In northern Thailand’s mountainous Khao Kho region, Saiphin Moore, the vivacious co-founder of London’s ubiquitous restaurant chain Rosa’s Thai, grew up cooking and eating some of her country’s most famous dishes.
From the seriously spicy som tam to the famously fiery pad kra prow, these recipes pack a punch – which also makes them the perfect winter warmer.
Som tam (green papaya salad)
It’s tradition to add one bird’s eye chilli for every year of your life to your som tam— (Rosa’s Thai)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
1-10 red bird’s eye chillies (depending on how brave you are)
5 small (or 2-3 large) garlic cloves
1½ tbsp palm sugar
2 yard-long beans (or green beans), cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces
4 cherry tomatoes, sliced
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (or 2 tsp salt)
½ medium green papaya, peeled and shredded
1 carrot, shredded
2 tbsp dried shrimp (leave out for a vegetarian alternative)
Method:
1. In a small, dry frying pan, toast the peanuts over a medium heat until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. (There’s also a ready-toasted alternative you can find in the supermarkets).
2. Coarsely pound the chillies and garlic together using a pestle and mortar. Add the palm sugar, beans and tomatoes. Lightly pound to combine, then squeeze in the lime juice and fish sauce.
3. Lightly pound again, then add the green papaya and carrot. Pound again and toss to combine. The taste should be sweet and salty in perfect balance, with a sharp, sour and spicy tang.
4. Spoon the salad into a serving bowl and sprinkle over the dried shrimp and toasted peanuts.
Pad kra prow taohu (tofu holy basil stir-fry)
You can find holy basil in most Asian supermarkets— (Louise Hagger)
Pad kra prow is another national dish found on many a Thai street corner, and that includes the vegetarian version. In Thailand we use holy basil, the very pungent sister of Italian basil, which is a key ingredient in Thai cooking. You’ll notice the sudden bursts of aroma from the wok as soon as you start tossing the ingredients together over a high heat – it’s a smell that wakes up my senses every time.
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
3 red bird’s eye chillies
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150g (5½oz) firm tofu, cut into chunks
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tbsp sugar
Pinch of white pepper
½ onion, chopped
¼ red pepper, sliced
¼ yellow pepper, sliced
30g (1oz) yard-long beans or green beans, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) pieces
Handful of holy basil leaves
2 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Method:
1. Using either a pestle and mortar, grind the chillies and garlic to a paste.
2. Heat the oil in a wok set over a high heat. Add the chilli and garlic mixture and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until nice and golden brown.
3. Now add the tofu chunks, both soy sauces, the palm sugar and white pepper and cook, tossing everything around in the pan, for about 1 minute, until the tofu is well coated and has taken on a little colour from the sauces.
4. Once everything is mixed well, add the onion, peppers and long beans and cook for a further 30 seconds, all the while tossing the mixture together. Throw in the basil and lime leaves and stir-fry for a further 30 seconds. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.
Grilled whole sea bass
This quick and easy barbecue recipe is worth remembering for summer— (Rosa’s Thai)
At home in Petchabun, in the north of Thailand, we would cook this dish with whatever freshwater fish we caught that day. It’s always been one of my favourite go-to barbecue recipes because it’s super quick and easy to put together! This dish has always been on our menu from day one but I’ve tweaked it slightly from what we serve at Lao Café to make sure everyone can easily make this at home. It’s great just by itself with the spicy dipping sauce, or add sticky rice or rice noodles, and leafy green salads on the side to make it a complete meal.
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients:
1 whole sea bass, scaled and gutted (or other sustainably caught medium-size white fish like sea bream or tilapia)
1 stalk of lemongrass, sliced
4-5 stalks of coriander (save the leaves for dipping sauce)
1 galangal, sliced (available from Asian supermarkets, leave out if you can’t find it)
2 cloves of garlic, whole
A handful of Thai or Italian basil leaves
For the marinade:
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp black pepper, crushed
For the dipping sauce:
2-3 bird eyes chillies, finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
A handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Method:
Rub the marinade mixture liberally on both sides of the fish skin.
Stuff the lemongrass, coriander stalks, galangal, garlic, and basil inside the fish.
Wrap the fish in foil and place on the barbeque for 15-20 minutes depending on the size, until the flesh flakes easily.
While the fish is cooking, make the dipping sauce by combining the ingredients together. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved completely.
Serve the fish from the foil, set a bowl of sticky rice or rice noodles and salads on the side, and dig in!
