United Flavours Of Thailand

Thai cooking is not just about the fiery stuff. Antoine Lewis presents all the tastes of this eclectic cuisine…

The first impression Thai cooking leaves on the neophyte is quite often smouldering taste buds, scorched by a unique blending of spices and ingredients that sets off a fierce explosion of flavours. But it's not the only impression, for Thai cuisine, influenced greatly by Chinese gastronomic principles, is a unique balance of hot, sour, sweet, salty and bitter flavours that stimulates the palate. And with a little experimentation and adventure the gastronome will find that Thai cuisine has many mildly-flavoured and delicately flavoured dishes to offer.

Thai cooking is similar to much Asian cooking with stir-fries of bite-sized pieces of meat and such vegetables as cabbage, spinach, cucumber and green beans. What sets Thai food apart from other Asian cuisines are their distinctive flavourings and aromatics that supply heat, sweetness or salt: fiery bird chillies, pungent holy basil, palm sugar, kaffir lime leaves, creamy coconut milk and ginger-like galangal.

Of course, Indian cuisine had a mild but distinctive influence on Southern Thai food particularly in its uses of spices and in the form and shape of the curries. And so it's not surprising that the flavours were familiar enough to make Thai restaurants a rage almost a decade ago in India. Thai Pavilion at The President in Cuffe Parade was the first to usher in this global trend into Mumbai. Many restaurateurs were quick to jump onto the bandwagon, but none have survived with the exception of Tamnak Thai near Shivaji Park and Thai Baan in Bandra. Poorly trained staff, inaccessible and prohibitively priced ingredients, low quality control standards and an inappropriate pricing structure were some of the factors that proved to be insurmountable. Despite the demise of speciality Thai restaurants, signature Thai dishes are available quite easily at many pan-Asian restaurants.

Thai cuisine can roughly be divided on a regional basis into northern, north-eastern (Isan), central, and southern cooking plus the highly refined 'Royal' cuisine. Sometimes translated as Palace Cuisine, this heritage from the days of monarchy has no popular following and has had little influence on Thai restaurants either locally or globally. The intricate art of fruit and vegetable carving that grew out of this regal cuisine is perhaps the only tradition to have reached a larger platform.

Northern

Salty and sour flavours dominate northern dishes, which while also hot are generally milder than those of other regions. It is also strongly influenced by Burmese cooking which is abundantly evident in popular dishes like Kaeng Hang Le, a pork curry flavoured with ginger, tamarind, and turmeric; and Khao Soi, a curry of egg noodles and meat heavily laced with coconut cream, and served with spring onions, pickled cabbage and slices of lime, is rather similar to the Burmese Kauswe. In the north and north-east the preference veers towards glutinous rice rather than non-glutinous rice. The traditional style for serving northern food is on a Khan Toke (small circular table) around which guests sit and eat with hand. The meal might consist of sticky rice, curries and nam phrik ong (a sauce of minced pork, tomatoes and chillies).

North-eastern

The taste of the north-eastern (Isan) food is stronger, saltier, sourer and hotter than elsewhere in the country, reflecting the influences of neighbouring Laos in a number of dishes. One unique characteristic of Isan food is that pla ra (fermented fish) constitutes a main dish in almost every meal, eaten with glutinous rice or added to other dishes. Som Tam (green papaya salad), one of the most popular dishes in Thailand, is also an original north-eastern food and is normally eaten with glutinous rice and grilled chicken. Though the food is highly seasoned, condiments are more commonly used with spices being rarely present. Meat was once scarce in villages, and freshwater fish and shrimp are the principle source of protein, sometimes fermented.

Central

Unlike the north and north-east, where glutinous rice is popular, central Thais like the fragrant plain variety, most commonly steamed. In addition to fresh-water fish, there is seafood from the Gulf of Thailand, as well as a wide range of fresh vegetables. An assortment of curries bring a splash of variety to the food. Kaeng Phet, or curry, is eaten with rice; Tom Yam, the most frequently ordered dish all over Thailand, is mixed with kung or shrimp, fish and chicken and is flavoured with lemon grass, chillies and kaffir lime leaves; Kaeng Khieo Wan, a spicy green curry with ingredients comprised of coconut milk, sweet basil and chillies; Tom Kha Kai, a thick coconut milk curry made from chicken or meat with lemon grass. Traditional desserts are also quite common in the central region, all mostly based on three ingredients - flour, coconut and sugar. Plain fresh fruits are also an important part of the diet. Soaked in a light, clear sugar syrup with some crushed ice added they are transformed into a simple, light dessert.

Southern

Unlike mainstream Thai curries in which herbs and pungent roots are the primary ingredients, many Muslim-influenced Southern curries are characterised by the roasted fragrance of dry spices more familiar in Indian cooking. Roti is also made sweet, sprinkled with sugar and sweetened condensed milk, or stuffed with bananas; these sweet versions are now commonplace street foods all over Thailand, though the savoury roti served with curry is really to be enjoyed only in Southern Thailand. Other foreign influences can be found in such dishes as kaeng matsaman, a mild Indian-style curry seasoned with cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, and sate - skewered meat with a spicy peanut sauce that originally came from Indonesia. Surrounded by water, the south is lavished with abundant fresh seafood throughout the year: fish, prawns, lobsters, crab, squid, scallops, clams and mussels. If it's not barbecued or tossed on the charcoal grill, and served with hot-and-sour chilli dipping sauces, the seafood might also be fried and served with a sauce like the pla rad prik or go straight into one of the many soups or curries that the region is famous for. The coconut plays a prominent role in many southern dishes; its milk tempers the heat of chilli-laced soups and curries, its oil is used for frying, and its grated meat serves as a condiment.

One of the most defining flavours of Thai and South-East Asian cuisine is fish sauce, or nam pla in Thai, literally meaning 'fish water'. Made from anchovies or other small fish that have been dried in the sun and then fermented in brine, genuine fish sauce is the water, or juice, in the flesh of fish that is extracted in the process of prolonged salting and fermentation. Most sauce is made from saltwater fish as pollution and dams have drastically reduced the once plentiful supply of freshwater fish in the heartlands of Southeast Asia.