Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood [Hardcover]

Kasma Loha-unchit (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2000

Thai cuisine, regarded by many as one of the best in the world, is known for its original combinations of spicy, savory, sweet, and tangy flavors, and its seafood recipes display this culinary artistry to its purest extent. In Dancing Shrimp, Kasma Loha-unchit shares with us her ingenious techniques for preparing all types of fish, mollusks, and shellfish according to the traditions of her native cuisine. The more than 100 recipes in Dancing Shrimp show the full range of the Thai palate, with curries like Salmon Poached in Green Curry Sauce with Baby Eggplants and Thai Basil; stir-fries like Spicy Southern-Style Stir-Fried Squid; salads like Hot-and-Sour Shrimp Salad with Roasted Chilli Sauce, Lemon Grass, and Mint; steamed dishes like Steamed Fillet of Sea Bass with Ginger, Green Onions, and Sesame-Soy Sauce; soups like Spicy "Broken Fish Trap" Soup; and many more. Thai people, as Kasma reminds us, are warm, welcoming, and playful, and this is evident in the food they prepare. While a dish like Shrimp Cooked in Turmeric-Coconut Sauce might taste sweet on the tip of the tongue, you also will be warmed and surprised by the heat that slowly emerges from the chillies. There is also a real reverence for the bounty of the sea and earth; many of the fish recipes call for a whole fish, and the cooking techniques, such as steaming a fish wrapped in a banana leaf or poaching it in a spicy sauce, preserve the full flavor. Along with the recipes, Loha-unchit provides cooking tips, inspirational ideas for adapting the recipes to different techniques or ingredients, and warm, revealing stories of her homeland. With her charming personal tone and detailed cooking instructions, she guides cooks simply and easily through techniques that may involve unfamiliar fishes or herbs but never fail to result in a mouthwatering delight. As every recipe reflects her years of experience in teaching Americans to re-create the exquisite flavors of Thailand on their own, Dancing Shrimp is suitable for beginning and experienced cooks alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

More than a cookbook, Dancing Shrimp is both a rumination on how Thai food--the original fusion food, says author Kasma Loha-unchit--developed as a cuisine and a very thorough manual on how to properly prepare fresh fish, crustaceans, and mollusks in the Thai tradition. Filled with 125 tantalizing and sometimes challenging recipes, Loha-unchit covers not only basic cooking tenets but explores how to create dishes that balance the Thai people's love of the five primary flavors: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy.

Many of the recipes feature flavors not common in Western cooking, but Loha-unchit teaches you how to create a savory meal in which the disparate tastes work in harmony. In addition to the recipes, there are chapters on Thailand's seafood culture, how to select and prepare seafood, preserved foods and flavoring ingredients (like fish sauce, a staple item), and techniques and equipment. For those unfamiliar with fish sauce or shrimp paste, she explains how they are made, her favorite brands, and where you can purchase them (there's a store index in the back).

The recipes themselves are mouth-watering: Hot-and-Sour Shrimp Salad with Roasted Chilli Sauce, Lemon Grass, and Mint, Curried Mussels on the Half Shell with Flaked Crab, and Ginger-Tamarind Fish Soup, to name only a few. Though some of the recipes may seem daunting at first, Loha-unchit reminds us that "the wide range of variables makes Thai cooking exciting and Thai food both a simple and complex blend of invigorating flavors." After all, it's hard to resist Garlic-Black Bean Pan-Fried Red Snapper. Be sure to serve with a big pot of sticky white rice. --Dana Van Nest

Review

Nicole Routhier author of The Foods of Vietnam Kasma Loha-unchit shines through in this informative, innovative, and authoritative Thai seafood book. Her food is simply delicious! -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition, edition (October 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684862727
• ISBN-13: 978-0684862729
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Asian > Thai

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let the True Taste of Thailand enter Your Kitchen, October 26, 2000

By 

Curt R. Chamberlain (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood (Hardcover)

I love Thai food, in fact, Thai cooking has become a passion of mine now for over ten years. I had the distinct pleasure of being introduced to this incredible cuisine by Kasma Loha-unchit. Over the years I have taken numerous cooking classes from Kasma and have participated in two, month long tours of Thailand with her where I was able to taste and savor the delights of the country's cuisine and be introduced to the rich and varied culture. I particularly enjoy the complexity and variation in Thai cuisine. Having now sampled innumerable dishes, I can still be surprised by a new dish and a new combination of flavors and ingredients. I often anticipate with delight the burst of taste sensations that accompany a well balanced dish. Thai cooking has become a staple of my cooking and I routinely cook Thai dishes at home to the delight of my family and friends.

Unfortunately, it is rare for Americans to taste authentic Thai flavors. Many Thai restaurants erroneously prepare their dishes to satisfy what they believe to be the western palate. The result is that many dishes routinely taste sweet or have little complex flavoring at all. They certainly don't taste like the dishes I have eaten in Thailand or certainly in Kasma's cooking classes. I have found that the difference in a delicious dish and a just so-so dish is in the unique balance of flavors.

I have always enjoyed cooking classes with Kasma because she goes to great length to explain how a dish should taste and what combinations of spices and ingredients will help you balance those flavors in the appropriate way. Carefully following a recipe does not always give you the desired effect because ingredients vary in taste depending on where they are grown or how they are prepared. A sampling of fish sauces, a staple of Thai cooking, of which there are many, demonstrates clearly how each vary in saltiness and flavor. Kasma teaches one how to taste and to make the all important adjustments to achieve the desired balance of flavors.

I have cooked almost every recipe in her first cookbook, It Rains Fishes, and have found that if one follows her guidelines and tips for tasting and adjusting, success is guaranteed. Many recipes provide helpful tips that will assist in preparing other dishes. Her wealth of information about Thai ingredients, how combining them changes their flavors, and Thai culture only add to a better understanding of the cuisine. I was overjoyed to see her new cookbook Dancing Shrimp in bookstores. I had the distinct pleasure of being asked to test some of those recipes before publication and as usual I found them to be easy to follow, creative and the results sensational. Dancing Shrimp has really captured the Thai's best natural resource, seafood. I have traveled in the south of Thailand along the coasts and through the islands, and the wealth and variety of seafood is outstanding. In Dancing Shrimp, Kasma has provided us westerners an opportunity to recreate many of these delightful, mouth watering dishes.

I have been so impressed with the success I have had with Kasma's recipes that I will boldly attest that her recipes consistently produce more interesting dishes and flavor then I have found in most Thai restaurants and, dare I say, even with dishes tasted at some of the best restaurants through my travels in Thailand. I would certainly highly recommend these cookbooks for those who are serious about Thai cuisine and even for the amateur cook who just wants to experiment with a few dishes. Her recipes are easy to follow, directions are clear, there is a wealth of information and success is certainly guaranteed, allowing the true tastes of Thailand to enter your kitchen.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please reprint this book., December 3, 2006

By 

Dwight (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood (Hardcover)

I'm not going to buy ANY Thai cookbooks by other authors until her books come back into print. There is no point in assessing Thai cookbooks if this book and It Rains Fishes are not included in the mix. I can't encourage anyone to pay nearly a hundred dollars each for second hand copies. And who ever heard of cooking from a Palm Pilot ebook? I really mind that old fashioned cooks who as recently as less than five years ago were recognized authorities are now fallen by the wayside because they are not on Food Network. If not for Sara's Secrets, one wouldn't see masters like Jacques Pepin and Madhur Jaffrey outside of PBS reruns. That means our food intellect is shaped by name brands instead of quality earning a brand.

The secondhand prices are outrageous. Since Thai cuisine is now more popular than ever, there are more interested readers who would love to have authentic instruction.

p.s. I contacted the author through her website and received the advisement that there are NO plans to reprint her titles. That's strange that an authentic Thai with superior knowledge is out of print when so many new books are out from fans of Thai cuisine who don't have a comparable foundation in the food culture that they are writing about.

Her books are kind of fantastic. I prefer this book to It Rains Fishes and hope to try the pan seared scallops recipe soon.

Right off, I bought Golden Boy fish sauce from the local Chinese supermarket based on her recommendation and found that is wonderful; no more Thai Kitchen for me.

I am also going to look for her recommended brands for other condiments.

Much of the information in her books are available on her website so see for yourself why she is good.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic delicious Thai food!, October 17, 2001

By 

Bay T. (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood (Hardcover)

I bought this book based on the reviews here and really have to thank the reviewers who gave 5 stars for this book. I am a native Thai and I have to say that Kasma's recipes really give you authentic Thai food. I have tried at least 10 recipes from her book and have enjoyed my home-made cooking with no MSG (that I would mostly get at restaurants). What I like best about her book is the ingredients and tips section where she describes properties of Thai spices and Thai ways of cooking such as steaming, 'yam' salad making, etc.. Reading through her recipes is quite enjoyable since she usually gives a bit of history about the food along the way. The trick to get delicious dishes is to make sure you can acquire all ingredients you need (some are hard to find, but she has a web site that directs you to some online Thai groceries if you can't find the spices from your local stores).