Showing 11 - 20 of 47
Surviving the tempest of time
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 02/10/2016
» Even though historical knowledge concerns facts and events that are often long behind us, they continue to hold interest and can be enlightening. The history of food is just one example. When eating kaeng khio waan nuea (the popular, coconut cream-based spicy beef curry), we may wonder where it came from and what it tasted like its original form. How has it changed over the years? Answers to these questions found in old recipes can help in appreciation of its combination of flavours and aromas.
Currying flavour
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 24/04/2016
» When it comes to Thai dishes that have staying power and remain favourites from generation to generation, nothing can beat khao kaeng, or curry and rice. It is like a supporting pillar of Thai cuisine that is deeply rooted in the culture. Every region, every ethnic or religious community in Thailand will have its own style of food, and high on the list will always be a curry. There is Thai Yai curry and rice in Mae Hong Son and Muslim-style curry and rice in Satun. Vendors in Chanthaburi in the East will have on display a range of local curries hard to find anyplace else.
Fishing for condiments
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 27/03/2016
» Think of a condiment that has all of these qualities: it is eaten throughout Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines; it is always made by fermenting the same natural ingredient; the taste is always the same so there is no barrier to using one country’s product from use in another’s national recipes. The answer: plaa raa, or fermented fish.
Street and sour
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 20/12/2015
» A couple of months ago a survey was conducted to determine how people abroad viewed Thailand’s food. The result was that phat Thai was thought to be the national dish. Thai food, people thought, had to be sprinkled with pounded peanuts, and was made with fresh herbs that might include galangal and krachaai, although ginger could be used instead. A Thai dish had to be extremely spicy and was eaten with chopsticks. It was suitable for vegetarians and was cheap.
The noodle superpower
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 06/12/2015
» A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Thailand was full of shops and vendors offering grilled chicken, and that this dish will remain a favourite with Thais for a long time to come.
The search for the real phat Thai
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 29/11/2015
» Anyone who makes phat Thai for sale and can’t produce a tasty version of the dish probably shouldn’t try to cook anything else, because preparing this favourite properly is no great feat. The ingredients needed to make it are all easy to get hold of: kuay tio sen lek (thin rice noodles), shallots, tofu, peanuts, small dried shrimp, chopped salted Chinese radish, eggs, bean sprouts, kui chaai (garlic chives), vinegar or sour tamarind water, palm sugar, nam plaa, ground dried chillies and fresh vegetables to eat with the noodles — banana flower, spring onion or bai bua boke (leaves of the Asian pennywort plant).
Spores to the fore
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 01/11/2015
» If the weather doesn’t pull any surprises over the next week or so, people who feel a seasonal craving for the mushroom called het khone — the “termite mushroom” — should get some money ready and head off to buy some at a special place they’ve heard of or maybe visited before.
The fishermen hooked on conservation
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 13/09/2015
» Land-bound as we may appear now to anyone living in the city, Thai society of the past had an intimate relationship with water. Thais lived next to water and travelled on it in boats.
Inmates show their innate skills
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 09/08/2015
» There is a place that we all know about — and every province has at least one. Few of us have any plans of going inside, but we are curious to know what it is like in there. I am talking about prisons.
Save our small shops
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 26/07/2015
» Supermarkets and small retailers have been on hostile terms ever since supermarkets first showed up here. If a supermarket opens in the provinces or in some amphoe, warlike rumblings can be heard.