Today, many restaurants within Thailand and outside the country claim they serve authentic Thai cuisine which continues to grow in popularity around the world.
Chef Chatchaval Voravityasathayan gets busy preparing traditional Thai fare to be served in a catering client. Intricately carved garnishing for the dishes, including those prepared using the prized somsa, is also involved.
The integrity of the dishes lies with the genuine Thai recipes, although few have much of the "genuineness" of the original to speak of, according to food experts.
Yum hua plee boran (spicy banana bloom salad) with boiled eggs. Photos by Pornprom Satrabhaya
So what does it take to make a dish authentically Thai? And does it matter if certain recipes evolve over time in the face of the changing gastronomic environment?
For Chatchaval Voravityasathayan, a young chef who specialises in dishes influenced by the Royal Court, the essence of original Thai cuisine is in its well-blended tastes (klom kloem) afforded by the alchemy of the so-called sumrup.
A sumrup is made up of different dishes, both savoury and sweet, served on a tray. Each dish offers various unique tastes of its own and when eaten together, the tastes "cross paths" to produce a uniquely harmonious experience on the palate. It's all about the dishes balancing out, mellowing and complementing one another.
'Mee krob boran', fresh from the wok. The dish is traditional Thai and very difficult to master.
"So we enjoy the sour, the sweet, the acidic and the spicy − all rolled into one," Mr Chatchaval, 32, said.
A sumrup might, for example, include namprik long rua moo wan (shrimp paste sauce with crispy fried catfish and sweet pork served with fresh vegetables), mee krob boran (authentic crispy stir-fried noodle), lon punim (soft-shell crab dip or stew) and gaeng kiew wan brandy (green curry with beef and brandy). There is also nua san nai paad prik (tenderloin stir-fried in chilli paste).
The gaeng kiew wan delivers a lot of heat which is tempered by the sweet, soothing mee krob boran. Lon punim can also be another tempering agent to the other dishes which give off heat.
To achieve harmonious tastes, he said, the chef needs to choose the right ingredients and to apply the right techniques and cooking method.
Some of the dishes served in a sumrup, which create a harmonious taste when eaten together.
Food is dynamic. Certain ingredients can be substituted when particular items are hard to find − as long as it does not ruin the original taste. Diced carrots are cooked in place of potatoes in a mussaman curry at some Thai restaurants overseas.
That brings to mind the question of how far these compromises are acceptable when cooking a Thai dish.
"A slight adjustment to the recipe is okay for me as long as the ingredients come together well and deliver a good quality fare," Mr Chatchaval says. "Well, the chefs who are knowledgeable know what ingredients go well with what in a particular dish."
When sourness is needed, for example, there is, primarily, a choice of lime juice and tamarind. The sharpness of lime juice is accommodating for tom yam, while young tamarind leaves are often used in curries. However, tamarind juice does not react well with tom yam, but is ideal in tom klong, a form of clear, spicy soup.
'Pla krim kai tao', a coconut-milk dessert, requires the blending of two dishes.
But when cooking mee krob boran (authentic crispy stir-fried noodle in sweet-sour sauce), nothing beats somsa, the most important ingredient which gives the dish its aromatic tang.
Somsa is also called citrus aurantium, and is so versatile that it can be useful in many dishes.
He agrees with the late Princess Saisawareepirom, the head chef who prepared meals for King Rama V, who declared that somsa lends mee krob its soul. There is simply no room for a substitute.
"If we don't have this ingredient, we don't cook the dish at all," he said.
Mr Chatchaval does his part to preserve the rare somsa by growing the tree in his backyard, along with other fast-disappearing plants used often in traditional Thai cooking, such as taling ping, madun and ma-uke. These fruits vary in shape and appearance but they are a source of sourness.
"So sometimes a compromise on the ingredients is not necessary," said Mr Chatchaval who has never attended a culinary school but spent more than five years working as a chef in a hotel and learned authentic Thai cuisine mostly from cookbooks. A political science graduate, he found his calling in cooking after he became disenchanted with an office worker's life and decided he would make a career out of his passion for food.
He said somsa is one of his all-time favorite fruits for traditional Thai dishes.
"We use it a lot in our family's recipes and it's a flavour I was raised to love," he said.
Mr Chatchaval is often disappointed when ordering tom yam kung (spicy and sour soup with shrimp) at leading Thai restaurants and finds that milk has been used instead of coconut milk with roasted chili paste (nam prik pao) thrown in.
The paste is intended to give a scent and a shiny red colour to the dish. However, the cooks use mun koong or mustard in the shrimp's head to achieve the same effect.
The massively popular gang kiew wan green curry dished up by some restaurants also comes out like a clear soup rather than the thick, silky curry made from fresh coconut milk and complemented with the aromatic spiciness released from the chilli paste.
"The flavours, the aroma and the colours of restaurant food do not compare with the time-honoured, home-made grandmother recipes," he said.
He noted many Thai meals are typically seasonal because they are cooked with seasonal produce. Thais enjoy particular food in a particular season to take advantage of the natural tastes at their finest, he said.
For example, gaeng kati pla salid with young tamarind leaves, is a dish for the cool season because tamarind trees sprout young leaves when the temperature drops. During December, the female pla salid fish are filled with eggs that make the dish even tastier. Coconut milk soup also warms the body.
"Thanks to our ancestors, they not only invented dishes that are heavenly to eat but also are healthy," he said.
Mr Chatchaval, the owner of the Ohh Khun Pra catering service, stresses that people who cook should keep an open mind. He says fusion food deserves respect. In fact it can be a good idea to combine many forms of cookery or culinary traditions and skills to innovate dishes. But the chefs have to ensure that they work in sync.
A pizza with krapao toppings could make a statement. But glutinous rice steamed in banana leaf topped with thick curry with fish (khao tom mud rad panaeng pla) is unpalatable, he said.
"Cooked banana and black beans in steamed glutinous rice never go well with thick curry. It's a disaster," he said.
Mr Chatchaval notes the preparation of authentic Thai cuisine is laborious and requires close attention to detail. Operating a restaurant in a commercial food setting where wage costs and particular ingredients are key components for success, can be a tough challenge.
If a chef wishes to have his own interpretation of an authentic Thai dish and compromises on the ingredients, they should pick a new name for it, he said.
"This is so that the chefs don't confuse original Thai cuisine with their new creations," he said, adding that a lot of customers are selective about what they eat and expect high quality food that is also value for money.
Mr Chatchaval said food influenced by court recipes he cooks for customers in his catering business has received good feedback. The business's success, he said, stems from his offering of menus which represent a marriage of tastes and presentation that is food for the eye as well as the mouth.
One of Mr Chatchaval's customers, Linda Sriyanon, said what makes his food service distinctive is the art of Thai cuisine.
"His culinary skills are impressive. Pansip pla (small, end-pleated dumplings with fish stuffing) is delicately created. Beautifully curved cucumber is served with nam prik," Ms Linda said.
"What inspired me to open the business was tradition. I want to ensure original Thai recipes live on," Mr Chatchaval said.
