Fearless, fearsome flavors

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

Whether on the side streets or on gold-gilded dining tables, Thai food is characterized by flavors big, bold, fearless, and to Pinoy palates, fearsome, even daunting.

These are strong flavors taken from roots and herbs aromatic as well as pungent and even bitter and hot spices that declare sky's the limit for human endurance.

I once went to a sit-down dinner in Bangkok where they served traditional Thai dishes, one of which was a prettily presented deep-fried fish: the fillet was diced and speckled with sesame seeds and this was sitting on its crispy carcass with a side of leaves and slices of roots and peppers. You are supposed to wrap the fish cubes in the leaves together with the root slices and peppers.

Naturally, I picked out the tiny pieces of red which were the peppers and set them aside. Like most Pinoys, it takes a certain time and mood for me to be able to take spicy heat and I shunned them by removing them out of the dish. I did not know what possessed me, however, but after two spoonfuls of this delightful fish, I thought I'd try it with peppers – when in Thailand, eat like the Thais! I remember thinking.

Just a tiny piece of the pepper and what do you know: it felt like a bomb exploded in my mouth, literally, and unconsciously, I broke out in sweat and tears flowed out of my eyes. It was that hot and that bad. I have never tried peppers that potent. Our Thai host smiled when she saw me like this, and squealed in delight: “Very good, ha?”

It took a few moments for me to recover, but guess what? After the hotness in my mouth subsided, I had a light feeling, like I released all the tensions and toxins in my mind and body. It was a nice feeling, but will I try taking that kind of pepper again to get to it? No thank you.

Hot is just one of the bold tastes of Thai cuisine that foreigners must overcome if they are to enjoy it. My foodie friends, who had initially balked at the hot spices of Thai food but have since crossed the line, say trying it as it is served in the country is an experience worth the tears. I don't know.

It would seem like subtle is something that the Thais achieve by mixing many of their spices and condiments, not by minimizing their use. Thus, you have, for example, all sorts of herbs that taste from bland to bitter to awfully botanical, pounded together to achieve one taste that complement well with meats and stock, best experienced in their soups and dipping sauces.

The most common of their soups, the tom yum, is a showcase of how this orchestra of roots and leaves play out in their cuisine. The result is an experience of flavors you cannot quite pin down because they work well, even the contrasting ones: spicy hot with several levels of sour and tart, salty like the sea, with whispers of the sweet, pulled together by the unmistakable freshness of plants just plucked and thrown into the soup.

At the night food stalls along the main streets of downtown Bangkok, the simple grilled fish takes on the same big, bold flavor with the use of the simple salt. Giant tilapias about two kilos each and catfish-like fishes are coated in rock salt before grilling, so that they are cooked encrusted in snow-like white. Once cooked, the skin is removed to reveal plump, juicy meat inside, with just the proper saltiness that must have come from the salt seeping through the skin while it was cooking.

Desserts, of course, mostly use palm sugar, so that there is an added level of sweetness to them. And their use of coconut milk, very thick and very rich in most of their postres are another example of how the Thais don't hold back in the flavors of their food.*(To be concluded)

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