I walked in the door and saw both Sap and old pal Tom Spencer sitting at the “owner’s
table”, so I limped on in and pulled up a chair. Once I showed my scar to all, Sap
got a fresh bowl of jasmine rice and asked me to try out a dish that he and his
roommates used to live on back when he was going to UT, living with 4 guys to
an apartment, and working every second that he wasn’t studying. The dish, which
isn’t on the menu, is a stir fry using sliced garlic sausage for the protein,
combined with green beans, greens, onions, jalapeño slices, chunks of mild Thai
pepper, garlic, ginger, a little soy sauce, a little fish sauce, some black
pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Sap says that he used to make it with Spam, which
was super cheap back then. “Two cans of Spam and it fed four guys for several
days”, he said. All’s I know is that it was addictively delicious, and Sap,
Tom, me, and waiter Will all ate our fill and there was still plenty left over.
Great, quick stir fry.
I was jonesing for some som tam, and the last time I was in, Will mentioned
that they had gotten a new, larger mortar and pestle, so I figured what better
time to order a shredded green papaya salad. Up north and east in Isaan, where
the dish originated within Thailand, it is known as tam bak hung. The Thai
som tam is very similar to the Lao salad tam
mak hung and the Cambodian salad bok
l’hong so those are thought to be its origins. Papaya was brought from Latin
America to the Philippines by the Spanish in 1550, and spread into Thailand
from Laos and Cambodia in the northeast, by way of Vietnam, and from Malaysia
in the south. In present day Thailand, papaya grows wild, everywhere. The “tam”
in som tam means “to crush” or “to pound”-- a verb that is most commonly used
when a mortar and a pestle are involved. Som means “sour”, so the word
combination som tam refers to something sour that is pounded in the mortar. The
salad is listed at number 5 on the World's 50 Most Delicious Foods
complied by CNN Go in 2011.
It is made from shredded, unripened papaya mixed with tomato or cherry tomato,
palm sugar or a mix of white sugar and palm sugar, garlic, shallots, lime
juice, and chiles. It is very common to include sections of long beans or
green beans in the papaya mix, and if you get it in Isaan, or made by someone
from Isaan, it might substitute pla ra fermented fish paste, or boo kem fermented
and salted land crabs for the fish sauce. The salad is usually served with a
mound of steamed sticky rice on the side, to soak up the dressing. If you get
it in a restaurant, it will often have the sticky rice as well as a small
platter of vegetables (lettuce, cabbage leaves, cucumber slices, etc) to use as
edible “scoops” when eating the salad. The beauty of som tam is that it is
made-to-order by the cook, or street vendor, so it is easy to customize the
salad to your own liking: number of prik kee nuu chiles, saltier, sweeter, more
sour, etc. It is not unusual for a Thai open-air restaurant to have a som tam
vendor as a separate operator, but loosely affiliated with the restaurant.
When you’re on the street you can locate a som tam vendor by the “pok-pok”
sound of their mortar and pestle as they pound the ingredients to lightly
soften them. The mortar for a vendor is
usually a concave, partially hollowed-out section of log, with a pestle made of
sugar
plum or tamarind wood. It is the resonating sound of pestle hitting on log that
makes the echoing “pok-pok”. In the home kitchen, the salad mortar might be
made of fired clay, or could even be carved granite (especially from a town
called Ang Sila). On the street, the vendor will take the papaya in the left
hand, held in a towel, and using a smallish machete-like knife, make a rapid
series of shallow, parallel, vertical cuts. She then shaves off a layer of the
papaya, revealing perfect julienne strips of green papaya. Throw those and the
rest of the ingredients in the mortar, pound them vigorously for 15 or 20
seconds or so with the pestle, and you have yourself a wonderful salad. You can
also find it made with julienned green mango, though it isn’t really “green”
mango, but a crisp-fleshed, sweet-tart variety of mango that tastes kind of
like Asian pear crossed with green apple, and a faint mango edge.
The version served at Sap’s is known as Som Tam Thai, and is made with papaya,
lime juice, Thai green chiles, palm sugar, fish sauce, garlic, tomato, served
with lettuce on the side, and topped with peanuts and fried dried shrimp. This
version is not as spicy as the typical versions made by cooks from Isaan, which
can be amazingly, brain searingly hot. The guys back in the kitchen can
certainly heat it up for you if you like. Whatever heat you like it, it’s
delicious.
I had never ordered Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant before, either here in the
States, or in Thailand. I’ve tasted the dish when others have ordered it, but
figured that it was high time I ordered me some Sap’s Pad Thai. ‘ Pad Thai ' actually means pad
, or phad or phat (‘stir-fried'), and Thai or tai (‘freedom').
The word Thai means ‘freedom', but when the name of this famous noodle
dish is written in Thai script, the Thai in pad Thai is not the
same spelling as the word for ‘freedom', instead, it means ‘Thai-style'. So the
term refers to Thai-style stir-fried noodles. Pad Thai has been called ‘The
National Dish of Thailand', although that seems to be mostly because it is the
Thai dish most known by Westerners and one that they know to not be spicy; and
incidentally, one of the more-ordered dishes at Sap’s. If you asked any Thai on
the street in-country what their national dish was, I doubt “…pad thai…” would
be the answer that you received. It is, after all, a Vietnamese dish which uses
Chinese ingredients. It is rare that a Thai would ever cook this dish at home
these days, choosing instead to purchase it from their favorite street vendors
and restaurants that specialize in the dish. It is popular as lunch, dinner, or
as a late night dining option after a night of partying.
Pad Thai is a stir-fried noodle dish
with a flavor combination of sweet (white sugar, palm sugar, or in the States
as a cheap and easy shortcut, ketchup), sour (vinegar, lime, and/or tamarind),
and salty (fish sauce or sea salt), and a textural contrast between soft
noodles, pickled vegetable, crunchy bean sprouts, peanuts, fried tofu, dried
shrimps, and any meat or seafood used by the cook, if any. It is cooked on a
flat-surfaced pan, and not cooked in a wok. Popular choices for additional
ingredients include chicken, pork, shrimp, or tofu, but beef, squid, or
cuttlefish can be used as well. Depending on the regional style, cooks might
add chile powder (phrik pon) or mild paprika for color. If ordered from
a street vendor, the customer will indicate which of the added ingredients they
prefer. The customer will then use any of the noodle condiments to adjust the
final taste to their individual preference: roasted ground chile, sliced chile
in vinegar, fish sauce, fresh chile sauce, minced peanuts, or sugar.
Originally the dish was prepared for
take-away dining by street vendors by placing a sheet of newspaper down, lining
it with banana leaves, placing the order of noodles on top of the banana
leaves, and then wrapping the package up securely before securing it with twine
made from banana stalks; a method much more romantic than today's styrofoam.
However, this dish is best when eaten as soon as possible after it is removed
from the stove.
The
History of Pad Thai:
Some culinary historians attribute pad
Thai to Vietnamese origins, probably based on Banh Pho Xao Sate or a
derivative, a dish of stir-fried rice stick noodles with sate (garlic,
peanuts, and chiles), mung bean sprouts, meat of some sort, scallions, and fish
sauce, often served with pickled vegetables. The dish was said to be imported
to the ancient Thai capital city of Ayuthaya by Viet traders, and was then
altered to reflect the Thai flavor profile and assigned a name reflecting its
newly acquired Thainess.
Although variations of the dish
existed hundreds of years before, pad Thai was formally promoted as a
culinary entity and made popular by Prime Minister Luang Pibulsonggram (also transliterated
as Phibunsongkhram) during WW II. He wanted to reduce rice consumption during
the war (the Thai economy was based largely on rice exports), and there were
serious budget constraints at the time. He launched a massive campaign to teach
the poor how to manufacture rice noodles, and how to open noodle establishments
(shophouse cafes and hawker carts), while using the dish as a tie-in to his
campaign for quasi-fascist ultra-nationalism. Phibunsongkhram was the leader of
the military revolt which toppled the absolute monarchy in 1932, launched a
campaign to introduce western attire, and consolidated the language to promote
the Central Thai style and exclude regional dialects. He danced a pragmatic
line between appearing to aid the Japanese while maintaining some semblance of
Thai independence. After watching Japan destructively blitzkrieg their way
across Malaysia, he declared Thailand an ally of Japan. He was forced to resign
by the nationalists after Japan’s defeat, but carried out a coup a few years
later to regain control, this time under a façade of democracy. After a
relatively lengthy and rocky reign, he was forced into exile in Japan after a
coup in 1957. Pad Thai lived on.
Companion Dishes:
Although
many pad Thai vendors concentrate solely on making this single dish, a
large number of pad Thai vendors will also offer companion dishes, since
they are mostly made from the same ingredients: Khanom phak gad (white radish
[daikon] cakes tossed with chile flakes, bean sprouts, and Chinese leeks with a
light soy-based sauce) and Hoi tod (a thin mussel omelet with bean
sprouts, served with chile sauce) .
We should warn the reader against
restaurants or vendors who cook huge batches of pad Thai and hold them
to be dispensed when ordered. The informed diner should deal only with a cook
who prepares a single serving of pad Thai, cooked-to-order, which is how
Sap’s cooks the dish…one order at a time. A cook who specializes in pad Thai
will often use a measured amount of a pre-combined ‘mother' sauce rather
than add each seasoning ingredient sequentially in a step-by-step process. This
is done to speed up the cooking time and produce the dish quickly and with
efficiency, and also guarantee consistency from plate-to-plate. Thai bottlers
sell commercial versions of this pre-mixed sauce for cooks who want to make pad
Thai at home and don't have the training to do so.
Regional
Styles of Pad Thai:
Pad Thai
Ayuthaya: The accepted style of Ayuthaya uses a relatively sweet
mother sauce made from palm sugar, white sugar, tamarind juice, sea salt, and
fish sauce. The components of the dish are: wide rice noodles, mother sauce,
crispy garlic, salted and preserved Tien jing cabbage, tiny dried shrimp,
Chinese leeks, roasted and ground peanuts, and roasted chile powder. If egg is
desired, the dish is pushed to one side of the pan, an egg is added and
scrambled, and then combined with the mixture. Since the sauce is so sweet,
this version relies on balance of taste by using sour fruits as part of the
garnish: slivered starfruit, banana blossom julienne, peanuts, pennywort
leaves, Chinese leeks, and chile powder.
Pad Mii
Korat: This is a spicy version of pad Thai from Korat, also
known as Nakhon Ratchasima, ‘The Gateway to Issan'. It uses shredded cabbage or
pak boong (water spinach), chiles, fish sauce, vinegar, sweet dark soy,
tamarind, sugar, pickled garlic, pickled ginger, scrambled egg, and round egg
noodles called sen mii, garnished with cucumber slices and cilantro
leaves. It is usually eaten at lunch, often accompanied by som tam (spicy
green papaya salad).
Pad Mii
Krathok (from the Chokchai region): A specialty version from west of
Korat, using minced garlic, minced onions, minced chilles, minced peanut,
coarsely-chopped pork, sugar, fish sauce, and raw fresh noodles, garnished with
chives and mung bean sprouts.
Pad Thai
Krung Thep : Bangkok-Style Pad Thai: This Central-style version uses
garlic, Chantaboon sen lek rice noodles, rice vinegar, fish sauce, diced
fried tofu, tiny dried shrimp, salted and preserved Tien jing cabbage, roasted
and ground peanuts, roasted chile powder, sugar, mung bean sprouts, Chinese
leeks or chives, scrambled egg. Garnishes include: mung bean sprouts, Chinese
leeks, banana blossom julienne, and lime wedges. Housewives in the countryside
say the name, Pad Thai Krung Thep, with disgust and consider it overly
elaborate and think of it as rich people showing off. They don't realize how
competitive the pad thai street vendor scene in Bangkok really is, and how
demanding the vendor's customers can be.
Woon Sen
Pad Thai: This is an alternate style which became popular in
Bangkok in the early 1990's, using thin, translucent woon sen noodles
made from mung bean starch. This version uses thick tamarind juice in place of
vinegar, combined with the standard ingredients. It is a bit spicier, using
dried and roasted, ground phrik kii nuu chile powder both as an
ingredient and as one of the garnishes.
Pad Thai Mangsawirat:
A vegetarian version of the classic Bangkok style, using tofu and beans
(black eyed peas, mung beans, soy beans, green beans, long beans, etc.) or
other vegetables while omitting the dried shrimp and egg, as well as any added
meats or seafood.
Pad Mii
Rayong/Chanthaburi:
This version is the basis for the
pad Thai cooked
at Sap’s. Originally it is made with crab: claw and lump crab meat in the
expensive version, hacked-apart crab in-the-shell for the home-style version.
The sauce is sweeter than the Central styles, using shallot, palm sugar,
tamarind, vinegar, fish sauce, and scrambled egg. It uses a red chile powder
made from the milder long, red Thai chiles which are de-deeded, dried, and
ground; it adds chile flavor fruitiness without the piquant heat.
At Thai restaurants in the States pad
Thai is generally cooked with added meat or seafood, changing what is
normally an inexpensive vendor dish into a full-blown entrée; this is seldom
seen in Thailand, except in middle to upper class restaurants. Ketchup and
vinegar are used much more widely here than is tamarind, and except for rare
occasions, the dish is cooked only in restaurants; street vendor versions only
appear at special occasions in the States, such as temple fairs or food fairs.
With any of these versions Chinese
leeks are preferred, but can be substituted with chives or scallions. Salted
and preserved Tien jing cabbage can be substituted with preserved turnip
(the sweeter version of the pickled vegetable is preferred over the saltier version).
The standard condiment used on pad Thai
in Thailand is Siracha sauce.
Naam jiim
Siracha: Siracha (Sriracha) sauce is a bottled table condiment
originally made in Siracha, a coastal town just north of Pattaya (down the
coast south of Bangkok). It's a reddish-orange sauce made from pureed and
aged-fermented ripe chiles, salt, vinegar, garlic, and sugar, which is used
especially with egg and noodle dishes. Thai brands are preferred, since they
have the true Thai taste, which balances sweet and sour with the heat (and
there are some Thai brands that also offer a mild version if you prefer less
heat). Vietnamese brands, such as the common Huy Fong (‘Rooster Brand') are
spicier, with more garlic, vinegar, and little sugar. Huy Fong, by the way, is
made in Los Angeles, from ripe jalapeños and garlic powder. ‘Sriracha Factory
Brand', ‘Grand Mountain', and ‘Golden Mountain' are all good Thai labels of a
proper Thai Siracha sauce.
Originally Siracha sauce was made
with Thai yellow chiles (
prik daeng), which many feel results in a richer, deeper-flavored sauce.
‘Golden Mountain' brand still produces a version made with these yellow chiles
(which can range in color from bright yellow to medium orange), although it is
hard to find. You'll recognize the lighter color of the sauce inside the
bottle, and if you ever find any on the shelf in your local market, you'd be
wise to stock-up. Siracha sauce is used especially for omelets (
kai jaew), for general-purpose spiciness with
noodles, and grilled and deep-fried items, and, only in the East, with
lard
na.
A scene from a sauce factory near Chonburi, not too far north of Si Racha. These cases hold oyster sauce.
Okay, so I loved the pad Thai at Sap’s, as much as I resent folks ordering it
repeatedly and never experimenting with the rest of the menu. I finished up the
meal with a bowl of the new pineapple sorbet, which was aromatic, sweet and
tart, and the perfect way to end a Thai meal. It tasted like frozen ripe
pineapples (sorry, forgot the photo). Good grub, as always.
Mick Vann ©
