Lunchtime Thai Menu 21

Roti Mataba

We had a bit of a mixture today for our weekly Friday lunch in the Paknam Web offices. However, it was all very good. The first one is from the Muslim vendor around the corner from my house. It is a kind of stuffed roti called Mataba. There is actually a famous shop called Mataba near Phra Sumen Fort in Bangkok which everyone raves about. One of the members of the ThailandQA.com forum took me there last weekend as she wanted to introduce me to their rotis. The one bought today was just as good and cheaper. We bought two different kinds. One with a minced beef curry and the other with chicken. These cost only 25 baht and 20 baht each. It comes with a favourite dip of mine that has sliced cucumber, chillies and shallots in a sweet and sour vinegar sauce. The filling has spices such as coriander seeds and cumin. I will share more of their dishes later.

Deep Fried Crab (boo ja)

This was quite a nice side dish that we sampled. It is a deep-fried crab meat stuffed into an empty crab shell. It was only 12 baht each. It is actually made up with a mixture of half crab and half minced pork. It also has salted egg. You can either have a sweet dip with this or ketchup! I will eat this one again when I get an opportunity.

Stir-fried Pumkin and Egg (fak thong phat kai)

I have eaten a similar dish to this one before which was stir-fried wax gourd and egg (phat fak sai kai). This one is pumpkin and egg. It is quite simple to cook yourself. Cut up the pumpkin into small cubes. Fry it for a short while and then add soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. When the pumpkin is nearly cooked through, break two eggs into the wok and stir quickly to stop it from sticking. This was 25 baht.

Crispy Sweet and Sour Rice Noodles (mee krob)

This one was a bit of a treat. It actually broke our budget as it cost 50 baht. But, it didn’t really matter as there was some left over to take home. It was probably a bit sweet for my liking, but it was also quite addictive. It has fried noodles and also dried shrimp. The seasoning added gives it a sweet and sour taste.

Khanom Chun

Our dessert today is an old favourite of mine. It is called Khanom Chun, which basically means the layered dessert. The basic ingredients are topioca flour, grated fresh coconut meat and castor sugar. The colouring comes from a variety of sources: green is from pandanus leaves. Pink from rose petals. Violet from Anchan flower. Brown from Coco. This plate was 30 baht.

Come back to .com next week to see what we will eat next. In the meantime, I will have to go on a diet!