*****
Ingredients​

​Hapaline Benthamiana 300 g
~ Can be substituted with any hearty leafy vegetable.
Pork Belly 500 g
Dry Chili 13 about 1 ½ Tbsp
Shallot 1 Tbsp
Garlic 1 Tbsp
Thai Ginger 1 Tbsp
Lemongrass 1 Tbsp
Salt ½ tsp
Fish Paste 1 Tbsp.
Fish Sauce 1 Tbsp

​Cooking Method
*****

  Pestle & Mortar the dry chili, shallot, garlic, Thai ginger, lemon grass and salt smash and mash until smooth consistency. Add the fish paste and mix well. You can cheat by using a blender. Authentic method: Wrap the curry paste into a banana leaf “like an envelope.” If you do not have a banana leaf don’t worry! You can skip this step, and just form a tight quenelle with the curry paste.

  Steam Hapaline Prepare your vegetable steamer with hot water and bring to boil. Wash, drain, then add the Hapaline into your steamer. Place the banana leaf packet of curry paste gently on top of the Hapaline Cover and steam cook for about 20 to 25 minutes.

  Cut Pork Belly into medium to large lardon, fry and render until the beautiful color of golden brown and exterior texture crispy. Drain and reserve the pork belly fat for sautéing the steamed Hapaline and chili paste.

  Integrate the steamed curry paste and Hapaline softly in the mortar or in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. This mixture is now your Maok Born Tao curry paste.

  Heat a Wok or sautéing pan on medium heat. Add about 3 tablespoons of the rendered pork fat. Once the fat is hot add the Maok Born Tao paste and fry in the pan gently stirring and folding. Season with a little dash of fish sauce and taste, add more fish sauce if you like.
​
  Ready to Serve plait up and garnish with your lardon of pork belly. In Northern region of Thailand, we serve with a side of hot sticky rice.

Gathering ingredients from my garden to cook. Fresh from the garden, washed, cooked, and consumed.
​Quality ingredients win every time.  

All the way back to 2017 a pleasant memory of cooking Thai food. The new normal for tourism in Thailand is nothing new for me. Private and customized Thai culinary experiences has always been my preference.

One Year Ago Today;  was much different then today.
A whole new world.

Look at how quiet
​ it is in the old city of Chiang Mai Thailand, take note of the shuttered store fronts and empty streets. Now remember this is the main streets of Chiang Mai; the middle of the old city is even more vacant. On any normal Saturday, this area should be an annoying traffic jam. I have an extensive collection of videos of scooting around Chiang Mai traffic that date back to my first digital Leica in 2006 and I think a few digital videos from other cameras from years back. Film photos go, way back. I should make a little Chiang Mai traffic history post together.
Things will get better soon and soon
we will all be busy as ever; stuck in traffic.