A party for five people: Three bucks including drinks and mouse poop peppers
Wisut Angkam is a 40-year-old middle-school teacher in Nong Bua Lumphu, northern Thailand. The day I visited his school, he invited me to his home for dinner with his friends. Wisut lives on a muddy road in an unpainted house he rents for about $35 per month. His kitchen is a gas burner with a big pot on top. I told him I liked Dom Ka Gai, a savory chicken soup. Here’s how a poor Thai teacher makes it, cooking small.
First you put a couple quarts of water on to boil. Next borrow a buck from the American and buy a noisy white chicken from the neighbor lady. Then, dispatch and pluck the bird on the back stoop in 3 minutes flat. Next put the bird on a board and chop it, bones and all, into one-inch pieces. Toss in pot. Throw in a small handful of kaffir lime leaves, a few pieces of galangal, two really big handfuls of straw mushrooms, a couple of stalks of lemon grass, a half cup or so of lime juice, and a very small handful of Thai chili peppers – the little ones they call mouse poop peppers in Thai because of the shape and size. Let it Cook at least ten minutes, while you borrow another buck and send your friends down the block for two large beers to share. When they get back, ladle out the soup, oldest person first, and enjoy. A little rice would be nice. If some of the ingredients sound strange, you can get them all in dried form at the American supermarket, or better yet, fresh at any Asian market. Thai cooks have told me you can substitute some lime zest and a few bay leaves for the kaffir lime leaves, and if you don’t care how the soup tastes, ginger for the galangal. They also say that if you think you can substitute lemon zest for lemon grass you might as well forget the whole thing and go to Burger King.