All language subtitles for Ready.Jet.Cook.S03E02.720p.WEB.x264-NGP-CEsubs

Hey friends, Jet Tila here with another
episode of Ready Jet Cook, where we

break down the core techniques of Asian
cooking from shop to plate, one dish at

a time. Today we're making tom yum soup
and Thai cashew chicken, specialties

that have defined Thai American cuisine
for decades.

And they're two of the first dishes I
learned how to cook in my family's

restaurant.

We're making a Thai version of a Chinese
-American classic cashew chicken.

I bet you can't guess what my first
ingredient is.

Cashews! Pretty nuts, right?

If you didn't know, cashews proliferate
all over southern Thailand.

It's a nut that we grow and we consume
quite often in Thailand.

You want to make sure that you're buying
roasted cashews versus raw.

Cashews, if you didn't know, have a nice
kind of a buttery...

texture they're not really like a firm
crunchy nut if you can't find toasted

cashews i like to throw them in an air
fryer for about six to eight minutes and

then they're perfect and that bag of old
cashews in your pantry get rid of it if

you want to make them last longer just
store them in the fridge in an airtight

container if you can't find cashews or
you don't like cashews no big deal i

peanuts a lot as an alternative for this
dish all right i got a couple more

things to grab

I can't leave without grabbing another
essential Thai ingredient, num prik pao.

Well, let me explain it a little better.

Num prik pao literally translates to
roasted chili paste, also known as chili

paste in soybean oil. It's totally
unique in the chili paste world. The

come from roasted garlic and shallots
and dried shrimp and fish sauce. It is

unsung hero of the Thai pantry.

So this is really the secret that takes
Thai cashew chicken over the top. I'll

show you when we get into the kitchen.

I'm sure you've tried catchy chicken in
a Chinese restaurant, and it's because

this dish originated in Chinese
-American restaurants.

But the dish was so popular that Thai
restaurants felt they were missing out

had to get into the game. So they
created their own original version, and

is it. Let's start by breaking this dish
down.

The first thing I do with the chicken
breast is find the graining. And the

graining is kind of going the way my
fingers are.

So let's cut into three to four inch
pieces with the grain. Once you cut with

the grain, you take each block and now
cut against the grain. But I'm not going

to cut perpendicular, straight up and
down. I'm going to angle that knife

slightly so when I make my slice, I pull
a tile off that piece of chicken. Now

just keep repeating that tile. So you're
not only cutting against the grain to

keep the chicken moist.

You're also creating a nice flat
surface, which is going to cook up

quickly and evenly.

This shape of protein in the pan will
also pick up a lot of the delicious

seasonings we're going to use. So there
you go.

Chicken is sliced into perfect tiles. So
as usual, I'm using a gel board or a

plastic board to contain my raw proteins
so I don't cross -contaminate. Now that

I'm done with the chicken, I can put
this away.

wash my hands and we'll move on and stay
clean so in terms of veg prep why don't

we turn this into a mini knife skills
class the way i like to hold the knife

above the handle i'm going to put my
thumb and index finger on the blade and

then i'm going to wrap my three fingers
around the handle and this is what we

call in the kitchen a pinch grip and now
the knife is an extension of my arm get

tons of leverage on it okay

Onions, bell peppers, pretty simple.

This is how I like to cut a bell pepper.
Remember the Tila tile slice dice?

Let's make everything a tile first.

So tile from the back of the pepper.

The tile from the front of the pepper.

Get rid of the stem.

And now we're gonna tile out the rest of
the pepper by just inserting our knife

into a tile, turning flat, and rolling
the seed pod cut away

from the pepper. See?

look at that perfect seed pod and no
seeds in the actual red pepper it's good

practice to repeat your motions so
instead of like cutting this bell pepper

the way through since i have a green
pepper i'm going to do tiles first it's

way we do it in a pro kitchen let's get
rid of that stem button because we've

tiled it perfectly and i'm going to do
the same here insert the knife flatten

out

And that way I can see the seed pod rib
lines. And we've got perfect tiles.

I'm only going to need half of each
pepper.

So this way I can be neat and tidy about
it and save this for my next dish. I

like these little French fry cuts called
batonettes. But if you love...

dices that's fine the only thing i ask
is you keep the sizes relatively the

so they cook up nice and evenly but
these are batonettes they are french fry

cuts about a quarter inch wide and about
two to three inches long So the

difference between red and green bell
pepper is really just the flavor.

Reds are fruity and sweet.

Greens have that kind of like
chlorophyll grassy note. So for the

going to stay away from batonette. I'm
actually going to do a large dice just

I can have some variance in the dish. I
take the tip and the root side

completely off. I like to split in half.
I'm only going to need half the onion.

And I like to peel the onion while it's
sliced in half because I think it's

easier and more efficient.

And I'm going to do dices here. So a
large dice is three quartering. So I'm

going to go thirds first and then thirds
this way.

Okay, last few things.

Garlic and chilies. I'm going to do the
grandma garlic smash.

So keep the garlic closer.

to your body. Allow the handle to be off
the board so you get a flat smash.

That doesn't work because your knuckles
get in the way. And then, not a

pressure, smash.

Don't hit your camera person, all right,
at home.

Position, smash, and then I'm going to
do a few passing cuts.

Perfect. I think chili and garlic and
Thai cooking have to be together.

We have these things called mortar and
pestle, and most grandmas will just

the... chili and garlic together in the
mortar and they just leave a pile of

that chili garlic and they start all
their stir fries that way two is

three four is pretty spicy i'm gonna
leave that up to you i want to feel the

heat i don't want to get hurt by the
heat so i'm going to leave it there i'm

also using dried chilies for this recipe
it really is an homage to the chinese

side of this and speaking of that
connection between thai and chinese

believe it or not most of us Thai people
do have Chinese roots. For instance,

our family's last name, Tila, was
actually say, T -S -E.

So we're not only Chinese by blood, most
Thai restaurant families are actually

Chinese. So there's a very deep, long
connection between Chinese cuisine and

Thai cuisine. Coming up, I'm gonna show
you how to get all these ingredients

into the pan.

All right, so my veggies are prepped. My
chicken is sliced. Let's get into the

Thai stir fry. So for this dish, I'm
using a skillet, a big skillet. The

the better. You want as much surface
area as possible so all the ingredients

cook evenly and quickly. I'm always
starting with a neutral oil.

I think there's a lot of debate in the
world. Canola, peanut, vegetable,

whatever you like to cook with as long
as it gets a really high smoke point.

It's really important to preheat your
pan on a common stove if you're not

cooking in a commercial kitchen because
you want this thing to get searing

really quickly. So we're going right
with chicken breasts.

And use that surface area of the pan
because you want coast -to -coast

I'm looking at the veggies, and the
onions look a little denser and square,

they're going to take a little longer.

Garlic, chili.

and get that moving it is critical to
make sure all of your prep or your mise

place is ready because once that pan is
at like 400 degrees you can't stop and

start or you're going to lose the sear
time for dried chilies and of course

cashews all right bell peppers are going
in late here because they are cut

a little thinner that bats and that's
going to cook faster the whole idea is

the time the stir fry is done Every
ingredient, from the thickest to the

smallest, is timed out and cooked
evenly.

All right.

We've got the sear. Let's get some
sauces in there to start building that

The chicken is really nice and brown. It
looks more firm, and that's exactly

what I want.

Thai oyster sauce. If you've cooked with
me before, we've used Chinese oyster

sauce, and it's bigger in salt.

Thai oyster sauce is actually more
mellow and sweet.

And then since we're doing Thai food,
I'm also using fish sauce. Chili paste

soybean oil.

Finally, I love adding a little pinch of
MSG.

MSG is the secret that's going to make
your home dishes taste like the

restaurant.

So visually what I'm looking for is that
sauce that's sticking down to a glaze.

Chicken is good. Veggies are good. I'm
ready to plate.

Since it's Thai food, I'm always gonna
pair this with the king of grains,

jasmine rice. The crunchiness, the
spiciness, the deep flavor of this dish

gonna compliment really well. And always
match your utensils to your cuisine.

Chinese food, I might use chopsticks,
but in Thai culture, if I'm eating

rice, I'm always using a spoon.

Before I take a bite, I'm gonna top this
with just a little bit of that white

pepper. You're going to find that white
pepper is a very common topping

condiment for a lot of Thai dishes. And
it adds that little floral note right at

the end. I'm trying to compose the
perfect bite. Peppers, onions, cashews,

chicken on that jasmine rice.

Yo, that was not

a TV bite. This is so good. Let me take
another bite.

That flavor profile.

of hot sour salty sweet the bell peppers
and the umami flavors really bring me

back to being a young cook in our thai
restaurants this is the dish that i

watch the cooks make and want to get a
little bite of so before the orders went

out i got a little courtesy bite of a
lot of these plates and this takes me

right back to that fun memory so we've
covered the essential thai sauces in

cashew chicken but next i'm going to
show you some essential thai aromatics

make up tom yum soup Stick around.

Let's get into another dish that
embodies Thai flavor, tom yum soup.

This is one of the most frequently
ordered Thai dishes in American

Let's get into it.

Dum Yum really embodies the magic of why
people love Thai food so much. There's

a specific trinity of herbs that goes
into everything, and this is really the

cheat code to Thai food. This is
lemongrass. It's a stalk that grows out

ground. I'm going to show you how to cut
it up in the kitchen, but this gives

you an amazing citrusy experience, and
the essential oil is called citronelle.

Next, galanga. Now, commonly mistaken
for ginger, this is not ginger at all.

you can tell because it has a waxy
surface.

This is what we call a rhizome. So it
grows underground horizontally, and then

the big shoots come up that kind of look
like lemongrass, but it's got an

amazing peppery, piney smell.

It's going to be a lot more dense than
ginger, so you don't really eat this

directly. We're going to slice it up
really thin, and it's going to lend its

flavor into our broth.

What you're looking for for fresh
galanga, if the skin looks super dry and

cracked, not fresh. This is actually
perfect.

Next, all right, I'm going to break the
rules a little and show you what Thai

lime leaves look like.

The Thai lime leaf, it looks like two
leaves stuck together.

Very tough. It's a pretty coarse leaf.
So again, we're not going to eat it

directly unless we slice it really thin,
which I'll show you in the kitchen. But

we really prize it for its amazing
citrus aroma.

It is packed full of fragrance, and that
fragrance is going to be part of that

magic of Tom Yum Soup. I'm going to show
you how these all come together in the

kitchen.

So yum is a Thai word that translates to
that perfect balance point between hot,

sour, salty, sweet, savory. Think about
the dishes you know. Tom yum, yes.

Yum nu, which is beef salad.

Yum salad.

It's actually a Thai word. It's not just
like a cheesy dad joke that my kids

can't stand.

So tom yum really embodies these five
flavors. It really is a ubiquitous soup

Thailand, and I've been making this
since I was a kid. So I'm going to start

with lemongrass.

Now, lemongrass can be a little daunting
in the market. I'm going to teach you

exactly what to do with it. So this is
the root end, which is in the ground,

this is the leaf end.

Find the midpoint of the root ball and
cut that right there. If you're growing

lemongrass at home, in the garden, Cut
it there, and this will continue to grow

and proliferate. You're gonna have a
lemongrass forest really quickly.

So now that we've cut the base of the
lemongrass off, I want you to cut the

lemongrass about 50 % down from the top.
So we get rid of the top and the

bottom. This is the usable portion.

I want you to remove any of the looser
leaves because those looser leaves don't

have as much flavor as that hardy core.

We finally have made it to the part
you're gonna cook with.

For this soup, you have a few choices.

You can slice thin, exposing a lot of
surface area, or you can cut it

into wider pieces, smash it to expose
the essential oils, and then remove it

later. There you go, and with these
pieces, I will cut the thin slices.

Lemongrass, done.

Meet your new aromatic friend, galanga.

Because this is a soup base, I'm not
worried about peeling it.

I just want to cut it into very thin
slices so it can impart its aroma into

soup stock.

There you go. And the third ingredient
in our Thai trinity that we spoke about

at the store is Thai lime leaves.

For soup stock, I'm just going to tear
them apart so they can give us their

citrus flavor, and I'm going to reserve
some for garnish. I'm going to use most

of the leaves to flavor our stock, and
I'm going to show you how to cut

chiffonade Thai lime leaves.

Place the leaves on top of each other,
roll them into a tight parcel, bring

knife, and very, very, very thin slices.

In Thai, we call this soi, S -O -I, and
that means very, very thin strips,

similar to cow soy.

All right, heat.

The level of spice is always personal.
My go -to is two Thai chilies because I

think that's medium hot, but if you're
sensitive, go down to one Thai chili or

switch over to Serrano chili. That's
fine, but... I'll do two to three on

one. So these are my Tom Yum aromatics.
If you find yourself making a ton of Tom

Yum, make a ton of this aromatics and
then separate out into bags. So all you

have to do is take that parcel and throw
it into the water.

To continue the stock.

I'm going to add that to my hot water.
And to get that umami chicken flavor,

going to add chicken powder. But in my
house, we call this chicken power

it's such a powerful seasoning and I use
it in everything.

This is also going to make this tom yum
into a quick version of tom yum. So in

our family's restaurants, we used to use
a ton of chicken bones. But over the

last 50 years of Thai restaurants, the
truth is most restaurants now are doing

this. recipe with chicken powder so i'm
actually giving you some secret

restaurant tips My family opened our
first restaurant in 1978, our grocery

in 1972.

And back then, we were the first grocery
store and one of only three Thai

restaurants. So I was lucky enough to
watch kind of Thai food proliferate in

America. And like all good Asian
restaurant families, my restaurants and

were my daycare. They were my summer
job.

They were my winter job. I literally
grew up working in every position in the

restaurants and the markets.

All these aromatics need to infuse, so
I'm going to give it 20 to 30 minutes.

When I get back, I'm going to build out
this quick soup. You don't want to miss

it.

All right, team, I can smell all those
stum yum aromatics coming together.

Let's finish up the soup. And the first
thing we want is straw mushrooms.

Now, these are those kind of... Really
cool shaped mushrooms you see at the

restaurant. They're called straw
mushrooms because they actually grow in

beds. But when they actually pop, they
look like little round spheres.

In order to get that mushroom shape, you
actually have to peel them. When you're

at the market, make sure to find whole
peeled straw mushrooms.

If you don't want to use canned
mushrooms, any fresh mushrooms would be

delicious in this soup.

So all I have to do is strain them now.

So as you can see, these whole peeled
mushrooms give you that really classic

mushroom cap shape.

Throw them right into the soup.

Next is going to be the shrimp. I like
tail off medium size, but if you're

like a fancy meal and you want to go
like extra jumbo or colossal shrimp, I

think that would be super cool.

These are going to cook fast, so I'm
going to finish seasoning.

Most prolific...

Seasoning ingredient in Thai cooking is
fish sauce, fermented anchovies. This

will give you a nice saltiness and a lot
of umami. This chili paste is so unique

in flavor.

It's almost like an onion jam with a
little bit of shrimp flavor.

Next, it wouldn't be Thai food without
acid. In Thai cooking, the only citrus

use is limes. We don't use lemons. We
don't use oranges.

These are known as Persian limes.
They're the larger, juicier limes versus

key limes, which is the smaller ones.

Before you serve this, you always want
to make sure you taste and adjust.

You know, the recipe is going to be
great, but the fine tuning is up to you.

you need a little more salt, that's fish
sauce. If you need a little more sweet

and umami, that's going to be the chili
paste. And if you need some sour, that's

going to be the lime juice.

Mmm, that's pretty spot on.

I'm ready to plate this. I like to
garnish the omelette with three simple

garnishes. That's cilantro, scallions,
and a little bit of that Thai lime leaf.

It's pretty authentic to leave the
trinity pieces in. Like you can see

amazing pieces of galanga, lemongrass,
and thai lime leaf. I prefer that look,

but if you're serving this soup to
people who've never had it, either warn

or strain it out. I prefer you don't
because I think it makes the soup look

gorgeous.

All right, simple garnish.

Some scallions, some cilantro or
coriander, and then a little bit of this

lime leaf.

Simple, humble, yet complex in flavor.

One of my favorite soups. One last note
about proteins.

This is shrimp, but if you have guests
who don't like shrimp or are allergic,

change up your proteins. You could do
fish.

You could do any combination of proteins
that works, because the soup really is

the soul.

I want to make sure to grab a piece of
mushroom and a piece of shrimp.

There's that perfect bite.

Mmm.

It's warming. It's comforting.

It's got so much umami. The bright
citrus notes of the lime touch against

the citrus flavors of the lemongrass.

I really love this soup. It's great as a
appetizer.

You can serve a larger bowl as an
entree. And we also throw noodles in

make tom yum noodle soup in Thailand.
Amazing.

Now that you've mastered the yum, you
know, hot, sour, salty, sweet, savory,

you're ready to take on Thai cooking.

So there's your crash course on some key
Thai flavors with these two iconic

specialties. I'll see you very soon for
more of my favorite Asian dishes on

Ready Jet Cook.