Showing 1-10 of 21 results
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An acquired taste
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 09/06/2019
» Pla ra (fermented fish) is a big part of Thai cuisine. Thais, like Mon, Cambodians and Vietnamese, have a long tradition of eating fermented fish. In Isan, people traditionally make their own pla ra. And when children there are old enough to eat solid food, the first thing their parents usually feed them is freshly-steamed glutinous rice dipped in pla ra.
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A tour of taste
Life, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 05/10/2018
» The Vietnamese are no strangers to Thailand. Going back 230 years, to the beginning of the Ratanakosin reign, a group of Vietnamese were forced to move into Kanchanaburi province as a military troupe to protect the country from war enemies.
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Soaking up the sun
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 19/02/2017
» Conjure up a mental list of old-fashioned dishes that still make the mouth water, and then notice how many include main ingredients that are dried or salted. Here's a personal selection: nuea khem tom kathi sai hawm daeng (salted beef stewed with shallots in coconut cream), nuea khem cheek pen sen foy phat kap namtaan (shredded salted dried beef stir-fried with palm sugar), plaa chon taak haeng khem tom kathi proong rote baeb tomyam sai bai makhaam awn (salted and dried snakehead fish stewed with sour-spicy seasonings in coconut cream with tender tamarind leaves), hua plaa chon taak haeng khem sai kathi sai fak (dried salted snakehead fish head stewed with coconut cream and squash), hoy malaeng phuu taak haeng khem phat kap nam taan (salted and dried mussels stir-fried with palm sugar or the same mussels simmered into a curry with pineapple). The list goes on.
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Food for all seasons
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 12/10/2014
» Why is it that in the past Thais ate seasonally, cooking different dishes at different times of the year? One reason is that they lived much closer to nature than most of us do now. They understood the natural cycles — what ingredients would be at their best in a given season, and what things were best to eat. The changing possibilities that came with the rotating seasons brought variety to the table.
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A pungent debate
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 24/06/2018
» Three weeks ago, a report was published by the Commerce Ministry addressing the drop in garlic prices in the North. It explained the ministry had contacted noodle chain Chai See Mee Kiew to buy more garlic to make the krathiam jiew (deep fried garlic) that tops their dishes.
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The roots of radish
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 25/09/2016
» The hua chai thao, or Chinese radish, is both cheap and easy to store. There's no need to worry about it going bad if you keep it in the refrigerator for a while, and it is a good friend to have at hand when you are having a hard time deciding what to cook. A Chinese radish in the refrigerator offers many tasty possibilities. You might cut it into long slivers and fry them with egg, stew them with ground pork and soy sauce to make a soup, or slice the vegetable and boil it to serve with nam phrik.
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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.
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An oasis under threat
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 28/02/2016
» Last week in this column I discussed Thailand’s system of managing tourism, one that is causing the degradation and destruction of many old communities and valuable historical sites. I suggested a number of reasons for this situation, some concerned with the tourists themselves, some with investors, some with the government offices that oversee tourism and some with an ongoing deterioration in the communities. This week I would like to look at what is happening in one riverside community in Chanthaburi, a very old one that is a new member among the ranks of the victims of Thailand’s destructive tourism policies and practices.
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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.
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A sauce of inspiration
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 17/01/2016
» No unpopular food will ever inspire sellers to start savaging each other for customers. On the other hand, if the food product is widely enjoyed, has been around for a long time and goes well with a variety of different kinds of dishes, it may inspire competition and appear on the shelves under many brand names to give buyers a choice.
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