- Oh man, that amount of chilies,
that amount of curry paste,
the holy basil in there,
the garlic which just smells unbelievably good!
(upbeat music)
Hey everyone, it's Mark Wiens with migrationology.com
in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand
which is right in central Thailand.
I'm hangin' out with my buddy, Micah.
Micah, can you say hello?
Oh, I guess you can only see the top of his head.
Oh wait, maybe you can see his eyes here.
Micah, say hello.
Oh, there he is.
Micah is hangin' out
but we came to visit Ying's grandmother.
Ying is my wife.
And she's, Ying was born in Krabi.
She spent most of her life in the south of Thailand.
That's where her father is from
but her mother is from Nakhon Sawan
which is right in central Thailand.
I really enjoy coming to visit Ying's grandmother's
especially because it's in the countryside
and it's relaxing and quiet and peaceful.
And the last time,
this is my second time to visit.
The last time we came here,
they have a farm and they caught some field rats
which were incredibly delicious
and we ate them the last time I was here.
This time Ying's aunt said that they couldn't get any rats
that just depends on the,
if they can catch any in the field or not.
But they did get some birds
and I think they're quails.
So we're definitely gonna have some quails for dinner.
I'm not sure what else
but this is just gonna be a quick vlog
about what we're gonna eat tonight for dinner.
There's a big patch of bananas here.
And there are some stalks of bananas
that are getting pretty close to being ripe.
Oh and that is a gigantic banana blossom.
Look at that banana blossom.
Micah, how are you doing down there?
Oh, you're hangin' out.
Ying's mom is getting ready to chop up the quails
and I think she's gonna mince them.
(loud pounding)
(speaking in foreign language)
With the quail, you can eat the entire thing
with all the bones as long as you mince it up finely
then you just have a little bit of a crunch
when you're eating it
but you can eat all the bones.
It's a little bit muddy in here.
But as much as I love exploring Bangkok,
what I love so much about Thailand
is getting out into the countryside
and ah yeah, I love it here.
There, these are bananas.
I'm gonna go check out what else she's growing,
what else Ying's aunt is growing over here.
Oh, it looks like it's basil.
Is it holy basil?
What I love so much about the countryside of Thailand
is the culture, the food, the farms,
the growth, the fruit, the vegetables.
Yeah, I just love the countryside of Thailand
and I love the peacefulness as well.
When you're in the city it's so loud
and so, the pollution and the smog.
There's so much of it.
But in the countryside, it's just so peaceful and relaxed.
This type of banana, in Thai it's called kluay nam wa.
And I think, I believe in English that it's a burro banana.
But there are little, a couple of bite sized bananas,
they taste delicious.
And normally quite sweet
and maybe a little bit chalky sometimes.
And this type of banana is really good as is
but it's also really good grilled, roasted.
(whistling)
Ying, look at this crock.
(speaking in foreign language)
This is an awesome crock.
This probably has been used for decades.
Yeah, I'm loving this.
This is really nice.
And mom has just finished mincing up all of the quail
and now I'm gonna pound up the chilies
and also wash, I guess rinse off the holy basil
which is coming straight from the garden there.
Got a bag of chilies here from the market.
(plastic bag rustling)
Oh, I can smell those immediately as I opened that bag.
I know we're gonna need a lot of these chilies for sure.
Quickly take off the stems.
And then drop 'em into the mortar.
You can just smell how spicy these are.
That aroma, that chili,
those chili fumes coming off of them
when they're green like this.
Okay, I think that's good on the chilies right now.
(loud pounding)
For the garlic,
I often like to just toss them in as the whole clove
give them a pound and then the skin just peels right off
and then you can keep pounding it
to get to the minced texture that you want
with all those oils, the chilies, and the garlic.
(loud sizzling)
(speaking foreign language)
Hello, Micah.
- [Ying] Hello, hello.
- I'm not the only one loving this country weather.
Micah is hanging out to the max.
We're getting ready to cook up the quail
and I think it's Ying's cousin.
I think he's gonna do the cooking.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
He just said that he is stir frying it rat style.
So it's like a same, similar recipe to stir frying rat.
And you wanna make it really dry
so he's just stir frying all of that,
all the moisture out of that quail.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
Finished dry roasting the quail.
I think it's coriander seeds.
Coriander seeds and there's a siamese cardamom
caught in there too.
Oh that smoke smells delicious.
(speaking foreign language)
(loud pounding)
And right now after dry roasting that coriander seed
he's just pounding it up into a powder.
(speaking in foreign language)
We're gonna first add in some,
I think it's just red curry paste.
(loud sizzling)
And now he's adding in that coriander.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
And then in go the garlic and chilies.
Oh that aroma smells so good.
(coughing)
One of the greatest joys of stir frying chilies
is that everybody around you starts coughing.
(laughing)
Okay, so then he added in the quail.
Oh that is just smelling incredibly good.
Oh I just took a whiff of that chili.
(loud scraping and sizzling)
(speaking in foreign language)
And then the final step is adding in that holy basil.
Oh that just smells unbelievable.
(loud scraping and sizzling) (coughing)
That was a masterful demonstration.
It's kind of a twist on the normal holy basil Thai stir fry
which well includes some extra spices
and also the curry paste
and yeah, and also you really emphasize
that you really wanted it dry.
So even when he was cooking that quail first,
he stir fried it dry and then he took out the moisture
the water that came out of the quail.
Oh man, that amount of chilies, that amount of curry paste,
the holy basil in there, the garlic,
which just smells unbelievably good.
Oh man.
It's so good!
It's so insanely good!
It's so spicy, it's so garlicky.
The quail actually, it kinda tastes like minced beef
but with a little bit of a tougher texture to it.
And then you also get those little bone crunches.
Oh, it's kinda like duck.
I can compare it to duck, I think.
But yeah, you eat through all of the bones
so you don't waste anything on a quail.
Oh man, you can taste that curry paste coming in there too.
And then that fresh holy basil, peppery,
very aromatic holy basil.
That is, that's an award-winning countryside Thai dish.
And also, I would just also say that,
I'm not actually like,
eating from the serving bowl.
But because this is Ying's family,
they all told me to just take the bowl
and start eating it.
Okay!
That's so good!
And what I really love
is you can really taste the fragrance of the coriander seeds
that he added in here.
That is a touch that I'm gonna use
next time I make pad ga prao.
I thought we were all gonna have dinner
but I guess Ying's entire family is still full from lunch
which we had probably only about two and a half hours ago.
But I guess I'm the only one that's hungry
so they told me I need to eat now.
I'm gonna eat.
But that's why I'm the only one eating.
I'm gonna start with some more of the quail
and this time with rice.
Oh and I forgot to say he even threw in
some more whole chilies for a surprise bite.
This is just so incredibly good.
It's so much flavor per like square millimeter,
per square millimeter.
That's like powerful flavor
and that is so good with the rice.
And there are a lot of random cats and dogs
running around as well.
What I'm loving so much is that coriander seed,
that really gives it a,
an edge of extra spice flavor.
And then this is a curry that Ying's mom made.
This is nam ya with coconut milk and fish.
And this goes so well, so good on the rice.
Oh, the naturally sweet coconut milk
and then it's just enriched and thickened
by the minced up fish in there.
And another thing that I'm really loving,
and I had a couple of these for lunch already.
This is pla duk dad diaw.
And in Thai,
okay, pla duk is catfish
and then dad diaw is one sun.
So it's one day dried catfish and then deep fried.
You do kinda gotta be careful of the bones,
the bones are still kinda hard
but you can rip off,
tear off the catfish meat there.
And if you look at it really closely,
can you see that real close?
You can see that it has a
more of a creamy color
and also it's more, it's more like,
it's not flaky like a regular fish
or a fish that's not dried for a day.
Yeah, it's a little bit salty
and you can taste that it's been dried in the sun
so it's a little bit dehydrated.
But then what's interesting is that
it completely changes its texture
from a fresh catfish.
'Cause it's more of like a creamy kind of,
almost like cheesy texture
but really good.
And it doesn't have, it doesn't actually have
any kind of a foul preserved taste to it.
It's actually just delicious with rice.
I think I'm gonna end this video right now
and just finish dinner
and then hang out with Ying and her family.
But I just wanted to share with you
this quick video about hanging out
at Ying's grandmother's house
and delicious awesomely good country style food.
Oh man, I love it all
but that quail or if you substitute rat
field rat for that same recipe,
it is sensational.
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Thank you again for watching
and I will see you on the next video.
Good evening from Nakhon Sawan.
(upbeat music)