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When I was growing up I wasn’t allowed to eat naem (แหนม) or fermented pork. All of Mom’s Thai friends say it’s “not suitable for children.” So I was deprived of that delicacy until I went away to college in San Francisco. In fact, it was in the USA that I “discovered” many forbidden Thai food. Funny that.
There is another version of naem made with baby ribs and fried crispy. Lovely with just a plate of rice. But my favorite is naem fried rice. I have been told naem is easy to make but I don’t like taking risks when it comes to fermenting raw meat. Instead for years I rely on a popular Thai brand until I moved to Paris and make friends with the patron of Oriental Kitchen. It’s the best commercial fermented pork in my opinion.
It’s actually Vietnamese and is known as nem chua. I find it a lot more flavorful and believe it or not, I haven’t bought my usual Thai brand since. Even when I am now back in Bangkok. (I keep a stash in the freezer.)
I googled around and found out that it can be eaten raw and I am not the only one crazy about it. But being germphobic, I like to grill them first. It also gives them a smoky flavor if grilled over charcoal, that is.
The kind of fried rice I like are those not overloaded with a gazillion ingredients. I like it best when it’s stir-fried simply with a few main ingredients so that they complement instead of clash with each other. For nem chua fried rice, I omitted the garlic and instead sauteed some shallots, add in the rice, give it a quick stir, push aside and add in an egg. Mix everything together quickly and then add the grilled nem chua and chopped scallions. Mix mix mix and season with fish sauce and pepper. Yummy with lime and fish sauce and chili on the side.
As the title says, we were in Hua Hin for the long Holiday. Songkarn is the Thai new year and also the hottest time of the year. The family decided to escape the heat by heading for the oh-no-it’s-turning-into-Pattaya beachtown Hua Hin. We were happy to see the kids splashing happily in the water, catching all kinds of shellfish on the beach, getting tanned or sunburned, feasting on fresh seafood……………….it all seems so far away from the sad chaos in Bangkok.
Even after we received news about the “calm” in Bangkok, we didn’t feel like leaving. But all good things must come to an end as they say. Well, not before we make the stop at Daeng Seafood in Mahachai. Daeng has another branch but I’ve been told the original shop in Mahachai is “the one to go.”
The place was jam-packed when we arrived at 6:30 PM. Luckily we only waited half an hour for a table of 13. We ordered all of the special (listed in Thai above) except for one. Unfortunately, because of Songkarn and the large crowd, Daeng ran out of many things. Including my favorite mackerel in a sweet and salty sauce and steamed whole crabs with roe. But we were glad they still got those jumbo shrimps baked lightly with just salt to bring out the natural sweetness.
Another thing not to be missed is the shrimp fried rice. It’s the only place I know that uses those jumbo shrimps to fry with the rice. Plus, I suspect, shrimp tomalley has been added. The texture of the rice was just right – not soggy, not tough – and has absorbed the delicate flavor and smell of those creamy tomalley. I ate two HUGE plates.
Next up was my new favorite that Daeng calls garlic squid but there is nothing garlic-y about the taste in a bad way. The sauce was a beautiful blend of fish sauce and palm sugar with just a pleasant hint of garlic. Yup, no bad breath afterward.
The only dish I didn’t like was the crab meat curry. It was a little too light for me but the crabs were like everything else super fresh.
There was a huge fried sea bass, stir-fried kale and other dishes that I didn’t take pictures of. Too busy feasting!
One of my favorite dessert is mochi. Especially Japanese warabi mochi. It’s not the typical mochi made from rice but from bracken according to this site. I have a bag of warabi flour stashed away somewhere and when the weather turns cooler I will slave over the stove to turn out some decadent mochi. As for now I will savour this:
It’s a gift from my Hubby’s aunt in Taiwan. (She sure knows the way to my heart. 
) I was surprised to see them coated in cocoa powder. They’re usually coated in soybean or red bean powder. I was even more surprised that the cocoa was only slightly bitter. Once I got through that full dry cocoa taste, the bite leads to a very soft pillowy cool smooth lightness. The perfect dessert for summer, I say.
I liked it so much that I did a quick googling and found out that these warabi mochi are from Kofukudo at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel in Taipei. It’s a partnership between the hotel and the 100++ year old Japanese store. (Why can’t we have this in Thailand??????)
They only keep for a day so I guess no one can blame me if I finish the whole box by myself. Can’t let anything this good go to waste. 
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