Siamese delights

Bengali comes to her just as easily as tossing up a red Thai curry. Having made Kolkata her home, Thai masterchef Sritarnai Tapanee, is the woman at the wok at Pan Asian, the speciality Asian cuisine restaurant at the ITC Sonar. She’s been with the restaurant ever since it opened in 2003 and having found her moorings, she appears to be in no hurry to move back to Thailand in the near future.

Tapanee has had no formal training in catering but she picked up her culinary skills by simply watching her mother cook — right from the age of 15. Soon after, she set up her own restaurant in Bangkok and called it Ruan Pai or House of Bamboo. Chef Mama (a nickname that has stuck) was known back then for her signature crispy fried fish that was served with a spicy sauce. But the demands of growing children and a large family forced her to shut shop.

A few years later Tapanee moved to the Philippines where she worked in a restaurant called Taste of Thailand for a couple of years. From there she moved to Kolkata in 2001 and joined The Oberoi Grand as its Thai chef. She joined ITC soon after it opened its doors in Kolkata in 2003 and has been tossing up Thai delicacies since. Here are three recipes from her repertoire:

Pla Nung Boey
(Steamed fish in Thai pickled plums)

Ingredients
3 fillets of bekti, 40gm each 4 Thai pickled plums ½tsp sesame oil 1tsp oyster sauce ½tsp white pepper powder 100ml chicken stock 5gm celery, cut into slants Corn flour slurry to thicken

For garnish: 2 red chillies, cut into slants 3gm ginger, julienned 2-3 sprigs of celery

Method
Steam the fish and set aside. In a pan add a little oil and sauté the Thai pickled plums. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer to form a sauce. Add corn flour slurry to thicken the sauce, so that it comes to a coating consistency. Pour on top of the steamed fish and garnish with red chillies, ginger juliennes and celery leaves. Serve hot.


Phad Kai Boran
(Stir fried chicken flavoured with chillies, galangal and other Thai herbs)

Ingredients
300gm chicken legs, halved 70gm dry red chillies, boiled 10gm galangal 5gm garlic, chopped 10gm onion, chopped 10gm lemon grass 30gm American corn 1 egg, beaten Corn flour for dusting Salt to taste

Method
Marinate the chicken in a mixture of egg, salt and corn flour. Deep-fry and keep aside. In a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and blend in a mixer to form a paste. In a pan, add a little oil and sauté the paste till slightly cooked. Add the chicken and simmer in the sauce till cooked. Serve hot.


Kaeng Phed Pead Yuan
(Roast duck curry)

Ingredients
300gm roast duck, sliced 20gm pineapple, diced 20gm apple, diced 20gm Californian grapes, deseeded and cut into halves 20gm pea aubergine 400ml coconut milk 70gm red curry paste ½tsp fish sauce 5gm sweet basil, for garnish

Method
Put all the ingredients in a pan and simmer till cooked partially. When the curry becomes a little thick, add the roast duck slices and simmer. Add sweet basil and serve hot.


As told to Nandini Guha
The Personal Telegraph