Thai food is about the perfect balance of many complex flavours, writes Ant Ellis.
Hot damn, I love food, and I love people. No prizes for guessing how much I love people who also love food. I’ll start this issue’s love letter with a reminder that there was a time when the steakhouse ruled supreme, and the most “exotic” food we could get at a restaurant was Spaghetti Alfredo. So imagine the collective delight of the cheese sauce-soaked masses when the one and only Sean Beatt opened one of South Africa’s first authentic Thai restaurants – Baan Thai on Florida Road – in 1994. Shazam! Fragrant, fresh and full of creative dishes jammed with fantastic new ingredients, Sean and Premjit’s menu tasted of adventure and boldly challenged a food scene as predictable as grease on French fries. Hallelujah.
Food runs in Sean’s family, with dad Brian having owned and run top-end bistro The Colony, an ahead-of-its-time destination with a reputation for gastronomy and mischief in equal parts. Having developed and owned the Bangkok Wok franchise, Sean and Premjit ditched the corporate hamster wheel and now run two ridiculously good and authentic noodle shops in North Durban – The Wok Box in Mackeurtan Avenue, and SW1 in Mount Edgecombe’s Flanders Mall. My girls and I are super-regulars at SW1, where we’re constantly delighted with a revolving door of killer new menu items, each better than the last.
I’m forever amazed at the energy and passion I get from Sean – he’s a contagious, empathetic human, and he knows his spring onions. I had to ask him the question that keeps me up at night, and yet for which there is no finite answer: Why does restaurant food taste different – better even – than home cooking? Yes, I hear you, there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal, but also, there’s nothing like the craft and excellence of a brigade professional, trained chefs in full swing. The answer: In experience, equipment and technique. And of course, it’s the vibe, the mood we’re in when we’re waited on – it all adds up. As home cooks, we can get pretty close to restaurant-standard food, but for me at least, there’ll always be something special about a professionally prepared meal.
For Sean, authenticity is everything. There’s literally no substitution for real ingredients from specialist grocers – world-famous soy, fish and oyster sauces and shrimp pastes, fresh choi, lemongrass and radishes. And then, there are those inimitable ingredients that make all the difference – galangal, tamarind and palm sugar to name just a few.
It’s in these unique combinations that the true joy of south-east Asian cooking lies, and no Western shortcuts will do. It’s not about screaming-hot curries and chilli that’ll wake your ancestors. Thai food is about the perfect balance of many complex flavours – a hot, sweet, salty and sour joyride that’ll leave you wanting more, and searching desperately online for a recipe that comes close. So here’s an authentic cook-at-home Thai recipe straight from the sunny shores of Koh Samui for ya!
Green Chicken Curry
- 1 whole chicken
- peanut or vegetable oil
- 1 dessert spoon of curry paste per person
- 4 green chillis, sliced diagonally
- 4 lime leaves, preferably fresh
- 1 tin coconut milk
- 1 tin coconut cream
- 1,5 empty coconut milk tins of water
- 50g palm sugar
- 1 calabash, peeled, seeded and cut into bite-size pieces (try and get this from your local Asian market, it’s worth it – or substitute with fresh green beans)
- handful of basil leaves
- fish sauce to taste
- fresh red chilli, sliced for garnish
Portion chicken into bite-size pieces (cut drumstick into 2, etc). Break up carcass for use. Coat bottom of a pot with oil over medium-low heat, gently fry curry paste, chilli and lime leaves for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat, add coconut cream and milk, water and palm sugar, stirring slowly until blended. When sugar has dissolved, add chicken pieces and simmer slowly until almost done, roughly 45 minutes. Add calabash and cook until just tender – too long and it’ll get mushy. Add ripped basil leaves before serving. Season to taste with salt or fish sauce. Curry paste is salted so if you’re seasoning, add slowly and taste as you go. Garnish with fresh chilli and serve with steamed basmati rice.
Until next time, consider this: You don’t want to look back and wish you’d eaten Thai food more often. The balance may seem complex and even elusive, but it’s worth the effort – and if all else fails, visit Sean immediately. *
FOR MORE INFO:
Talk to me at ant@rockthekitchen.co.za.