AUSPICIOUS THAI FOOD

In Thailand it is believed the good things which occur only once during a person’s lifetime, or are happening for the first time, are auspicious. Events of this kind include weddings, ordination into Buddhist monkhood, and the ceremonial blessing of a new home.

A wedding marks the point in life where an individual is ready to start a family, and to accept the responsibility of keeping it healthy and stable. Most people intend to do this only once during their lives.

When a boy is ordained, it is an occasion of great pride for his parents. The purpose of becoming a monk is to study and acquire knowledge of Buddhism. Even if he ordains only for a short period, Buddhist religious teachings will help him develop the mindfulness and discipline of thought that will contribute towards him being a good person in his subsequent life. One such ordination suffices for a lifetime if the monk is serious about his studies.

Moving into a first house signals a point in life where one is settling in and establishing a household. Of course, the future can bring changes. A person may become wealthy and successful and subsequently move into a larger home. The inauguration of any new house is considered auspicious.

The Thai approach to organising celebrations for auspicious events like these is shaped by the family-orientated nature of Thai society, and by the Buddhist religion. Monks invariably take part. Making ‘merit’ by presenting food to them is always the first priority. Once the formal ceremonies and rituals have been concluded, a meal is offered to relatives and friends.

This means the celebration is a major event with many relatives pitching in to help with the tasks. Men take charge of setting up the area where it is to be held and with the religious ceremony; women are responsible for preparing the food.

Food prepared to celebrate auspicious events includes savoury dishes and sweets. According to Thai tradition, there are three things that can make food suitable for such an occasion. The first is simply its name. The second is any symbolic significance that the dish may have. The third is its colour.

The list of dishes prepared for a ceremony to celebrate a new home, an ordination, or a wedding, are largely the same. In the case of a wedding, however, there are certain restrictions. Some of the food prepared for a house blessing or an ordination should not be served when a couple is being married.

Among the savoury dishes there must always be khanom jeen nam yaa -- round white noodles made from fermented rice flour served with a spicy sauce based on pureed fish meat. The khanom jeen rice noodles are important for their symbolism: they are long and have a chewy texture, and represent something that lasts a long time and is not easily broken. According to folk belief, when the rice noodles are served at a wedding, they will make the union long and durable.

The noodles also symbolize cooperative work, since they are not easy to make. The process of separating and fermenting the rice starch, forming it into strands, and then cooking them requires teamwork involving a number of people.

Photo © TAT

Mee krawb, or crisp-fried, fine-gauge rice noodles are also served. The rice-flour pasta used to make them has the same symbolic significance as the khanom jeen.

Photo © The Rose Garden

The mild curry called kaeng massaman in Thai is included because of its name. The final syllable, man, means firm dedication, achieving goals through diligence and persistence. Again, the dish is complicated to make, requiring time and effort. The preferred version is usually beef massaman curry.

Photo © TAT

Haw moke (banana-leaf cups filled with fish and herbs in a spicy and savoury coconut cream custard) is also served because of its auspicious name. The word haw means to wrap or bundle together. In terms of a family, it might mean that its members remain loving and close.

Watermelon eaten with pounded dried fish is another favourite for these occasions. The red colour of the melon stands for happiness. Although the watermelon is a sweet fruit, when eaten together with the dried fish it is considered a savoury dish rather than a dessert.

The fish is prepared by taking dried plaa chon, or snakehead fish, and grilling it. When it is done, it is pounded fine and fried in oil and cane sugar. The flavour is both sweet and salty, and when sprinkled over the red watermelon, is delicious.

Sausages and the pork recipe called muu naem are two dishes so closely associated with each other that they can’t be separated, hence their symbolism of a durable union. The special sausages are made by frying minced pork with coarsely pounded peanuts and seasoning, a mixture to make it both sweet and salty, then forcing it into pork casings. Muu naem is also made from minced pork. The meat is fried together with shreds of pork skin, raw rice that has been toasted and pounded, shallots, chopped pickled garlic, and the zest of a local citrus called som saa, then seasoned with fish sauce, lime and palm sugar. The resultant flavour combines sourness, saltiness and sweetness. It is difficult to make and, as a result, is made only for auspicious occasions.

As mentioned earlier, certain savoury dishes can’t be served at a wedding celebration. The sour/hot salads called yam are off-limits because the word yam suggests the Thai words riyam or rayam, impolite terms that mean, roughly, ‘despicable’. There should be no such feelings in the lives of a newly-married couple. The bland, soup-like dish called tom jued is similarly avoided, because blandness is something else that should have no part in married life. Such dishes, however, can be served at other types of auspicious occasions.

Photo © TAT

As for desserts, there are certain kinds that are ‘musts’ at any celebratory occasion of this type. The egg yolk-based sweets associated with gold -- thong in Thai -- should always be prepared. These include the long, golden strands called foy thong, the fluted thong yip, the golden drops called thong yawd, and med khanoon (small pellets of taro and bean paste covered with egg yolk mixture and boiled in syrup, made to resemble jackfruit seeds). All are at the top of the list of auspicious desserts because their names include the Thai word for gold and they are bright yellow in colour, like the metal.

All of them are extremely sweet and very difficult to make. Only experienced cooks can make them turn out right, so once again, they are reserved for special occasions. Originally they were of Portuguese origin, introduced into Thailand by Marie Guimar, the Portuguese wife of a high-ranking official during the seventeenth-century Ayutthaya period reign of King Narai the Great.

Yolks from duck eggs are beaten until they become thick and then cooked in boiling syrup. They have to be made in a specific order, with the foy thong prepared first. The beaten yolks are put into a funnel-like utensil punctured with many tiny holes. They cook into strands that cluster together and are then removed and set out in bunches to cool.

Next come thong yip. This time the beaten yolks are poured into hot syrup to form small patties which are then transferred to cool syrup using a spoon. Once they have cooled somewhat they can be picked up and squeezed with the fingers to give them their fluted shape. When entirely cooked, they are arranged on a plate.

Beaten duck egg yolks are also used to make thong yawd, but first they are mixed with flour to give them a thicker consistency so that when dripped into the hot syrup, they solidify into a round, drop-like shape.

Last to be made are the med khanoon. The centres are made from a mixture of pureed taro and bean paste that has been cooked slowly with sugar until it becomes sufficiently thick to form pellets. These are dipped in egg yolk and put into a pan of hot syrup.

Foy thong, the most delicate of these sweets, is made first when the syrup is clear. By the time the med khanoon are placed into the syrup, it has become somewhat cloudy, but that makes no difference because this sweet doesn’t have to have the same bright yellow colour as the others.

Besides these golden sweets, another important sweet for auspicious occasions is khanom chan, a confection whose chewy layers, in different colours, are made from glutinous rice flour. Since the word chan can mean ‘layer’ or ‘level’, the sweet’s symbolism suggests good things will increase and in stages.

Maphrao kaew is made by taking shreds of tender coconut meat and cooking them in thick syrup before setting them out to cool. The sugar solidifies into a glaze, and the coconut, formed into small, tangled cakes, becomes a sweet, nutty treat. It is included here because the word kaew has the meaning of ‘clear, open, sincere’.

These are the most familiar of the sweets made for auspicious occasions. There are really no restrictions on the desserts that can be served on an occasion like this because the Thai word for sweets, khong waan, is in itself auspicious.

This byway of Thai culinary culture is interesting because it shows the symbolic value that some traditional dishes still possess. They are served on auspicious occasions because their name, or colour, or physical quality, promises good things in the future.

And there is one last reason why guests at such celebrations look forward to eating them: they are made by skilful cooks and taste delicious. People enjoying them are satisfied and happy, so the good fortune the dishes are intended to invoke is already being felt, then and there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Suthon Sukphisit
A former staff member of the Bangkok Post Outlook section, Suthon Sukphisit has written articles on Thailand’s art and culture and on topics related to Thai society, history, archaeology, architecture, environment and education. He now spends his leisure time pursuing another topic in which he is well-versed: food and cuisine.