We can do it!

Some time ago I wrote about True Thai and frugal dining. As a public health nurse working with lower income clients, I appreciate that times are very hard for some, and not easy for hardly anyone. Increasingly, eating out is a luxury and not just a treat.

But True Thai keeps doing good business. Why? I think you already know why. True Thai is very affordable. Yet our costs are the same as those of other Thai restaurants, and in some cases even higher because of our insistence on authentic ingredients. So how does True Thai stay in business?

We stay in business because of you, our customers. Because of your loyalty we don't have to spend money on marketing or advertising. Instead of running ads in City Pages, I post to this blog. Instead of 4-color ads in glossy magazines, I tweet. Instead of trying to sell you an extra beer or upgrade you from a glass to a bottle of wine, we encourage you to economize so you can visit us more often.

Whether you knew it or not, you're part of the True Thai family, and being part of a family means you have privileges. You can order your food the way you like it, not the way some restaurant critic insisted was correct. We don't have any ketchup on hand, but if you bring in your own, we won't stop you from using it.

True Thai is your restaurant and my refuge. When I go to True Thai each night, it's like going home to Thailand. As a Thai American, I thank you for sharing my dream of introducing Minnesota to quality Thai food. And, as a public health nurse, I thank you for making the decision to eat healthy food prepared in the Thai style.

Together we can beat this recession!

New Queen of All Curries!

How do you like the new Queen of All Curries photo? Sonali at Rich Photos has taken some wonderful photos of me in the most beautiful costumes. This dress is from the Tang Dynasty and it was even more gorgeous in person than it is in this photo.

If you know your Asian history, you know that the Tang Dynasty was the most famous of all Chinese dynasties and lasted almost three hundred years. During that time the Chinese invented gunpowder and printing but they did not invent curry so maybe it is a little silly that I am using this for my new Queen of All Curries picture but this dress is so fabulous that I cannot resist.

If you are a faithful reader of Anna's True Thai News, you may remember that I wrote about the Queen of all Curries last May, but if you are new to this blog you may not know that I am speaking about Green Curry. How good is True Thai Green Curry? It's one of our most popular dishes. Some of our customers find it so addictive they order nothing else.

Does it make sense to wear a Chinese dress while talking about Thai curry? Why not? This is America and these things happen. And here in Minnesota you can do things you would not or could not do in Thailand. You could eat at every restaurant in Thailand from Phuket to Chiang Mai and you would not find anyone who serves Wok-fried Green Chilis & Fresh Sweet Basil with Walleye. (#38 on our menu).

True Thai tongue-twisters

Most people who understand the restaurant business know that it is not an easy way to make a living, but I don't think they appreciate how much harder it is to run True Thai than it is your average restaurant.

At True Thai our staff have conspired to have very confusing names. Over the years our employees have been named Na, Nok and Nuk; Pupe, Paul, Por, Ped, Phet, Phut and Pum; Leanne, Annaliese, Anna and Annie; Vanna and Vanny; Manuel, Mel, Mim, Map, Muk, Myamon, Mayu, Maya and Maria; Anousone, Sone, Sonh, Saw and Somo; Tien, Tun, Tui, Toi, Goi and Joy!

Try to repeat that payroll list three times quickly!



As True Thai continues to grow, I'm sure we'll hire some more employees with names that rhyme (Yada, Golf and Third all need to get rhymed), but sadly I doubt we will find any rhymes or alliterations (สัมผัสอักษร) for Szavio, Chaniga, Boutsady, Souksavanh, Rungravee, or Pollop!

Mom! Mom! There's a crocodile in our living room!

This is a fake crocodile from this guy's website, but it's a good illustration of what happened to me when I was seven years old and I woke up one morning to discover a fully grown crocodile in our living room!

It was a morning like any other morning during rainy season. Koon Tong woke me up (Anna Anna Wake Up Anna!) and I went downstairs, half asleep, to have breakfast. Except I found the ground floor of our house was full of water!

During the night a dam in northern Chanthaburi had burst and half the province was flooded. Our house had never been flooded before and I could not figure out why there was a foot of water everywhere. I was standing in the water looking around when I looked down and I saw next to my feet a tail. A big tail. A big tail attached to a big crocodile.

I retreated back up the stairs and yelled, "Mom! Mom! There's a crocodile in our living room!" My mom came down and we stood there on the stairs watching the crocodile in our living room. He eventually left but then we heard on the radio that the Chamsom Crocodile Farm and Zoo had been hit by the floodwaters and that there were hundreds of crocodiles loose in Chanthaburi.

For three days we lived like prisoners in the upper part of our house, eating dried beef (#16) while we waited for the flood waters to recede. While we waited, we listened to the radio for news that the crocodile infestation was under control.

It was almost Christmas so I will save the rest of this story for December, but seeing that picture on Flickr reminded me of the time Little Anna met a crocodile.

Thank you Heavy Table!

I LOVE HEAVY TABLE AND SUSAN PAGANI!!!

Be sure to read Susan's profile of me. Wow! I've never felt so famous!

I was very nervous about this because I've never been profiled before. We've had many, many great restaurant reviews, but that was always more about the food. Heavy Table's "In Their Own Words" articles are more about the person and less about the food.

Thank you thank you thank you Susan for your kind words and the respect you showed to my family and Thai culture.

And thank you to my wait staff and kitchen staff for working so hard to keep up with all the customers who will be coming in tonight and this weekend to check us out.

Congee

Sorry about the lack of posting but I've been under the weather lately. When I don't feel well, I have the kitchen make me congee, Asia's answer to chicken noodle soup.

Although it has been served in our buffet, congee is not on True Thai's menu. If, however, you are not feeling well, we can make you some to take home with you. Like chicken noodle soup, congee is best eaten at home in your pajamas in an easy chair in front of the TV.

Thai congee is rice soup with with egg and minced beef, pork or seafood, topped with garlic, ginger and onions. I was taught that the name congee itself is the Chinese word for rice soup, but Wikipedia thinks it is Tamil. In Thailand we call it Kao Tom or Jok (โจ๊ก). But, as with chicken noodle soup here, Kao Tom is best when it's made by your mom.

My mom's Kao Tom saw me through the measles, chicken pox, Bangkok flu, and countless colds and fevers. With the exception of Bangkok flu, I'm sure you can say the same for your mom's chicken noodle soup.

Unlike chicken noodle soup, many Asians eat congee for breakfast. It is on the menu in most Chinese restaurants but if you ask, you can get it at almost any Asian restaurant.

Like a mother's love, congee's good for what ails you.

How the tamarind tree saved Little Anna's life

When I moved to the United States I was surprised to discover that no one I met had ever heard of the tamarind tree, or tamarind fruit. I was shocked because tamarind trees are everywhere in Thailand, and play an important role in our culture and cuisine. In fact, it was a tamarind tree that saved little Anna's life.

Phetchabun province is located in the very middle of Thailand. Its official provincial tree is the tamarind but I'm surprised tamarinds are not the official tree of all Thailand. My family home in Chanthaburi has a tamarind tree in the front yard, as do many Thai homes. As you can see from the picture above, fully grown tamarind trees put the mighty English oak to shame.

OK, OK, you are thinking, get to the part about how the tree saved little Anna's life! I remember everything very clearly. It was the dry season and six-year-old Anna was running around in her yard playing when she saw a dog approaching her. The dog didn't look right. It was walking stiff legged and it seemed to be very angry. Little Anna was scared and began running. The dog ran after her, stiff legs sticking out all over the place.

I still remember how scared I was, and how relieved I was to reach the tamarind tree in a neighbor's yard. I climbed up it as fast as I could. Catching my breath I watched as the dog circled the tree. After a while my neighbors saw the dog and chased it away. My mom told me the dog was rabid and that I was lucky I didn't get bitten.

For that reason alone I really like tamarind trees. But even if a tamarind tree had not saved little Anna's life, I would still like them because they are an important part of my favorite Thai foods. Pad Thai would not be Pad Thai (#53) without tamarind. Likewise our Chili-Tamarind Stir Fry (#45) or Chili-Tamarind Fried Rice (#59).

I have told you many times that Thai food tries to be sweet and spicy and sour and salty all at the same time. Tamarind provides much of the sour. There is, however, another kind of tamarind that is sweet, and it is used in candy.
This has been your Thai food lesson for today.

The case of the missing fish sauce

No, this is not a story about fish sauce disappearing from True Thai's storerooms. This is a story about how it came to pass that Europeans stopped eating fish sauce, which is why you can only get fish sauce from Asia now.

If you go to Wikipedia, they tell you this about fish sauce:

Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Cambodian, and Filipino cuisine and is used in other Southeast Asian countries.

But if you scroll down, you will find the story of European style fish sauce.

A similar fish sauce was ubiquitous in Classical Roman cooking, where in Latin it is known as garum or liquamen.... It was made of a variety of fish including tuna, mackerel, moray eel, and anchovies. This attitude derives in part from ancient authors who satirized the condiment, but mostly from the fact that fish sauce was generally unknown in the Western world until very recently. The truth is quite different, and in fact garum only smelled when it was being made. Once the process was complete it had a pleasant aroma for as long as it was usable.

In English it was formerly translated as fishpickle. The original Worcestershire sauce is a related product because it is fermented and contains anchovies.

I bet you did not know that Worcestershire sauce was a variation of fish sauce!

The ancient authors were not kidding when they said fish sauce smells bad when you make it. The area between my part of Chanthaburi and Bangkok has many businesses that make fish sauce. If you have air conditioning in your car, you roll your windows up when you drive by a fish sauce processor. Once the fish sauce is ready to eat, it loses that smell.

It's too bad Europeans gave up on such a healthy condiment just because it smells bad when you make it. That's better, I think, than if it smelled bad when you eat it. At True Thai, we like Squid brand fish sauce.

But there is another point to this story. I am reminding you of how much Asians love fish sauce because I want True Thai's vegetarian customers to remember to tell us that they are vegetarians. If you do, we'll be sure to help you with your order. Many appetizers come with fish sauce or a fish sauce based dipping sauce, but we can substitute that if you like.

A secret most Americans don't know

I cannot believe this. I've had three customers come in over the past two weeks to tell me about this "incredible" YouTube video that taught them the proper way to peel a banana.

Believe me, I already know how to peel a banana. In fact, in Thailand, before I moved to this country, I attended an orientation class and one of the things they warned us about was that "Americans do not know how to peel bananas." I was told it was impolite to correct Americans and so I have never told anyone here the right way to peel a banana. Except once, and that was a mistake.

I taught a friend and his family how to peel a banana, but when I told them the rest of the orientation story they got mad. The orientation teacher told us, yeah, in Thailand even monkeys know how to peel a banana but the Americans can't figure it out!

I think they forgave me but I didn't see them eat many bananas after that. If you would like to peel bananas the Thai way (the correct way — the way monkeys do it), watch this video.

You can thank me the next time you eat at True Thai. (The picture, by the way, shows a banana that's been peeled from the wrong end.)

Pineapple boats on parade

King Narai the Great's Royal Golden Pineapple Fried Rice (#62)

I have never seen anything like it. A group of 14 came in recently and each of them ordered the same thing, King Narai the Great's Royal Golden Pineapple Fried Rice (#62). I have never seen fourteen women so sure of anything as they were of their order. Fortunately they called in advance to let us know what they were ordering which was a very smart thing to do as we rarely have that many pineapples on hand at one time.

It was quite a sight when the wait staff walked out of the kitchen with pineapple boat after pineapple boat after pineapple boat. The staff is still talking about it. Honestly, we have have no idea what all that was about but the women left happy and left good tips so we were happy.

Pineapple boats have a very long and proud tradition in Thailand. Not just to serve fried rice in — there are also boats in the floating marketplaces filled only with pineapples.

But you can find fried rice pineapple boats everywhere, even at Ralph's Farm Market in Murrayville, Canada!

There's no reason why good food can't be fun to eat. Whether you eat by yourself or in a group, I defy anyone to eat fried rice from a pineapple boat without smiling!

Anna Anna Wake Up Anna!

Anna and some of her prikki-nu Thai chili peppers

Anna's garden is almost ready to harvest. All spring and summer the chili peppers, basil, and tomatoes have been growing. Already some of my employees are harvesting peppers to put on their lunches, but that just means the surviving peppers will get even hotter as they turn red.

If you love hot food ask for me and I will run back to the garden to get some fresh hot peppers for your meal. True Thai hot is very hot, but True Thai hot with True Thai peppers is even hotter! We are already using these peppers in Anna's hot sauce (the kind I made for the Bishop). Anna's hot sauce isn't on the tables in the condiment trays. Our policy is that the customer has to ask for it because it's too hot and we don't want anyone accidentally "ruining" their meal by making it too hot.

Some people think hot peppers are from the devil, but as a nurse I know that hot peppers are very, very good for you. The active ingredient is capsaicin which is a safe analgesic treatment for arthritis pain, painful herpes sores, diabetes, post-masectomy pain, and headaches. I even have a friend who mixes cayenne powder with vinegar to help manage her psoriasis.

Mynah birds love hot peppers. When little Anna was five years old my mom gave me a mynah bird as an alarm clock. Every morning at 5:30 a.m. Koon Tong ("Golden Warrior") would wake me up by saying Anna Anna Wake Up Anna over and over again until little Anna got out of bed. It was then my job to pick 30 prikki-nu peppers for Koon Tong, the redder the better.

Because Koon Tong ate prikki-nu hot chili peppers, little Anna learned to eat hot chili peppers. Little Anna was bigger than Koon Tong, and little Anna decided that whatever Koon Tong ate, little Anna could eat too.

Koon Tong died when I was ten. We had a ceremony and then we buried him in my front yard.

The national dish of Thailand

Either Frugal Danny or Frugal Roxanne just posted in their Frugal Danny and Roxanne's Good & Plenty Cheap Eats Restaurant Guide about True Thai's Ultimate Pad Thai (#53).

Friendly helpful and reasonable for some really tasty good Thai food - Wins awards for best thai restaurant. i think the owner was an english major - the menu has some of the best short punchy creative writing i've read this year.

They were very nice but I feel I must correct the record. No, I am not an English major! English is my second language. But I will admit that when I was putting together True Thai's menu, I did spend a lot of time consulting a thesaurus. Here is how our takeout menu describes our Ultimate Pad Thai:

Try this legendary and gloriously addictive noodle dish, and learn why it is Thailand's gift to the world.

Pad Thai on the patio

Wikipedia has a helpful description of Pad Thai:

Pad Thai (or Phad Thai, ผัดไทย, Thai style frying") is a dish of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce (น้ำปลา), tamarind juice, red chili pepper, plus any combination of bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts and coriander. It is normally served with a piece of lime, the juice of which can be added along with Thai condiments. Pad Thai is one of Thailand's national dishes.

Well, since Wikipedia just told you one of our secret ingredients (tamarind sauce), I might as well let you know the other ingredient that will make your Pad Thai taste like it came from Thailand: pickled radish. Also known as pickled turnip, pickled radish is very important to good Pad Thai. When you eat Pad Thai and you bite into a tiny piece of something chewier than rice noodles but tangy? That is pickled radish.

Tamarind sauce and pickled radish make Pad Thai uniquely Thai. When you go to a mediocre Thai restaurant and you find yourself thinking, hmmm, this does not taste as good as Anna's Pad Thai, that's because cheaper restaurants often cut corners and leave out the most flavorful ingredients.

Pad Thai is the national dish of Thailand, and many people eat it for lunch every day. I know we have customers who never order anything else and there are many Thai who would agree with them.