Romancing Kuala Lumpur with easy Thai cooking
A genuine man goes to the roots. To be a radical is no more than that: to go to the roots. He who does not see things in their depth should not call himself a radical. — José Martí
Recently, I was in Kuala Lumpur on assignment. It was my first time and for a lot of reasons, this trip was full of culinary discoveries and new friendships that made it all the more memorable for me.
My journey started at the Diosdado Macapagal Airport, where Air Asia’s friendly staff, in the persons of ground operation station head Ana Christi Grageda-Galura and duty executive customer experience officer Cesar Reyes, gave me the red-carpet treatment. The flight from Clark to Kuala Lumpur took no more than three hours and 45 minutes, and as you looked out the window, a treasure trove of palm trees greeted you as if saying, “Welcome to Kuala Lumpur; you have arrived.”
Spicy and yummy: Barbecue fish in red curry spices My trip was pleasant. On the first day I took a personal tour of the city. It was so delightful to be able to go to the Pavilion Mall and Lot 10, since these were within walking distance from the Hotel Istana, where I was billeted.
On the morning of the second day, I visited the Kuala Lumpur Central Market. The sign on the entrance says, “Since 1888.” The current building dates from 1937 and is designed in the Art Deco style that was popular at that time. In those days the building served as a wet market but today it is the best place in Kuala Lumpur to shop for handicrafts, gifts and souvenir items, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Tom Ward mixes a mango spicy drink. After visiting the Central Market, on the way back to the hotel, I saw a sign for Beryl’s Chocolate Kingdom. I opted for a quick stopover, and saw a mini museum that showcased a collection of machines used in chocolate production. It was really one of the highlights of my discoveries in Kuala Lumpur, aside from seeing the Petronas Twin Towers.
At 4:30 in the afternoon I was taken to the media dinner then welcomed by Margaret Kang, senior sales and marketing executive of Tuttle Publishing. Unlike most media dinners I have been to, chef Robert Danhi’s launch for his book entitled Easy Thai Cooking was held at the magnificent residence of Sam and Lily Lim, personal friends of the chef. In this colossal home we were treated to various recipes that are featured in the book and so much more. To my delight I found out that chef Robert is good friends with my mentors at the Culinary Institute of America, chef Hinnerk Von Bargen and David Kamen. There was a connection right away and the rest of the evening was beautiful, with friends helping chef Danhi out, such as Tom Ward, who flew all the way from the US on a quest to learn more about food and the culture of Asian countries. Good friends, great food and an exotic country — no adventure could get any better than this.
Here’s the main place: The central market building at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has been around since 1937. Chef Danhi is what one can refer to as a melting pot of culinary culture. Born to an Egyptian father and a Russian mother, after he met the love of his life in one of the culinary schools in LA, he has been happily married to his Malaysian wife for more than a decade. Add to that an American upbringing and it seems that chef Danhi has gone around the world twice over. He jokingly refers to himself as a hard-boiled egg — yellow inside, meaning Asian, but white outside, having a Caucasian appearance. His philosophies speak of how extensive his culinary experience and prowess are; he is a very spiritual person and because of that he believes that food should be treated usefully and respectfully. You have to learn the food of a country, find a local guide, live in the country that you are studying for a while, research, learn about the people, and if that’s not enough, keep going back.
Passionate, persistent and precise, it was with these values that chef Danhi was able to craft a name for himself; after being educated at the Culinary Institute of America, he became a consultant in Lah, a posh restaurant in Madrid, which even included a Filipino recipe on its menu. Chef Danhi eventually conducted research and development for various multinational companies, but in spite of all his achievements, he was hesitant to make the book. He had reservations that he might disrespect Thai cuisine by oversimplifying it, but he realized that his culinary experience allowed him to test and evaluate recipes and be able to translate it so that making Thai food could be fun and easy to make.
Sweet trip: The entrance to Beryl’s Chocolate Kingdom Easy Thai Cooking is a book with 75 recipes that has been kitchen-tested to make all the dishes easy to cook at home, with beautiful pictures and easy-to-follow instructions. It’s a cookbook that would be a welcome treat in any kitchen.
