After the post on Pad Ka-prao went up, my inbox has seen quite a few emails asking why I 'frown upon' people making "Pad Ka-Prao" with different kinds of basil other than holy basil. After all, "it tastes just as great," you say.
While Pad Thai or Tom Kha Gai, in my opinion, deserve a somewhat extensive tutorial, there really isn't much to say about Pad Ka-Prao (official transliteration: phat kaphrao). It's a dish that doesn't require many ingredients or demand the kind of skill that takes years to develop. And if this dish could talk, the only thing it would beg of you is that you use the ingredient without which it cannot be what it is: holy basil (Bai Ka-Prao ใบกะเพรา).[1]
Ask any random older Thais who grew up eating traditional Thai sweets -- the types that are wrapped and steamed in banana leaves or served from clay pots -- to comment on the state of Thai desserts, and you'll get an earful. They'll express to you either outrage ("Thai desserts are more fattening than Western desserts? Bollocks!") or a combination of scorn and despair ("Kids these days don't know [insert the name of a traditional Thai dessert] anymore. They just want panna cotta and tiramisu!"). Often, you'll get both.
This discussion is probably best reserved for a later time in a different post. For now, let me just say one thing. Different desserts may have come and gone, but as long as the weather in Thailand remains as hot and humid as it is, one category of traditional Thai desserts will never ever go out of popularity: fruit loy kaew [1] (ผลไม้ลอยแก้ว).
It seems silly to be growing plants primarily in order to harvest their roots instead of berries, leaves, blossoms, or shoots. But if you're a serious Thai cook who lives in the United States (or a chef in charge of a Thai menu at one of the world's hardest restaurants to get into), you know why: supermarket cilantro/coriander comes emasculated. It has been decided on our behalf and without our consent that the roots -- the part that we desire as much as the others -- are not to be kept. Whatever the reason(s) might be, this is sad and frustrating.
If you're one of those who live in the areas where cilantro roots are available to you any time, we rejoice with you. Not only do you have at your disposal one of the essential ingredients in Thai cooking, you also enjoy the fact that your cilantro -- with all the roots attached -- stay fresh longer in the refrigerator.
Not being so fortunate, some of us have to take matters into our own hands.
Recipe Remixes are easy (and kind of fun) to write; all I have to do is load the photos onto the site, write a short paragraph to go with each, and link it to the pertinent archived post(s). Then again, it's also these recipe remixes that take the longest time to produce. Each post comprises dishes made, photographed, and documented over a long span of time.
So for those who have been asking for Recipe Remixes Vol. III after Vol. I and Vol. II had made their appearances, your favorite series is back by popular demand.
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