This photo shows a recipe for Gai Tom Kamin from the cookbook “Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen” by Nok Suntaranon, with Natalie Jesionka.Suntaranon’s turmeric chicken soup is herbaceous and heavy on aromatics, with a handful of cilantro. (Michael Persico via AP)
Nok Suntaranon, a Southern Thai girl who grew up in Southern Thailand and spent her days after school selling homemade curry pastes at the local market with her mother.
Dealing with customers. Pushing the heavy cart along with her two brothers. Her fingers were stained yellow as she peeled turmeric roots by the kilogram, enough to make the 110 pounds of curry sauce her mother sold each day.
Her mother needed help. Suntaranon’s grandfather, who helped support the family and her aunt, were killed in a motorcycle accident when she was only 4. When she was only 4, her aunt and grandfather, who were helping to support the family, died in a motorbike accident.
“We were poor as children, but we never scrimped on food,” said Suntaranon. “We always had good food on our tables.”
In her new book “Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen” and the Philadelphia restaurant named after her in Philadelphia, it is evident that her mother’s hardworking cooking influenced her.
But Suntaranon’s mother did not teach her to cook. The children experimented with the ingredients they bought from the market and earned money by selling banana leaf cut from the plantation outside the family home.
“We learned to light the fire ourselves in the clay stove,” said Suntaranon. He won a James Beard Award in 2023 for the best chef in the Mid-Atlantic region. “We liked to play with cooking.”
Suntaranon did not attend culinary school until decades after she met her husband and had worked as a flight attendant for 20 years.
She became more curious about her own cuisine as she learned more about cooking. It was a study of contrasts, infused with the history and culture of the spice trade. In her hometown of Trang, spicy curries, springy noodle soups, and soothing soups can all be laced with the warming flavor of cinnamon and star anise. Even jasmine is spiced with a little white pepper.
She recreated recipes that were lost from her grandmothers and great-grandmothers from memory. She experimented until the flavors found the perfect balance between spicy, sweet, fragrant, and bold. She also documented all the meals her mother used to cook for her.
Her chicken soup is a good example. When Suntaranon, a young girl was ill, her mother prepared a soup with herbs and spices, a vibrant yellow color from turmeric, and a fresh touch of cilantro. The homemade broth is brightly spiced, with lime and a tablespoon of black and red peppers.
She said that the turmeric boosts your immunity, and that smashing aromatics releases tension. “Another way to heal your soul and your heart is by smashing aromatics.”
Gai Tom Kamin “My Mother’s Turmeric Chicken Soup For a Cold”
Nok Suntaranon’s ” Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen” by Natalie Jesionka.
Serves: 4 to 6.
Time: Around 45 minutes
Ingredients
Fresh cilantro stems and leaves
Peel and cut 1 large shallot into small wedges
1/4 cup crushed garlic cloves
2 lemongrass stalks, freshly trimmed and smashed
2 scallions trimmed at the ends, smashed using a pestle, or the smooth end on a meat mallet
Black pepper freshly ground to 1/2 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt
2 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
2 chicken legs
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons of sugar
SERVING
Glass noodles (cooked as per the package directions) or Jasmine Rice
Fresh cilantro leaves
Fried shallots: homemade or bought?
Thai chilies thinly sliced or red long hot chillies
Scallions thinly sliced
Lime wedges for squeezing
Directions
In a large pot combine the 12 cups of water, cilantro, shallots, garlic, lemongrasses, scallions and turmeric with the chicken. Bring to a high boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the heat, and stir in the sugar and fish sauce. You can either remove the chicken from the bone and shred it into shredded pieces, stirring it into the broth or serve it with the bone in.
Serve it hot with glass noodles, rice or fried shallots. Top with lime wedges, cilantro, chiles and scallions.
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