Pok Pok Inspiration

 Pok Pok is Thai slang for “mortar and pestle” but in this house, it is known as our favorite Thai restaurant located in Portland, OR.We are no Thai experts but after watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, we knew this was one spot not to miss.  The Thai chicken wings looked absolutely amazing and boy, oh boy...

THEY DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

The only problem, Portland is on the complete opposite side of the United States!!! How were we  going to get our Pok Pok fix while living in Florida???

Amazon Ad to the rescue! Mike came across a cookbook called, Pok Pok and about had a heart attack. Moments after verifying that it was a cookbook based on our beloved Thai restaurant, it was ordered and soon in our loving hands!

We picked two recipes to try...the chicken wings and a papaya salad. We bored the boys in the grocery store searching for random ingredients we had never heard of and then finally, with some encouraging help from each other, braved the oil. Yep, we had to deep fry the wings! We had never deep fried anything in our lives so we were a little nervous.

None-the-less, we dove right in...

Mike checking the oil temp.

Pickled daikon radishes and carrots on a bed or romaine

Our not-so-green green papaya salad.

Mike glazing the wings in the most delicious sauce ever topped with little chunks of fried garlic.

So far, everything was looking good! :)

 And you know what?! They were good, actually, they were great!!! We were so proud of ourselves and are super excited to try other recipes. The papaya salad was also very good despite the long list of crazy ingredients and super detailed instructions. It was worth all the hard work!!

We have since tried the recipe again but this time with baked wings. They were just as tasty!!! Our next plan...shrimp with the wonderful, magical Thai glaze!!! Mmmmmmmmmmm......

The final plates before we devoured them all!

Side note: the boys were less than thrilled by the Thai fish sauce smell that permeated through our house all evening. Sorry boys, it won't be the last time you smell that smell! Ha! We love you!!