Thai Sukiyaki is an interesting dish -- supposedly one that came to a street vendor in a dream. It bears little resemblance to Japanese Sukiyaki other than it is a "self-cook" dish. Lamai puts out a large simmering pot of broth, a few strainers, and a whole bunch of raw ingredients, including seafoods, some very thinly sliced meats, vegetables and cellophane noodles. You fill your strainer, and dip it in the broth to cook, then dump it in your bowl and cover it with this pink Thai Suki sauce. It reminds me a little of Chinese sa tsa sauce -- five spice with a touch of salty dried shrimp flavor. (I myself like to have a little broth in the bowl too, although Lamai doesn't approve.) NOTE: the pink sauce is blazingly hot, use with care.
The main problem with the sukiyaki is that Lamai only has a couple of strainers, so there ends up quite a crowd waiting around the pot. Also, when she first fills the pot, it takes it a while to come up to heat. (Note: most of the ingredients she has laid out for cooking are quick cooking -- you don't need to boil it to death. Shrimp, for instance, is cooked when it is no longer translucent -- depending on the kind of shrimp, it doesn't always turn bright pink.)
But aside from the sukiyaki, there will be the pad thai noodles and fresh eggrolls, and salads and curries and stirfries. Sometimes she has spicey stir-fried dumplings, or little seafood custards.
Odds are, Tuesday will be a very tasty day.
Thai Food From Lamai's Kitchen, 2033 E. Michigan Avenue, Lansing. (517) 267-3888.
2 comments:
Thanks for the heads-up! Maybe I can entice my wife to go out, though I was planning on making some duk mandu gukk soup that night. Decisions decisions...
By the way, got any recommendations on where to get some good fresh produce? I like Horrock's, but they are across town for me. I'm on Aurelius.
That depends on what you are looking for. Lansing is blessed with surprisingly good veggies at Meijers, and a lot of small places that carry more limited selections:
The East Lansing Food Co-op, Allen Street Market, Oriental Mart (and other Asian markets around town), even the Farmers Market downtown. None of them have everything, and quality varies, so there really isn't a single big place that's better than Meijers. I try to combine specialty markets with regular shopping at Meijers.
Maybe I'll do a grocery post soon....
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