Hotels and restaurants in the city are coming up with Thai food festivals that focus on regional delicacies like lao’s Som tom salad. While some are sticking to authentic spices and herbs, others are Indianising them. Shrabasti Mallik reports
Think about every time you relished the Thai Tom yum soup. How you kept sipping spoons of the spicy, tangy, thick, sour soup even as your tongue tingled with the combined flavour of the strong spices. But the one that we tasted at Mei Kun at Kempinski Ambience Hotel was light and not high on spice. Executive chef Rohit Tokhi told us that the Tom yum soup does not necessarily have to be so hot that you keep reaching out for a glass of water.
You may call it a co-incidence that the eateries across the city are hosting Thai food festivals, at almost the same time. More interestingly, Kempinski has invited chef Kwanruean Saegsitong from Thailand to curate the menu and prepare the dishes. “People look for authenticity and there is nothing like Thai food from a Thai chef,” said chef Tokhi. If the hotel has flown in a Thai chef, Barbeque Nation is importing authentic Thai spices to keep the dishes true to the cuisine. Chef Vijay Anand Bakshi has curated the menu keeping lesser-known Thai dishes in mind.
There are many aspects in both the Thai and the Indian cuisines which complement each other. Chef Saegsitong told us that the Thai food is known for its chilli-hot and sweet blends. “The Indian cuisine is also known for its love for spices and hot-spicy food, very much like ours,” she said.
Chef Bakshi, also head of culinary operations, has curated a menu which brings to the table some of the lesser-known regional delicacies of the country. The classic lao favourite, Som tom salad features on top of the his list. This green papaya salad, he said, has been experimented with before by Indian chefs but very few are aware of the right ingredients. The dish combines five predominant local flavours — sour lime, hot chili, salty, savoury fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. “The name literally means ‘sour pounded.’ But Indians prefer to add spices of their choice and in various amounts, which destroys the taste. The flavours need to be in proportion,” he explained. Their menu also boasts of the Pad Thai noodles, a preparation which dates back to the era of the early Thai traders. “The recipe has boiled down through several years of Thai taste preferences and is now served as a staple Thai street food,” he added.
Chef Saegsitong, on the other hand, is serving popular and traditional Thai preparations like Tom kha pak (vegetable, coconut and Thai chilli paste) and appetisers like Yam som o, a spicy pomelo (citrus fruit) salad, Kor moo yang (grilled pork neck in Thai style — sprinkled with herbs and spices) and Goong thod kratium (fried shrimp with garlic and pepper). We tried out her signature dish Phad phak ruam mitr. The name might sound complicated but the preparation is simple. Toss mixed vegetables in soya sauce and you’ll get a light-on-spices dish.
“Thai cuisine is not complicated and time consuming. Gaeng kiew wan gai (roasted duck in red curry), Phad Thai goong (fried thin rice noodles along with shrimps and eggs) are few of the national delicacies that I have prepared the way I do for my customers in Thailand,” added the chef.
Although chef Bakshi has used Thai spices, he has replaced some authentic ingredients with similar and non-conflicting ones. In a country that is counted one of the highest consumer of vegan diet, one has to find substitutes. He explained, “The authentic Thai salad Som tom salad originally has fish sauce as a main seasoning but we have replaced it with Thai light soy sauce, thus making the dish vegetarian-friendly as well as Indian palate friendly.”
If you crave authentic Thai dessert, chef Saegsitong has the perfect one — sticky rice with mango or Kow neuw moon. One thing we found similar in both the desserts that she offered was coconut. The sticky rice had copious amounts of coconut powder while coconut milk formed the base of the Kluy buad chee (banana in warm coconut milk).
Chef Tila Ram of Global Food Factory shares that the customers are thoroughly intrigued by dishes like Pad Thai spring rolls, Tom yum soups, et al. The ingredients used in these recipes is what is attracting the people. They use ingredients like lemon leaf, Thai ginger, lemon leaf, basil leaf, coriander to make the dish flavoursome. Moreover, different chillies are used for different curries.