CORNUCOPIA
The healing properties of these plants appeal to both one’s appetite and well-being
Vegetables you grow in your backyard using the least amount of chemicals tend to be the most trustworthy ones.
Recently Cornucopia has talked about how to find safe, healthy and organic vegetables. We came to the conclusion that the simplest methods of acquisition are often the safest. By this, we mean that the vegetables you grow in your backyard using the least amount of chemicals tend to be the most trustworthy ones. Thailand is a country of tropical terrain, with humidity levels that make people get sick more easily. Herbs and vegetables were once the go-to cures for treating conditions like this. The ingredients were mixed in with people’s daily meals with their medicinal properties in mind.
Selecting these ingredients is a process that can be shaped by one’s lifestyle and taste preferences. For example, spicy food lovers can enjoy exciting hot flavours, while also enjoying the health benefits of some zesty herbs.
As many might already know, some vegetables can be used to stop diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
The most common examples of this include nam phrik (chilli paste) and kang tai (southern curry), served with fresh local vegetables. For Northern and Northeastern dishes that are served raw, herbs can help reduce the smell of the uncooked meet.
I would like to focus on two herbal vegetables — krachai (fingerroot) and takrai (lemongrass) — which make for very tasteful yet subtle additions to our recipes.
Have you ever wondered about what other ingredients make up kanom jeen num ya (Chinese noodle with curry) asides from chili, fish meat and coconut milk? How does this dish smell and taste so wonderful? Where does it get that enticing herbal scent?
Besides this dish, there is krachai, which any Thai cook would be acquainted with. Its smell blends well with other ingredients, while deodorising the smell of any fish.
In Thai cooking, we only use the root of krachai, which is easy to grow. We tend to use krachai in fish dishes, especially those with catfish like pad cha pla duk (catfish stir-fried with chilli paste, kelp, kaffir lime leaves and basil) and kang keow
wan pla duk (catfish green curry). The latter counts krachai as its only vegetable.
Krachai can be eaten fresh in dishes like kao chae (rice in cold, clear, burnt-candled scented water with jasmine), served with look kapi (fried fish meat mixed with shrimp paste, lemongrass, shallots, coconut skim milk and yolk), pork stuffed bell pepper and fried salted sun-dried beef. It can also be served on its own.
If you want to make bean stew, you would use white bean paste mixed with chopped shallots, then fried with ground pork and coconut milk, and seasoned sugar. This dish tends to be served on trays with a mix of fresh vegetables like cucumber, curcuma, white beans and krachai.
Now let’s talk about the other star vegetable of Thai cuisine — lemongrass. It is one of the few key ingredients that you can’t do without when making all types of curry paste, which can include fresh or dried chillies, galangal, leeks, onion, garlic, krachai and shrimp paste.
We are perhaps most familiar with the scent of lemongrass from tom yum soup, which also contains boiled kaffir lime leaves and galangal. Without lemongrass, tom yum is just not tom yum, as it provides the dish’s signature scent.
Last but not least, you have mu pad krapi (streaky pork fried with shrimp paste), made by stewing sliced streaky pork with pepper and shallots until it simmers. When serving, add chopped lemongrass for a pleasant scent and even more harmonious taste.
Lemongrass can also be eaten fresh in yum (spicy salad). These dishes are cooked with other scented herbs like parsley and peppermint, or veggies like shallots.
Some Thai herbs and vegetables may contain some medicinal properties, but they shouldn’t be the only thing you rely on to heal any symptoms you’re suffering from.
It’s safer to treat them as cooking ingredients. You may not like their flavour, which can be too strong, but if you eat them regularly, you can get used to the smell.
In the process, you might just get a little healthier.