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My Adventures with Thai Food

My first trip to Southeast Asia came at the relatively young age of nineteen, over 20 years ago, the year prior I had met Estrellita Leong, a beautiful Malaysian woman. We met while taking a cooking class in Los Angeles. We took a journey to visit her family in Malaysia and while we were in the region we visited Thailand. It was immediately apparent that Thailand had a very different food culture. Since then, Thailand’s unrestrained range of flavors have delighted my soul.

Once you arrived in the Land of Smiles (as Thailand is called), you know that this is an amazing place, a place where everyone feels welcome. There are endless offerings of food everywhere you look, the lively street corners are active with culinary exchanges, narrow alleyways are packed with people eating, chatting, and playfully laughing about the day’s happenings. Open air restaurants churn out plates of addictively spicy cuisine that can be traced to the colorful local markets that supply the country with a bounty of crisp vegetables, aromatic herbs, and fresh seafood.

In the past two decades I have dedicated my life to gaining a better understanding of this region’s culinary identity, immersing myself into the traditional food ways that have evolved over the last few thousand years. My first book, Southeast Asian Flavors was published with the goal to summarize this dynamic region and give the world a snapshot of the unique cultures of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. This book is different.

What makes this book different?

This book is about everyday cooking for the home cook. Traditional recipes? Not really. Authentic flavors? For sure! My wish is that these recipes become your “go to” recipes for when friends come over for a quick meal, or you need to whip up a weekday dinner, or for a party, or a sit-down meal with the family.

Easy Thai Cooking was created after numerous requests for me to write a book with simpler recipes than Southeast Asian Flavors. Frankly, at first I was hesitant to write an “Easy Thai Cookbook.” Fearful that I would over simplify recipes that had taken centuries to create. I have too much respect for Thai people and their food culture. Then I started to think about all the food I had eaten in Thailand that were not the iconic dishes that food writers have memorialized in thousands of Thai books, like the tom yum goong (hot and sour shrimp soup) and papaya salad (som tom), and saw that food evolves and that Thais cook just like us. Not all my meals at home are American classics. People across the US cook from a similar pantry. So I began to lighten up a bit and think of ways I could create a book with recipes that taste Thai but may not be the traditional versions that I have come to love. Rather, the food I eat when visiting a friend’s home in Koh Samui, attending a party in Chiang Mai, or walking down the street late one night in Bangkok discovering a vendor selling their version of fried ramen noodles

I spent countless hours recalling the food I cooked in my home; the recipes I created in my test kitchen; the flavors of Thailand that I fashioned from the condiments on my shelves and from my produce packed refrigerator. I began to realize that the cooking principles I employed in creating dishes that tasted Thai were not really Thai recipes per se. There is no one flavor profile that encompasses all of Thailand’s food but there are some complex flavors conjured by combining ingredients in balance and employing cooking techniques that produces tastes that are distinctively Thai. It was an “ah-ha” moment, excited that I figured out the focus of the book, I began to pour through my notes, recipe books, thousands of photos, hundreds of videos that I have compiled over the years. I did look at some classic dishes and constructed recipes that pay homage to them but don’t quite replicate them.

This was not a new process for me. I taught the culinary arts full time for many years, and while teaching at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, I had to figure out a way to teach authentic food without over simplifying it. I found myself saying “There are a lot of right ways to make a traditional dish…and there are a few ways to do it wrong.” For instance, using heavy cream instead of coconut milk in a Thai curry changes it all together and, in my opinion, it’s no longer Thai food. Now, what if I used a premixed curry paste instead? Well, if you go to local markets in Thailand you will see mounds of curry paste waiting to be scooped up and taken home to create an authentic curry. So I began to accept that selecting some key pre-made ingredients could save considerable time and get me closer to creating a simpler recipe for the home cook and still retain the taste of real Thai food.

Some of the recipes that follow I have enjoyed in Thailand, others are renditions of classics that are sure to satisfy, and then there are some recipes that I created. These began with the first step of what I like to call “Cooking on Paper.” Step one: decide on a flavor profile that is typically Thai: a salad with a sour-salty and sweet dressing, based on raw ingredients, tossed to order and accented with fresh herbs. Then I look back at the many times I have been to Thailand and try to recall dishes that match that description. Step two: read through the dozens of Thai books I have amassed looking for common threads that run through that style of recipe. Step three: formulate the resulting dish. Using my computer, I used a recipe template, “guesstimating” the ingredient amounts. I would do this for a few weeks, compiling enough recipes to fill a few days of intense cooking. Then I go to the kitchen to try it out, I prepare all the ingredients and keep them measured separately to get a feeling if they are in the right proportions.

I have even developed a technique for what I call “cooking like a chef.” Suppose I am making a stir-fry sauce that I can’t figure out the exact amount for the ingredients. I weigh each open container and enter this into one column of a spreadsheet, then cook like I normally would: using my heart, hands and mind. Then, after I get the right taste, I weigh these ingredients again and enter them in the next column and it calculates how much I used. Then I convert to volume measures and edit the recipe. I print out this recipe and get everything measured out ahead of time, prepare it as written, and make any necessary adjustments along the way. Even if it comes out perfectly, I always test it one more time. Every time I made the recipe I would ask the same very core question: “Does this taste Thai?”

So there you have it, simple recipes that have an authentic taste but may not be a traditional recipes.

A Snapshot of Traditional Thai Culture

Many factors influence and create the characteristics of a culture. It all begins with the geography. Thailand is situated in between Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Most of the country is situated between 10° and 20° latitude in the northern hemisphere and its vast landscape enables a wide variety of crops to be grown and animals to be raised. The extensive river network is ideal for aquaculture. The Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea provides access to the ocean’s bounty and bustling ports for import and exportation, allowing Thailand to become a significant player in the food manufacturing world.

Unlike its surrounding neighbors, Thailand has never been colonized and so it seems to readily absorb foreign influences. A large majority of Thais are Buddhist and hence a spiritual approach to even the most mundane tasks is commonplace. All young males take their turns at becoming a monk. The sages roam the streets to collect food that is donated by average citizens, it is an honor to do so and these morsels of food sustain them each and every day.

The Thai spirit is truly special, they try to have fun in everything they do, actually they have a word for this, sanuk. It’s a much more casual social setting than any of the adjacent countries. Thais wearing shorts and t-shirts is commonplace. However, the contrasting opposite is the formality seen each Monday where most of the population wears yellow clothing to honor the king, many with the king’s official crest affixed to the outfit. Anytime they pass a photo or statue of the king they wai, this gesture of putting both hands together with a modest bow is a sign of respect, especially to elders. Just as with most of Asian cultures, “saving face” is very important, it is improper etiquette to embarrass yourself or others in public.

Another regional practice, specific to Southeast Asia, is not eating as often with chopsticks and more so with the combination of a spoon and fork. Once you try eating this way you will never go back. The spoon is held in your dominant hand and the fork is in the other hand pushing some rice, a bit of sauce and maybe a few stray bits of chilies onto the spoon. Yes, chopsticks are used here, but mostly for noodle dishes and often in conjunction with a spoon in the other hand to scoop up the soup or sauce.

Thais possess an aesthetic for their food. Much of this may very well have evolved 700 years ago from Sukhothai, the capital of Thailand. The king was adamant that special attention and training was given to the artful presentation of food and ornate carving of fruits and vegetables. To this day, carved cucumber leaves may be used to scoop up a Thai chili dip, national food carving happen thoroughout the year and an overall attention to details can be seen across every socio-economic group and region in Thailand.

Street food sustains today’s modern busy city dwellers, many of these foods are one bowl meals meant to be eaten individually. More formal meals consist of a selection of dishes. Usually no special order is followed. At Thai homes, dishes are cooked and sit out at room temperature (in the tropics things stay relatively warm) and all are eaten at once. Relax and go with the flow!

Table condiments are a big deal in Southeast Asia, and Thailand is no exception. Most Thai tables have a few small jars filled with seasonings that each person can use according to their preference. The most common is a small jar filled with chopped Thai chilies covered with fish sauce, this gives you a burst of sodium along with a bit of spice. Ground roasted dry chilies are sprinkled on noodles, and often balanced with another table seasoning: granulated sugar. Other forms of heat like Sriracha chili sauce, and various others that don’t have international status because they are created by individual street hawkers, restaurant cooks, and fine dining restaurant chefs.

Yes, there is a vibrant dining scene in Thailand and major cities like Bangkok are packed with posh dining establishments or Thai food and other international cuisines. All the multi-national hotel chains have numerous restaurants, and there are culinary schools that teach the traditional and modern art of Thai food.

Get in Your Kitchen and Cook!

This book is here to guide you as you explore the fabulous tastes of Thailand. If you need it, I have videos and photos to lead you step-by-step in the kitchen and give you insight into the nuances that will help you create really special Thai food and drinks (chefdanhi.com).

Haven’t been to Thailand? Start planning now. In the meantime I want to share my experiences with you. Within the pages of this book I have hopefully provided you with enough information to get you on the right track creating the flavors of Thailand in your own kitchen. If you need help, reach out and I am here. Go to chefdanhi.com for contact information.