A taste of Thai

Nashauna Drummond, Lifestyle Coordinator

Feel for something sweet and sour, or spicy? Then try a Thai dish. The explosive kaleidoscope that characterises Thai dishes, with its fusion of Indian and Chinese culinary influences, was on display at Hi-Lo Manor Park branch last weekend. For three days, Thai chef Mayuree Saipetch, who has lived and worked in Jamaica for about eight years, took shoppers on a culinary journey.

While shoppers browsed the isles, they took a break to witness the preparation of popular Thai dishes that are quick and easy. And the best thing was that all the ingredients were available at their finger-tips in the supermarket.

The three-day culinary experience was a collaboration between the Thai Consulate of Jamaica, Hi-Lo Food Stores and the Thai Trade Centre out of Miami. It was a way of promoting Thai food and products.

Today, Food shares two of the dishes done by Saipetch -Thai fried noodles with chicken and green curry with shrimp.

Thai fried noodles with chicken

INGREDIENTS

¹/⁴ lb rice noodles

¹/⁴ lb chicken cut in cubes

1 egg

¹/⁴ cup chives or one green onion cut into one-inch lengths

¹/⁴ cup extra firm tofu (optional)

¹/² cup bean sprouts

1tbs preserved chopped sweet radish

1tbs chopped garlic

2tbs fish sauce

1tbs tamarind juice

50 grams palm sugar

¹/⁴ lime

¹/² tbs red pepper flakes

4-5 tbs ready-made Pad Thai sauce.

METHOD

1. Soak the thin noodles for five minutes in water before cooking, to soften.

2. Heat 1tbs of vegetable oil in pan and fry garlic until transparent.

3. Add noodles and add water until noodles soften.

4. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, red pepper flakes and tamarind juice and stir quickly to prevent noodles from sticking together.

5. Add eggs and beat lightly then add chicken cubes and stir until chicken is cooked.

6. Add Pad Thai sauce, toss the mixture until the noodles are well coated with the sauce.

7. Add bean sprouts, and stir well. Serve with lime on the side that can be squeezed on dish if desired.

This dish can be found in almost any Thai restaurant and can be done with any meat. The palm sugar makes it sweet, while the lime is the sour element. However, it intensifies the flavour in the dish that will have you appreciating lime in a new way.

Gaeng Kiew Wan Goong-Green curry with shrimp

8 peeled shrimp

100g round eggplant chopped into four pieces

100g coconut cream (the top layer of coconut milk)

500g coconut milk

40g palm sugar

40g Kiew Wan curry paste

2tbs fish sauce

2 sliced red spur chillies

4g sweet basil leaves

2 leaves kaffir lime, shredded

Method

1. Simmer coconut cream in a pan until the oil separates. Add Kiew Wan curry paste and stir until it dissolves.

2. Add shrimps and fry until well cooked.

3. Pour into a pot then add coconut milk and bring to a boil.

4. Add eggplant and season with fish sauce and palm sugar. When the curry begins boiling again, the eggplant will be cooked.

5. Add red spur chillies, shredded kaffir lime leaves and sweet basil leaves. Serve with rice.

Tips: If the curry paste is burned while frying, the curry will be darker than usual and have a slightly bitter taste. If it's undercooked, it will appear pale in colour and mild in taste and aroma. Shrimp can be replaced with chicken, pork or beef.

To keep the round eggplant fresh and green, cut and soak in slightly salted water. Only use when curry is fully boiling.

Not as spicy as India curry that most Jamaicans may be used to, the curry was not very spicy, but had a nice flavour with the aroma of the basil and other ingredients in every bite.