Thai Tea Cake

As flattered as I am that people ooh and aah over this Thai tea cake every time I bring it to a food-centric gathering and tell me what a great idea it is, I can't help but feel a bit like a fraud. This is because there's no such thing as Thai tea cake. A Thai tea cake is a cake -- any cake -- that contains or has been infused with Thai tea.

This one featured here is no exception. It's nothing but a basic génoise with some Thai tea leaves added to it.

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Nam Prik Pao (น้ำพริกเผา): Thai Chilli Jam - Secret Ingredient in Thai Spicy Stir-Fries, Salads, Etc.

Nam Prik Pao (น้ำพริกเผา) is one of the most -- if not the most -- versatile composite ingredients in Thai cooking that I can think of. It is intense and complex, but not in an in-your-face kind of way; it also features pretty much all of the tastes associated with traditional Thai food sans the usual herbs. Each spoonful packs so much flavor, and a little goes a long way.

Believe me when I say that I hate telling people what to do or what not to do. But in this case, I consider familiarity with Nam Prik Pao and how to use it to be necessary for, you see, this condiment permeates modern Thai cuisine. If you're a Thai food enthusiast, or on your way to becoming one, and you haven't made an acquaintance with this ingredient, please allow me the pleasure of introducing to you Nam Prik Pao, the "secret arsenal" of Thai restaurants worldwide, a pantry staple in Thai households, and your new best friend.

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Pineapple Jam Pinwheels (พายกังหันสับปะรด)

I know in saying that these individual four-bite* pineapple jam "tartlets" aren't Thai, I'd be stating the obvious. We love them, though, which explains why they're found in pretty much every old-fashioned shophouse bakery -- the kind that still sells pork floss-filled buns or piped butter cookies with tiny pieces of maraschino cherry on them.

In terms of perceived sophistication, pineapple jam pinwheels probably aren't placed anywhere near one of Bangkok's latest "it" desserts, panna cotta.** But, heck, these little gems aren't going away any time soon. They have been around long before the invasion of the jiggly Italians and I predict they'll continue to be around for a long time.

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Steamed Fish with Lime, Garlic, and Chilies - Pla Nueng Ma-Nao (ปลานึ่งมะนาว)

I used pickled garlic here just to experiment. But fresh garlic is traditional and best.
I used to wonder why steamed fish with lime, garlic, and chilies or Pla Nueng Ma-Nao (ปลานึ่งมะนาว - literally "lime-steamed fish") is considered more of a restaurant dish than a home dish. After all, it is so simple to make that you would think it shouldn't be something anyone would want to pay someone else to prepare for them. How easy? A journalist friend of mine once described it this way: "... [lime-steamed fish] is so easy to make that when you assign the task of cooking it to a lemur, not only will the primate pull off the best version you've ever eaten, it will also look disdainfully at you in the eye -- hands on hip -- and ask whether you have anything else more complicated for it to make ... ."

I don't want to get a lemur involved here. But, um, yeah.

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Thai Custard with Mung Beans: Khanom Mo Kaeng Thua (ขนมหม้อแกงถั่ว)

Just as the name of Marcel Proust is often mentioned along with a reference to the French cookie/cakelet, madeleine, the name of Maria Guyomar de Pinha (Thao Thong Kip Ma ท้าวทองกีบม้า) is almost always invoked at every mention of Portuguese-derived desserts which had been assimilated into Thai cuisine. All this took place in the reign of King Narai the Great (สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช) -- the period in 17th century Siam wherein foreign influences abounded politically, linguistically, culturally, and, in this case, culinarily.

Maria Guyomar de Pinha is said to be a Japanese-Portuguese woman who made a definite hand print on the Ayutthaya royal court kitchen, an influence that is still in effect today. Despite the enduring legacy, so very little about the woman is known. While certain aspects of her life have been documented, much information that is in circulation remains unsubstantiated. The little we know about this woman is fascinating, though. I'll talk more about the woman whom the Thai refer to as Thao Thong Kip Ma in future posts.

For now, let's focus on one of the desserts which she introduced to the Siamese court: Khanom Mo Kaeng (ขนมหม้อแกง ).*

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Fried Sun-Dried Beef with Dried Chilli Dipping Sauce from Lers Ros Thai Restaurant, San Francisco: Neua Tod and Jaew (เนื้อแดดเดียวทอดและแจ่ว)

I am honored to introduce to you our reader-turned-contributor, Samuel Moehring. Sam has recently paid a visit to Lers Ros Thai restaurant and returned with a story to tell as well as a recipe to share. (Thank you, Sam!) The following article has been written by Sam; meet me back here in the recipe section. ~Leela

As a non-Thai, my experience with Thai food has focused around restaurants, solely---and I’ve come late in the game. Why do I tell you this, you may ask? I tell you this because I would like for my perspective to have a bit more context. When I write about Thai food, I really write about Thai restaurants. I don’t have deeply held memories of nam pla and palm sugar, certainly, but oh well. I guess I’m making those memories now, along the way.

The last thing I want to do is confirm the idea that white American guys only like red meat and starch, so when I’m out, I try to be the adventuresome eater. Am I trying to be deliberately iconoclastic? Am I trying to prove something to someone? Or myself? I don’t know.

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