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Thai Mortar and Pestle: How to Choose and Use Them

thai mortar and pestle

Ebenezer (אבנעזר), “stone of help,” is my granite mortar-pestle.

With the line-up of curry posts planned for this year, I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce to you at this point the Thai dynamic duo: the mortar or khrok (ครก) and the pestle or sak/saak (สาก). These two are, in my opinion, among the most indispensable tools in the Thai kitchen. In fact, I look upon with suspicion anyone who claims to be a serious Thai cook yet doesn’t own at least one set of mortar and pestle, just as I would anyone who claims to be a serious Chinese cook yet doesn’t own a wok or a cleaver.
 
By the time people of my generation were born, prepared curry and chilli pastes had already been available at local fresh markets and making curries with prepared pastes wasn’t at all regarded as lame. Now, back in the days when my grandmothers were growing up, not knowing how to make curry pastes from scratch would make you somewhat lame. (And when I say, “somewhat lame,” I’m being reserved.) The making of curry and chilli pastes in the Thai culture back in those days was a mark of class. It was important.
 
thai mortar and pestle
A granite mortar – Perfect for making curry pastes.

How important? Aristocratic families with ties to the palace would send their young daughters to live with their relatives who were courtiers or councilors. Living in the palace compound would expose a young girl to culture, refinement, culinary arts, crafts, and other things that contribute to her becoming a “lady” and, according to the mindset in those days, worthy of marriage to high-status men.

My maternal grandmother, who was a bit of a rebel, mentioned how she, as a young woman, laughed at the idea of being evaluated by the rhythm of the pounding of the pestle. You see, according to Khun Yai, it’s common for a young bachelor’s mother to pay a visit to the home of the young woman who she thought might make a suitable mate for her son. Under the guise of a visit to the parents, the woman’s real mission would be to see whether the daughter of the other family could cook, make beautiful jasmine garlands for Buddha, sew, etc. While the parents enjoy their conversation, the young woman would be asked to go into the kitchen and prepare a meal. And although at that point you can’t see what the heck she does in the kitchen, the rhythm of her pounding the pestle against the mortar in the process of making curry paste from scratch (which can be heard from afar) would be a telltale sign of her culinary skill, or lack thereof.

thai mortar and pestle

A granite pestle is to be used with a granite mortar only.

According to Khun Yai, consistent, evenly-paced beats which go on for a while then stop completely suggest the woman knows what she’s doing and is focused on her task from the beginning to the end without allowing herself to be distracted. An irregular, start-and-stop rhythm, on the other hand, suggests a lack of focus and a tendency to goof off in the kitchen. Behaviors demonstrated in the kitchen, people back then believed, indicate behaviors outside the kitchen as well. I don’t know how seriously I should take that story, but other people’s grandmas have told a similar tale.

Being very progressive in her days, Khun Yai didn’t go through anything like that; she picked whom she loved and married without having to prove herself by means of banging two pieces of granite together in ways that enhance the perception of her worth.

My paternal grandmother, Khun Ya, on the other hand, was classically trained. She made everything from scratch. Khun Ya made her own curry pastes from garden herbs and spices (which grew in the backyard), grated her own coconuts (which also grew in the backyard), insisted on cooking food in banana leaves (which, yes, grew in the backyard), etc. When I was a kid, every time I visited her, I was always told to grate coconut with a coconut bunny and extract coconut milk for the curry we were having that night. While my maternal grandmother would occasionally listen to — I kid you not — the Rolling Stone while sipping cold Singha beer, my paternal grandmother would try (unsuccessfully) to encourage me to play this traditional Thai instrument that I loathed, prepare lotus flowers, and make jasmine garlands.

If you ever wonder why I am such a confused individual, now you have your answer.

This post is not meant to show you how to make curry or chilli pastes. That’s what’s to come in future posts. For now, let me relate to you a few things that pertain to khrok and sak.

* The mortar and pestle used in home kitchen, as far as I know, come in three different materials: granite, glazed terracotta, and wood. The first two are still in use; the last, it seems, has gradually fallen out of use due to the fact that wooden mortars tend to get moldy when they’re not dried properly between uses. There are still some varnished wooden mortar and pestle sets available, but they tend to be ornamental.

* A granite mortar comes and is supposed to be used with a granite pestle. A terracotta mortar comes and is supposed to be used with a wooden pestle (there’s no such thing as a terracotta pestle). You don’t mix and match. You could, but you shouldn’t. Pounding a granite pestle into a terracotta mortar is, to put it mildly, ill-advised. Pounding stuff in a granite mortar with a wooden pestle is just, well, odd.

thai mortar and pestle

A glazed terracotta mortar is paired with a wooden pestle.

* I find it strange to see some non-Thai chefs use the Mexican molcajete to make Thai curry pastes. The tool is too shallow and designed for grinding rather than pounding. The herbs and spices used in Thai curry pastes are meant to be pounded to a paste, not squished between two stone instruments with your wrist swiveling as you go. This may sound like hair splitting to some of you, but, trust me, at least as far as I’m concerned, the fastest way to lose your credibility as a Thai cooking authority is to be seen preparing Thai curry pastes in a molcajete or a mortar-pestle set made of marble.

* In other words, you want your mortar and pestle for the making of curry paste to be made out of solid granite (both the mortar and the pestle).

* When choosing a mortar, don’t go by its weight or overall size; use the capacity of its inner bowl as the main criterion. Too small a bowl makes it difficult to pound your curry paste ingredients into a smooth paste since there’s so little room for things to move around, and the pieces tend to spill out of the bowl a lot. Mine comes with an inner bowl that measures 6 inches across and 6 inches from the rim to the middle point of the bottom. The surface of the bowl is machine-smoothed. This size mortar is enough to make about 4-6 ounces of curry paste at a time (anything more than that would be pushing it) which is enough to make a huge pot of curry — enough for 8-10 servings.

* In general, if you want to pound something to a fine paste, you use a granite mortar; if you want to lightly bruise or mix something, as in the case of Som Tam (Thai papaya salad), you use the terracotta or wooden mortar. Again, the fastest way to lose your credibility as a Thai chef is to be seen pounding raw papaya to death in a granite mortar; it’s just not done.

* After you’re done using a mortar, be it the granite or wooden or terracotta kind, rinse it off with warm water and wipe the bowl dry. Even more care should be given to a wooden pestle as it’s more susceptible to mold. Make sure it’s dried thoroughly before you store it.

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Homemade Sriracha – How to Make Thai Sriracha ซ้อสศรีราชา


In continuing our Stock Your Thai Pantry series, one item that must be mentioned is Sriracha sauce (ซ้อสศรีราชา) — the all-purpose hot sauce that, according to the most prominent yet unsubstantiated theory, originated from a city after which it was named. I can’t think of any hot sauce that is more widely used and versatile when it comes to the modern Thai cuisine. Even though Sriracha has become a generic name for similar hot sauces made both domestically and outside of Thailand, the Thai palates don’t have a hard time recognizing the authentic spicy, sweet, tangy, garlicky sauce that we grew up with. Continue Reading →

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Nam Pla Prik น้ำปลาพริก – The Ubiquitous Thai Table Sauce


This simple table sauce is so commonplace — lowly even — in the Thai households that it’s almost ridiculous for me to blog about it. A blog post on this sauce is in many ways like a blog post on table salt and pepper. And I bet this post, just like a few similar ones in the past, will bring my way many have-you-run-out-of-stuff-to-blog-about-HUH? email and voice messages from my friends and family in Thailand.

Oh, well.

My only justification is that although nam pla prik(RTGS: nam pla phrik), or sometimes called prik nam pla, is considered ordinary, its presence cannot be ignored. This meal accompaniment is one of the most ubiquitous items in the Thai cuisine. Everywhere you look, you see it. On make-shift tables set up by street food vendors. On the tables of sit-down type of restaurants. On your family dining table. On the seasoning table in every corner of every food court. In a tiny bowl that comes with the plate of fried rice you order. In a little rubber band-fastened plastic bag nestled inside your fried rice to-go box.

You see it everywhere.

I was tempted to call it a dipping sauce, but that somehow feels weird to me as it’s not something we dip stuff into in the manner of buffalo wings and bleu cheese dip. If anything, nam pla prik acts more like a flavor enhancer (mainly for rice or rice-based dishes). You take a spoonful of it and drizzle over or mix into whatever it is that’s on your plate. If your fried rice is a little bland, or could use some heat, a dab of fish sauce and a few pieces of fresh chilies would be of tremendous help. Sometimes, having a little bit of the vibrant kick of fresh chilies along with rice and curry makes for a very pleasant meal.

Most Thai food vendors aren’t so sensitive when it comes to the customers adding seasonings to their food; most of them don’t take it personally. If anything, they seem to encourage self-customization. Anyone who has eaten street noodles in Thailand is familiar with the seasoning set that’s always there on the table for people to use, not to visually admire from afar or meditate on as you eat your noodles.

When my mother was alive, if we had invited any of you guys to our house for a meal, I can assure you that the infamous Joy Luck Club scene, where the (Chinese) mother is greatly insulted by her daughter’s (white) boyfriend naïvely adding soy sauce to her signature dish, would never happen at our house. The members of my entire clan, thankfully, are beyond laid-back. My mother would’ve definitely put a bowl of nam pla prik in the middle of the table for everyone just in case. And if you actually used it, she would never have taken offense.

Notice that when you eat at a Thai restaurant, sometimes Thai diners will ask their server for a bowl of nam pla prik — a reasonable request that is in most cases gladly fulfilled with no extra charge. In some restaurants, once they know you’re Thai, they bring out a bowl of nam pla prik along with your order without you even asking. When I see non-Thais request a bowl of nam pla prik at a Thai restaurant, I automatically assume they either live with a Thai or have lived in Thailand for extended periods of time.

I’m not much of a nam pla prik addict in the sense that I don’t automatically add it to everything that’s put in front of me. I only use it when it really makes a difference. In fact, I can only think of one thing that I refuse to eat without a bowl of nam pla prik nearby: rice and soft- or hard-boiled eggs. Take nam pla prik away from the picture and the whole thing becomes pointless to me. Nothing else can take the place of nam pla prik in that situation, not even my beloved Maggi or Sriracha. But in most situations, I can easily get by without it.

Each person approaches the stuff differently, though. Many consider nam pla prik to be the side item without which a meal is not complete. Someone I know can get really cranky if she makes herself a bowl of rice topped with crispy fried eggs and sits down to enjoy it only to find the last person who finished the last batch of nam pla prik didn’t replenish the stock. This could cause friction in the household.

Each person (or family) has his own idea of what nam pla prik consists of. I’m a minimalist, so as long as there are thin slices of fresh bird’s eye chillies floating happily in a pool of aromatic fish sauce, I’m happy. In fact, I would say that those two components are the bare essentials of nam pla prik., i.e. as long as you have fish sauce and fresh chillies, you have nam-pla prik. After all, the name nam-pla prik is made by sticking two nouns together: nam pla (fish sauce) and prik (chilli). But it wouldn’t be uncommon to see sliced garlic or shallots floating in there as well.

Try asking for nam pla prik next time you visit a Thai restaurant and look for that subtle ah!-you-eat-like-we-do expression on your server’s face. And if they actually give you a bowl of it gratis, please tip them well and support their business for that is a sign of hospitality — of them welcoming you into their “home.”

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