Bangkok is more than street food
THAI NATIVE’S SECOND COOKBOOK DRAWS ON FAMILY FAVOURITES AND CENTURIES OF TRADITION
‘You could have g o ne to Thai restaurants in North America for 10 years and you would never have heard of some of the dishes in Bangkok,” author Leela Punyaratabandhu says of her second cookbook.
“Like watermelon and dried fish. Or rice in flower-scented water with shrimp paste balls. These are acquired tastes. These are obscure dishes.”
Watermelon with fish dip, as she explains in Bangkok ( Ten Speed Press, 2017), is part of a centuries-long Thai tradition of eating fruit as a means of cooling both the palate while eating spicy dishes, and the body in the intense summertime heat.
Rice in flower- scented water, a. k. a. khao chae, is a set meal commonly served i n homes of Bangkokian families and at traditional restaurants. In addition to the shrimp paste dumplings, the ice- cold rice is served with accompaniments of stuffed shallots and banana peppers, side vegetables and herbs.
In sharing more than 120 such enticing recipes in the book, Punyaratabandhu illustrates why Bangkok is one of the world’s great food cities. A native of the Thai capital, she included personal and historical stories, and recipes for family favourites, traditional dishes, streetfood classics, her own original recipes and adaptations of famous dishes.
While her f i rst book, Simple Thai Food ( Ten Speed Press, 2014), is a “Thai 101”- style guide to the cuisine, she wrote Bangkok as a faithful portrait of the food of her hometown.
“The consideration of whether or not these dishes would be popular among North Americans or Europeans ... did not really factor into the selection. These are the dishes that the people of Bangkok have loved for decades.
“I felt like if I didn’t include some of the dishes, first of all I (would have) risked getting disowned by my family. Second of all, I would probably have ( had) a hard time going back and seeing my friends,” Punyaratabandhu says with a laugh.
Bangkok is world- r enowned for its street food in particular. But as Punyaratabandhu demonstrates, its culinary offering is much more nuanced and varied than what tourists procure from curbside vendors. Although the book started out as a collection of recipes that are meaningful to her as a born- and- bred Bangkokian, she says that she now realizes that she achieved another objective.
“There is nothing wrong with liking Thai street food. It’s actually glorious, for the most part. But there is a lot more than that. It’s like saying that America is the destination for hamburgers or buffet dinners. Why did you pick that one segment of the entire cuisine and then glorify it to the point where it represents everything?” she says.
“What I love most about Bangkok is that it’s a city that opens itself to all kinds of influences … When you look at a cuisine like the cuisine of Bangkok, think of the long history that has shaped what it is today. And you will see that there’s so much more than street food.”
GRILLED PORK ON SKEWERS
For marinade:
❚ 6 large cloves garlic ❚ ¼ cup ( 50 mL) packed grated palm sugar ❚ ¼ cup (50 mL) oyster sauce ❚ 2 tbsp ( 30 mL) Thai thin soy sauce or Golden Mountain seasoning sauce ❚ 2 tbsp (30 mL) fish sauce ❚2 t bsp ( 30 mL) f i nely chopped cilantro roots or stems ❚ 1 tsp ( 5 mL) white peppercorns ❚ 3 lb ( 1.5 kg) boneless pork shoulder
For dipping sauce:
❚5 dried Thai l ong or guajillo chilies, stemmed ❚ 5 dried bird’s eye chilies, stemmed ❚ 1 cup ( 250 mL) tamarind pulp ❚ 1/ 3 cup ( 75 mL) packed grated palm sugar ❚ 3 tbsp ( 45 mL) fresh lime juice ❚ 1/3 cup (75 mL) fish sauce ❚3 t bsp ( 45 mL) f i nely chopped cilantro leaves ❚ Vegetable oil, for greasing the grill grate ❚ Steamed glutinous rice, for serving (optional)
1. Soak sixteen ( 10- inch/ 25cm) bamboo skewers in water overnight.
2. To make the marinade, in a blender, combine all of the ingredients and process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Rinse out the blender.
3. Slice the pork against the grain on a 40- degree angle into pieces about 1 1⁄2 inches ( 4 cm) wide, 2 inches ( 5 cm) long, and 1⁄4 inch ( 7 mm) thick. Transfer the pieces to the marinade and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours.
4. To make the sauce, meanwhile, toast all of the chilies in a 12- inch ( 30- cm) frying pan over medium heat, turning to colour evenly on all sides, until fragrant and darkened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the blender, add the tamarind, sugar, lime juice, and fish sauce and process until smooth. Transfer to a 1- litre saucepan, place over medium heat, bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let cool. Taste and adjust with more fish sauce if needed. The sauce should taste sour first and then equally sweet and salty. Stir in the cilantro and set aside. ( The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance and re- frigerated in an airtight container.)
5. Divide the pork into 18 equal portions. Thread a portion onto each skewer, running the skewer through each piece as i f you are sewing. Then, rather than stretch each piece t aut, scrunch it together to form a round bundle that is as tight as possible. If there are any overhangs, tuck them in. The meat should occupy half of the length of each skewer, leaving the other half as a handle.
6. Light a chimney half full of natural wood charcoal. When all of the charcoal glows in the centre and is covered with grey ash, scatter it onto the tray of a hibachi- style grill in a single layer. Position the cooking grate about 3 inches (7.5 cm) above the charcoal and allow to preheat for about 5 minutes. Oil the grate and arrange the pork skewers on the grate, spacing them about 1⁄4 inch ( 7 mm) apart. Grill the skewers, flipping them often, until no pink remains and they are charred on the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.
7. Serve the skewers immediately with the dipping sauce as a snack. Add the sticky rice to make it a meal.
Makes: 16 skewers; serves 4
SPICY CORN SALAD
❚ 4 ears corn, husks and silk removed ❚ 1 tsp (5 mL) salt ❚ 4 cups (1 L) ice cubes ❚ 2 large cloves garlic ❚2 or 3 f resh bird eye’s chilies ❚1½ tbsp ( 22 mL) dried shrimp ❚ ¼ cup ( 50 mL) unsalted roasted peanuts ❚ 16 green beans or 3 oz ( 85 g) long beans, trimmed and cut crosswise into 2- inch (5- cm) pieces ❚ 10 cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise ❚ ½ cup (125 mL) peeled and grated carrot (optional) ❚ 1 tbsp (15 mL) fish sauce, or as needed ❚ 1½ tbsp (22 mL) fresh lime juice, or as needed ❚ Grated palm sugar, for seasoning
1. Place the corn in a 4- litre saucepan, add water to cover barely, and stir in the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. While the water is heating, put the ice cubes in a large bowl and add water to cover. The moment the water boils, cook the corn for 2 minutes, then immediately transfer it to the ice bath and let cool to room temperature. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels or a kitchen towel.
2. Stand an ear of corn on its stem end on a work surface and, using a sharp knife, cut from the top downward in a sawing motion, cutting as deeply into the kernels as possible, and rotating the ear a quarter turn after each cut. Transfer the kernels to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining ears.
3. In a mortar, grind the garlic to a paste. Add the chilies and smash them into small pieces. Add the dried shrimp and pound until they break up. Add 2 tablespoons of the peanuts and pound them into small pieces about the size of a match head. Add the beans and smash them until they split open, then do the same with the tomato halves. Transfer the contents of the mortar to the corn bowl and add the carrot.
4. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and a pinch of sugar to the corn mixture and toss well. Taste and adjust the seasoning with fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar if needed. If your tomatoes and corn aren’t very sweet, more sugar will be in order. I like my corn salad equally salty, sweet, and sour, but you do what you like.
5. Plate the salad, sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons peanuts over the top, and then serve right away with rice or alone as a mid- meal snack.
Serves: 3 to 4
PRESERVED RADISH OMELETTE WITH CRISPY BASIL
❚ Vegetable oil, f or deepfrying ❚ 1 cup ( 250 mL) packed fresh holy basil or Thai sweet basil leaves ❚ 2/ 3 cup ( 150 mL) packed fine- matchstick- cut sweet preserved radishes (see note) ❚ 4 eggs ❚ 2 tbsp (30 mL) lard or vegetable oil ❚ Thai Sriracha sauce, for serving
1. Pour the oil to a depth of 1⁄2 inch ( 1.25 cm) in a wok or Dutch oven and heat to 375° F ( 190° C). Line a sheet pan with paper towels and set near the stove. While the oil is heating, rinse the basil leaves, shake off any excess water, and then use a kitchen towel to pat them as dry as possible without bruising them. When the oil is hot, drop in the basil and step back right away. There will be some splattering, but it will subside in just a few seconds. Stir the leaves around until the bubbling subsides and the leaves look somewhat translucent. Using a mesh skimmer, transfer the leaves to the prepared pan. ( To minimize the splattering, you can skip the rinsing, but the fried leaves will turn dark green and brown rather than be a beautiful bright green.)
2. Rinse the preserved radishes under cold running water for just a few seconds, t hen s queeze bone- dr y. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork until frothy. Stir in the radishes.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the lard in a 10- inch ( 25- cm) frying pan ( preferably nonstick) over medium- high heat. When the lard is hot, pour in the egg mixture, spreading it evenly over the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat to medium and cook until the bottom of the omelette is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a wide spatula, lift up the omelette just enough to allow you to slip the remaining 1 tablespoon lard underneath it. Then, instead of lowering the omelette back into the pan, flip it over and cook the other side, pressing down lightly along the way, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes longer.
4. Slide the omelette onto a serving platter, top with the crispy basil, and serve immediately with Sriracha and rice. Another popular way to serve this omelette is to incorporate it into a set meal with plain rice porridge, omitting the sauce.
Serves: 2
Note: Preserved radishes are sold both salted and sweet. Be sure to get the latter for this dish.
Reprinted with permission from Bangkok by Leela Punyaratabandhu, copyright © 2017. Photography by David Loftus. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
IF I DIDN’T INCLUDE SOME OF THE DISHES ... I RISKED GETTING DISOWNED BY MY FAMILY.