CONGENIAL CHOICES

Generally speaking, Thais don't like to write about personal matters. When books about Thai history were to be written in Thailand in the past, the king usually assigned officials to produce them, as they were bound to include accounts of matters that involved the monarch personally, and which may have involved power struggles, wars between neighbouring countries, and religious ceremonies for merit-making.

‘Kung phla’

But one subject that never appears in these histories is the lifestyle of ordinary people and villagers. Allusions to daily life can be found in poetry, when the writer describes what he sees around him, but you will search in vain even in these works for any information on food and eating.

One such reference does survive, however, in a poem by Chao Fah Thamma Thibet, or Prince Kung, a poet who was famous during the late Ayutthaya period, who wrote that whenever he saw prawns and fish in the river, he felt a craving for the yam-style dish, a kind of sour and hot salad, called saeng-wah. This is made by removing the meat from river prawns and adding ginger, lemon grass, shallots, kaffir lime leaf, chillies (phrik khee noo), onion and fresh coriander, then mixing the result with a sour-hot sauce that combines sour tamarind water, nam pla (fish sauce) and palm sugar to give it a taste that balances heat, saltiness, sourness and sweetness (this is a modern recipe; no one knows how the dish was made during the Ayutthaya period).

This reference allows us to know that yam-style dishes have been part of the Thai repertoire for a long time. We also know that dishes of this kind are eaten in other Southeast Asian countries, especially in Laos, Cambodia and Burma, each of which has its own versions.

In Thailand, the roots of this kind of dish go down very deep into the traditional culinary culture. For example, according to custom, in the past, when a new house was to be built, the professional carpenter hired to do it would select and prepare the wood used for the supporting pillars, the roofing structure and walls, and the floor. When the date for construction had been set, the builders - a team of friends and relatives who would work for free - set up a work plan and allocated duties so that the house was completed in a single day (although the furnishing and decorations would be done by the owners over time).

On the evening of the day the house was completed, everyone who helped with its construction was treated to a big meal with plenty of whisky to drink. Many different dishes were prepared, but one of them had to be a yam, and it was served before anything else. It might be thought of as an appetiser or kab klaem (a dish to be eaten with alcoholic drinks).

‘yam makawk’ or ‘yam maka’

Most yam dishes are based on meat - beef, chicken, pork, fish, shrimp or prawn, shellfish, frog or some kind of bird - that must first be grilled or boiled. Then herbs like lemon grass, galangal, shallots, garlic, ginger, the aromatic rhizome called krachaai in Thai, and fresh turmeric are added to mask the protein smell of the meat, with the amounts and technique of using these ingredients depending on the cook's preferences. Finally, fragrant leaves like those of mint, various members of the basil family, fresh coriander, spring onions, and the saw-toothed herb called phak chee farang in Thai are added, together with a few other ingredients like peanuts and toasted coconut to give a nutty taste. What is essential is that the finished dish has a pungent flavour that combines chilli heat, sourness and saltiness.

Sometimes yams are made using prepared ingredients. When tinned foods began appearing in Thailand and became fashionable as something foreign and modern, sardines were a favourite choice. The yam version was easy to make by simply mixing the tinned fish with shallots, phrik khee noo, lime juice and some mint leaves.

This sardine yam was very popular in the countryside. A family that served it was seen as being very well off. Later its status declined and it became a very common dish that people liked because it was so easy to make.

There are also some simple yam dishes made with vegetables. One is made from the flowers of banana plants, preferably the types that yield small fruit. The shredded banana flowers are mixed with boiled shrimp and then the yam sour-salty-hot yam sauce is added, sometimes enriched with a little thick coconut cream.

But there are also yam dishes that are complicated and harder to make. One of these is yam thawaai, which includes grilled, dried fish; pounded, dried shrimp; and a seasoning mixture made from dried chillies, grilled shallots and grilled garlic.

When the seasoning mixture has been thoroughly mixed by pounding, the grilled fish is added together with coconut cream that has been simmered down until almost dry. All the ingredients are the mixed and seasoned with sour tamarind water, nam pla and palm sugar. Finally, some boiled and chopped phak boong, a crunchy, morning glory-like vine, is added and the pounded, dried shrimp sprinkled on top.

Yam dishes are always changing and developing. The same name can be used to describe a range of recipes that vary from locality to locality and from season to season, Ingredients might be added or subtracted, and influences from neighbouring countries can find their way in, as with the yam makawk (made from an olive-like fruit) imported from Cambodia and sometimes called yam maka. To make it, crispy dried fish are broken up and mixed with shredded makawk fruit, coarse-pounded peanuts, and the sour-salty-hot seasoning mixture, plus shallots, mint leaves, basil (bai horapha) and phak chee farang.

In the future, the repertoire of yam dishes is sure to grow. New kinds of meat ingredients will be used, and new vegetables and herbs will be recruited. But the basic idea will remain.

There will never be a yam that doesn't combine chilli heat, sweetness and a salty tang.

Relate Search: Kung phla, yam makawk, yam maka