- We're all sitting down for lunch now
and they also have a couple of other dishes
that Ying's mom and aunt made.
I'm gonna start with the frog though.
(cheerful ukulele music)
Hey everyone, it's Mark Wiens with migrationology.com.
I'm in Nakhon Sawan in central Thailand
and today for lunch,
Ying's aunt said that she's gonna cook up some frog.
So stay tuned for some delicious frog.
And also I wanna remind you,
if you're not already subscribed,
make sure you click subscribe
for lots more food and travel videos.
Okay, now I'm kinda squatting in the banana field.
Let's go see what she's cooking.
She's getting ready to cook right over there.
Right now at first she's just pounding up
some chilies and garlic.
Oh yeah, there's a whole bag of green peppercorns here.
Oh, these are one of my favorite things
in the entire world.
I love them so much that I need to
take a bite of it right now.
And then she's pounding it now with the--
(speaking in foreign language)
Now she's pounding it up with the curry paste.
(loud crunching and pounding)
(package rustling)
(speaking in foreign language)
These are some big meaty frogs.
You can see those muscles on those hind legs.
(speaking in foreign language)
(cheerful ukulele music)
(loud pounding)
(speaking in foreign language)
I think she's not gonna mince it fully
but just kinda chop it up
into little bite size kinda pieces.
That is some really meaty frog.
Okay and as she is finishing chopping the frog,
I'm gonna snack on some green pepper.
(loud crunching)
I love it.
Oh, it's so spicy
when it's fresh like this.
And so much of a like pure pepper flavor.
Oh it's wonderful.
I can snack on this like popcorn.
It's so good.
And this one is spicy
but sometimes it can be spicier.
Like sometimes it can really,
oh okay, I can feel that burning down my throat now.
Lighting up that wok
and first goes in a bunch of oil.
Oh, a bunch of oil.
And then in goes all of that curry paste
and chilies and garlic that she pounded up.
Oh, that's like a, an oil bath.
That is gonna bring out some serious flavor.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
That curry paste and chilies is just kinda
sizzling in that oil for a little while
and she is washing some of the green peppercorns.
(speaking foreign language)
(loud scraping and sizzling)
This aroma of frying chilies and garlic and curry paste
just never gets old.
It's one of the greatest aromas on earth.
And now goes in the frog,
all of that frog.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
(laughing)
(speaking foreign language)
And as that frog is cooking away
she's taking the leaves off some bai kaphrao
which is holy basil.
I'm gonna go ahead and stir up the frog.
Oh, this is gonna be oily and delicious.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
And she just said that if you add a lot of the holy basil
it will smell really good.
It will have a really nice fragrance.
And then in go all of those green peppercorns.
And then the final step is to add in all of the basil
and you always wanna add the basil at the end
and then immediately turn off the fire
or not cook it very long
because it will start to lose its flavor
as it cooks longer.
So you just wanna basically throw it in at the end
let it use the heat from the preexisting meat and oil
and things inside of the dish
and just let that holy basil wilt into the dish.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
(speaking in foreign language)
That's a countryside style hot pad.
And it is ready.
She said it's fully cooked
and all that basil has just wilted down.
We're all sitting down for lunch now
and they also have a couple of other dishes
that Ying's mom and aunt made.
They're a selection of fried meats and fish.
This is the dried fried catfish.
This is another dried fried fish.
Some moo tod, which is fried pork.
And then I'm gonna, I'm gonna start with the frog though.
It's definitely on the oily side
but it looks and smells so good.
Oh, I gotta get some of that basil though too.
Big chunk of basil there.
Alright, let me start with this.
And I'm not sure, I think the best way
will just be to bite it, eat it,
and then remove the bones.
Oh yeah.
Or maybe you can just bite right through the bones.
Or maybe not.
It is pretty oily but that flavor is incredible.
The red chilies.
What I really like are the green peppercorns in there.
The garlic, the basil.
It's just a harmony of wonderful flavors
and even as much chili as is in there,
it's not extremely spicy.
But it just has a really wonderful chili fragrance.
(cheerful ukulele music)
Okay, I'm gonna start next with this fish
and even (speaking foreign language).
Yeah it is pla salid, which is some type of gourami
and fried like a chip.
Oh, like a serious chip.
Yeah, it's like a salty fish jerky.
You gotta really chew that up to get through those bones
but it is really good.
(cheerful ukulele music)
It's so good but
frog is something
you don't really wanna eat when you're in a hurry
'cause you have a lot of
eating around little bones to do.
But every bit that you get tastes so good.
Do I have some?
I'm trying to look at that screen.
I think I might have some chili oil on my chin
that got stuck on my chin.
But that was delicious food.
Eating frog is kind of like eating crab.
It's one of those things that you wanna leisurely eat
and you have to take your time eating.
You don't wanna eat it quickly
due to having to navigate your way around the little bones.
But the flavor that comes out of it,
frog is just delicious.
I love eating meals like that
where you're just sitting here.
And also just a quick cultural tip.
Often times in the countryside in Thailand,
they will cook up some dishes in the middle of the day
and then you'll eat
and then that food,
they'll save that food for later in the day,
maybe the next meal
or whenever you get hungry next.
But I am stuffed and ready to relax.
That was a great lunch.
Thank you very much to Ying and her family
and her aunt especially for cooking up that frog
which was especially for me, she said.
She wanted to cook it for me.
And my mouth is on fire.
That was wonderful.
And then right behind the house,
there are a bunch of fruit trees
and I'm not sure of the name of the fruit in English
but it's a little berry like fruit.
And let me see if I can find one.
Oh there's one.
There's one right over there.
(speaking in foreign language)
In Thai this is called dakob.
Oh, it's so sweet.
And the only reason I know what it tastes like already
because I've been snacking on them before lunch.
But it explodes very similar to a blueberry
with all those little seeds.
But then it has a taste
almost like a really really really overripe mango.
Really sweet and like pulpy.
Micah wants to quickly say goodbye to all of you.
Micah, say goodbye.
Micah.
He had a good lunch while I was eating as well.
While I was eating that frog.
Micah, I can't wait 'til you can eat some frog too.
Oh, he opened his mouth.
(laughing)
Oh, he drooled when I said frog.
I'm gonna end this little lunch video
in Nakhon Sawan right here.
Thank you all very much for watching.
Please remember to give this video a thumbs up
if you enjoyed it.
And also make sure you click subscribe
for lots more food and travel videos.
Thank you again for watching.
Hope you're having a great day
and have a delicious lunch today.
I will see you on the next video.
(cheerful ukulele music)