Well a fragrant good day to you! How the heck are you? Feeling peppy today? A mug of coffee and a virtual muffon or pastry will add to your peppiness. Say, do you like basil (and no...I don't mean John Cleese's character in Fawlty Towers).
[Note:I liberated the following article (pared down about half) from the online Bangkok Post!]
Chillies, onions and garlic. Without them Thai food couldn’t exist. They are the Oscar-winning actors of our national cuisine. Bai kaprao, or holy basil, is a front-rank supporting cast player that turns up in innumerable important roles. If it were to disappear, Thai dishes with aggressive, spicy flavours would go along with it. But before discussing the roles that basil plays in the Thai kitchen, let’s take a look at the question of where it came from.
There is no clear evidence showing when basil arrived in Thailand. All we know is that it quickly became popular throughout Asia because of its medicinal properties and its virtues as a culinary herb. Look at the vitamins and minerals you get!
At spots in the forest where the sun shines through and the ground is not dense with vegetation, basil grows in with the grass. It has a bushy appearance and the leaves are small and very light green. Villagers call it kaprao pa, or wild basil, and value it as a medicinal herb good for cooking. When they go into the forest to hunt they take along rice, chillies and salt as provisions and find whatever meat they can. The tastiness of the food they prepare there owes a lot to wild basil.
In the provinces, every household will have a kitchen garden where staples such as chillies, aubergines, limes, kaffir limes, galangal and lemongrass are grown. Two more plants that can never be left out are the two commonest types of basil, kaprao and horapa. Chillies and basil in Thai cooking are like friends that tend to stick together in the dishes they season. Thais distinguish between different kinds of spicy heat. The hotness of chillies is sharper, and that of seasonings such as black pepper and basil is closer to thermal heat. Chillies contribute their kind of heat and basil give a different kind of warmth.
Bai kaprao is an important ingredient in many kinds of foods. In the basic version of the spicy curry made without coconut cream called kaeng pa, it gives the dish its special kind of heat. Pad prik bai kaprao dishes are stir-fries made with meat, chillies and bai kaprao. The first step in preparation is to chop the meat. It is a hard and fast rule that these dishes can only be made with chopped meat, which may be fish, frog, eel or any other kind with an appropriate taste and texture.
[Note:I liberated the following article (pared down about half) from the online Bangkok Post!]
Chillies, onions and garlic. Without them Thai food couldn’t exist. They are the Oscar-winning actors of our national cuisine. Bai kaprao, or holy basil, is a front-rank supporting cast player that turns up in innumerable important roles. If it were to disappear, Thai dishes with aggressive, spicy flavours would go along with it. But before discussing the roles that basil plays in the Thai kitchen, let’s take a look at the question of where it came from.
There is no clear evidence showing when basil arrived in Thailand. All we know is that it quickly became popular throughout Asia because of its medicinal properties and its virtues as a culinary herb. Look at the vitamins and minerals you get!
NutrientDRI/DV
vitamin K97.7%
manganese12%
copper8.8%
vitamin A6.2%
calcium3.7%
iron3.7%
folate3.6%
magnesium3.3%
omega-3 fats2.9%
At spots in the forest where the sun shines through and the ground is not dense with vegetation, basil grows in with the grass. It has a bushy appearance and the leaves are small and very light green. Villagers call it kaprao pa, or wild basil, and value it as a medicinal herb good for cooking. When they go into the forest to hunt they take along rice, chillies and salt as provisions and find whatever meat they can. The tastiness of the food they prepare there owes a lot to wild basil.
In the provinces, every household will have a kitchen garden where staples such as chillies, aubergines, limes, kaffir limes, galangal and lemongrass are grown. Two more plants that can never be left out are the two commonest types of basil, kaprao and horapa. Chillies and basil in Thai cooking are like friends that tend to stick together in the dishes they season. Thais distinguish between different kinds of spicy heat. The hotness of chillies is sharper, and that of seasonings such as black pepper and basil is closer to thermal heat. Chillies contribute their kind of heat and basil give a different kind of warmth.
Bai kaprao is an important ingredient in many kinds of foods. In the basic version of the spicy curry made without coconut cream called kaeng pa, it gives the dish its special kind of heat. Pad prik bai kaprao dishes are stir-fries made with meat, chillies and bai kaprao. The first step in preparation is to chop the meat. It is a hard and fast rule that these dishes can only be made with chopped meat, which may be fish, frog, eel or any other kind with an appropriate taste and texture.
Southerners like to add it to pad pet pla duk (a spicy catfish stir-fry) and
khua kling (a fiery stir-fry made with minced meat). In the North it is cooked
into the soup-like vegetable curry called kaeng khae or eaten raw with larb
khua (another minced meat dish). In Isan it is an ingredient in another
vegetable soup-like dish, kaeng awm, or is eaten raw.
In those parts of the Central region where it is called kaprao khwai, which literally means “water buffalo basil”, many believe that it gets its name from its tendency to flourish in the soft, porous soil near water buffalo pens where it is nourished by the animals’ manure. (That's good to know, eh! Adds flavour!)
Pad bai kaprao are made to order — fast food dishes all Thais know well. Thai restaurants almost always offer pad bai kaprao over rice topped with a fried egg. You can find it on every street in every town and city nationwide. Many people call it ahan sin khit (a no-brainer dish) because when they go into a food shop and don’t know what to order, or are in a part of the country where they are not familiar with the local cuisine, they order it automatically, without thinking. It’s easy, and anyone can make it.
In those parts of the Central region where it is called kaprao khwai, which literally means “water buffalo basil”, many believe that it gets its name from its tendency to flourish in the soft, porous soil near water buffalo pens where it is nourished by the animals’ manure. (That's good to know, eh! Adds flavour!)
Pad bai kaprao are made to order — fast food dishes all Thais know well. Thai restaurants almost always offer pad bai kaprao over rice topped with a fried egg. You can find it on every street in every town and city nationwide. Many people call it ahan sin khit (a no-brainer dish) because when they go into a food shop and don’t know what to order, or are in a part of the country where they are not familiar with the local cuisine, they order it automatically, without thinking. It’s easy, and anyone can make it.
We love basil and use it regularly in our Thai cooking. In fact, we have a herb pot on the balcony in which the basil (unfortunately not Thai basil) is flourishing. Hey, do you like pesto? Basil is one of the main ingredients.
See ya, eh!
Bob
0 comments:
Post a Comment