A Taste To Remember

Written by: Lochna Menon aka Loe.

The strong lemon scent is the first thing that assaults the senses when the most loved of Thai soups, Tom Yam is placed on the table. There is not one person that I know of, that does not love Tom Yam or more generally, Thai cooking. Thai cuisine is known for its fragrant and spicy dishes across ages, race and borders that range from stir-fry dishes which were historically influenced by the Chinese traders and merchants, to curry, soups and dessert. Although most Southeast Asian delicacies are similar, Thai cuisine is definitely unique and distinct from others as it is healthier and uses less spice comparatively but relies more on herbs and vegetables for ingredients.

Thai cuisine greatly reflects the life of its people. Because Thailand was and is largely Buddhist, it has according to Buddhist teachings been reluctant to eat ‘strong’ meat and generally prefers to eat chicken, fish and shrimp. Thai cooking is quick and easy to cook as it uses less meat and spice, but healthier because it uses little or no oil and salt. Its clear and simple methods makes it easy to prepare and the ingredients itself are cheap, accessible and easy to grow in one’s own backyard which is a common practice among the locals.

Gayray is one of the instructors at a cooking school located along the Chiang Mai “backpacker’s alley” located near the Sompet market. She runs the business with her sister, Moon and they offer classes for half day and full day twice a day, seven days a week. The half day program is different from the whole day program in two ways – it is an hour shorter and it teaches the students to cook four dishes, as opposed to the full day program that teaches six. According to Gayray, she says that teaching cooking is more than just a business.

“It is a great place to meet people from different cultures and it makes me happy when they leave happy.”

Every morning and evening, she takes her students on a short trip to the local market that is abundant with fresh vegetables, meat and assorted rice and noodles. She explains that Thai cuisine uses two types of rice – white rice and sticky rice. The former is grown in paddy fields in the lowlands and is eaten with soup and curry whereas sticky rice, or gluttonous rice is grown on the highlands where water is scarce. Traditionally, farmers used to bring sticky rice balls with them to the paddy fields as it was cheap and filling. Today, sticky rice is used in desserts and can be eaten with mango or durian, a regional fruit. Brown rice, or unprocessed paddy rice is the most nutritious but also the most expensive of all rice. Ironically, the phrase to “eat brown rice” in Thailand is a well known adage that means to ‘be punished’ since brown rice is hard and difficult to chew.

The other staple food in Thailand, besides rice, is noodles. Like other regional cuisine, Thai food includes a variety of noodles, such as rice noodles that is similar in appearance to the Chinese “kuey teow” noodles, ‘glass’ noodles that derives its name from its transparent form, egg noodle and the like. Gayray plants most of the herbs and vegetables in her own garden, which, she admits, is more extensive than the regular ones. Galanga (Thai ginger), ginger, Thai ginseng, eggplant, tomatoes, spring onions, lemongrass, hot basil, chillies, sweet basil and lemon basil are among the many herbs that grow in her backyard. Galanga is different from the ordinary ginger because it has a more pungent aroma and it tastes sweet rather than sour.

Before she begins a class, she always makes sure to give each of her student a ‘taste’ of Thai food by serving a dish with beetle nut leaf, fried grated coconut, ginger cubes, peanuts, fresh chilies, lime cut into cubes, onions and a sweet sauce made from palm sugar, tamarind juice, salt and water. She does this because she says that this dish is traditionally used as a dish to welcome guests and also because by folding and containing all the ingredients within the beetle nut leaf and eating it, one is able to savour the different tastes – salty, spicy, sweet, sour, and bitter.

A graduate from the Chiang Mai University, Gayray previously worked as a tour guide but when she could no longer ignore her love for her Thai culture, she decided to share her passion for cooking with other people. Many have claimed that Thai cuisine actually is a variant of Chinese cuisine. Gayray explains that this is not the case.

“Thai cooking uses more coconut milk, depending on the region and uses sugar instead salt. Chinese cuisine uses a lot of oil and is cooked over a high flame,”, explains Gayray.

Gayray is something of a tourist herself and has traveled to European countries where she used to cook in exchange for lodging and spare change. She says that despite the variety in her experiences of different cuisines while traveling widely, Thai cuisine is still the best. When asked about what she thought was the best aspect of Thai cooking, she says that Thai cooking is very “emotional”.

“To cook Thai food, you must be emotional or the food will not have any taste,” says Gayray.