LONG HISTORY SHAPES THAI CUISINE
“You could have gone 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 centurieslong 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 in 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, street-food classics, her own original recipes and adaptations of famous dishes.
While her first 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-renowned 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.”
Recipes reprinted with permission from Bangkok by Leela Punyaratabandhu, published by Ten Speed Press. 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.
Serve immediately with the dipping sauce as a snack. Add the sticky rice to make it a meal.