The Thai Kitchen

In all cuisines, the methods used to cook are determined by the available fuel, equipment and utensils. Thai cooking uses simple equipment. It is important to appreciate this in order to understand the techniques employed, which are the logical outcome of circumstances. The evolution of Thai recipes has always been tempered by the constraints of environment, culture and technology.

- Equipment and Utensils
- Essential Techniques
- Cooking Methods
- Traditional Recipes
- Characteristics of Thai Food and Seasoning
- A Note for Vegetarians

Equipment and Utensils

A modern Thai kitchen is virtually indistinguishable from a Western kitchen.

To produce good Thai food only a few specialized utensils are needed - the pestle and mortar being the most important.

PESTLES AND MORTARS

Stalwart pestles and mortars, made from hard stone, usually granite, are used throughout most of South East Asia, but nowhere are they more integral to the cuisine than Thailand. They are used daily to make nahm prik relishes, sauces and curry pastes, to grind spices and pound fish and shrimps into purées. Heavy and large, they have been and still are indispensable. Some of the earliest mortars and pestles were huge pieces of equipment that were used to pound rice to remove its husks for a whole village. The same principle, in a smaller version, was then employed to pulverize fibrous ingredients to a paste.

Two types of mortars and pestles can be found in Thai kitchens today: the clay and wood type, and the stone type. The clay and wood type is used only for making salads, especially green papaya salad (som dtam). The stone version is a general implement, used to produce pastes, relishes and sauces.

A pestle and mortar should be large, the larger the better, as these versatile pieces of equipment can be used for - and can accommodate - everything, from making curry pastes and relishes to grinding spices and milling roasted rice. While a food processor can be used to do much the same job quickly and cleanly, a pestle and mortar is always a sound investment.

POTS AND WOKS

Recent excavations from Kanchanaburi in the west of Thailand and Ban Chiang in the morth-east have revealed that people of these regions have used clay pots and bowls for 3000 years. Thai soil makes excellent clay: it is hard and not too porous.

The most traditional Thai pot, the mor din, was earthenware, large and rounded at the bottom and narrowing at its neck, opening out at its rim. It was used to cook rice: the narrow neck ensured minimal evaporation, and allowed excess water to be poured out easily; it also reduced the chances of ash dropping into the cooking pot. Being of unfired clay, it was less likely than a fired pot to shatter when exposed to a naked flame. All other kitchen pots were made the same way, although of differing shapes. Curry pots were large and rounded, but only narrowed slightly at the neck; they had a wide rim with two large handles. These were used for almost every style of cooking: boiling, deep-frying and occasionally stir-frying. The Thai wok (grata) was also terracotta and was a slightly modified and later version of the curry pot, with a wider base and no neck or rim.

Later, brass woks began to be used. One source suggests that the Portuguese introduced cooking utensils made of this alloy of copper and zinc. Not only were brass woks symbols of wealth and status, but they were sturdy and could conduct heat well. As a consequence, they allows a different, faster type of cooking than before. Most Thai cooks now prefer to use brass woks for making desserts, while some use them for all their cooking. Brass woks come in various sizes but are all the same shape - hemispherical with two large, rounded handles.

Brass is comparatively inert, which means it does not react with the acids in fruit or taint fresh coconut cream; it also heats evenly, so syrups and candies can be prepared without scorching. It does however, oxidise and thus discolor. The traditional way of maintaining brass woks is to rub them with a piece of brown tamarind pulp. Its acid cleans and shines the soft metal, yet its soft pulp ensures that the metal is not scratched. The wok in then rinsed out with water that has had a little charcoal ash dissolved in it. This softens the water and removes any residual acid left by the tamarind; it also makes the surface alkaline, so that it will not unduly react with ingredients and impart a metallic, somewhat oily taste. More modern cooks can use half a lime or lemon to clean their brass wok, then rinse it in soapy water. Salt or other abrasives should never be used, as they can scratch the soft metal.

Although tin utensils became available in the mid-nineteeth century, it was only after the Second World War that they - and aluminum - made any inroads into the provinces. These novel pots, woks and kitchen spoons were generally cheap and robust, and soon almost completely replaced and outmoded, but often beautiful, traditionally crafted cooking utensils.

GRATERS AND KNIVES

The other traditional piece of equipment in Thai kitchens is the coconut grater - a lifesaver in Thai cooking. People used to prise the meat from a coconut, which they then peeled and whirred in a blender. This worked very successfully, but takes a while. What is recommended is a traditional coconut grater - not a little ornamental bench with a small grater on one end (called a "rabbit"), but the larger kind, a hand-cranked rotating spindle that clamps onto a surface. A quick wallop, several spins, a squeeze or two and you have good coconut cream.

All Thai kitchens contain a multitude of knives. Some are most delicate, exquisite pieces of craftsmanship with the curved blade wrought from brass and the handle from teak. Usually quite small, these knives are used to carve fruit and vegetables. Other knives are more menacing, huge and heavy, being used to peel bamboo shoots and sugar cane, and to husk and cleave coconuts. Notably, Thai cooks always peel away from themselves, never towards, as is the more common practice in the West.

- Adapted from Thai Food, by David Thompson