Adventures in Thai Cooking & Travel
Shallots
Shallots (Hawm Daeng)
by Kasma
Loha-unchit
Text Copyright © 1995 & 2000 Kasma
Loha-unchit.
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See below for Recipes with Shallots.
Shallots (hawm daeng):
The 
preferred onions for Thai cooking are red shallots; they
are purplish red in color and come smaller than the orangish-brown shallots sold in American
markets, which may be substituted. Although larger varieties such as yellow onions are grown in
Thailand, most of them are exported and relatively few find their way into Thai dishes.
Shallots give a greater depth of flavor when chopped and pounded to make curry and chilli
pastes; on the other hand, when eaten raw in salads, they are sweet and mild, leaving much less
of a lingering aftertaste or "onion breath." Their size can vary considerably, but because the
amount used for most dishes is not critical, make your own rough estimate on how many to use
based on the size of the batch you bought (i.e., if they are large and come as a double, count
them as two, and so forth). Thai people use red shallots very generously, and like garlic, they
are a fundamental ingredient in the cuisine.
For some curries and chilli pastes, shallots are roasted to give a smoky dimension. This may be done by placing them with their skin still on in a very hot toaster oven (450 degrees F.), or in a dry pan over a burner set at medium heat. Cut the root tip off first to keep them from bursting when heated up. Roast until softened all the way through and slightly charred on the outside. This may take 15-20 minutes. When roasting in a dry pan over the stove, turn them frequently. In Thailand, shallots are usually roasted in the charcoal brazier, which adds a much more pronounced smoky flavor.
Shallots are also fried into brown crispy pieces to sprinkle on salads and garnish finished dishes. Fry thin slices in plenty of oil (enough to submerge the pieces) in a wok or small pan until they turn golden brown. Because western shallots contain more moisture than Thai red shallots, they should be fried over low heat for a prolonged period of time (20 minutes or longer) to allow the slices to dry up before they brown. This ensures that the pieces turn crispy after they are drained from the oil and cooled. When fried at high temperatures, the pieces brown quickly but are likely to be soggy and greasy. When crisped properly, the shallot pieces absorb little oil and should not taste greasy. For western shallots, I find that slicing them crosswise into rings tend to produce more evenly crisped shallots than when they are sliced lengthwise.
While frying, you need to stir only occasionally until the pieces begin to turn color, then stir frequently to evenly brown to a rich shade of golden brown. They will shrink to a third or less of their original mass. Drain through a fine wire-mesh strainer balanced over a bowl to catch the remaining oil. Reserve this fragrant oil to add a delicious flavor to your stir-fried dishes. To reduce frying time, shallot slices may be pre-dried in a dehydrator, very low oven, or on a rack in the sun. If making your own crispy fried shallots seems too much trouble, look for pre-packaged products in Asian markets. The pieces should be loose and sound crispy when the container is tapped. A fairly good product now readily available is imported from Malaysia, packed for the Rockman Company, Inc., and is simply labeled "Fried Onion." [Nang Fah (Tue Kung) Brand distributed by V. Thai Food Products is crispy and delicious – almost as good as fresh-fried shallots.]
Text Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit in Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood. See pages 68 & 69.
This is just one of many listings in the "Alphabetical List of Ingredients" in chapter four (pages 49 to 73) of Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood.
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Shallots (Hawm Daeng)
Garlic (gkra-tiem) and shallots (hawm,
meaning "fragrant") are indispensable in Thai cooking and are likely the most-used herbs. Tons
of them in bulging basketfuls are loaded and unloaded every day at wholesale markets across the
country. The shallots are a smaller red variety, but like Thai chilli peppers, they are much
stronger-tasting than the larger orangish brown shallots commonly found in Western markets.
. . . From the same family of bulbous herbs, a lot of green onions (scallions) and chives also find their way into Thai food. Onions are used, too, but not nearly as frequently as shallots, which are usually preferred over their larger, paler and sweeter cousins. (Restaurants in America usually substitute yellow onions for shallots simply because they are less expensive.) For making hot-and-sour salads (yum) and chilli pastes of any kind, the stronger-flavored shallots are imperative should not be substituted.
Text Copyright © 1995 Kasma Loha-unchit in It Rains Fishes: Legends, Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking. See page 83
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Recipes with Shallots :
Appetizers
Tasty Leaf-wrapped Tidbits (Miang Kam)
Salads
Northeastern-Style Spicy Minced Chicken Salad with Mint and Toasted Rice (Lahb Gkai)
Spicy Mesquite-Grilled Eggplant Salad (Yum Makeua Yao)
Hot-and-Sour Shrimp Salad (Plah Gkung)
Curries
Green Curry with Fish/Shrimp Dumplings (Gkaeng Kiow Wahn Loogchin Bplah/Gkoong)
Main Courses
Muslim Yellow Rice with Chicken and Roasted Spices (Kao Moek Gkai)
Spicy Basil Chicken (Pad Gkaprow Gai)
Spicy Chicken and Basil Fried Rice (Kao Pad Gkai Gkaprow)
Seafood Dishes
Catfish Rounds Simmered in Turmeric-Flavored Coconut Sauce (Dtom Kem Gkati Bplah Doog )
Hot-and-Sour Lemon Grass Tiger Prawns (Gkung Dtom Yum Haeng )
Noodle Dishes
Thai-Style Stir-Fried Noodles (Pad Thai)
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Text Copyright © Kasma Loha-unchit, 1995 in It Rains Fishes, and 2000 in Dancing Shrimp. All rights reserved.
Drawing Copyright © 1995 Margaret DeJong. All rights reserved.
All material on this website is Copyright © 1995 to 2008 Kasma Loha-unchit. All rights reserved.
For comments, feedback or questions, contact Kasma.
Page added 6 February 2002. Last updated 15 August 2003.