The true taste of Thailand

ACCLAIMED CHEF and expert on authentic Thai cuisine Srisamorn Kongpun looks considerably younger than her 82 years. Her voice is soft but clear as she skilfully demonstrates how to prepare yum som-o – pomelo salad – to the crowd at the launch of her English-language cookbooks at Asia Books’ CentralWorld branch.

“Each Thai dish explodes with tastes and these are well-balanced and always complement each other. Each ingredient plays its role well but never overwhelms. Thai food is also healthy due to its medicinal and nutritional values,” she says firmly.

“Take yum som-o. Pomelo is full of vitamin C, potassium and dietary fibre while roasted and grated coconut contains oil that helps to lubricate the muscles and joints. The wrapper – cha plu leaf – contains a lot of beta-carotene and calcium but it’s important that the leaves are neither too young nor too old if you are to get the maximum benefit. Our ancestors didn’t drink milk, but they got calcium from the cha plu leaf, raw mango, pineapple core and shrimp paste,” says Srisamorn, the director of Ying Charoen Home Science School and a food instructor at the Royal Women Skills School in the Royal Palace.

For all its popularity throughout the world, Thai dishes are frequently misunderstood. Take tom yum goong or spicy prawn soup. It should be clear and not, as many think, thick with coconut milk. 

“The clear spicy soup has only thinly sliced lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, red and green bird’s eye chillies but no galangal because the galangal will overwhelm the taste of shrimp. Galangal can be added to thick, spicy soups that have chicken or pork as their ingredients. Prawn is not recommended because it will be too hard,” adds the food master who is a member of the Evaluation Board for Standard Thai Cooks in Thailand, Tokyo, Dubai and Berlin, which test Thai chefs around the world for certification. 

The food guru has penned more than 20 Thai-language cookbooks in her career but the new hardcover “The Complete Thai Cookbook” and a collection of seven pocket-sized paperback books under the title “Thailand’s Master Chef” are the third and fourth English-language volumes published by Asia Books.

The 239-page “Complete Thai Cookbook” offers more than 100 recipes of Thai foods divided according to the regions – the Central, the South, the North and the Northeast. Each dish is complemented by a photo as well as detailed instructions and tips and there’s also an introduction to essential kitchen tools, spices and herbs.

Each of the mini cookbooks in the “Thailand’s Master Chef” collection presents 25 easy Thai recipes for everyday meals. They cover seven topics – popular Thai food, step-by-step Thai food, stir-fry, curry and soup, spicy salad, vegetarian, and dessert.

“Each region has its own distinctive dishes due to the climate, the geography and the culture. Because it’s very hot, people in the Northeast normally eat salty and spicy foods to balance the level of sodium and to prevent muscle cramps. With a longer cool season than other regions, the North specialises in dishes that are quite oily and contain more garlic,” says the author who is also a consultant in frozen foods to the convenience store chain 7-Eleven.

Her Northern-style larb kua moo (spicy pork salad) and sai oua (pork sausage), tasted at the launch, clearly illustrate her teaching. The spicy pork salad should be neither too spicy nor too dry and served with a variety of fresh local vegetables. The larb paste contains different herbs and spices such as dried chillies, shallots, galangal, lemongrass, coriander seed, long pepper and prickly ash seeds, which are finely pound together before being stir-fried with garlic and minced pork. 

For the Southern dish moo hong (stewed pork belly), which combines sweet and salty tastes, she uses cubed pork belly and cubed pork neck, which are marinated in sweet and dark soy sauce, coriander root, garlic, fish sauce and pepper for three hours or overnight before being seared until golden brown. The pork is then placed in a pot with enough water to cover it and cooked over medium heat until tender. The tamarind sauce and palm sugar are added later and simmered until the liquid is reduced and becomes thick.

“As seafood and fish are typical ingredients in Southern dishes, pungent and fragrant turmeric is generally used to overpower the fishy smell. It’s also very good for the digestive system. Fresh vegetables are served as a side dish to balance out the strong tastes.

“Thai food is healthy and we don’t add food additives or flavour enhancers like monosodium glutamate or oyster sauce that will overpower the fragrance of ingredients. The flavourful tastes come from spices and herbs. Sweetness, for example, comes from coconut milk or palm sugar and almost every dish will have dietary fibre in its own ingredients or from the side dishes. Fat in the green curry is toned down with chilli, shallot, garlic, galangal and lemongrass while pea eggplant contains high iron,” she adds. 

“Provided the components in the right proportions and cooked following the right methods, the dishes will be nutritious and have medicinal benefits, as well as wonderful taste.”

Srisamorn points out that food of the Central region is the most diverse and has the widest range of menus with nearly 100 spicy salad dishes and 200-300 recipes for spicy dipping sauces.

“Thai food is democratic,” says the guru with a smile. “We have condiments for everyone to add taste according to his or her personal preference. Take pad thai or stir-fried Thai noodles. You can add ground dried chilli to increase the level of spiciness, squeeze a lemon into the dish for a sour taste or put more fish sauce to make it salty. One dish of pad thai can be eaten by everyone in the family. Cooking is an enjoyable activity in which every family member can take part and I think it’s important that everyone puts aside one day a week to spend time together in the kitchen.”

Cooking Thai food is not even too complicated, she points out, and nowadays it’s even more convenient thanks to the availability of canned coconut milk and ready-made curry paste.

“If you’re making curry, the curry paste can be prepared ahead of time. Once all ingredients have been pounded until smooth, the paste should be fried in a little oil to preserve the flavour, colour and fragrance. The dressing for yum or spicy salad can also be prepared in advance. Once you have the curry pastes and the salad dressings in stock, cooking Thai food becomes much faster and easier. Ground chicken or pork needs to be 60 to 70 per cent pre-cooked to keep longer in the refrigerator. 

“And remember that the rich and creamy coconut milk sold in boxes or cans is thick coconut that is used in the frying of curry pastes. Always be sure to use the exact curry paste because different pastes use different spices and herbs, and different amounts of ingredients. For example, the kua curry paste doesn’t contain coriander and cumin seeds while red curry paste has both of them. If kua curry paste is used in red curry, the curry soup will lose its unique colour, flavour and appetising aroma,” she says.

 

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The Complete Thai Cookbook costs Bt995 and the series of seven pocket-sized paperback books “Thailand’s Master Chef” are priced at Bt150 each. They are available at Asia Books