Mix the salad with the salad dressing. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Ginger tea is one of the free herbal teas the Food Forest Kitchen serves for free to our guests. Ginger is very healthy and has a lot of benefits for your body. Of course we use the fresh ginger from our organic gardens here in Paksong. FRESH GINGER TEA RECIPE Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20-25 minutes Total time: approx. 30 minutes Serves: 3 glasses INGREDIENTS 12 thin slices fresh ginger 1 table spoons honey (optional) 3 cups of water EQUIPMENT A pan A stove A wooden spoon A strainer PREPARATION Clean your ginger with the back of a spoon and slice in thin slices Pound the ginger with mortar and pestle or rolling pin METHOD Put ginger and 3 cups water in small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 to 25 minutes. Strain out ginger and discard or reserve for another use. Stir in honey – if desired - and serve hot. NOTE: This tea can also be served as a cold drink or ice tea. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW. https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Most of the time we use a rice cooker at our restaurant to cook our brown rice. But being in the jungle of Paksong, we do have power failures every now and then and rice cookers need electricity. So, here is how to cook your brown rice on your stove. PERFECT BROWN RICE Prep Time: 2 minutes - Cook Time: 30 minutes - Total Time: 32 minutes (plus 10 minutes for steaming) - Makes: 3 cups of rice INGREDIENTS 1 cup brown rice 6 cups water Salt, soy sauce or other desired seasonings, to taste EQUIPMENT Measuring cups A pot for cooking the rice PREPARATION Rinse the rice under running water to remove excess starch. METHOD Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the rice to the boiling water. Reduce the temperature as necessary to prevent overflow, but maintain a steady boil. Boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Drain off the remaining cooking water and return the rice to the pot. Cover the pot and let the rice rest, off the heat, for 10 minutes. Fluff, season as desired, and serve. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW. https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Peanut butter is amazingly simple to make. You need only 3 ingredients, 10 minutes of your time and a jar to store this jammy peanut butter. Freshly made, no artificial flavoring, preservatives. The real thing! Creamy peanut butter Prep time: none Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 15 minutes Serves: 1 big jar INGREDIENTS 4 cups of roasted - non salty crushed peanuts 1/4 cup of vegetable oil 1/2 teaspoon of salt EQUIPMENT Blender (strong one) or food processor Measuring cups Spoon Jar for storage PREPARATION If you want you can roast your peanuts and remove the husk. Or you buy already roasted - non salty or flavored - peanuts. METHOD Add 2 cups of peanuts in your blender Add the oil and the salt Blend until smooth Add the remaining peanuts Blend until smooth Pour into jar Store in fridge NOTE: The recipe processes the peanut in the blender in two runs. If you have a very good food processor you might want to add everything in at once. If you like your peanut butter to be sweet you can add a teaspoon of honey to the end product. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

At our restaurant we serve snacks and meals made with local products when possible. Thinking about a cookie to serve with our organic coffee, what local product came to mind? Indeed: coconut! This macaroon is made with just 3 ingredients: freshly graded coconut, vanilla and homemade condensed soymilk. COCONUT MACAROON Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15-20minutes Total time: 30 minutes Serves: 12 medium size macaroons. INGREDIENTS 1 cup condensed milk (see recipe here) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 400 gram freshly graded coconut EQUIPMENT Measurement cups Bowl Blender if you want to grade the coconut yourself Baking paper PREPARATION Make the soy milk and condensed soy milk Grade the coconut (place pieces of fresh coconut meat in the blender) Preheat the oven op 180° Celsius METHOD Add graded coconut and vanilla to a bowl. Mix. Add the condensed milk bit by bit. Use your hands to make it a a good consistency. Don't add too much milk, the macaroons will fall apart if too wet. Use your hands to form little balls (ping pong size) Place the balls on the sheet of baking paper Bake 15-20 minutes until the macaroons are golden brown Let the macaroons cool down for 1 1/2 hour to firm up. This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Okara is the bean mash you get when you make soy milk. Our most popular snack and sidedish the Soy Yammies are made with this ingredient. We make small sized ready to bite balls with them and serve them as a snack during our happy hour or as a side dish with our buffet meals. served with some delicious sweet chili sauce. OKARA BALLS (also known as Soy Yammies) Prep time: 45 minutes Cook time: 15-30 minutes Total time: 90 minutes Serves: 225 Soy Yammies INGREDIENTS 600 gram okara 2 cups flour 6 tablespoons fried garlic 6 tablespoons fried onions 4 tablespoons salty soy sauce 4 tablespoons vegetable oil ½ tablespoon chili powder Vegetable oil for frying EQUIPMENT Blender or food processor Big mixing bowl Big wok or frying pan Box for storage in the fridge PREPARATION Make the soy milk to get the okara METHOD Mix all ingredients in a big bowl, use your hands to make a nice dough like consistency Use your hands to form little balls (bite size) DEEPRFRY IN OIL: Add a big amount of vegetable oil in your frying pan or wok on a medium/high heat Heat the oil up, make sure it does not get to hot (smoking) Fry the balls in the wok, take them out when they are golden brown Let the balls cool down on a paper towel to drain the grease AIRFRYER: If you use an airfryer Preheat the air fryer to 180° Celsius Arrange your Soy Yammies on the bottom of your air fryer basket, in a single laye The more separated, the crispier they will be. Cook the balls at 180° Celsius for 15 minutes, tossing them after 10 minutes to make sure they crisp up evenly. Store in the fridge until used NOTE: Of course you can adjust the amount of ingredients if you don't want to make so many Soy Yammies, but you might be surprised how fast they are finished! That's how good they are! You can store the Soy Yammies in the fridge for a couple of days. The Soy Yammies are best eaten when they are warm. Heat them up in a (dry, no oil) frying pan right before serving This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Yellow Curry Paste, or “Kaeng Ka-Ree” in Thai, is used in many of the Thai curry recipes. The paste includes turmeric, which gives the curry its typical golden-yellow color. Yellow curry is considered milder than other Thai curries. But that totally depends on the number of chillies used in the recipe of course. You decide yourself how spicy the paste will be, but we advice to make it spicy and use less in the curry recipes. VEGAN YELLOW CURRY PASTE Prep time: 60 Minutes - Cook time: 45 minutes - Total time : 105 minutes - Makes 1 1/2 to 2 cups INGREDIENTS 4 large shallots 4 large heads of garlic (not individual cloves – really 4 bulbs!) 1 6-inch piece of fresh ginger 5–20 whole small Thai chili peppers 1 1/2 tablespoons salt 2–3 tablespoons turmeric 2–3 tablespoons mild curry powder 2 teaspoons roasted ground coriander 3 tablespoons pureed lemongrass paste (blend lemongrass stalks (middle part) in a blender with some water 1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves and stems EQUIPMENT Oven Spatula Blender or food processor Jar for storage PREPARATION Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius Peel the shallots – then drizzle with oil and wrap in aluminium foil. Peel the ginger and cut into thin slices. Arrange in a single layer, drizzle with oil, and wrap in foil. Pull the outer paper off the garlic. Cut the pointy tops off the heads of garlic so the cloves are partially exposed. Drizzle with oil, and wrap each head of garlic in foil. Puree the lemongrass METHOD Place all the aluminium foil packets on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven. Remove the ginger (it should be soft), increase the temperature to 200 ° Celsius, and roast the shallots and garlic for another 30 minutes until golden brown and very fragrant. Take out the oven and let cool When cooled, you can squeeze the garlic cloves out of the rest of their paper. Make the paste: Put all ingredients in a food processor or very strong blender. Pulse or puree until the yellow curry paste reaches your desired consistency. Store in airtight jar in the fridge. The paste keeps for about a week in the fridge and it freezes well! This recipe is made at the @THEFOODFORESTKITCHEN, the slow food restaurant of @ECOLOGICTHAILAND. Come and taste the wonderful homemade, fresh, organic food and drinks, while you enjoy the view over the rain forest and valley! A MEAL WITH A VIEW! https://www.ecologicthailand.com/ranong-eco-resort-restaurant

Thai curry paste is usually a blend of spices and shrimp paste. It is not easy to find a vegan version. so why not make it yourself? Thai Massaman Curry is an amazing blend of herbs and spices and easy to make! VEGAN MASSAMAN CURRY PASTE Prep time: 10 Minutes - Cook time: 10 Minutes - Total time : 30 minutes - Makes 150 grams (ca. 12 tablespoons) INGREDIENTS 3-6 large dried red chillies 5 cm fresh galangal, finely sliced ½ large stalk fresh lemongrass finely sliced 1 tablespoon whole coriander seed 1 teaspoon cumin seed 2 whole cloves 1 nutmeg flower 2 large cloves garlic 5 red Thai chillies 1 teaspoon tao jiew (Thai fermented soy bean paste) 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg 3 teaspoon vegetable oil EQUIPMENT Big wok Spatula Blender or food processor Jar for storage PREPARATION Soak the chilies in some hot water for 10 minutes. Slice the galangal very fine Slice the lemongrass very fine Sterilize your jars METHOD In a wok over a medium heat, dry-roast the galangal, lemongrass, coriander seed, cumin, cloves, and nutmeg flower for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time. Add the chilies, garlic, and shallots, and keep roasting (and stirring) for another 2-3 mins until everything starts to give off its scent. Very spicy!! Remove from the heat, and place in a blender or food processor, along with the soy bean paste, salt, black pepper, ground cinnamon, and grated nutmeg. Blend everything, while drizzling in the oil. It should become a thick paste. Fry the paste for a few minutes (no need to add any more oil), until it turns a little darker Store in airtight jar in the 'fridge for up to three months. #vegan #currypaste #thaicurrypaste #veganmassamancurry #massamancurry #massamancurrypaste #originalthai #thaifood #healthy #homemade #recipe #thefoodforestkitchen #ecologicthailand #veganrecipe #easyrecipe #thetasteofpaksong