Thai Waterfall Salad (Nam Tok)

This is the flagship post of my new cooking blog, "The Zitchen!"  Here's a quick background before we jump into the recipe.  If you've heard of Brian Regan, he does a comedy spot on how the TV show for Flipper the dolphin would have been better if Flipper had an evil enemy to contend against, namely a mischievous dolphin named "Zipper."  Since then, my husband (...Zichael....) and I superimpose a "Z" at the beginning of any word to bestow upon it a twisty and rascally connotation.  One night he made dinner for me and set out everything very fancily, to the point where we pretended that we were actually at a restaurant instead of our own kitchen.  I asked him what he would name his in-home restaurant if he had one, and he replied.... "The Zitchen!"  Hence the title of this blog.  Also, I am not an expert at anything at all, but I have a lot of fun cooking and Zichael and I love sharing food with our friends, so why not share the recipes too?  Well... you have been warned.  Proceed at your own caution.  ;-)

Since ZICHAEL served his mission in Thailand, we like to make our own Thai food quite often.  This is one of our favorites! It's fresh, flavorful, and the only processed ingredient is the fish sauce.  I've read a few different explanations as to why it's called "Waterfall Salad," and they all seem kind of hokey to me.  So I just enjoy it without asking the reason behind the name ;)

This dish is served with sticky rice, we have our own steamer set and really enjoy it.  If you don't have access to an Oriental Market from which to buy the rice or the equipment, you can substitute ordinary rice, but you might miss out on the "WOW" factor that sticky rice lends to Thai dishes.  I'll do a separate write-up soon on how to prepare sticky rice in the traditional Thai way.  Or you can google it.

The ingredients are very simple- lots of fresh produce, some meat, fish sauce and spice.  The recommended meat with this dish is pork or beef, but because Zichael and I are saving our pennies, you'll see that I used much less expensive chicken in the photos.  This dish could even be made into a vegetarian/vegan option if you substituted tofu for the meat and Kosher salt for the fish sauce. Last little piece of advice, you'll see that I used ground red pepper for the spice in this recipe, but that's just because we used up every speck of the usual crushed Thai red chili pepper spice we used to have.  If you want authenticity, buy the real stuff and use it!

This is what it looks like.  Thanks Wikipedia!!

Let's begin.

Here are the ingredients and set up.  You'll see that I have two cutting boards and that the top one is already messy.  That's because I'd already started choppin' before deciding to take pictures and share this recipe with zeveryone.  ;-)  ANYWAYS, the top board is my produce board and the bottom cutting board is for the meat.  I'm slightly paranoid about salmonella or food-borne bacteria in general, so I'm pretty careful about handling raw meat.

Not pictured: Green onions or shallots (I forgot the green onions and I didn't have shallots, haha)

INGREDIENTS:
(Fresh Produce)
A few sprigs of Mint leaves, rinsed, stems discarded and leaves finely chopped
Handful of Cilantro, rinsed, stems discarded and leaves finely chopped
A few green onions (just the green part), rinsed and finely diced
Half a red onion, sliced into thin 1" strips
A shallot or two, sliced into thin 1" strips
A few huge handfuls of lettuce (I like red), rinsed and roughly chopped into 1" pieces

(Flavoring)
Fish Sauce (to taste)
Thai crushed red chili pepper (to taste)
Juice of 4 or so Limes

(Meat)
Small amount of vegetable oil for sauteing
1-2 pounds beef, pork, or chicken, sliced into thin 1" pieces or so

(Optional Garnish)
Toasted ground sticky rice sprinkled on top

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves 2-4

 DIRECTIONS:
Chop all produce as instructed.  Put everything but the lettuce into a large bowl.  Saute your meat in the oil over medium heat until DONE. Transfer the meat to the bowl with the chopped produce and add flavorings. You want to have a good balance of salty, spicy and tangy (from the limes, which I LOVE, so I usually make mine stronger towards the tangy end of the tasty spectrum).  Once you have achieved a blend you like, add the chopped up lettuce and toss until everything is evenly coated.  Dish up some freshly-made sticky rice onto a plate and add a few huge spoonfuls of the Waterfall Salad next to it.  Sprinkle the optional garnish of toasted ground sticky rice over the salad if you like variety in your food's texture.  Enjoy your own homemade Nam Tok...THAI WATERFALL SALAD!!

Produce chopped and ready for the chicken to be sliced and cooked!

Sticky rice and tossed Waterfall salad all done!

oh man..... deliciousness!  I used too much lettuce in this, and was a little lazy on getting the toasted ground sticky rice to a nice dusty grain, but it was still waaaay good (:

ZAFTERTHOUGHTS

SO in this section after the actual recipe, you can see more detailed information about some of the ingredients.  I'm doing it like this because when *I* look up a recipe online, I just want to know how to make it.  I don't want to have to scroll through seven or eight pictures of the dish taken from as many appealing angles with the blog's title superimposed on each photo. BUT.  I also appreciate added information and tips that I wouldn't know otherwise.  THUS here you go: the Zafterthoughts.

Jack the Mint Plant

MINT- I bought a couple of the "Living Herbs" Mint plants from our local grocery store and stuck them in some dirt, keep them slightly moist and in a sunny window.  They've been very good to me!  I have named this mint plant "Jack," because naming things is nice and I heard that if you are nicer to your plants they will grow better and be happier ;-)  See a fun article on this here. Anyways, when they start getting too tall or too thick and woody, just snip off from a few inches above the soil and use the leaves.  Fresh, tender leaves will grow again. I LOVE MINT.

Cilantro plant in cold water

CILANTRO- So I don't name cilantro I buy from the store..... cause it doesn't grow and I do feel bad for that.  BUT.  To make your 50 cent bunch last as long as possible, when you bring it home simply take some kitchen shears and snip off the bottom 1/4" or 1/2" of stems and place in a clear jar of a few inches of clean water.  Snipping off the ends works the same as in cut flowers, opening up the "plant water transportation system" so the leaves can suck up water better from the stem. I know there are technical terms for what I'm describing, but I don't know them right off the top of my head...vascular something... Anyway.  Stick it in the fridge and change the water every several days.  Mine last up to 2.5 weeks in this way!

The Kensington Brothers
(Green onion plants)

GREEN ONION- When you buy green onions from the store, don't use the last few inches.  Instead, take that bulb end and "plant" it in water.  Crazy roots will grow in a matter of days and the onions will shoot upwards shortly after. Just change the water every week or so.  After a while they start to lose their vibrant green hue, at which point I'd probably discard them and start with some new green onions from the store and plant their bulbs in the water.  I have also named these, they stay on the sill above the kitchen sink next to Jack.  I've had this bunch growing and REGROWING from where I cut them for probably a month and a half.

Leftover red onions and shallots can be sliced and frozen!

RED ONIONS and SHALLOTS - So only about half a red onion is sufficient for this recipe.  More than that and the dish is overpowered!  You can see in this picture how I slice them for Nam Tok- Halve the onion, halve the halves, and slice.  The two sections on the left were sliced, placed in a ziploc bag and stuck in the freezer.  Next time I make something with red onion, I will just pull them out and throw them in.  You don't want a lot of water to be frozen with them, or when you pull it out the onion might be a little soggy.  Shallots are the same! Have fun. ;-)

Thank you to Clay's Kitchen for the picture!

FISH SAUCE - Sold at supermarkets in the "Ethnic" sections.  It's stinky but necessary for Thai cooking and is usually where the salty aspect of the dish originates.

Limes, mmmmmm

LIMES - Buy limes that feel like they have a thin, squishable skin.  As limes age, the rind thickens and the juice lessens.  If you have a handy citrus squeezer as pictured, rinse your limes and USE IT.  The flat part of the cut lime (where the juice comes out) goes against the holes in your citrus squeezer.  If you don't have one (you should get one! walmart!!), rinse them and roll them around hard between your palm and the countertop to loosen up the juice sacs inside, then cut in half and squeeze by hand.  Also shown in this picture is a plastic bag with the squished limes and onion skin- something I have found helpful is keeping those plastic bags that you buy fresh produce in and using them to collect garbage/potential compost when cooking.

Sliced, diced chicken cooking in my lovely pans

MEAT - Whether you use beef, pork or chicken, just slice into small bite-sized pieces and saute a thin layer in oil.  I wanted to cook all of mine at the same time so I used two pans haha ;)  Don't let the oil get too hot! Just a touch over medium heat is fine.  Disregard this advice and you may catch your oil on fire if it gets too hot and you wait too long to add the chicken!!  I did that once while heating oil to pan-fry some eggs... the oil caught on fire, we had nothing with which to put it out, so I grabbed the pan and ran it outside to throw on the ground.  Just as I neared the front door, the flames began burning my hand, so I involuntarily twitched, which flung flaming oil onto the carpet and effectively melted areas of it. I was on my mission and, yes, I felt terrible.

Thanks to shesimmers.com for the picture and instructions!

TOASTED GROUND STICKY RICE - pretty easy but I don't usually add it as Zichael isn't a fan. I HOWEVER LOVE IT.  If you like nuts in your brownies, cookies and bread, you'll also probably love this.  A link to a great blog with awesome instructions can be found under the picture.

LAST OF ALL....


PANS/POTS- Please just take a moment and appreciate the beauty of these pans....

A 10" saute pan and a small saucepan! Both are stainless steel, but one cost $3 and the other cost $129!  The secret behind this is soon to follow....

Say no to non-stick! No aluminum fragments breaking off in your food = smart!!  All stainless steel construction also means that heat is more evenly transferred to your food which results in shorter cook times!

See the metal rivets used to attach the handles? Nothing but metal means these pans could stand up to restaurant-quality open flame cooking style for as long as needed! See my socks?  Nothing but cotton means less stinky feet! haha ;)

OK.  Here is the secret you've been dying for.  How is it that I paid $3 for one of these and $129 for the other?  So the 10", 7-ply surgical stainless steel saute pan was sold to me by Bella Gourmet at a bridal fair and the little Magic Mill stainless steel saucepan I found at a local secondhand store....someone did NOT KNOW what they were throwing out!! I bought a little metal and glass lid for the saucepan for $2 at the same secondhand store, and ever since I am always on the lookout for another steal of a deal!  A few months later I found a second saucepan for $4 and gave it to my mom-in-law since she was the one who came with me to the Bella Gourmet presentation in the first place ;)  So.  When you are at garage sales or thrift stores, look for something like these to know you have a VERY valuable item in your hands.  They will be made of ALL METAL CONSTRUCTION.  They should say "Stainless Steel" somewhere on there.  Handles, rivets, cook surface should all be metal.  I cannot say enough how much I love these pans.  You are very welcome for revealing this incredible secret.  ;-)

Dishwasher safe, but they clean up really well with a Brillo pad too! 

Thank you for visiting!  Please leave any comments or questions below, and good luck (:

- ZAROLYN