Boonsong Thai Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ

We were driving around last weekend, trying to find a new restaurant to checkout for dinner. We came upon this small stretch of shops along Broad St in Bloomfield and we noticed that it was mainly eateries. In that small section alone, there was a Greek, Japanese, Thai, Italian, Chinese as well as a few American restaurants and bakeries. After driving around for quite some time, trying to find a parking spot (there are only limited street side parking available),we finally parked a couple of streets away, in a residential area. We walked down the street a little and decided to check out the cozy looking Thai restaurant (the Greek restaurant looked good too though!).

The restaurant looked pretty empty for a Saturday night but we noticed that most of the servers were Thai. That's a good sign that the food might be authentic, right? *fingers crossed* Our server was really polite and pleasant, and for a moment, we felt as though we were in a restaurant in Phuket or Bangkok :P After being seated, Kevin ordered the Thai Iced Milk Tea (which by the way was really good) before we checked out their menu. The menu was rather basic, with all the 'usual' Thai dishes. However, I was pretty impressed that they had a rather large vegetarian section in their menu. So, vegetarians out there, please take note. You have to go check this place out!

After looking through the menu, we decided to order our food 'family style'. This means everything is served at once and is placed in the middle of the table, so that it we could share them. How can we go to a Thai restaurant and not order Tom Yum, right? So, we tried a small serving of Shrimp Tom Yum Soup ($4.00). When they asked us how spicy we would like it to be, we said very mild. I think that was a mistake, cos the soup wasn't spicy at all. In fact, it was rather tasteless. As you can see from the photo, there also wasn't many shrimps in the soup. Rather disappointing.

We also tried the Tod Mum Pla ($6.95). That's the traditional fried Thai fishcakes that has been spiced with Thai curry, string beans and kaffir lime leaves. The fishcakes were served with a side of sweet peanut sauce. Now, this was really really good! It tasted like the ones we tried when we were visiting Bangkok a couple of years ago, so yeah, very very authentic! I will definitely order this again.

There were also a whole bunch of different Thai curries to choose from. We finally decided to order the Gang Ped Yang ($14.95). Generous amounts of boneless roasted duck, cooked in red curry and coconut milk with large chunks of pineapple, tomato and chilies. Another home run! The curry wasn't too spicy, very creamy and had just the right amount of heat. I must say that this was my favorite dish of the night!

As a filler, we ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice ($9.95). I must admit that I was initially rather disappointed that the pineapple fried rice wasn't being served in a pineapple boat but I think the taste made up for it! Fluffy jasmine rice stir fried with jumbo shrimp, pineapple chunks, onions, scallions, green peas and cashew nuts. Mmmm mmmm mmmm, very very yummy too! Overall, I think that we had a pretty good dinner. Parking was a problem and it was a little bit pricier than other Thai restaurants in the area but I feel that the awesome service and authentic tasting food made up for it. Boonsong Thai Cuisine is definitely a hidden neighborhood gem!

Boonsong Thai Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ
1040 Broad St.
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tel: (973)338 0507
Web: http://boonsongthaicuisine.com

Thai Pineapple Fried Rice

As promised, here is the recipe for Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. As the name suggest, Thai Pineapple Fried Rice is a well known Thai dish but is widely found in other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia too. There are quite a number of different recipes floating all over the Internet but I find this recipe to be really yummy and pretty authentic. Not only that, it's really easy to make too. Just imagine, you can whip up restaurant quality Pineapple Fried Rice in your own kitchen in less than half an hour! Here's how you do it.

To start off, heat up some peanut oil in a large pan or wok. If you do not have peanut oil, vegetable oil will do too. Then, add in some finely chopped garlic and saute until it turns light brown.

Next, add in some hot dog franks that has been chopped into small pieces. If you do not want to use hot dog franks, you can also use Chinese sausages. Also, you can make this into a seafood dish by substituting the franks with squid rings and/or crab sticks. If you are planning to add in seafood, do so after the peas and carrots (cos they cook faster).

Then, add in some peas and carrots. Give it a good stir and allow it to cook for a bit.

Once it's almost cooked, add in some extra large white shrimp that has been peeled and cleaned.

Allow it to cook for a bit then add in some chunks of fresh pineapple. You could of course use canned pineapples too but fresh ones always taste better. Then, add in the pineapple juice that you saved when you were carving the pineapple boat. If you don't intend to serve it in a pineapple boat (hence no saved juice), just add in about 3-4 tablespoons of pineapple juice for a can/bottle.

Now it's time to add in the rice. Remember not to use freshly cooked rice. It is best to use rice that is at least a day old. What I would usually do is cook the rice the night before or early in the morning and keep it in the refrigerator if I intend to make fried rice for dinner.

Mix in the rice with the rest of the ingredients. Once you have mixed the rice well, sprinkle some turmeric powder into your pan. This is to give it color as well as that distinct 'pineapple fried rice' taste'. After sprinkling on the turmeric powder, add in some fish sauce to give it some taste. If you are planning to make vegetarian pineapple fried rice, you can use soy sauce too.

The next thing you need to do is add in some fried egg strips that you have prepared earlier. This is what you do. Beat two eggs and pour it into a frying pan. Make sure that it covers the whole pan, thus spreading it into a thin layer. Allow it to cook on one side, then flip over and allow it to cook on the other side. Once it's done, remove from the pan, allow it to cool for a bit and cut it into thin strips. This is how you make egg strips.

Continue to fry the rice on high heat. When the rice is almost done, add in some raisins.

After the raisins, add in some roasted cashew nuts. Just give it another quick stir or two and your pineapple fried rice is done!

There you go. A huge wok filled with yummy pineapple fried rice! I just love this dish. It's a great combination of taste and textures...totally awesome. You can serve the pineapple fried rice in a large pineapple boat. The rice in a large pineapple boat should be enough to feed 2-3 people. If you are planning to serve in single servings, you can then just use the smaller pineapple boat. Click here to learn how to carve a pineapple boat. Enjoy!

Thai Stuffed Chicken Wings

Have you ever tried stuffed chicken wings before? If not, boy, you are missing out. I loveeee stuffed chicken wings. However, they can be quite pricey. It would usually set you back about $4-$8 (depending on where) per pair if you were to order it in a Thai restaurant. I found a recipe for it online, made some changes to it and tried to make some for dinner a while back. Guess what? It turned out great! Yes, the deboning of the chicken wings do take some effort and time, but apart from that, it's really a pretty simple recipe. Here's how you make it.

The first thing we need to make is the stuffing. Start off by adding one large egg yolk to about half a lb of minced pork.

Then, season it with some fish sauce and black pepper. Make sure that you mix everything together well.

Next, add in some carrots that has been chopped up into tiny pieces. Then, add in some shitake mushrooms (about 2-3 pieces) that has been presoaked and chopped.

After the carrots and mushrooms, add in some shrimp that has been chopped into small pieces. Remember to chop everything into very tiny pieces. If not, they would not be able to fit into the wings. This step is entirely optional. I decided to add in the shrimp cos it adds to the flavor and texture of the stuffing. You do not need to add any if you do not like shrimps.

Now, add in a small bunch of mung bean thread noodles (glass noodles aka tang hoon) that has been presoaked in water until soft. Cut the noodles into short strands with a pair of scissors before adding it into the stuffing mix.

Mix everything together and cover with plastic wrap. Set it aside in the refrigerator and you can now start to prep the chicken wings.

Deboning the chicken wings can be a little bit tricky and time consuming. Of course it gets easier once you get the hang of it. Start by cleaning and washing the chicken wings. For this recipe, you only need the mid section and wing tip, so you would need to separate the drumette from the wings. Using a very sharp knife, separate the wing from the drumette by cutting at the joint. You can save the drumettes for another recipe.

Now the tricky part. Using a sharp pairing knife, cut the top part of the wing, while trying to detach any meat or tendon from the bone. Then slip in the knife and try to remove as much meat from the bone as possible. Once you have done that, carefully twist the two tiny bones around and it should pop out from the wings without any problems. It might seem a little tricky at first but it's actually relatively simple once you get the hang of it.

Once you have deboned all of the wings, it's time to stuff them. Using a small teaspoon, stuff the stuffing into the hollowed cavity of the wing. Remember not to over stuff. If you do so, the stuffing will explode out from the wings during steaming.

Arrange the wings in your steamer and steam until it is fully cooked. Once it is cooked, allow it to cool down fully.

Once it's fully cooled down, we can now dust the wings with flour.

Then, dip the wings into a bowl of beaten eggs.

Once the wings are fully covered in egg, coat it iwith panko breadcrumbs. Make sure that it's evenly and fully coated. Now the wings are ready to be deep fried.

Drop the wings into a pan of hot oil. Allow it to cook until golden brown.

Once you take them out of the oil, place them on some paper towels and allow them to rest for a bit. Isn't it look yummy? You can serve the wings with some sweet Thai chili sauce. This recipe might look a tad bit more difficult compared to the usual recipes that I blog about but trust me, it's well worth it. The wings were super duper yummy!! Try it!

Fried Tom Yum Pasta

I just love making this dish. It's one of my favorites :D Not only is it easy to make but it's really good to eat. It's basically Fried Tom Yum Noodles but I have replaced the noodles with pasta, just to change things up a little. You can pretty much use any type of pasta but I would usually use angel hair pasta for this super yummy fusion dish.

To make this dish, you would need some chicken, shrimp, sliced mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, shredded cabbage, chopped garlic, tom yum paste and of course, pasta.

Start off by stir frying some chopped garlic in peanut oil.

Then, add in one large onion that has been chopped into large chunks.

Stir fry the onions and garlic for a bit then add in some chicken pieces. I had earlier marinated the chicken with some light soy sauce and pepper for about an hour.

Once the chicken is almost cooked, add in the sliced mushrooms.

Next, toss in the shredded cabbage.

Stir fry that for a little bit then add in the tomatoes.

Lastly, add in a couple handfuls of shrimp.

Stir fry all of the ingredients together. Once they are all cooked, add in one large dollop of tom yum paste.

Mix it with the rest of the ingredients and allow it to go into a boil. You can also add some sugar at this point.

Once the tom yum mixture is bubbly, add in the angel hair pasta that has been cooked and drained earlier on. Mix the pasta in and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

There you go..it's done! One large wok of Fried Tom Yum Pasta. Just sprinkle some fried onions and finely chopped peanuts on top of the noodles when you are ready to serve. Now, wasn't that easy to make? :D