Get curried away with thai cuisine | Bangkok Post: food

Thai food features many styles that have been with us for centuries. To get a real understanding of Thai cuisine, it is helpful to know some basic culinary terms. The word tom refers to boiled dishes; yam recipes are flavoured with lime and chilli; tam dishes are pounded in a mortar; and kaeng are curries and soups. The distinction between yam and tam dishes is clear. A yam mixes together a meat and vegetables that are then seasoned to make the dish sour, salty and chilli-hot. The meat can be grilled, boiled or raw, and the vegetables can be either raw or lightly boiled.

Tam, or pounded, dishes include the chilli dip sauces called nam phrik.

An additional class of stir-fried dishes (phat) came later, imported by the Chinese, who introduced the wok and the practice of frying food in oil to Thai kitchens.

Tom and kaeng dishes are more complicated than yam and tam recipes, although the differences between them are not very distinct.

Many people think of a tom as being made without coconut cream, while kaeng, or curries, include it. For the latter, curry seasonings are typically fried with coconut cream at the beginning of preparation.

But this is not always true. Tom kha kai (a chicken soup made with coconut cream and lime) is considered a tom dish but contains coconut cream, while kaeng som and kaeng jued dishes do not contain coconut cream.

These exceptions show that no hard rules apply when it comes to naming dishes.

Another example of this ambiguity is the term khao kaeng, which literally means ''curry with rice''. However, in practice this refers to rice served with any of several side dishes, which may or may not include curry.

Many different dishes are prepared for family meals, as the selection of foods gives everyone a choice.

Since adults might like spicy dishes, a chilli-intensive item like nam phrik kapi (a spicy dipping sauce) served with fried fish and vegetables will be included.

Children can eat the fish and vegetables but they stay away from nam phrik. Or kaeng som pla chon (mild, sour-sweet, slightly spicy, soup-like curry without coconut cream in this case made with snakehead fish) can be set out to be eaten together with scrambled egg and fried pla salit, (a freshwater fish). Children will enjoy eating the scrambled egg with the fried pla salit. Besides providing variety, the array of dishes served at a Thai meal should also create a balance. In the South, for example, the exceedingly hot curry called kaeng tai pla, for example, is balanced by a serving of kung phat khem wan (sweet-salty fried shrimp), which does not contain chillies.

The evolution of Thai cuisine has followed societal changes. Originally, housewives did the cooking. Then, as their responsibilities increased, they started ordering food (rice was still cooked at home).

At first, the cooks who supplied the food packed it in a stack of joined containers called a pinto, which was delivered to the door of the household. Each of the containers held a different dish, and the selection changed daily. Spicy dishes like curries and stir-fries were included together with bland items or those that weren't as spicy. Most of the pinto deliveries came from food shops that also offered an extensive menu of foods on the premises.

Those who prepared pinto meals or opened food shops in those days had to be highly skilled because people were used to home cooking and compared the food they ordered with the dishes their mothers and grandmothers made, and wouldn't settle for anything that wasn't up to the same standard.

One restaurant that survived such comparisons was Jit Phochana in Lat Phrao district, which started off as a small food shop in the Thewes area.

Today, khao kaeng shops _ small restaurants that offer curries and a variety of other dishes with rice _ play a big role in Thai society. People are far more dependent on food cooked outside the home than on home-made fare because they spend most of their time outside the house. People are always in a hurry, and most have little experience or knowledge of Thai cooking as it was in the past. Food shops that provide lunch for office workers or sell prepared food in markets stress quantity and appearance over flavour.

However, there are still many khao kaeng shops where the cooking is very good, and those who appreciate high-quality food become regulars.

Some of these shops also do catering. Households planning a party or religious ceremony often hire them to look after the food.

One shop that serves very good food and also provides catering services is Khrua Aroy Aroy on Soi Wat Khaek off Silom Road. It is especially well known for its khanom jeen nam ya and nam phrik (fermented rice noodles served with a choice of two sauces), kaeng karee kai (mild chicken curry made with coconut cream), kaeng khio wan (spicy, coconut-cream based curry), and nam phrik long ruea (chilli dip served with fish and vegetables).

Another very good shop is Ran Khun Ya, near the exit from Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram in the Hua Lamphong area. The menu there rotates on a daily basis, with especially good choices including lon pu khem (a rich, coconut-cream based sauce that includes chopped field crab, served with vegetables) and kaeng khio wan. It is open on weekdays from the morning until the afternoon, but closed at weekends.

Ran Mae Cheng, on the road that connects Pak Khlong Talat with Ban Mo (close to the Ban Mo intersection where audio equipment is sold) offers highly regarded pla chon phat phrik (snakehead fish fried with chillies and seasonings). Like Ran Khun Ya, it is open on weekdays from morning until afternoon and is closed at weekends.

Dao Tai, near the Phran Nok intersection in Thon Buri, offers many excellent dishes from the South, and it is open daily well into the evening.

Leaving Bangkok, there is Ran Khao Kaeng Khao Yoy, which people driving south from Bangkok will find just before reaching Phetchaburi. It is very popular with travellers because of its large selection of old-fashioned but tasty, Phetchaburi-style recipes. It consists of two adjoining restaurants, both equally good, and is open daily.