By Kay Plunkett-Hogge

When The Wine Show creator Melanie Jappy challenged me to create a Thai Pop-Up menu for Joe and Jaega to go head-to-head, wine vs beer, I knew I couldn’t serve up the usual favourites everyone has tried before.

There’s nothing wrong with a good Pad Thai or a vibrant Green Curry – but if I was going to challenge Joe and Jaega, I wanted to challenge myself as well.

So… no dishes that you’d find on your local Thai restaurant menu. And not a list of recipes from my cookery book, Baan.

To add to the challenge, I also knew that, among the guests, I’d be cooking for a Thai Masterchef finalist, a Thai restaurateur with a Michelin Bib, and representatives from the Royal Thai Embassy. No room for slouching with this crowd.

Digging deep into my archives, I came up with a menu of dishes that most of our guests would have never had before – a menu I was certain would have the two J’s scratching their heads.

 When it comes to drinking and Thai food, most people swerve beerwards or towards a long iced whisky soda, or maybe a plain old fashioned Coca Cola in a frosty glass. But I love wine with my Thai food. It just has to be the right wine. And for me – that’s a red. Yup. You heard me. Even though the conventional farang thinking is to plump for a Gewurtz or a Sauvignon Blanc.

The thing is that there’s no tradition of wine drinking in Thailand, so there is no conventional thinking on food pairings. Which means you can do what the hell you like. I find juicy Argentine Malbecs particularly rewarding. But my favourite reds with Thai are a Shiraz or Shiraz/Viogner blends. They tend to be ripe, friendly, genuine wines. And if I had to pick just one, it would be a wine made by the legendary Bert Salomon in the Finniss River region of South Australia, a wine allegedly created to go with Thai food. Coincidentally, it just happens to be called Baan.

And the winner of the battle? A draw. Which, as you’ll have seen, Jaega thinks was a cop out. But honestly, with so much flavour crashing about on the plates and in the glasses, it was like being asked to choose a favourite between your pets. Or children. If you have any.

Of the dishes we served, here are three. They are all recipes that are totally achievable for the home cook, and highlight the complexity of pairing Thai food and wine.

To watch Kay, Joe and Jaega battle it out at the Thai Pop-Up, head over to Amazon Prime UK and watch Episode 3 of Series 3

Recipes  

Tangmo Pla Haeng

(Watermelon with Dried Fish)

First up - a chilled watermelon with ‘fish candy’. Fruit and fish.  As an hors d’oeuvre. This is a very old-school Thai dish, often savoured during the very hot summer months – it’s refreshing, sweet and savoury all at the same time.

 Don’t rush the fish cooking process!

500g salmon or trout fillet(s)

2 tbsp table salt

5 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp deep fried crispy shallots

50g toasted, grated coconut (optional) 

1 watermelon

Steam, bake or grill the fish until it’s just done. Allow to cool slightly and then peel off the skin if there is any.

Gently flake the fish into chunks. Let it cool completely. Then pound it in a pestle and mortar, or pulse in a food processor until you’re left with tiny flakes.

Place the fish into a dry pan or skillet over a medium-low heat and stir, cooking until all the flakes are dry and golden – this can take up to 30 minutes, sometimes more. DO NOT RUSH IT or turn up the heat. You may need to do this in batches.

Remove the skillet from the heat and let it cool a bit – when you add the sugar, you want it to melt in a bit, but not to turn sticky – just enough coat the fish flakes. Stir in the sugar, salt and fried shallots.  Add the coconut, if using, and leave to cool.

The finished fish mixture can be made ahead of time, and stored up to a week in an airtight container.

Serve:

 Cube a watermelon, removing the skin and seeds. Chill. Then, when you’re ready to bring the dish to the table, either scoop some of the fish-sugar mixture onto a plate and dip in the cubes at your leisure, or arrange them on a nice platter and sprinkle with the ‘fish candy’ before serving.

TIP

Deep fried crispy shallots can be bought ready-made – but of you want to do it yourself: peel and finely slice 6–12 Thai shallots. Add them to a cold wok of vegetable oil. Slowly heat over a medium hob, stirring until the shallots are crisp and golden. Remove immediately to paper towel to drain.

Nam Prik Akha

(Akha Relish)

This searingly hot and fragrant charred vegetable relish could easily pick a fist fight with wine. Or beer. It comes from the hills of the Golden Triangle, where the Akha highland people use a vast amount of vegetables in their cooking. Unlike their Thai neighbours, they do not use fish sauce for seasoning, just salt, chillies and herbs. Which makes this a perfect vegetarian/vegan dish.

7 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tomatoes, halved

10–12 birds eye chillies

6 dried birds’ eye chillies

1 coriander sprig, chopped, plus extra to finish

1 small spring onion, chopped, plus extra to finish

Salt to taste

Place all the ingredients, except the coriander and spring onion, onto wooden skewers and grill gently over coals, turning occasionally, until charred. Alternatively wrap them in foil and heat them in a dry skillet until cooked.

In a pestle and mortar, pound the dried chillies. Then add the cooked garlic and chillies. Pound them together. Add the tomatoes, and very gently pound them. Add 1½–2 tbsp stock. Add the coriander and spring onion and stir through.

Serve:

Serve with steamed assorted vegetables and boiled eggs.

Yum Haew

(Water Chestnut Salad)

At first glance, this recipe seems to involve a lot of prep and wok-ing, but it’s actually very do-able and well worth the effort.. It’s also not spicy, just piquant, making it a useful salad to bring some balance to a meal.

Serves 4–6 as a part of a larger meal

1 tbsp nam pla (fish sauce)

1 tbsp lime juice

½ tsp sugar

7 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp fresh garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped — about 2–3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp shallots, peeled and finely chopped — about 1–2 shallots

2 tbsp pork, minced

2 tbsp prawns, minced

2 tbsp cooked crab meat

200g (drained weight) tinned water chestnuts, drained, rinsed and finely sliced

1 tbsp pickled garlic, finely chopped

2 large red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced

a handful of coriander leaves

Mix the nam pla, sugar and lime juice together. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a wok until it’s almost smoking, and fry the fresh garlic until it’s golden, stirring it in the oil all the time to stop it burning. Remove and set aside to drain on kitchen paper. Wipe out the wok, add more oil, and repeat the process with the shallots, cooking them until they’re brown and crispy. Set aside to drain.

Wipe out the wok again. Heat another tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the pork until it’s cooked. Remove and set aside. Then, wipe out the wok, add a little more oil, and repeat the process with the prawns.

Now, in a bowl, mix together the water chestnuts, the pork, the prawns, the crab and the pickled garlic. Divide the fried shallots, fried garlic and the sliced chillies in half. Add one half to the salad, followed by the dressing and gently mix together.

Serve:

Turn out onto a nice serving dish, sprinkle with the remainder of the fried shallots and garlic, some coriander leaves and the remaining sliced chilli.

TIP

Quite often, you can find tins of sliced water chestnuts. These work perfectly well for this salad. Just drain, rinse and pat them day, and you’re good to go.

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