Some Thai food ...

Last October on the way back from Melbourne we stopped over in Bangkok.   This was during the monsoon period and the Chao Phraya river which runs through the middle of the city was flooding.   It was a bizarre sight to see restaurants and shops still open despite being knee deep in water.
(We were only there for the day but the flooding - the worst in more than 50 years - eventually affected over 13.5 million people and killed more than 800.)

  

At the airport bookshop I bought Martin Boetz's "Modern Thai Food", a mouthwatering collection of over 100 recipes with a modern twist to traditional Thai cuisine.   Boetz is the owner-chef of the two "Longrain" Thai restaurants in Australia - in Sydney and, more recently, Melbourne.   He is a protege of the legendary David Thompson, whose early restaurant in Australia - Darley Street Thai in Sydney - Boetz apprenticed at in the kitchen. 

David Thompson's own Bangkok restaurant "Nahm" was named earlier this week in the list of World's Top 50 Restaurants; he has a similar establishment in London which has a Michelen Star to its name.   Several years ago I did a cooking class with David Thompson and he is also an inspirational teacher.   

His own book on Thai cuisine "Thai Food" was released several years ago and became an instant classic; my copy is signed by him!   It is an exhaustive compedium on Thai food incorporating recipes attached to funeral pamphlets from the 18th and 19th centuries; Thai famnilies used to bury their dead with copies of their favourite recipes so they could 'share' them in the afterlife.

So respected is David Thompson that the Thai government appointed him as a special representative to over see the rehabilitation of ancient Thai cuisine.

Anyway, the other day we managed to get some beef undercut - which is not easy to find or purchase here in Hyderabad where goat rules the land - and I turned to Martin Boetz's book for this delicious recipe.   What makes it special is the potent sauce - more of a slurry as the food writers would say!? - made up of a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic & ginger, rice wine, dark vinegar and sugar.

The beef is cooked slowly for a considerable period and the sauce gives it a smoky, sweet and sour taste once you slice it onto a plate and top with a simple Thai herb salad dressed with lime juice and fish sauce. 

Braised beef shin with Thai herbs

Ingredients:

500g beef    2T thick soy sauce    100 ml oil    5 cloves garlic    4cm ginger, peeled    2 coriander roots, cleaned    1 red onion    100ml rice wine    3 1/2 T rock sugar, crushed    100ml oyster sauce    750 ml chicken stock    3 T black Chinese vinegar (or use balsamic)    1 t salt

Herb salad:    3T fresh lime juice    1/2 cayenne pepper    1 T fish sauce    2 green chillies, chopped    coriander leaves   mint leaves    2 spring onions, chopped    2 shallots, sliced    1 red chilli, crushed

Method:     

1/.   Rub beef with soy sauce then quickly brown on all sides.   Place in a braising dish.   

2/.   Pound garlic, ginger, coriander root and onion to a paste.   Heat oil in heavy based pot and fry paste till golden brown.   Discard excess oil & deglaze pot with rice wine.   Add sugar, oyster sauce and stock, bring to boil and then pour over beef in dish.   Cover with cooking paper & fopil and cook gently for 1 1/2 hours approx until meat is soft.

3/.   Remove meat and boil down liquid to reduce to a third in volume.   Add vinegar and salt to taste.

4/.   Herb salad:   combine lime juice, red pepper, fisah sauce and chillies - should tatse hot & sour.

Toss rest of ingredients in a bowl and add dressing.  

5/.   To serve, slice beef into 1 cm slices and reheat in the braising liquid.   Place meat on plate and pour over sauce.   Place herb salad on top and serve with white rice.

Tony saab, Hyderabad May 2012