This is one of the popular dishes cooked during the Vegetarian Festival. It is easy to cook and has a good taste. But, try not to eat too many fried dishes or you will put on weight! There are two kinds of noodles you can use. They are often yellow and are either thin or thick. The one today is a white thin version which is called mi-sua. In the ingredients picture below, you can see Chinese Flowering cabbage (choy sum) and mi-sua noodles. Below is sugar, mushrooms and chopped carrots. We only have one kind of mushroom here but you can use several different kinds. Or three for good luck!

You need to cook the noodles first. The instructions on our packet said boil for four minutes and then rinse with cold water. If you are not taking part in the vegetarian festival, you can first fry some garlic in oil until it turns fragrant. Then add the mushrooms, choy sum and light soy sauce. You can use cabbage instead if you like. Finally add the noodles and give a good stir. Sugar is optional. This is one of those dishes that you can experiment with different ingredients.

As it is the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand this week, I thought I would share with you pictures of our vegetarian meal today. We are all eating meals for ten days that don't have any meat, fish or animal products. This first one looks like our old favourite "moo krapao" which is minced beef and basil. However, this version is cooked with tofu, shaped to look like minced pork. It is called "pad krapao jay rat khao".

The second dish is another of our favourites. But, it isn't "som tum tai" even though it may look like it. It is missing three main ingredients, fried shrimp, fish sauce and garlic. It tastes alright, but obviously not the same.

The next one is the famous "laab". However, this one has no meat and is called spicy chopped mushroom and fried tofu.

The next dish is fried egg plant with sweet basil leaves.

This one is called "gra poh pla jay" though there is no fish in this one. Main ingredients, other than tofu, are mushrooms, bamboo shoots and carrots.

The final is our dessert. It is called "khanom pang na maprao jae" which is basically shredded coconut on bread. There will be another selection next week. All of these vegetarian dishes were bought at Racha Market in Paknam, Samut Prakan. The market opens fully at 4 p.m. I will be going back there soon to choose my meal for this evening. Another five days to go of vegan meals.

The annual Vegetarian Festival has already started here in Thailand. It happens every year in the tenth Thai lunar month on the first new moon after the equinox. This year it is celebrated between 29th September and 8th October 2008. Most people make the mistake in thinking that this is a festival only celebrated in Phuket. Although it is true that their version is certainly livelier, it is actually celebrated in many places around Thailand wherever there are large Chinese communities. Samut Prakan is no exception. All through the town we have had large yellow banners hung across the roads for the past week. I actually got quite excited about it as for the first time I decided to take part myself. For the past few days I have been preparing myself. It is notthat easy as the Chinese version of "jay" is more vegan than vegetarian as you are not allowed any animal products. So, this not only means fish, but also milk and eggs. Just to complicate it, you cannot eat strong smelling produce such as garlic and onions.

At school, about 15% of our students and teachers have signed up for vegetarian meals. However, not everyone has Chinese ancestors. There are people like myself who are doing it as a kind of purification of the body and mind. Personally I think it is a great form of detox not eating animal products for ten days. I am also going to try and quit coffee and beer as these are a stimulant. However, I am not sure how well I will survive. Some teachers have already admitted to me that they will probably only do it for three days. But, I want to do this properly and I have given it a lot of thought. The first day was relatively easy. I couldn't have my normal breakfast so I had a kind of breakfast cereal with a non-dairy creamer. This left me hungry after a few hours but luckily lunch at school starts at 11.30 a.m. To keep me going in the morning, I did like the students and had a carton of soy bean milk. Most of the junior students had "tom yum gai" this morning. The vegetarians had a similar dish though instead of chicken they had tofu and mushrooms. The senior students had a noodle dish. Again, the vegetarians had tofu and mushrooms instead of the meat. It wasn't too exciting but was certainly filling. For a while at least.

For my preparation I went to Big C to see what I could eat. A large section of the supermarket had shelves stacked with food that we can safely eat during the vegetarian festival. It is easy to spot as there are always yellow flags with the word "jay" written in Thai in red letters. In the picture above, you can see some of the things I bought. These include soy bean milk and mama noodles. There were even cup noodles of tom yum with mushrooms and tofu. I also bought plenty of vegetables as I will be doing some cooking myself. For the first time I bought some tofu but I am not sure what to do with it yet! However, after visiting Racha Market in Paknam earlier this evening, I think I will be eating out every night. There were so many stalls with yellow flags and such a variety. It actually made me quite excited to browse what was on offer. Tonight I had a fried noodle with vegetable dish together with some tofu that looked so much like roasted beef and vegetarian spring rolls. I have already planned what I am going to eat tomorrow night. I will be taking some pictures of the food on offer at the market and will be sharing these with you later in the week. I just need to sort out breakfast and then I think I can seriously make it through the ten days. I have also discovered a good vegetarian restaurant around the corner from the school. So, if the school lunch isn’t too exciting then I could go out and grab something nearby.

Click here for part two.

We have a discussion over at ThailandQA.com about what you can eat during the Vegetarian Festival. I will also be posting there some of the pictures I take every day.

Related Blogs:

The Vegetarian Festival by Kitjar Sukjaidee
Thai Vegetarian Festival: an inside look by SiamJai
Vegetarian Festival Photos

One of the most popular dishes at roadside food vendors is stir-fried minced pork with chilies and holy basi. In Thai this is called "grapao moo sap". There are three versions: minced pork, chicken or beef. It is served on plain rice and often topped with a fried egg. Though usually you have to ask for this (say "kai dao") and you will have to pay 5 baht extra. Without the fried egg, you might still be able to find this dish for 25 baht. As you can see in the picture below, the main ingredients are holy basil, chopped garlic, bird eye chili (prik kee noo) and minced pork in the center. What is not pictured are the longer red spur chili (prik chee faa daeng). These are not so hot and are added towards the end mainly as decoration.

The cooking process is quite simple. To start with you need a mortar and pestle. Pound the chopped chili and garlic together to make a smooth paste. Meanwhile, heat up your wok with a couple of table spoons of oil. Fry the chili and garlic paste until fragrant and then add the minced pork. Keep stirring. Season with oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and stock. When doing stir-fried dishes, you can add water or some kind of stock to stop it from drying out. At the last moment, add a handful of the holy basil leaves and the sliced spur chilies. Give it a good stir and then turn off the heat.

We will have another dish for you next week at www.thai-blogs.com. Feel free to send us your suggestions for what you would like to see us cook. If you are missing our Friday Lunch Menu where we bought street food every week, the archives are now up-to-date at www.thaistreetfood.com. We have also added Thai for each menu item. Don't forget our Thai Food Forums where you can ask questions about buying and cooking Thai food.

One of my favourite Thai dishes is stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts. In Thai it is called "gai pat met mamuang himmapaan" which is a bit of a mouthful. There seems to be quite a few different recipes as this dish looks different at every restaurant that I go to. Like all the Thai dishes I have been showing you, it is worth experimenting with not only different amounts of ingredients, but also different ingredients altogether. The ingredients we used today can be seen in the picture below. Starting at the top, these are chopped onion, chicken, chopped garlic, crisp-fried spur chili, chopped spring onion, chili jam (nam prik pao) and cashew nuts in the center.

First fry the garlic until golden brown and fragant. I usually do this starting from a cold wok. If it is already hot then it will burn quickly if you don't pay attention. Add the chicken and cook until nearly done. Then add the chilli paste (nam prik pao). Not everyone add this soit is up to you. After a good stir, next comes the onion, cashew nuts, fried dried chilies and spring onion. Give it a good stir. Season it with light and dark soy sauce. The light sauce is used instead of fish sauce which is smellier. The dark soy sauce sweetens the dish a little so no need to add any sugar. I prefer not to have too much dark soy sauce. It is now ready. Garnish with sliced red spur chili and fresh coriander. You will find that the red spur chili is not as hot as the smaller type.

If you have any questions about Thai food, the you are welcome to post them in our Thai Food Forums. Feel free to suggest dishes you would like us to cook at the Paknam Web offices and we might then feature it in the future at www.thai-blogs.com. Don't forget to visit our Thai Food websites at www.EnjoyThaiFood.com and www.ThaiStreetfood.com.