When it comes to Thai dishes that have staying power and remain favourites from generation to generation, nothing can beat khao kaeng, or curry and rice. It is like a supporting pillar of Thai cuisine that is deeply rooted in the culture. Every region, every ethnic or religious community in Thailand will have its own style of food, and high on the list will always be a curry. There is Thai Yai curry and rice in Mae Hong Son and Muslim-style curry and rice in Satun. Vendors in Chanthaburi in the East will have on display a range of local curries hard to find anyplace else.
Bit of bite: An array of southern dishes. Local curries offer insight into regional food cultures and preferences.
Any local curry will give insight into the food culture and preferences of the people there. If you want a quick but clear take on the character and culture of a local community, sample the curry and rice at a food shop or restaurant there. A meal like that can be like a souvenir, a memory of a delicious experience that made such a strong impression that it will never be forgotten. It can cure homesickness in people who have moved away to or taken a job in another region far from their own. A plate of traditional curry from home will make anyone who has been transplanted feel proud of the cooking they grew up with.
No one has to command a person standing in front of a pot of good curry to eat some. Instinct will soon have them ladling it over a plateful of rice. It can be eaten in a number of ways — eaten as a one dish meal with the curry served over a plate of rice, or maybe sharing the rice with some other foods. Or it might be part of a meal enjoyed by a group of people, served in a bowl together with platters of other dishes to create a balance of flavours. Curry with rice is also easy to buy packaged in plastic bags to take home.
Let’s take a look at some famous local types of curry and rice. The ones eaten in Phetchaburi can be seen as representative of the country’s entire Central Region. They are not extremely hot, but pleasingly spicy. Some incline toward sweetness, and when made with fish or shellfish use seafood. A few popular Phetchaburi curries are kaeng khua saparot kap khai maeng daa/hoy maeng puu haeng (a coconut cream curry made with pineapple and horseshoe crab eggs or dried mussels), kaeng phat bai makhaam awn kap nuea haeng (made with tender tamarind shoots and grilled beef), kaeng plaa duke thalay kap mara (made from sea catfish and bitter melon) and kaeng luuk taan awn kap plaa (made with unripe sugar palm fruits and fish). In Phetchaburi City there are many food shops and vendors where curries like these are sold. Most serve them from early morning until noon or so.
Khao kaeng Paa Sieng (Auntie Sieng’s Curry and Rice) from Suphan Buri is so famous that it has become a franchise with many outlets, mostly near petrol stations around Bangkok. They offer phanaeng nuea (a thick beef curry made with coconut cream), kaeng khio waan nuea/kai (a popular, spicy coconut cream curry made with either beef or chicken), khai phalo (eggs cooked in an aromatic Chinese sauce) and different kinds of kaeng som (a mild sweet-sour-spicy soup-like curry made without coconut cream).
The curry and rice dishes that are most influential right now, and that are being sold all over Thailand, are the ones native to the South. They are served in curry shops and department store food courts everywhere. There will always be pots of kaeng tai plaa (a very spicy curry made from fermented fish innards) and kaeng lueang plaa kraphong (a fiery southern variant of kaeng som made with sea bass or snapper), easy choices for people who like their food very hot.
Shops that specialise in southern curry and rice will have kaeng tai plaa, kaeng muu kap luuk lieng (a pork curry made with a strong-scented bean native to the South), kaeng muu kap kluay awn (made with pork and unripe bananas), khua kling muu (an intensely spicy stir fry made with minced pork), kaeng lueang plaa kraphong kap yawt maphrao (the southern kaeng som with added heart of coconut palm), phat kapi kap sataw sai kung (a stir-fry of shrimp, another type of strong-scented bean, kapi, chillies, and other ingredients), bai lieng phat khai (a local leaf fried with egg), pla daeng thawt khamin (a sea fish fried with turmeric), phak kuud tom kathi (fern fronds stewed in coconut cream), and khanom jeen nam yaa pak tai (rice spaghetti served with a spicy, Southern-style coconut cream sauce).
Travellers exploring the South will notice the same foods being served throughout the region, but with differing degrees of spiciness. For example, in provinces with coasts on the Andaman Sea like Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi and Trang the seasoning will be less aggressive because of the preferences of a population that has a bigger ethnic Chinese component than that on the Gulf of Thailand side.
The food on the Gulf of Thailand side of the South — from Chumphon down to Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung is famous for its blazing heat. The kaeng tai plaa in Nakhon Si Thammarat contains no vegetables, just the potent seasonings and the fermented fish innards, and it is spicier than the versions made elsewhere. The kaeng lueng contains ingredients, like sprouted peanuts, that might seem strange to outsiders.
Cooks from Nakhon Si Thammarat do not reduce the spiciness of their food no matter where they sell it. Southern-style curry shops in Bangkok and throughout the country are likely to have a sign promising “Nakhon Si Thammarat southern Curry and Rice”. The reason is that Nakhon Si Thammarat is the biggest province in the South and the one with the largest population. People from the province leave to work in other parts of the country and take all kinds of jobs, including running curry and rice shops, so it is not unexpected that there will be more people from Nakhon Si Thammarat selling these dishes than from Chumphon, Trang or Phuket. As a result, the province’s curry is often seen as representative of southern food in general.
Anyone who travels around in the South will discover other curries and variants, but the experience will only confirm that a region’s or locality’s curry and rice dishes are a powerful embodiment of its culture. Probably no other food tells you quite as much.
Cure for homesickness: Venison fried with cardamom is a speciality for those from Chanthaburi.
Southern style: Curry and rice in Satun, where many Muslim-style curries are popular.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.