Mad Mary Doesn’t Skimp On The Spices

Growing up in Thailand, Mary Cameron learned the cooking basics from her paternal grandmother.

“She used to take me to the market every day. She was a great cook,” said Cameron, who rules the kitchen at the Coeur d’Alene restaurant that bears her name, Mad Mary’s.

Following her grandmother’s instructions, she learned about extracting fire from tiny chilis and the importance of balancing flavors, such as matching sweet with sour or cooling the spiciness of a curry with creamy coconut milk.

The reason most dishes are so spicy in Thailand, she explained, has to do with making a little food go a long way.

“My family was poor, so there wasn’t a lot of food,” said Cameron, who grew up working in rice paddies, riding a water buffalo and dodging the lethal snakes that made the field their home. “Eating hot dishes meant that you had to drink a lot of water and that would fill you up.”

She also got a lot of practice cooking fish, which were plentiful in the area where she grew up, 65 miles outside of Bangkok. (Cameron, who remains an avid fisherman, proudly displays her trophy bigmouth bass above the cash register.)

Over the past decade, the number of Thai restaurants has exploded in this country. Mad Mary’s is one of two Thai restaurants to open in Coeur d’Alene within the past year.

Though the flavors of Thai food are exotic, not all the dishes are complicated to make, Cameron said. Stir-fries, for instance, are a great way to get rid of leftovers.

Cameron makes her stir-fries in a deep-sided, heavy saucepan instead of the traditional wok.

She starts with a couple of tablespoons of oil and adds garlic, salt and black pepper. She then adds “hard” veggies such as onions, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower along with some meat.

After sauteing for a minute, she adds almost a cup of water and cooks the mixture for another couple of minutes on medium heat.

Then, in go the soft veggies such as bean sprouts, followed by a thickening mixture of flour, water and a little bit of mushroom-flavored soy sauce. In only a matter of minutes, the dish is ready to serve.

Of course, some meals are more involved. Cameron makes a gallon of her secret recipe curry paste - a powerful mixture of super-hot chilis - once a week. The paste is mixed with coconut milk, meat, vegetables and other seasonings such as shredded lime leaves to create a Thai curry.

She makes all her sauces from scratch, too, from the hot mustard that is served with egg rolls to the peanut sauce that accompanies the satay.

Because it’s a small operation, she and her husband, Tim, do most of the chopping and mincing and saucemaking themselves. But Cameron doesn’t complain. Since moving to this country 23 years ago, she’s dreamed of having her own restaurant.

Cameron suggests visiting a store that specializes in imported groceries, such as the Oriental Market at 3919 E. Trent, to find some of the more unusual ingredients called for in Thai cooking.

Coconut-Chicken Soup

This dish isn’t spicy, but tangy and creamy.

1 tablespoon lemon grass

1 tablespoon galangal root

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

4 ounces boneless chicken breast, diced

3 lime leaves, shredded

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Mince the lemon grass and galangal root with a mortar and pestle, or shred finely with a knife.

Mix coconut milk and water in a saucepan and heat to boiling. Add the lemon grass and galangal root and simmer for 1 minute.

Strain the mixture into another pan. Add the diced chicken, shredded lime leaves, lemon juice, sugar and salt and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Taste and add more salt or sugar, if needed. Add cilantro and serve.

Yield: 2 first-course servings.

, DataTimes MEMO: Chef du Jour is a monthly feature of IN Food that profiles area chefs and provides one of their recipes for readers to try at home.