Thailand via Dupont Circle

I don't usually like vegetables, but there's one dish that I actually enjoy: mixed vegetables with chicken from Thaiphoon in Dupont Circle. Other Thai restaurants won't do, it has to be from Thaiphoon. I used to live a few blocks away and could get takeout a couple of times a week, but I recently moved several blocks in the opposite direction so it's not very convenient to eat on a regular basis. I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and learn how to make this dish, which is just vegetables and chicken in some sort of savory, broth-y brown sauce.


I barely cooked at all until I met NP, and I'd certainly never tried to make Asian food before, so this was a new challenge for me. For reasons I will not go into now, I went to whole foods before I had the chance to look up any recipes. I was also bogged down by a huge, giant printer/scanner/fax machine that was too big for the cart I had brought to transport it. And to top it off, I was there during the post-work rush hour and the store was packed. These conditions were not conducive to googling via iPhone possible ingredients, so I had to wing it. Not the best start to my thai cooking adventure, but I was determined to get my thai chicken veggies so I perservered. My first step was the ethnic food aisle, where I bought every type of sauce and seasoning that seemed like it could possibly be in the dish. When I got home, I realized a lot of the things I got were for Japanese or Chinese food, but I did happen to get one Thai product: fish sauce!



Most of the vegetables were easy (broccoli, asparagus, carrots, shitake mushrooms), but I struggled to find the sort of soggy lettuce-y stuff that's in the original dish. I bought something that looked like a head of iceberg lettuce, except that the leaves were a little crinkled. It turned out to be savoy cabbage. I have no idea if this is used in asian food, but it looks cool, so here's a picture:


After all of my trouble at the grocery store, NP ended up working until after 1am that night so I didn't even get make the dish for dinner that night. Instead I made it for lunch the next day, without NP's help. I couldn't find any recipes online that sounded right, so I just kind of threw everything together, and it turned out awesome.

First, I cooked 1 clove of garlic in some vegetable oil, then added asparagus, cabbage, and pre-sliced carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, and mushrooms. Then I added a bunch of chicken broth, because the original dish is kind of soup-y. I put in a little soy sauce, but I didn't think that tasted right, so I used regular salt and pepper. I then put in about a teaspoon of the strange looking fish sauce, and I think that helped it a lot. I also added about a teaspoon of brown sugar. Not enough to make it sweet, but it made it taste better. Lastly, I put about 2 teaspoons of butter to make the sauce a little bit shiny. I kept adding more chicken stock as it evaporated, I probably used about a cup total. Lastly, I thinly sliced some chicken I had gotten from the salad bar and let it heat up.


I also made rice for the first time! I was shocked that it came out okay. I tried to make it once in college, but it didn't work out for me, so this was a pleasant suprise. Anyway, here's a picture of the final dish! It didn't taste exactly like the version from the restaurant, but it was still really tasty!