Hotpot in Pattaya

I did it again earlier this week. Eaten stew, raw endive with bacon! At “Ons Moeder” in Pattaya, or should I say in Jomtien, where many Dutch and Belgians stay for a short or longer period of time.

Yes I know. Who goes to Thailand to eat Dutch and then a typical Dutch winter dish? I was already accustomed to eating winter food in the tropics, because at the Navy on Monday, anywhere in the world, nasi with chowder was on the menu. So I don't care if the weather is suitable or not, I like it and that's why I occasionally eat a delicious stew (the Belgians call it stoemp!)

Eat stew

Although I don't think I need to apologize, I would like to add that it makes a difference whether you are on holiday in Thailand or live there, like me. Thai food? Delicious, but not every day. In addition, eating stew runs like a red thread through my life, because as soon as it was possible due to the supply of the necessary vegetables, stew regularly came to us. Tasty, easy to make and that suited us, my wife and me as two working people.

At home with mothers

Of course I already ate stew when I still lived at home. My mother already regularly made a stew, usually sauerkraut or kale. We didn't have a lot of money, so we had to share the smoked sausage, which came with it, with 6 people, of which my father naturally got the largest piece. After all, tasty is only one finger long.

I once ate the green pepper somewhere, I don't remember where, but it was new and I once asked my mother to make a stew out of it. No sooner said than done, but it was not a success. Vegetables had to be cooked and the peppers remained hard, and the whole family thought the peppers were too bitter to eat, so that was once, but never again.

Make your own stew

As said, everyone can make a stew, it is easy and quick to prepare. Potatoes in the pressure cooker, the sauerkraut, endive or kale on top and in no time you have a delicious meal on the table, supplemented with a smoked sausage or meatball.

When I first got married, I wanted to help my wife, who came home a little later than me, in the kitchen. I would make the kale stew. We had bought beautiful fresh kale and I started working with the cookbook next to me. “Cut the kale very finely” and I sliced, sliced, sliced, until there was a mountain of shredded kale on the counter. Sometimes a snippet fell on the ground and another one, well, I kept messing around with that big mountain of dry kale and weeks later we still found snippets of kale here and there. I couldn't control the mountain.

I should have cut the large kale leaves into large pieces and parboiled them first, then the hardened vegetables would have been easy to cut. The outcome was later that pre-cut kale was available in the supermarket, so the cutting problem was definitely solved.

Mother in law

My mother-in-law could also put a "good" stew on the table according to an old Groningen recipe when we visited. She once tried a stew of string beans on us, which was still acceptable, but the "stamppot putty" was a bit too much. White bean stew, it was like a brick in the stomach. Later it was only stew "hot lightning", potatoes with certain sweet apples. I really liked that with a delicious crispy Groningen bratwurst on the side.

Difference stew Netherlands and Thailand

A stew in Thailand is of course not the same as a stew, which we are used to in our own country. There are quite a few differences:

• the potatoes:

the potatoes we used at home were of the floury Eigenheimer variety. They already fell apart during cooking and were therefore easy to mash with the original potato masher.

Here in Thailand people do not know the Eigenheimer and so only a puree is made from potato powder. I don't know if people here use Thai potatoes at home.

• the vegetable:

although that has become less and less due to imports from other countries, we still have seasonal vegetables in the Netherlands. This certainly applies to the vegetables that we usually use for stews. On the Internet I found a page with many different options, but for me a stew is limited to sauerkraut, endive, kale and hutspot.

As far as I know, those vegetables are also not available fresh in Thailand and I think that the vegetables used by the restaurants here are imported freeze-dried.

Bacon steaks

Smoked sausage goes with a stew, I know, but I also like a fine meatball. “Ons Moeder” also had bacon on the menu of the stews and I am now attached to that. Delicious crispy fried bacon, delicious!

I lived in Alkmaar in a so-called bacon neighborhood. You know, "expensive people" from the outside, but due to high mortgage and other housing costs, they are frugal with food and drink. My wife was a cooking teacher and she couldn't bring herself to put bacon on the table. A pity afterwards!

Pattaya

So if I want to eat a stew, I go to "Ons Moeder", but there are several restaurants that have stew on the menu. Malee in Soi Honny Inn offers all kinds with smoked sausage or meatball, but the portions are a bit on the frugal side. Klein Vlaanderen on Second Road to Soi 7, also good with stews, but there I now often eat the best steak in Pattaya with a delicious pepper sauce. And then Pepper & Salt in Soi Khao Talo by Eddy from The Hague. There are also three stew pots on the very varied menu. I ate it there, beautifully served and delicious in taste. The problem with this restaurant is that I love Nasi Ramas Goreng and the lamb fillet, so I don't get enough of the stew there.

Finally,

This is my story about stew and while writing it I thought how important is the stew in my life? Well, suppose you are "punished" and only allowed to eat one dish in variations for the rest of your life. You already understand, my choice would definitely be the stew!

Enjoy!

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