A taste of Thailand

On a recent trip to Thailand I had the wonderful opportunity to cook with home chefs around the country. And believe me, there is nothing like learning to cook from a local chef! I visited the Amita Thai Cooking class by Tam Piyawadi Jantrupon. Petite, amazing Tam uses the home where she was born to share her love of Thai culture and cooking.

Her ancestral home is surrounded with homes of relatives dating back more than three generations and located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. It was an idyllic afternoon in which I got an insight into the simplicity of Thai living traditions and cooking. And the generous hospitality of Thai people! Tam and I picked herbs from the trees in the garden as she also pointed out local plants grown in the school’s garden like guinea pepper, holy basil, kaffir lime, piper sarmentosum, plate brush, purple chillies and Thai basil. Just like at my studio in Mumbai, the classes are completely hands-on, encouraging you to practice Thai cooking techniques and sit down to a delicious meal afterwards.

We exchanged lots of knowledge on food and cooking. I already knew how to cook Thai cuisine, but cooking with Tam taught me the little things that recipe books and Google recipes don’t, such as: The heat from chillies is directly proportionate to how much you pound them, that the secret to a good Tom Yum Goong (clear hot-and-sour soup with fresh prawns) is shrimp paste stirred in at the very end, that coriander roots make all the difference to the flavours of Gai Hor Bai Toey (deep-fried chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves) and basil-fried chicken with chillies, and a few tips and tricks for presenting all that I learned

beautifully.

Thai cuisine has evolved through the melding of Chinese, Indian, Malay, Portuguese and Dutch cuisines. A majority of the ingredients used in Thai cuisine are common to other Asian cuisines but the unique quality of Thai cuisine comes from the innovative use it makes of these ingredients as flavourings and aromatics. Today Thai cuisine is essentially a harmony of the four basic flavours of hot, sour, salty and sweet accompanied by the occasional bitter. Thai food is often steamed, quickly stir-fried, or grilled. An ideal Thai meal aims to satisfy the palate as well as the eye, and nose so it is usually well presented.

Combine this with the use of fresh ingredients and lots of raw vegetables and you have an unusually healthy meal that is mouth-wateringly fabulous!

3 tbsp oil

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2-4 red chillies, deseeded and chopped

2-3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp sugar

A handful of Thai basil leaves; half for cooking and half to be deep-fried for the garnish

In the same pan add a little oil and add the garlic and chillies, stir fry till golden brown.

Add chicken, stir fry for 30 seconds until it changes colour. Add fish sauce and sugar and continue stir frying for 3-4 mins.

Stir in the fresh Thai basil leaves and stir fry until wilted. Transfer to a platter and garnish with fried basil leaves and sliced chillies. Serve with steamed rice.