A first recipe (part 1) - Thai food

"There is more romance in Thai cooking than any other cuisine in the world today."

Charmaine Solomon

I fear my resorting to my writer's block strategies is increasing these days. I also confess that today I first tried a lucky dip, but picked up Michel Guerard's Nouvelle Cuisine, which I have done before. So I rapidly put it back on the shelf. Something I vowed never to do, so maybe I should go and get it out again and have another go, because I feel guilty about doing that.

Anyway because of this, I decided to resort to the First Recipe trick - and this is the book which is next on my shelf. We shall probably get a few more of Charmaine Solomon's books, because this is the section of the bookshelves where most of hers are stored. Today I am not going to do the first recipe thing (and I think there might be two of them), but instead I might ruminate a little on Thai food.

This book was bought at the height of the Thai food mania. I had previously bought David Thompson's book Thai Food which has won numerous accolades and awards. And he himself has subsequently earned himself a Michelin star cooking Thai food in London. But his book was just so difficult and had so many difficult to source ingredients, that I put it aside. Indeed when I had my major weed of my cookbook collection a few years later, I threw it out. For me and probably for most people, his book failed. Unlike Elizabeth David who managed to inspire the post-war English to try cooking the food of Europe and the Mediterranean, he was not inspirational. He was just frightening. So when Charmaine Solomon brought out her book I decided to give it a go. I already had a few of her books and had found them to be very approachable. I used them a lot. And so it was with the Thai Cookbook. It was attractively produced, clear and above all, simple. There were only a few ingredients that I found difficult to source at the time - fresh galangal and blachan - that shrimp paste - I seem to remember. But unlike David Thompson she had suggestions for substitutes if you could not find them. This and the Women's Weekly Thai Cookbook, which came out a little bit later were the two books which taught me to cook Thai. Nowadays you can find countless Thai recipes online. I just had a quick look at Taste.com and found over 700 recipes for green curry and over 800 for red curry, for example. And you can, of course, buy Thai curry pastes and powders in your local supermarket, not mention frozen green chicken curry.

Although the first Thai immigrants date back a long way, it was not really until the 50s that many Thais, in the form of students, migrated to Australia. The majority apparently ended up in Sydney, which is still the central place for Thai Australians. And yet the first Australian Thai restaurant the Bhan Thai, was opened in St. Kilda here in Melbourne in 1976. At first expansion was slow but in the 80s there was an explosion of new openings, and now there are over 3000 Thai restaurants in Australia - the third most widespread ethnic restaurant after Italian and Chinese. Indeed:

"Australia has more Thai restaurants per capita, outside of Thailand, than anyone else in the world." Asian Inspirations

Three times more than in the US I believe.

It wasn't just the migrants though who made Thai food popular. It was also the Vietnam War, one of whose side effects was the R&R that the American and Australian soldiers spent in Thailand, where they feasted on Thai food. The other was the growth of Bangkok as a hub for international long range air flights and the subsequent growth of tourism to Thailand. Both of these have most likely declined in recent years. Aeroplanes can travel further these days in one hit and so the Asian hubs must surely be experiencing a loss in air traffic. Although maybe not, as the Chinese become tourists. Also in recent years Thailand has had a somewhat turbulent political history which has probably deterred some tourists and led to some Foreign Affairs travel warnings.

I was introduced to Thai food myself through being a tourist. I have only visited Thailand twice and that briefly. The first was a company stop-off on the way back from a pseudo conference in Europe and the second was another stop-off at Phuket on the way back from another trip to Europe. That time it was just David and I. The previous trip was with some of David's work colleagues.

Eating Thai food for the first time was a little like my first taste of French food. I was blown away by it. By then I was very familiar with Indian food, which I loved, but this was something different. It was so much lighter somehow and spicier too. I can remember a beef salad - I think it's called larb which was made with minced beef. So unexpected and so delicious, and theoretically not really my thing. Nowadays it is a common Australian thing. On the left a chicken and pork version from Donna Hay and below two beef versions - one from SBS (actually a Laotian version) and one from the Australian Women's Weekly - just to demonstrate how everyday this dish now is. I could probably find one from Coles Magazine if I searched.

beef larb 1

beef larb 2

"There is an unmistakable spectrum of flavours embodying the heart and soul of Thai food. It is not mere prettiness which captures the imagination. Even peasant cuisine is both subtle and pungent, a glorious awakening of the tastebuds that makes you wonder, on tasting Thai food for the first time, why you have never experienced this before." Charmaine Solomon

I suppose the other famous Thai dishes are Pad Thai (fried noodles) and red and green curries. Oh and the sweet and sour soup - Tom yung. I will talk more about the red, the green and the soup when I come to part two - on curry pastes. As to the fried noodles - this is the dish I make most from this book - and I still make it fairly often. It's not Pad thai but it's similar.

In her book this dish is called Kway Teo Phad (Chilli chicken with noodles). You only need a little bit of chicken, some red curry paste and a few other things, but the thing that really makes it is the topping of fried peanuts, garlic and chilli. It's not online so I will give it here.

CHILLI CHICKEN WITH NOODLES (KWAY TEO PHAD)

25og boneless chicken

4 tablespoons peanut oil

2 dried red chillies

1 tablespoon dried garlic flakes

1/2 cup peanuts

1 tablespoon red curry paste

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons chilli sauce,optional

2 tablespoons fish sauce

220g rice noodles, cooked and drained

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/2 cup sliced spring onions

1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander

Remove the skin and excess fat from the chicken and cut the meat into strips. heat the oil, fry the dried chillies on medium heat until they are puffed up and blackened, then remove to absorbent paper. Fry the garlic flakes on low heat for just a few seconds. Lift them out on a large wire strainer as soon as they turn pale golden, as they will continue to cook in their own heat. Drain. Add the peanuts and stir constantly while frying until they are a light brown. Lift out and allow to cool on absorbent paper.

Remove the stalks from the chillies, shake out the seeds and chop the chillies into small pieces. Crush the garlic flakes and peanuts. Mix all three together for sprinkling over the dish at the end. (I whiz them all in the food processor.)

If necessary, add an extra tablespoon of oil to the wok and fry the red curry paste, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken and stir-fry on medium=high heat until the colour changes. Add the water, chilli sauce if used, and the fish sauce. Boil for 1 minute, then add the noodles, lime juice and spring onions, and toss over and over in the spicy mixture until heated through. Sprinkle with the peanut mixture and fresh coriander. Extra fish sauce and lime juice mixed with sliced hot chillies may accompany the noodles for real chilli devotees.

I have been known to add some sliced green beans, or capsicum, or even spinach.

I don't cook Thai food much these days - mostly I think because David has developed an aversion to chilli. For Thai food definitely has a lot of chilli. I remember after our second trip looking forward to bland Anglo Australian food, even though I was truly enjoying the Thai food on offer. I just can't eat hot spicy food all the time.

I suspect that Thai restaurants have lost a little of their lustre too. Or maybe not. We have two in Eltham and they show no signs of closing down. Perhaps it's just that all the food media would imply a trend to Middle Eastern and Vegan - or at least Healthy and Fresh. That's the way the cookbooks are going anyway. But maybe the people just keep eating what they like - MacDonalds, Italian pasta and pizza, Chinese food and Thai food, not to mention the odd Indian curry.

But yes, Thai food is different.

"The essence of Thai food is all about balance—achieving the perfect harmony between sweet, sour, hot and salty. Fresh herbs, such as lemongrass and galangal tones down the spiciness, while salty sauces are tempered with sugars and offset by acids, such as lemon and lime." Asian Inspirations

“Whenever you have a Thai meal, you never just have curries or just stir-fries, you have wet dishes, dry dishes, spicy dishes, sweet dishes, sour dishes, you have a composite array of tastes, techniques and textures that form the meal proper.” David Thompson

You will need a few basics in your cupboard if you are going to launch into cooking Thai food. But these days they are easily obtainable and useable elsewhere. And you can cheat by buying ready made pastes - I think even Charmaine Solomon makes some - but they will never be as good as the ones you make yourself.

"If you shop for ingredients each time you want to cook Thai, chances are you'll do it far less frequently than you would like to. But if you convert those fresh ingredients into long-lasting supplies of curry pastes and store them in the refrigerator or freezer, preparation time is cut dramatically. Be assured, no authenticity is lost using this system ... much as I enjoy cooking, there are other demands on my time and, I know, on yours too." Charmaine Solomon

And don't forget the fish sauce. It might smell horrible but it certainly makes the difference.

"Where soy sauce is indispensable in Chinese food, in Thai cooking it is replaced by fish sauce - nam pla. Thin, salty, not terribly fishy in spite of its name, it brings out other flavours and is universally added to each and every dish." Charmaine Solomon

I haven't cooked Thai for a long time. Must have another go. I guess I can always reduce the chilli content. It won't be very authentic but it will be good.