Chennai, Feb 6 (IANS) The ongoing Lanna food festival at the Benjarong Thai fine dining restaurant in Alwarpet here has quite a few surprises like a brinjal-based soup and a salad made with juicy imported guava.
"Lanna is sort of a forgotten kingdom that existed in the northern region of modern-day Thailand. The word Lanna means a million rice fields," Benjarong brand chef V. Ramkumar told IANS.
He said the name denotes the agricultural history of northern Thailand and also its cuisine. The kingdom was ringed by mountains, forests and rivers and agriculture flourished in the fertile plains.
The region was subjected to invasion by different kings. After being part of Burma (now Myanmar), the kingdom became part of Thailand, then called Siam, Ramkumar added, serving a chiang mai punch mocktail - a blend of pineapples, oranges and strawberries with vanilla ice-cream.
"We are hosting the Lanna food festival for the first time. Personally, I had done quite a bit of reading about the kingdom and its cuisine. Many of the dishes listed on our menu card are not available now in restaurants in Thailand," Ramkumar said.
By this time, the gai ping appetiser, a charcoal marinated and grilled chicken skewer, arrived at the table. It was accompanied by a roasted green chilli dip.
One can also go for ngohp bplaa chaawn - rustic grilled Thai curried fish in banana leaves served with crunchy corn salad - or the satay je - beancurd, pineapple, coloured peppers and mushroom marinated in a delicate sauce and grilled.
By the time the taster's portions were polished off, somtam farang - spicy guava salad with choice of vegetables or prawns with cashew nuts - arrived.
The guava imported from Thailand is very big as compared to Indian varieties and is very juicy and with fewer seeds.
The salad was followed by tom jeaw - a spicy fish soup with grilled brinjal, oyster mushrooms and herbs. Surprisingly one could not divine the slightest taste of brinjal in the soup.
"The brinjal is roasted and pounded with green chilli, garlic, shallots," Ramkumar explained.
The main course was the tasty kaeng pa khanun - a Lanna-style curry with choice of meat (chicken, prawn, seafood) or vegetables and young jack fruit, flavoured with peppercorn.
For the non-vegans there's goong tod med muag himapan (crispy prawns tossed with dry roasted red chillies and cashew nuts); kaeng hang lay (ancient Lanna curry with chicken or lamb, pickled garlic, shallots, peanut and ginger, a curry through Indo-Burmese route) and goong normai farang pahd namprik noom (succulent prawns tossed with asparagus in roasted Lanna green chilli paste), among others.
For dessert, khau niew lum yai - sweetened sticky rice with longans and mango ice cream - is recommended.
The Lanna food festival at Benjarong outlet in Alwarpet will end Feb 8.
FAQs:
* Meal for two would cost between Rs.1,500 and Rs.1,800 (without alcohol).
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
Congress vs BJP: Congress cornered the government on issues ranging from MGNREGA to pollution; Priyanka Gandhi asked a pointed question, and Jairam Ramesh criticized the government over GRAP.
The Congress party has attacked the government on a range of issues, from renaming MGNREGA to the severe air pollution situation in Delhi. Party MP Priyanka Gandhi, elected from Kerala, posed sharp
Virat-Gambhir Interview: 'We came together to end all the masala', there was a lot of fun and laughter in Virat Gambhir's conversation
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has shared a video clip of a conversation between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. In this video, Virat and Gambhir are seen interviewing each other.
Army chief reached Arunachal for the first time after skirmishing with Chinese soldiers in Tawang, took stock of preparations on the border
Today, the country's Army Chief General Manoj Pandey has met the soldiers who gave a befitting reply to the Chinese soldiers on the LAC. General Pandey visited the area along the LAC in eastern
'Such incidents will not stop, India should support us...', Baloch Human Rights Council's open threat to Pakistan.
A few days ago, a train hijack incident took place in Balochistan, a terror-hit Pakistan. Baloch rebels hijacked the Jaffar Express train. There were 440 passengers on the train.
The number of new patients reached close to 2 lakh, more than double the earlier peak; Active cases will cross 15 lakh today
The corona epidemic in the country has taken a macabre form. In the last 24 hours, 1 lakh 99 thousand 376 new patients have been found. 93,418 recovered and 1,037 died. The new case figure has more
Controversy over Covaxin: Congress leader said - calf serum is being mixed in covaxin, BJP said - Congress is spreading confusion again
Cow's calf serum is used to make Covaxin. For this, a calf less than 20 days old is killed. This claim has been made by Congress's National Coordinator Gaurav Pandhi on Wednesday. Pandhi shared
Modi was prompt in condemning terror incident: Tunisian envoy
New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) The terror attack in Tunisia that left 19 people dead is a move to “derail” the democratic process in the north African country, said its envoy here Thursday
Vaishno Devi Yatra postponed, will start again from today; Thousands of devotees stayed in Katra to see their mother
In view of the ongoing alert on heavy rains and landslides by the Meteorological Department, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has postponed the journey of Maa Vaishno Devi from October 5 to 7. Due
Mukesh Ambani's stature increased: again included in the list of top-10 billionaires, just three places below Gautam Adani
There was a big change in the list of the world's top billionaires on Thursday. Mukesh Ambani has once again reached the top-10 list due to the rise in the price of Reliance Industries shares.
Muhammad Yunus met PM Modi in Bangkok, will India-Bangladesh relations improve?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh interim government advisor Muhammad Yunus met. Both the leaders met in Bangkok. This is the second day of PM Modi's Thailand visit. Today PM Modi will also
