Eating Thai

“The ideal Thai meal aims at being a harmonious blend of the spicy, the sweet and the sour, and is meant to be satisfying to the eye, nose and palate”. I read this mission statement from The Food of Thailand. Authentic recipes from the Golden Kingdom edited by Wendy Warren and published in association with the Beaufort Sukhothai. Often, there will be considerable variety of sauces and condiments like the nam pla (patis), nam prik (patis with chopped chilies) and fresh chilies.

The same book cites a stone inscription which says “In the water there are fish, in the fields there is rice” which is credited to King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai, the 1st independent Thai kingdom founded in the 13th century. Although Thailand sits between India and China and its food is clearly influenced by both, its food has evolved and maintained its own distinct identity.

Your favorite food columnist believes that the typical Thai dish is the Tom Yam Gung Soup (Thai Hot Prawn Soup). It has all the elements of sweet (from the fresh harvested prawn), sour (juice and leaves from the kaffir lime, spicy (from chilies, leaves and roots of coriander, lemon grass and galangal) and salt (nam pla or patis); when “fish” (isn’t prawn a kind of fish?) is added and the soup is accompanied by Thai fragrant rice, complete na your Thai cuisine!

Marco Polo Plaza (www.marcopolo plazacebu.com phone 253-1111), excuse me, the only five-star hotel in Cebu City has been the venue of many culinary adventures and this year it began with the Cebuano Heritage Cuisine followed by Dim Sum dishes (Chinese New Year) and Flavours of Macau. Last April 15-30; in cooperation with Dusit Thani Bangkok (http://www.dusit.com/), it was time to feature THAI’S THE LIMIT food festival.

For appetizers during the Media Luncheon, Guest Thai Chef Surapol Mo-On introduced his version of the Gung Hom Sabai (deep-fried marinated prawn wrapped in egg noodles) and the Moo Satay (pork satay). For my beloved readers who are not familiar with Thai cuisine, very simple ra to understand these two dishes: the first is like fried lumpia with a whole prawn inside and the second dish is pork barbecue. The latter had two accompanying dips, spicy but not hot since Cebuanos do not tolerate the burning taste of chilies.

After serving the Tom Yam Gung Soup, we had the main dishes: the Gung Tord Kratiem (stir-fry prawn with garlic and pepper), Moo Phad Prik Sod (sautéed pork with onion and chili) and the Pla Sam Ros (fried fish fillet with sweet and sour chili sauce). Guest Thai Chef Surapol, feeling inspired, added one more dish (not in the menu!) – the Thai style rice crackers with minced meat. Again, it was very easy to understand the taste sensation of the dish: murag unsweetened ampao sa Carcar with mince meat. Very crunchy and very delicious and, in my personal opinion, the best among the main dishes served that day.

Time to close this Thai culinary adventure as we were served three desserts: Woon Kati (Thai jelly with coconut milk), Sang Khaya Fak Thong (steamed pumpkin custard) and the Thai version of Mango Sago. Not much culinary difference between Thai and Filipino desserts.

There is one Thai dish that your favorite food columnist would like to taste and I do hope my very good friend Marco Polo Plaza GM Hans Hauri will include this in the 2010 Thai Food festival. It is the Chor Ladda (dumplings with minced pork and prawn) colored blue by squeezing the juice of fresh flowers of the anchuan. Perhaps, dried flowers can also be used but definitely no artificial coloring agents!