Maenam’s prawn cakes a perfect, tasty canapé

Vancouver’s chef Angus An takes us on a delicious journey through modern Thai cuisine in his new cookbook Maenam, named for his iconic restaurant.

This is a master class in Thai cookery, full of technique and exotic ingredients.

Let’s start with something very accessible and darn tasty: prawn cakes.

MAENAM’S PRAWN CAKES

■ 4 quarts (4 L) canola oil

■ 1 garlic clove

■ 1 red bird’s eye chili

■ Salt to taste

■ 1 lb (454 g) hand-minced prawn meat

■ 1/2 cup (125 ml) diced long beans

■ 2 tbsp (30 ml) julienned Makrut lime leaves

and or spicy, fruity Gewürztraminer and, well, you get the point. It’s summer, lash out and have some fun.

Perhaps the most important rule is an offshoot of the old boy scout mandate: be prepared. Pull out a pail, a large bowl, or clean up a plastic garden trug and fill it full of ice and water. After that, you can move bottles in and out of the ice water to chill the wine to any desired temperature, and they can go back in the ice water between pours if needed. There is no need to put this on the table; keep it nearby on the ground.

Now for that temperature information by the numbers if you have a thermometer handy. Dessert-style wines, late-harvest, icewine et al., should be well chilled at 6 to 8 C; rosés and sparkling wines should be well chilled from 6 to 10 C; medium-bodied ■ 2 tbsp (30 ml) fish sauce

■ 1/2 tsp white pepper

■ 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

■ 1/4 cup (60 ml) sweet Thai chili sauce, for dipping

1. In a deep fryer or heavy pot, preheat oil to 350 F (175 C).

2. In a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, chili and salt into a fine paste.

3. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except the chili sauce) and mix by hand and slap against the bowl until firm and sticky.

4. Form into 16 to 20 balls.

5. Fry prawn cakes in batches until golden brown, about 2 minutes. They should be bouncy and lightly toothy.

6. Drain on paper towel, then plate and serve with dipping sauce.

Makes: 4-6 servings

whites should be chilled from

7 to 10 C and for richer oaked whites, lightly chilled from 10 to 13 C. Apply the same 10 to 13 C numbers to light-bodied reds while the richer, full-bodied bottles are best from 15 to 18 C. I find it’s easy enough to do all this by touch. If a bottle (red or white) is warm to the touch, it needs to be chilled. When you pull it out of the ice water, and it’s too cold to hold, it is too cold to pour.

Now back to Taylor and those ice cubes. If you find your friend frowning, I often put ice cubes in an empty glass and swirl them for a minute or two. It’s good practice to improve your swirl, and it chills the glass down, which will help to reduce the temperature of the wine.

Or, simply drop in a couple of cubes into a summer sipper because “you need to calm down” and get on with life.