Showing 361 - 365 of 365
Spice of life
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 29/01/2012
» Cardamom is one of Thailand's most popular and widely-used spices. Scan the spice shelves at any big supermarket and you will find it in powdered form marketed under many brand names and imported from several countries. Buyers probably think that the companies that sell powdered cardamom obtain it from India or Indonesia and package it at home. But if you visit a spice shop or traditional pharmacy and ask for cardamom you will be presented with small, fragrant, spherical white pods containing black seeds. Many people also think that these all come from India or Indonesia.
Restaurants Devasted by Deluge
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 22/01/2012
» Nature seems to have been on the attack in Thailand recently with frequent heavy rains, mudslides burying houses and fields near mountains, powerful storms causing waves that batter coastal communities and, of course, floodwaters from the North inundating central Thailand.
Dishes the march of time passed by
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 15/01/2012
» There are different schools of thought on how we should treat our culinary tradition. Some believe that it should be carefully preserved and shielded from change, while others maintain that our cuisine should evolve in step with the times. In line with this second viewpoint, it is true that many of the dishes that are familiar now have changed greatly over time.
'Khing' of thai kitchens
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 08/01/2012
» Ginger, or khing, is one of the essentials in a Thai kitchen. Thais believe that it possesses important medicinal properties, both as an aid to digestion and as an agent to reduce stomach acid. Ginger is eaten both raw and cooked. In raw form it goes into light dishes and snacks. These include favourites, often eaten in the late afternoon, such as mieng kham, made by wrapping shallots, ginger, chillies, and toasted shredded coconut in a leaf _ usually the types called thong lang or chaphlu in Thai _ and dousing it with a tasty sauce to form a bite-sized packet. The ginger, aside from playing its part in the harmonious combination of flavours, also boosts health.
Oil from the swine still divine
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 01/01/2012
» These days people are more afraid of pork fat than they are of ghosts. It has a bad name because of nutritionists' warnings that it can clog arteries and lead to associated complications. But even though they fear it, people know that many tasty dishes either incorporate pork fat or use it in some stage of preparation. These include stewed pork leg, mu sam chan tom sai kluea (salty stewed pork belly meat), mu khem wan (sweet and salty pork) eaten with rice soup, kaeng khua phak boong kap mu sam chan (a mild curry made from pork belly meat and the shoots of a morning glory-like vine) and the sweet Chinese sausage called kunchieng.