Pretoria - “If you want your affair with Thai food to be an endearing one, you want to be certain that the restaurant you choose is authentic Thai cuisine,” says Dr Chakarin Komolsiri of the Royal Thai Embassy’s office of commercial affairs.
They were hosting a lunch for interested media and other parties to promote the Thailand Restaurant Week that runs from August 4 to 10. Participants with Thai Select accreditation in the capital city are Lotus Thai (Glen Village North, corner Solomon Mahlangu and Olympus Drive) and PadBok Thai, (Cherry Lane Centre, Brooklyn), both excellent restaurants.
But as always, the more you know about a country’s cuisine, the more you will appreciate the traditions and taste.
Flavour sensations are the cornerstones of Thai cuisine which is precisely why it is one of my favourites.
At the lunch, we were all given the ingredients to make our own food – and there couldn’t be an easier but spicier morsel to start your next dinner party. Called Mieng Kham – which translates as food wrapped in a leaf – it’s a popular Thai street snack. Because of the flavours, it literally pops in your mouth and is very healthy.
What you need (all chopped up and arranged in small bowls) are seven ingredients: peanuts, chillies, onion, lemongrass, ginger and coconut as well as a plum sauce. Take a large spinach leaf, fold it to serve as a container and add a teaspoon of all the ingredients with the plum sauce to bind everything. Close the leaf and enjoy!
Then we were given the ingredients of a delicious grapefruit salad that was extremely easy to make with a dressing that should work with different salad and veggie dishes too.
The grapefruit in Thailand is different, they say, but we were given segments of the pink one to place in a plate and top with the following: lemongrass, lime leaves, dried coconut, dried shrimp, fried chicken and onion.
The dressing is made of coconut milk, lemon, fish sauce (for saltiness) and chilli. It was superb with combinations that are unusual yet extremely popular in Thailand.
During our meal, another Thai embassy employee recently arrived in South Africa, spoke warmly about his country and especially the cuisine and culture – such as that alcohol is seldom served with lunch.
They might have beer or Thai-brewed spirits with dinner and wine is a rare beverage.
Bread which seems to be part of world cuisine in some kind of form is also something that doesn’t really play a part in Thai cuisine. “We might grab a sandwich in the morning if we’re in a hurry, but it’s not really a part of our diet.”
Their starches are more often rice or noodles and these can be served in many different forms – and any time of day.
At the restaurant we were at, the Orient at Melrose Arch, they served a green curry rice which perfectly complemented the meat dishes. It’s also an easy one to copy.
Thai food feels so familiar. But it has been watered down in many instances to “better” serve foreign tastes.
This means that often the curries are too sweet and the coconut milk/cream and lemongrass mixture are cloying rather than delicate in flavour.
That’s why the Thai Select symbol of certification is a boon. Hopefully they will lead us to the best Thai cuisine in our individual cities.
* There’s also a bonus for those who dine at any of the Thai restaurants in that particular week in August. One couple (from diners across the country) stands a chance to win a holiday to Thailand.
Pretoria News