The food was just as great as I remembered and the prices were still low, especially for the amount of food you get!

We started with the Kalua Lumpia ($5.29) which is shredded pork wrapped in wonton skin and served with sweet and sour or chili pepper water. I had a combination entree with a chicken curry and their famous Lahaina fried chicken ($12.99), which is served with rice, macaroni salad, and ramen cabbage salad as well. My Mom always gets their Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich ($8.99) and my father, another creature of habit, gets their specialty fried rice ($7.79).

Their desserts are excellent as well and they have a bakery counter if you just want to walk in and purchase desserts and other Hawaiian specialities. They sell the Hawaiian juice I love in the cans which is nearly impossible to find most of the time. 

Apparently they have a newer Manhattan Beach location as well, which I have not been to, but heard the food is just as good as the original. 

Back Home in Lahaina
519 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
(310) 835-4014
www.backhomeinlahaina.com

I’ve always loved Thai food and after a recent visit to Bangkok, I am even more hooked!  In keeping with our weekly themes, I decided to do Thai for this week…or perhaps for 2 weeks!

Kao soi is known as a meal for one and is popular in northern Thailand.  There is speculation that it may have some roots outside of Thailand. It’s basically a noodle dish topped with meat in a curry sauce.  It would probably be great with pork or shrimp, but we used chicken since I finally found some decent skinless breasts at the local grocery store.  Most stores here seem to sell whole chickens and lots of interesting chicken parts, but not a lot of decent breast pieces.

I had looked at a few different recipes for kao sai and opted to create a combination of a few of them to come up with our own version. 

The whole dish is pretty simple to make and will probably become a regular staple in our cooking rotation. 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 tablespoon diced red chili (optional)
2 skinless chicken breasts, chopped in bite size pieces
1/2 chicken bouillon cube
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tumeric
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar or regular sugar
Noodles (quantity and type really depend on personal preference) **

Garnishes:
Fresh cilantro (or coriander as it is often called here in Taiwan)
Chopped shallots
Chopped green onions

Directions:
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and toss in the minced garlic. We like garlic a lot so we used about 4 smaller cloves, so this is obviously up to personal taste.  Add the red curry paste and chopped chicken, stirring to mix all the ingredients.  Let the chicken brown for approximately 2-3 minutes before adding the remainder of the ingredients. 

Add the coconut milk, bouillon cube, water, soy sauce, tumeric, sugar, and fish sauce.  Fish sauce is optional as some people have trouble locating it in their markets.  Some people cannot get over the strong odor, but the taste really enhances Thai dishes.  Don’t worry, the overpowering smell of the fish sauce does not come across in the dish.

Continue to stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed while bringing the pot to a gentle boil.  Let simmer for about 10-12 minutes, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.    Once cooked, cover and set aside to keep the curry warm.

If you are using fresh noodles, they should only take a couple minutes to cook. My fiance does not like anything with egg and since we were at the store together and watching me, I opted against the true egg noodles.  I used another type of fresh Asian noodles we see all over Taiwan.  If you opt to use dry noodles, you will need to soak them for about 20 minutes up front or start cooking them before the meat.  I say quantity is up to personal preference because some people like more of less noodles.  We used 1/2 of a package because we are trying to watch carbohydrates and prefer more of a soupy curry.   Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water.

Lastly, typical Chiang Mai noodles have bits of crispy noodles on top.  We took a few strands of the leftover noodles and deep fried them in a little olive oil, until crispy.  Place them on a plate and let cool.  

Divide the noodles amongst the 2 bowls and top with the curry mixture.  Garnish with the shallots, cilantro, green onion, and squeeze some fresh lime on top.  Now, too much cookbook reading and Food Network watching has got me wanting to learn the art of plating.   Although my attempt is no where as beautiful as some I’ve seen, we topped our bowls with the crispy noodle creation for a little flair.

Wine Pairing:
2006 Thierry Martin Gewurtzraminer

Since the dish was fairly spicy, a little sweet from the sugar, and had the citrus of the lime, we went with an Alsatian Gewurtzraminer.  I think I would’ve preferred a wine that was a little less sweet, it certainly cut the spicy aspect of the curry sauce.