I had a laugh with some friends the other night about a group email I had sent not too long ago.  It was on the topic of a well known Canadian film director whom we had been discussing and I casually boasted that this director had gone to my Montreal high school and had dated my sister. My close friend and one of the recipients of the email was quick on the response: “Lindsay, he actually went to my high school and dated my sister.”  Busted. How it was that I came to believe this as my story, I cannot explain.  I swear this is not Brian Williams syndrome.  Maybe more of a Montreal thing.  But it’s akin to the recipe syndrome, you know, when that dish that you make all the time becomes your signature dish, except that really, it came from someone else and you just forgot.  At a party once, I properly credited a friend for an appetizer I had brought; “Oh thank you,” I replied to the compliment, “It’s actually Friend‘s recipe”.  Well, as it happened, we were within earshot of another friend; “No actually,” she said, ” Friend got that recipe from me, and I got it from Another Friend”. So, first Friend, busted, big time.  The thing is, she had made it so many times, she had come to believe it as her own.  And sometimes it can become your own as you morph it, unknowingly, into something new.

This is what happened with this Thai pork dish. My friend Yenil made it for me years ago when I had just moved back from London and we were in our “wow we think we can cook” phase.  We made it several times together and then she upped and moved to London.  I continued cooking it over the years, moderating the spiciness as children entered our lives.  It even became Son #2’s favourite dish from age 3, “the yellow dish” he would call it, in reference to the turmeric.  Many years and many kids later between us, we rented a house with Yenil’s family in Dartmouth and one day, facing our what-to-cook-for-dinner-decision-making plight, we jubilated at the prospect of making the pork Thai dish together again. Neither of us had the recipe written down, as we were away from our homes, but we both knew it so well, 20 years later. Well, fisticuffs in the kitchen! “No, Yenil, we’re supposed to use rice noodles, not soba.  And what are you talking about, tofu – it’s pork!”  “Umm, Lindsay, this is my recipe? I think I ought to know?” And so it went; we had each developed an entirely different version, and thus we celebrate creativity in amateur cooking.  Plus, I can safely call this one my own!

Special Equipment

-wok (otherwise, use a large frying pan)

Ingredients  (serves 4-5)

1 package rice stick noodles (1 lb), which is gluten free, by the way, and now widely available in supermarkets
2 Tbs vegetable or canola oil (olive oil will burn too high)
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1-2 tsp red curry paste (again, easily available in supermarkets)
1 can, or slightly less, coconut milk
1/2lb – 1 lb ground pork
2-3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 Tbs fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
spring onions, chopped, to garnish
half a bunch of cilantro, chopped, to garnish

The above amounts are very flexible and just depends on the flavour you are searching for. Obviously more curry paste is spicier, more coconut milk is sweeter, less spicy, and a bit heavier. I like lots of garlic and despite the smell of fish sauce, don’t skimp on this – it’s a crucial flavour!

Instructions

It’s best to do all the chopping first and even measure out the non chopping ingredients as once you start, the process is quite quick.

-Boil a large pot of water and soak noodles for 5 minutes or so until al dente, then drain and set aside.
-In the meantime, heat the oil in the wok.
-Add garlic and stir; a few seconds later as it is about to turn golden, add the curry paste and continue to stir.
-Add the coconut milk, stir it all about, bring it to a boil and then simmer for a bit to let it reduce.
-Add the pork and stir, getting rid of any clumps
-Add the stock, curry powder, turmeric, sugar, lemon juice and fish stock
-Cook through and then and continue cooking until there is a lovely curry consistency, yet slightly soupy

-Add the noodles to the mixture, a bit at a time, making sure there aren’t too many noodles for the sauce – it’s a fine balance and once you make this enough to call it your own, you’ll know exactly the mix you seek.

-Serve onto plates or bowls and garnish with lots of green onion and cilantro, or let everyone garnish their own to taste.  The dish certainly looks prettier with a bit of green sprinkled on top!

Leftovers are fantastic the next day as the flavours get to sit together all night.  Just remember to garnish again.

And in honour of this recipe, passed to me orally from my friend, may I repeat the words out of The Original Thai Cookbook: “The art of Thai cooking is essentially one of creation, experimentation and improvisation.  It has always been an oral tradition, handed down from family to family through generations.  There are as many ways to make a dish as there are cooks to cook it.”

What’s For Dinner Maddie wishes you Sanook, a word that embodies the spirit of the Thai attitude to life: the resolve to look for the joy in life!