Thai food discussion

[Guest guest]

Hi!

 

I've done some research and learning from experience on the subject of Thai

food, and am glad to add what I can to this discussion. I don't have

Mastercook, so no recipes, unfortunately. (Okay, I included one little

recipe for vegetarian fish sauce--forgive me!)

 

In regard to cooking Thai food at home--it is indeed less stressful than

ordering at a restaurant, in my opinion.

 

I would recommend the book Real Vegetarian Thai, by Nancie McDermott. The

author is not a vegetarian herself, but she gets it--nothing calls for any

unacceptable ingredients, and she even suggests substitutions to veganize

recipes that contain eggs. Most of the recipes are vegan to begin with.

McDermott used to live in Thailand, and gives lots of information about the

customs, regional differences in food, and such; I learned about the use of

fish sauce from this book, so it helped me learn how to order at Thai

restaurants. Recipes for homemade curry pastes are included. Some of the

dishes are vegetarian versions of meat dishes she tasted in Thailand, using

substitutions such as seitan, tofu, or mushrooms.

 

I have Thai Kitchen curry pastes right here, so I'm going to just type out

the ingredients.

 

Green curry paste: chili, lemon grass, garlic, galangal, salt, onion,

pepper, rhizome, lime, peanut oil

 

Red curry paste: chili, garlic, lemon grass, galangal, salt, rhizome,

onion, pepper, lime, peanut oil

 

The only vague ingredient there is " rhizome, " but it's definitely a plant.

Look it up in the dictionary if you're unsure--I did.

 

Here's the problem with other curry pastes--I've only seen other brands at

the Asian food store. These are often more difficut to decipher. The ones

I've looked at typically have the ingredients printed in several languages,

of which, English can be number five or six, and the translation can be

questionable, using words like " condiment, " which are not terribly helpful.

Lucky for me, my husband reads Japanese, so we can compare and contrast the

two ingredient lists, and from our experience, it is indeed true that

condiment usually equals shrimp. If you're at the Asian market without the

benefit of a translator, you can always ask the (probably Asian) person

working there to help. I've had lots of sucess with that. He or she

doesn't always speak enough English for me to feel confident about our

conversation, but most of the time they do. The market I go to is operated

by a Thai family, and they are very nice, know the products very well, and

quite bilingual.

 

As for the fish sauce, yes, it's traditionally used in about everything, but

it can be subtituted. The reason it's so omnipresent is because it's used

as a salting agent, and every dish needs a little salt. The taste it adds

to foods is mostly salty, not fishy. This is unfortunate for vegetarians,

who can easily remain blissfully ignorant of its presence.

 

Quoting McDermott on fish sauce, " I created these recipes using no meat,

fish, seafood, nor any condiments containing them. This meant omitting the

fish sauce that seasons virtually every savory dish prepared in a Thai

kitchen. Simply substituting an equal amount of soy sauce did not do the

job: soy sauce is heavy and rich by comparison and it takes over a dish.

To replace the fish sauce, I arrived at a simple formula of increasing the

salt while adding vegetable broth and a little soy sauce. In some cases,

where an especially pungent, over-the-top saltiness is required, a touch of

Asian bean sauce can be included. "

 

Of course she works this substitution formula into each individual recipe.

However, if you want to mix up some fake fish sauce, there is a recipe in

the book Rice and Spice by Robin Robertson, pg. 39. It's not in mastercook

but it's short, so here goes: 1/2 Cup soy sauce, 1/4 Cup water, 1

Tablespoon fresh lime juice, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper

flakes. Put in a jar and shake it up. This will keep several weeks in the

refrigerator. I haven't used this, but it looks like it would work as a

substitute in otherwise vegetarian recipes.

 

Now, as far as eating at restaurants goes, now that you're armed with the

information about fish sauce and curry paste, you should be ok.

 

If I want to order curry, I ask whether they make the curry paste there or

use a prepared product. If they make it themselves, I ask if they use any

powdered shrimp, shrimp paste, etc., and if they buy it, I ask to read the

ingredients on the package, again, asking for help in reading them from my

husband or the workers at the restaurant. Once, the cook brought it out for

me, which I thought was really cool. He didn't seem irritated or anything,

and he was really nice about answering questions. He told us about how he

went to the factory where they make the curry paste in Thailand, so he knew

for sure there was shrimp in it, even though it wasn't in the English

ingredients!

 

I always ask if they can omit or substitute for fish sauce, and they're

usually really cool about that too. Sadly, even restaurants that have a

special vegetarian menu use fish sauce unless you request otherwise, which

is just plain deceptive, and I always tell them that they should note that

on the menu. It's not like every vegetarian is literate enough about Thai

food to know they need to ask!

 

The only problem is that sometimes I just don't feel comfortable with my

waiter--of course this happens at restaurants of all varieties, not just

Asian ones. Sometimes you get a waiter who is a yes man, and would tell you

yes if you asked " could I get this with dragon's blood please? "

Particularly when there seems to be a language barrier, if I'm not sure that

the staff understands my requests, I'd rather leave than risk it. If the

waiter repeats what I asked for back to me, and I think he or she

understands, then I stay. Of course, this is judgment call.

 

Well, I've written a novel...hope it's helpful!

 

Best wishes,

 

Amanda Dove

 

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